"To take and take and take and take...I will take all that I am deserving of! For what I am due, is nothing more or less, than Eternity!"
***
[Outpost 213, Lykans Sector]
The hooded figure quietened his racing mind, opening his senses to the world, drinking in every sound, every shift of shadow. Under the curtain of starlight, he had the confidence that none could not be vanquished by he, yet, he found that confidence being tested.
The echoing, shrill laughter seemed to mock him from all angles, despite his best attempts to pinpoint it's location. It was as if he was surrounded by a thousand poltergeists, obsessed with making his life and his life alone hell.
"Can't see me, pitiful crow? What happened to all that confidence you had, you were practically bursting with it. Oozing with it! Oooh, ooze is a good word, I Like that word."
"No, I like that word."
"Hey, we're the same person, you know?"
"Oh yeah. Hey me, what were we about to do again?"
"Kill this bird?"
"Killing is booooringgg. Let's make this fun!"
Once again, the voices faded into laughter. This time, however, it was accompanied by a noticeable shift in the air. To one veteran such as the hooded figure, it was clear what such a thing entailed.
This is the intent to kill. And he said he wouldn't do that, how tricky of him.
As his brain stormed, he lifted his hands in a defensive posture and bent his legs slightly, ready like a coiled spring for any incoming attack. Yet despite all his preparations, he was still caught off-guard.
A clawed paw, small and flimsy, coalesced from unreality in front of his face like a phantom. Or perhaps, from the moment he laid his eyes upon its form, it had been there since the beginning.
Too close!
His arms were too slow in reacting, the extended claws scraping across his face, sending a sharp burning sensation of pain through the wounds. His head jolted backwards reflexively, his hood finally coming undone. Touching his face, his fingers felt the warm, familiar stickiness of blood run down his skin.
"Haha, caught you!"
He resisted the urge to give in to his bestial instinct to lash out, calmly assessing the situation.
Some kind of spatial manipulation? Sending limbs through space to attack? No, that's not quite right. And it doesn't match its strange 'rules' that stopped my movement entirely either.
There's no margin for error, it's playing with its food for now, but there's no guarantee of when it gets bored and ends it. Well, I guess I just follow the instructions then...how tedious.
"Wow, I can see why you wear a hood. You are, objectively speaking, ugly."
The shrill voice interrupted his thoughts in a serious tone for the first time. Ignoring it, the now-unhooded figure came to a decision. Clenching his fist behind his back, he silently solidified tendrils of shadow all around them into sharp points.
Without an outward tell, he launched them at a blinding speed, piercing in all directions, covering that narrow alleyway indiscriminately. The voice went silent, and the unhooded figure spoke instead.
"Well? You seem awfully quiet, fleebus got your tongue?"
Despite the bluster of his words, the unhooded figure's now visible expression only increased in wariness. It was too quiet. And then, the shrill voice replied from all directions like a spectral chorus.
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"The Rules Dicate: he who moves second...moves twice!"
With that proclamation, the countless shadowy spikes disintegrated and returned to immateriality once again. Caught in that inescapable entrapment, the unhooded figure grit his teeth.
Once more, before his hands could be brought up to guard, a small paw appeared in front of his face. With a vicious swipe, another three lines were scored into his already bleeding visage. Feeling the iron taste on his tongue and the sharp stinging pain did not dissuade him, however. On the contrary, his motivation was only compounded by the growing catalyst of spite.
"You really aren't that good at this, are you? Isn't the Starcrow supposed to be some kind of unbeatable assasin? From where I'm standing, you seem halfway in death's door already."
"You fool, what are you talking about. We only scratched his face, how would he be halfway dead? Besides, we decided that we weren't gonna kill him, remember? It isn't that often we get to have this much fun after all."
"Hey, don't lecture me, me. I know."
The voice ended with a huff, apparently having been displeased by itself. Choosing to ignore the ongoing antics, the unhooded figure chose the brief moment of respite to complete the necessary conditions of his concocted half-plan, speaking out:
"Well, since we are here, I might as well introduce myself. It isn't often that my targets make it past the first few seconds."
The voices chittered in response condescendingly.
"Oh? I always thought assassins were pitiful beings, tools without thoughts. Why should I care for the name of such a thing?"
"Fine then," the unhooded figure acquiesced. "What about you? Surely one so...great and wise such as yourself would honour a nameless thing like me with your name instead?"
The voices preened.
"My, my, flattery will get you everywhere. Well, I have no name either, but there is a thing that people call me...hmmmm what is that called?"
"Are you stupid? That is literally what a name is, why are you making this more complicated than it has to be?"
"Oh, alright fine then! I was just trying to make this a little more interesting, you know. This bit is always the coolest."
The voices went silent, and when they spoke again it was not in a multitude. Instead, like in that first instance, they had unified. No less shrill nor annoying, but at least the voice of a single entity.
"I am Schrödinger's Cat, pleasure to meet you pawn of Starcrow."
There was a sound like the swishing of a cloak as if the hidden target was bowing, but the unhooded figure was not focused on that, but rather the name.
There we are!
Abruptly, interrupting Schrödinger's Cat's smug monologue, the unhooded figure exclaimed triumphantly, his hand raised towards the starry night above. A beam of silvery starlight shone down with precision like an arrow from heaven, illuminating a small patch at the other end of the alley.
Although he had been able to see in the dark, his opponent had time and time again slipped past his senses, only the single limb appearing when it scratched at his face. Yet now, though nothing had changed overtly, the beam of illuminating light seemed to have dispelled whatever it was that kept it hidden, revealing it to the world at last.
It was...nothing the unhooded figure had seen before. Some kind of alien animal. It was small, large and expressive green eyes and a soft coating of fur coloured as black as the void.
On four legs, it raised its haunches, hissing. Scattering backwards with surprising agility, it attempted to escape the illumination, but that beam followed him relentlessly. Laughing, the unhooded figure gloated.
"It won't be that easy...uhhh...what was your name again?"
The small creature glared at him, still trying to escape the light in vain.
"Schrödinger's Cat! It's really not that hard to remember, you know!"
Seeing its true form, it was easy to forget the vicious way it attacked earlier, with the sadistic intent to cause pain rather than death. The gouged marks that still burned on his face made sure he would remember.
"Yeah, yeah. The jig is up, Mr Cat. The truth is I really am here to talk, so how about it?"
The olive branch hung suspended in the moment and the small creature hissed as if the idea of such a thing offended it to its very core. Eventually, it stopped darting around, having not once escaped the radius of the beam, and let out a sigh.
"Fine then. But first, get rid of this sticky thing. I promise I won't kill you or hurt you or scratch you or tear out your ears and eyeballs and soft, squishy organs."
The unhooded figure shook his head immediately.
"I will, but only once I am far enough from this forsaken outpost that I can hardly even remember its number."
The creature attempted to growl, although it came out more like a cute purr.
"Need I remind you," the unhooded figure interrupted the creature's posturing. "I hold the reigns here and I can end your life at any moment."
Coalescing a spike of shadow above his hand threateningly, he fixed the creature with a glare. The creature barked a laugh before continuing.
" 'The reigns,' he says. I may be trapped, little boy, but kill me? Hah! I haven't heard such a good joke in a long, long time. Fine then, since you have entertained me so, I'll humour your little request. Whether you can escape far enough by the time you free me, well, all I can say is good luck."
Nodding satisfied, though inwardly increasing the estimation of his escape distance by several orders of magnitude in response to the threat, the unhooded figure dismissed the spike.
"Well then, let us get to business."