@narrativehazbins continued from here
He hadn’t meant to scare them. The fact of the matter was, he and Anomaly, for as much as they might have enjoyed one another’s company, did not know each other. Something had told him not to touch them before. First out of apprehension, then out of some sense that he shouldn’t. That was overridden the moment he saw them walking towards Vee tower, most likely not under the supervision of Vox anymore. When playing Russian Roulette, some of the bullets are presumed to be blank. There were no blank bullets left in the gun they were about to pull the trigger on.
So he grabbed them, not hard, but enough to tether. The chain reaction was instant, before he could even open his mouth to warn them. His eyes went wide as cords wrapped his arm, though he didn’t attempt to wrest away from them. There was a questioning in those red eyes that only fell slack with horror as the shock ran through him. It wasn’t a harsh voltage, not in comparison to what Vox had done to him, but it was voltage. Alastor froze, teeth chattering as he stabilized himself, breaths ragged. He could feel a hand fisting in his hair. There wasn't one. The rage that reared wasn’t for Anomaly, not entirely. But when that shock wore off Alastor’s face stretched with some sick delight, eyes becoming as dials.
“You have no idea what you’re messing with,” he said, his tone low like a gritted hum of electricity in the walls gone wrong. His mouth flashed with a glow, and his shoulders cracked. Was he talking about himself, or the Vees? The answer was yes. But Anomaly had attacked him first. It was the hurt in the realization that finally opened the lid on that box he’d put his observations into, a delay that had been inevitable.
He liked them. On some level, he had trusted them. And there were no friends in hell.
This was yet another tally to his mounting pile of evidence in support of that thesis. It was time to kill the part of him that cared whether or not Anomaly walked through those doors while it was still young, snap the neck between his teeth and let it bleed out. A tendril swiped in the direction of the wires, aiming to cut them away from him. Eye for an eye. Hit him and be hit back.
“You’re going to walk in there and do what, exactly? Take on three of the Vees all on your lonesome? I can tell you exactly how that will go. Best case you’ll get fed to their stupid Cerberus of a pet, or trapped and tortured for nothing other than sick amusement,” he hissed, his staff summoning to his hand. “And that’s if you’re not stupid enough to enter a deal with them.”
He was stalling. He knew he was stalling. Kill them !
“Go home, Anomaly.”
