Guilt: Coil
A click of the mouse brings up the latest reports on Merchant activity along the edge of my territory. My men reported fewer sightings of their dealers over the past three weeks. Perhaps they had given up on Charles Street? Of course they could be preparing for a push, but they hadn't attempted a serious push into my territory since the conflict that netted me Charles Street in the first place.
Sadly I had lost my latest informant in their ranks to a shootout between the Merchants and the Empire. It could take weeks or months to get another informant so deeply ingrained into their organization. I could always simply buy the information off of one of them though that rarely worked, the junkies knew the only ones who would sell to their ilk was their own gang that inspired a certain level of loyalty in their ranks. Between that and fear of police or PRT sting operations the gangs tended to blow off bribes out of self preservation.
A cruel smile worked its way across my lips.
That left one rather expedient and enjoyable alternative; after all it had been a few weeks since I last indulged in a bout of stress release.
I split the timeline.
In this timeline I continue to leaf through reports
Timeline B
"Williams," I said into my intercom. "please join me in my office, I have an assignment for you and your squad."
I click open my desk and check to make sure my tools are still where I left them and in good condition. Not a full minute later a knock sounds from the door.
"Enter."
"You wanted to see me sir?"
"Indeed I want you to go and acquire one of the merchants mid level member for me to have a discussion with. Here is a list of acceptable targets along with what information we have on them." I said handing him a folder.
Both timelines
A scream echoed hauntingly through the base. From the sound it was a young girl. But that made no sense. There is no young woman on the base so how-
The office faded out of existence.
It was night, screams howls hoots and screeches fill the air in a mad symphony of rage and pain. I'm clinging onto of a ladder hanging from a chopper.
Elisburg, this is Elisburg. The old panic grips me as fresh as if it was the first time. Then something happens something that hadn't happened the first time. A shot rings out, so close that the noise of what must be a small pistol is deafening. Pain blossoms through my chest. My grip slackens on the ladder and I fall backwards.
As I fall out of the corner of my eye I see another man, I see… myself, scrambling up the ladder.
I hit the ground and am immediately set upon by a hoard of abominations, claws teeth and even a pair of tentacles rip into my body.
I scream.
More scenes start to play out. My mercenary's shooting into me in various ware houses while I shoot back with crap pistols or at best a shotgun.
Hundreds of scenes of lives slipping down the drain as they shoot up the product my men sell to them.
Recruiting Tattletale at gun point.
Blackmailing or bribing dozens of public officials.
Being tortured or killed by myself in what I remembered as timelines I had later discarded and a few I had not.
Suddenly I came back to myself in my base, as I did guilt, enough to flatten mountains, settled across my shoulders. It was impossible to think like this!
Timeline B
Williams, his face stony pulled out his side arm. "Sir," he said in a steady voice, "I quit." He placed the gun to his temple and pulled the trigger blowing his brains across my office wall in an eruption of red gore.
Yes. Perhaps that is the way to go about this, anything to escape this sensation. Pulling out my own pistol I place the barrel under my jaw and pull the trigger.
Timeline A
For a moment as my alternate timeline kills itself the Guilt is alleviated, I can breathe and think again. Then the sensation returns stronger than before, trying to escape this guilt by offing myself in an alternate timeline will not save me, it is a delaying tactic at best, but for now it will have to do I need more time to find out what is going on and how to counteract it, I have survived so much I can't let myself die now!
I split the timeline
Timeline C
Taking a knife from my tools I make a long vertical slash down both wrists and start to bleed out, like last time the guilt seems to diminish, with each drop of blood I can think that much easier.
Timeline A
I pick up my phone and call Tattletale. Drumming my fingers in impatience, time is of the essence here I need to know what is happening.
"Boss." Tattletale's voice filters over the phone clearly distressed but not breaking down, good. "It's a master, probably a new one, crazy strong, and if you're calling from where I think you are then their range is unbelievable. Best bet is this is them lashing out as a result of their trigger event, no way of knowing how long the effect will last, it might be permanent for all I know. Grue and I are both working through it so far, but I wouldn't bet on either of us being able to pull a job anytime soon, maybe ever. Bitch has gotten real quite since it hit, I think this gave her some insight into why people or at least the ones who don't abuse dogs shouldn't be used as chew toys. Regent, Regent is fine. Best guess this is too similar to his Dads ability for it to really have any impact on him."
I chewed on that information for a moment. A master this powerful could allow me to run the bay if they could be controlled, but I doubted I could last more than a few hours under this effect. That wasn't enough time to get them under my thumb, it might not even be enough to find the new master!
"Tattletale, I need a location, I need it NOW."
The line went quite, before cackling started to filter over the phone. "You're joking right?! You want me to feed you the location of a master who forces people to feel guilt so you can have her killed! Hah! Even if I could point you in the right direction, which I can't with so little information by the way, I wouldn't! Their power might slam me with enough guilt to make me take a walk off of a high rise if I did that!"
"Besides," she purred, "their power is forcing you to own up to everything you've ever done wrong, how long can you go without caving under that kind of pressure, and eating a bullet. You'll get what you deserve and I'll finally be free of you, you manipulative bastard." My blood boiled plans to murder her slowly blossomed up from the depths of my mind only to be shut down by a fresh wave of oppressive guilt.
I would have to wait out the storm as long as I could and just hope I could outlast the new Master.
With that thought I felt my other Timeline collapse as I finished bleeding out across my office.
Before I could even split the timeline again my office door opened. Standing in the doorway was one of my men carrying an automatic rifle.
"If I kill you… stop you from doing all the terrible things you do… maybe the pain will go away." He stuttered out a self depreciating smile on his lips he opened fire.
The bullets ripped through my chest knocking me onto the floor were my blood pooled around me. From the speaker of the phone came the sound of half crazed cackling.
