(Luke's Mum/Mary's POV)
I can't believe this is happening again…
THUD
THUD
THUNK
They are after us, worming their way back into our lives like parasites, even when we finally managed to heal.
I've tried everything now, haven't I?
Moving, that only worked for so long.
Destroying all online profiles that could be tracked back to us. Apparently, they don't even need that.
Police? What a joke.
What else can I do? How can I protect my babies from these monsters?
"—uo!!"
They have already taken one from me!
What more could they want?
CRASH
In a motion so quick that my eyes barely capture a blur, Luke flips the table, launching the piece of ragged furniture across the room like it was a feather.
Then, stepping forward, he clears the distance between him and the abomination with a single movement, bringing down the jagged, violent knife with a hulking strike…
Only to be stopped by the man bringing up a remote control device.
"I would not do that if I was you, Luke. Why don't you get that fucking thing off your head and look at the reason you should be listening to my… requests, politely."
My son hesitates for a moment, his hand a single twitch away from ending the man who made our life hell for God knows how long.
Could he do it? Would he have it in him to kill a man? My little boy?
He hesitates again before freezing up briefly, letting out a resigned sigh, as if this situation was so cliché that he could already see it coming, even with his blindfolded eyes.
Ultimately, he decides to listen.
But when he finally takes off that blindfold, a pang of pain and utter hatred towards these vile men strikes me, stronger and more volatile than seeing his cut-up body.
His eyes—or rather, one of them—looked like it had been gouged out by a jagged rock.
A hollow, blood-filled socket was all that remained inside his right eye, with ugly, pain-filled-looking scars surrounding it.
"-tsk… fucking idiots."
Briefly, out of the corner of my hearing, I hear the monster mutter curses. But all that's in my focus right now is my son, looking at me and Kat with despair written across his face, completely ignoring the horrid injury.
…and that just hurts even more.
(POV Change – Luke)
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck… FUCKKKKK!
I can't believe they got me again! Now they've dragged the rest of my family into this?!
When can I get a break?!?!
Around the necks of my mother and little sister was a contraption that would forever haunt my dreams, stirring a memory so horrible I turned to drugs to get it out of my mind.
And now it's on my loved ones… again.
"SAM! Are you an idiot? We needed him fully functioning, not a broken mess."
Smack.
In my peripheral vision, I see Joshua, a man that brings fear into my heart even now, facepalm and sigh deeply.
He is a man that single-handedly built up a small criminal empire.
And of course, not by moral means either.
Like he did to us, he exploits vulnerable kids barely entering their teenage years to do a plethora of jobs for him.
Drug running, beat-downs, robbery—you name it, he will order it.
And he draws you in like a black hole, tempting you with money, praise, recognition. Everything that a kid with low self-esteem needs to function.
"Why…"
"Hmm?"
"Why would you go this far?! How much have I paid you to leave us alone?! And I miss it a couple of times and you do this?! What the hell is wrong with you?!"
My voice broke, even with all my effort trying to make it as steady as possible. But with the sheer emotional weight pressing on my temples, it's just not feasible.
He doesn't react much, though. He never does.
Only a single twitch of an eyebrow and a light tug at the side of his lips, like a robot attempting snark.
"I don't see how that isn't obvious, Luke."
An inquisitive look appears across his face, expecting me to understand.
Should I? Should I understand the process his sick and twisted mind goes through in making people's lives hell for a bit of profit, like morality isn't even a baseline concept?
And that's why it sickens me that I do.
My head dips unconsciously as I lower my gaze, ashamed that I find myself understanding his game.
"Hm hm, I see you indeed get it. But even so, we are not alone, so I will spell it out for those not in the know."
He shrugs his shoulders lightly, looking at everyone around the room with that apathetic light in his eyes.
I twitch slightly, flinching back as he turns his back to me and circles the small group that is our forced gathering.
Should I go for it?
Before I decide, I catch a glint of something out of the corner of my now single eyeball.
A remote.
A similar remote to the one in Joshua's hand.
Same design, pattern and buttons.
Shit.
"Well, Luke."
He spreads his arms dramatically.
"In the time you and your brother worked for us, God rest his soul, you two were the top performers."
He inches around, passing briefly but close enough to be almost touching behind my mum and sister, past Sam's broken form, then directly behind me.
"Your brother, the brains that made us so much money, secured us so much opportunity. And even though he did go behind my back every now and then, taking more money than I allowed him to have, it was understandable—so I allowed it."
His hands rise slowly, creeping silently towards my neck.
Smack.
Then they come down harmlessly onto my shoulders.
"Then the brawn, the soldier of the bunch. A kid arguably below average height and weight, taking out adults probably triple his size alone. And doing it endlessly for days on end! Hell, you even shit me up. Though you were a bloody zombie."
He whispers the last part, coming dangerously close to my vitals for my liking.
"That is why I want you back. That is why I got you fired. That is why I made you go through hell. Why I let your brother die… I was excited to think of what you would become with hate forced into your veins."
My blood goes cold and a chill wriggles up my spine.
…that was all him?
He played with my life.
The life of my family.
The death of my brother.
…
…
…
ĦĖ'Ş ÐĘÂÐ!¡!¡!
A violent cold pumps through my heart like a wave. A shimmering, frozen chill that became so familiar to me at the end of my journey through Dunwall.
VØÎÐ.
Pure void energy at its core travels through my body, slow like honey but excited and teeming with untapped raw potential.
Its presence briefly bolsters and becomes more agitated when it comes into contact with my corrupted arm, furthering the spread by another couple of inches.
But that is not its destination.
After a long and violent trip across my body, no doubt worsening a lot of my injuries, the volatile energy makes its way into my eye, gathering all the blood and mana that used to naturally permeate the sensory organ, condensing all that bodily fluid and filtered energy into a more physical—and, more importantly, functional—construct that allows me the ability to 'see' through it.
What's most important, though, is what it allows me to do.
What manifesting flesh of the Void into my empty eye socket allows me to achieve.
My hands shoot out in what appears to me, as well as everyone else's eyes, as a lightning-fast blur, grabbing hold of Joshua by the neck and lifting him completely off the ground.
"—you really did all that?"
—-
How has the arc been so far.
It might not be as exciting as the dishonoured arc, that's obviously because I could never surpass Dishonoured! As well as because I wanted to set up this arc as well as any future volumes that is set back inside the main world.
Anyway, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy.