Phantom Noir Episode 5 - Let It Snow!

''' Let It Snow! '''is the fifth episode of Phantom Noir. It also serves as the obligatory "Christmas" special.

Plot
Beep!

The machine blurted, Wade staring at the item he just scanned. He was currently in a super market, a Wal-Mart to be specific, holding a box of crackers. Why out of every store that existed in the world of the living, Wal-Mart had to be brought over, was beyond him. Someone, likely an impatient kid, had snagged the price tag from the shelf, forcing him to use a price checker. It was attached to a support pole next to the toy aisle, on the complete other side of the store. A couple of kids were gazing at the boxes of building blocks and cheap movie tie-in action figures. The afterlife seemed to carry over many things from the world of the living, just for conveniences sake. Wade looked to his right, down into the technology section of the store. The multiple large flat screened plasma televisions were playing a combination of ads and several year old children's movies in unison. Wade then turned to his left, finding Seti with several bags of groceries and other household items such as toilet paper and plastic baggies. The bright, almost painful fluorescent white lights in the store caused his long golden cape to glitter brilliantly. It caught the attention of an infant, who tried reaching out to it before his mother took his hand and ushered him away. Wade turned his body to face him and leaned on his carriage.

"You don't have a gluten allergy or anything, right?" Wade asked, tilting his head. Seti approached him fully before answering. He leaned over and placed his bags in the carriage.

"No, I don't have any allergies, at least not ones that I'm aware of." He said, standing upright. Wade closed his eyes and tilted his head over to look at Seti again. Wade scratched the back of his neck, trying to think of what to say. Seti crossed his arms and turned to him. "What is it?" The former assassin asked him. Wade opened his eyes a pinch.

"I need a smoke. Wanna finish up shopping?" He asked. Seti took a moment to respond.

"Sure."

---

The outside of the store was washed out and devoid of color. It was raining, the cement splattered with the billions of droplets of water. A muddy puddle sat by the curb Wade sat on, refracting the solid yellow lines telling cars to stay on the road. He reached into his pocket and took out the box. It was coated in a sweet, glistening plastic sheet. A few drops of rain fell on it and trickled down it's sides,smearing the sheet with moisture. Wade dug his nail into the sheet, tearing it open.

"He and I... We come from different paths," Wade thought to himself. ''"Seti... He has no problem killing people if it get's the job done. There's gotta be a reason for that... He's hiding something... No... Running from it." ''Wade flicked open the case and took out a cigarette. ''"It's funny... I guess we're alike. Two roads at the same end, I suppose." ''He held his hand over the lighter as he nipped the end of the roll with flame. He closed his eyes and relaxed as the blue and yellow shell over his face flaked away. The shriveled pale lips of a corpse came into view where the mask once covered. They opened slightly as the paper made gentle contact with them. A breath in, and a breath out. The dark smoke floated far up into the air, blending in with the clouds and vanishing from sight.

---

Seti stood patiently as he waited for the clerk to check all of his items. The clerk was almost morbidly obese, and took her sweet time to check everything. She'd occasionally try to tell the assassin about better deals or products in her old, raspy voice, but he had little interest in it all.

''"Wade... He's a tough guy and a good leader, that's for sure... But he's an awful fighter. He barely takes chances, and when he does he just goes running into danger." '' Seti thought to himself. The clerk had finished bagging all of the items. Seti walked to the rack and put all of the bags in his carriage, beginning to walk out of the store.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a slight gleam to his right. Inspecting it closer, he saw it was a dark black object, a hand gun. It sat in the doorway of the men's bathroom. His eyes widened, and then darted around the store, making sure no one saw him. He edged closer to the bathroom, but as he did, a pale-yellow tentacle wrapped around the gun and dragged it off. Seti bolted for the bathroom, stopping in the doorway, holding himself on the door frame. He cautiously checked out the bathroom, making sure nothing was amiss. Getting down low, he crept slowly into the room, sneaking around behind stall to stall. He suddenly saw the same tentacle quickly slip under a stall door. He muffled the sound of his steps with sand and stood by the stall door. The lock was plastic, he couldn't open it himself. Instead, he grabbed the top of the stall door and launched himself over. What sat in the stall with him surprised him. It was a crescent shaped creature with eight tentacles. It had two orange eyes towards the top of it's body and wore a top hat. It was facing away from Seti as it fiddled around with roughly thirteen guns.

It stopped. ''It had noticed him. ''It's orange eyes looked backwards as it's pupils shrank, becoming increasingly focused on him. Seti looked bewildered at the creature. It dropped all of the guns in the toilet and slowly turned around.

"Uh... Listen it ain't whats it looks like, I swears." It said in a mafia accent. Two tentacles on both sides of it's body made a shrugging motion as it looked down to it's right. It slowly looked back up at Seti with an unsure but hopeful look in it's eyes. Seti looked at it sternly. He raised his head and crossed his arms.

"What were you planning to do with those guns?" He asked the creature dominantly. It's head shot forward and it's hat wobbled around. It's eyes opened widely as it sneakily slid a tentacle into the toilet.

"Listen, I dunno whats you're talkin' abouts mister." It said honeyed. It's eyes glowed brightly with a faked kindness. To distract Seti from the tentacle in the toilet, it pointed at him and began saying whatever came to mind. "You know what mister? You gots a real kind face." Seti simply repeated his question.

"What do you plan on doing with those guns?"

Suddenly, footsteps near the door of the bathroom covered a veil of strange silence over the stall. The footsteps led all the way to the stall next to them, stopping only to hear the door open and close, then continuing again to sit down. Seti and his new foe looked at the wall to their left with a conflicted gaze. Then the tentacled creature noticed it was his time to strike. Just as Seti was turning his head back, it whipped a Beretta 92 out of the bowl and aimed it at Seti's head.

"EAT LEAD, ASSHOLE!" It screamed, pulling the trigger. The blast erupted as Seti held his bleeding arm. He had stopped the bullet halfway through and let it fall out before leaping at his foe, attempting to grab him. It's body was slippery and Seti's grab failed, the creature pulling out it's other guns and leaping in the air. Seti landed face first in the bowl. The creature sat on his head and wrapped a tentacle around his neck, making him drown and suffocate simultaneously. The assassin flailed his arm around rapidly, trying to find the switch. He hit it and then punched the creature in it's eye, causing it to fall off his head while the water in the toilet went down. Seti stood up, only to realize it's tentacle was still wrapped around his neck. He clenched his hands around it and tried to take it off. Using it like a cable, his enemy swung himself around to Seti's back and aimed the gun at the back of his head. "Oh, it's over now you dumbass." It taunted, cocking the gun. Right before it could finish him off, the stall door was kicked off the frame and hit the crescent shaped creature. It fell off of Seti's neck and onto the floor. Falling onto his knees and holding his chest, Seti turned around to see Wade with his foot in the air.

"What's going on in here?" He asked frantically, his eyes darting around. Seti threw himself backwards and sat against the stall wall, pointing at the other side.

"The thing, right there it-" He was interrupted by both his panting and Wade.

"What thing?" Wade asked, getting down and putting his hand on his comrades shoulder. He let a gun materialize in his right hand.He looked where Seti was pointing. "There's nothing there." Seti's arm dropped. He huffed and puffed more before shaking his head.

"Well, it might not be gone yet." He said, getting up. Wade stood up with him. Seti began walking out of the stall.

"Seti, what the hell are you even talking about?" Wade said, grabbing him by the shoulder again. Seti turned his head around.

"It looks like an octopus, has a top hat and multiple guns. Get looking." He demanded coldly. At first Wade didn't believe him, but by the tone of his voice, Wade didn't seem to have any option other then to do so. He nodded his head and the two started searching around the rest room. But from the vent in the wall it watched them. It had crammed it's body through and dragged all of the guns with it.

''"Damn idiots." ''It thought. ''"Probably no use in keeping them around, they seem to be working for something, and they're both tempereds from the looks of it." ''It stopped for a moment. ''"First the boss, then Ringo, then me, huh? Saints Helm is really tryna' crack down on the rest of us..." ''It stopped again. ''"But I'm gonna stop 'em... Oho yes! I'm gonna stop 'em. And when I do, I'll be prime candidate for Don now that that idiot Ringo is dead. Capo's are already in a struggle for power as is. Heh heh... This is perfect. The weapons dealer Capo turned Don... Just gotta watch out for that ass Destiny... I'll have to make his death swift." '' He grinned wildly, rubbing his tentacles together as if they were hands. Then he scurried off, formulating a plan as he went.

---

Wade walked down the street. It was a few days since the incident in the store and now the first of December. Depending on who lived where, the houses and buildings where decorated brilliantly with Winter Solstice celebratory items. Most of the buildings in this district were shrouded in tinsel and garland, which glowed brightly. Every door and every sign had a wreath on or around it, and some cars already had those Rudolph decorations on them. The mid-afternoon sun made all of the foil decorations glimmer and shine, it's yellow orange light illuminating all but the cracks in between buildings. Wade passed one by, and it was from within this crack that he waited. His orange eyes did not glow, and so it crept behind Wade as his foot took a step. It was on the corner now, and it snatched his ankle and dragged him into the dark abyss. Instinctively, Wade's index and middle fingers jolted with a powerful energy. Before he could move his arm, a cold ring was pressed to his head. The chilly black steel of a gun barrel echoed painfully through his temple.

"Don't yous move a muscles, twerp." He said, letting himself be known. Wade's eyes widened as he realized what was going on.

"You're the-"

"Can it, kiddo!" He instructed, increasing the pressure on Wade's ankle to a point of near snapping.

CRACK!

Wade's foot hung limp from his leg as he screamed and wreathed in pain. "I SAID TO SHUT IT YOU STUPID LITTLE SHIT!" The Capo shrieked, forcing a tentacle down Wade's throat. The officer choked and threw up in his mouth, the vomit leaking and dribbling in chunks down his face. Wade's muffled screams were filled with agony from his torture. Tears welled in his dimmed yellow eyes as he coughed up his blood and began to feel numb. He could barely see well anymore and he found it impossible to move his muscles. The tentacle had smartly went down his trachea, blocking his breathing. The officer went limp as the cephalopod removed it's limb. It was soaked in blood, vomit, and spit, so the Capo thrashed it around violently and wiped it off on his victims shirt. Wrapping another tentacle around his wrists, he dragged Wade off further into the darkness.

---

The former policeman awoke, gagged and tied to a chair. It was dark, and he could see little to nothing more then a foot away from him. He sat in the silence, listening. At last he heard the whispers of two people. He tried honing in, but they were too quiet. Suddenly, he heard the sharp, fresh clapping of footsteps coming near him.

'Clip. Clop. Clip. Clop. Clip. Clop. Clip. Clop. Clip. Clop.'

It was cold in the room, and the footsteps were still far away. Wade deduced they must be in some kind of emptied warehouse, not too dissimilar to the one he found Lovin' France in. He theorized that maybe the gang was large enough and wealthy enough to own multiple warehouses, perhaps be in charge of every single one of them in the whole damn city. Those were thoughts for another time though, as the steps got closer and closer.

'Clip. Clop. Clip. Clop. Clip. Clop. Clip. Clop. Clip. Clop. Clip. Clop. Clip. Clop.'

The steps got louder.

'Clip! Clop! Clip! Clop! Clip! Clop! Clip! Clop!'

And then they stopped.

VOOSH!

Wade was yanked from his collar upwards in the chair, coming face to face with the man. He had long brown dreadlocks that covered most of his face. Most of his skin was brown too, with grey splotches and bright blue eyes. He moved his head around, examining Wade. He then dropped him on his side and looked behind him. "Mannheim, do you want me to neutralize him?"

"No, I'll be fines. You go has a nice rest of yous day Destiny. Yous been a big help lending me the warehouse and everythings." The voice of the Capo rang from across the empty hall. Destiny turned around towards what Wade could only assume was the door. He then stopped and looked down at Wade. He crouched down and lifted up Wade's head.

"If it's between you and me, Wade Evans, I hate both you and the calamari equally. I can't wait to see who dies tonight." Destiny whispered ominously in Wade's ear. With that, he stood up and left, the door letting a small line of light creep through. It slowly thinned with a creak, bringing the room back to it's darkness.

"That Destiny is somethings else, huh?" Mannheim said from a short distance. Mannheim trotted up to Wade, using his tentacles like legs. "Havin' fun yet? We gots dis whole place to ourselves tonight." He joked, laughing hysterically at himself. "Oh God... I can'ts wait to kills you." He stated. Wade was still laying on the floor, unable to move. Mannheim put five guns to his head. Wade was shocked at first, but then started to calm himself down. He was waiting. Soon... soon...

Then he heard it. The sound of sand slowly shifting, moving, forming together... Silent steps... It all came from behind Mannheim, and it was obvious he didn't have the best hearing. Wade looked dead at the Capo, averting his attention from Seti. The octopus kept joking and laughing at his own jokes until he suddenly hit Wade across the face with one of the guns, and dragged himself and Wade backwards as he turned to face Seti. Four out of the five guns on Wade's head were now aimed at Seti's vitals.

"Mannheim, the weapons dealing Caporegime... I'm putting an end to yo-"

"Seti, kindly shut the fuck up before I put a hole in the head of this overgrown Smurf." Mannheim said in a fake, almost aggressive cheery tone. He cocked the gun and hit Wade again. "And it's really nice to sees yous buddy, but I'm afraids me and Wadey have some plans for the night, if you," He jabbed the gun into Wade's rib cage. "Catch," He jabbed it harder. "MY," He slapped Wade across the cheek. "DRIFT!" He swung the gun in the air and then fired it off next to Wade's face, a mere inch away from cutting his cheek. Seti froze. He didn't know what to do to stall for time. Luckily, this issue was solved for him by a figure dropping down from the ceiling behind him. Quickly, Seti cut the rope around Wade, before being hit in the back. Mannheim launched forward a foot. "Destiny!?!" He screamed in utter confusion. The gangster stood above Seti, who was on his knees now.

"Figured you'd need help when the other one arrived, so I've taken his powers." He looked down at Seti. "Mostafa, I assure you you'll have your powers back by the end of the night if you survive." Mannheim looked around in dissonance.

"But why? Why'ds yous save my hide like thats!" He demanded. "You'res a smart guy, yous know that I'm gonna go after you next! Why'd you go and saves me the trouble of dealin' with Seti?" Destiny began walking by Mannheim, and saw Wade sneakily get behind him. He however didn't do anything. He simply imparted his words.

"You being alive now gives me more time to think of a suitable replacement for your position. As former Consigliere and current Don, I have a few spots I need filled." And with that, the former adviser tapped closed his eyes and sighed as Wade jumped onto the Capo, forcing him onto the ground.

"Drop your guns, immediately." He said, letting one of his own materialize in his hands. Mannheim let his tentacles spread out around the ground. He let go of all but one gun. Destiny kept walking.

"Whys..." He said, tears welling up in his eyes. "Whys does this stuffs always happen to me." Mannheim was defeated. He was weakened beyond belief, and his shell was cracked. All that was left was pure, raw emotion. It swirled in his head as he gripped his gun tightly. He lifted it up, sobbing viciously as he aimed it at Destiny. "YOU FUCKING BASTARD. YOU'RE GOIN'S TO PAYS FOR DIS!" Mannheim yelled, firing off every round in the gun. Destiny simply caught them in midair and let them fall to the ground. He tried reloading the gun but Seti stomped on his tentacle, causing him to cry out in pain. His screams echoed the hall and rung out like the bells of war, a siren of approaching doom. But that doom never came, not to Mannheim, not to Wade, not to Seti, and certainly not to Destiny. The four men were motionless for a second, stuck within time, until Destiny opened the warehouse door and walked out. A heavy feeling had been lifted from them. Following him, Seti released his foot, and Wade stood up.

The room was almost near quiet, with the exception of the sniveling, whining, weeping mess of Mannheim on the floor. "Whys..." He murmured. "It ain'ts fair... everything goes wrong... everything is fucked..." Mannheim curled up into a ball. Wade and Seti didn't look at him with their eyes, but their minds. With the way they felt, their eyes should've just been voids. Voids that tried consistently to consume the image of a destroyed man, no matter how much they wanted to turn away and run. They stood there as Mannheim finally fell silent. A cold wind blew through the warehouse chambers and echoed off the walls. The heavy feeling was back, the moments before just a temporary alleviation from it. It sunk their hearts into a dark abyss, a void, but it felt like the heart was resisting. Their souls were in turmoil. Wade's legs buckled. He wanted so desperately to fall to his knees, but he couldn't. He wanted to join the man in his sadness, he didn't want him to feel alone. It's the strangest thing, being able to relate to someone you don't like, someone who had just tried to kill you. But it felt so real to Wade. This man, he was just as much a person as he was. He had gone through the same horrors and challenges, but he fell too far into a rabbit hole. A rabbit hole that led him to where he is now. The Capo curled tighter. "I want to die..." It spoke. The two men standing over him let their heads fall. "I want to die so bad..." And as though it's wish was coming true, a body began to form from out of the octopus. A human body, a human soul. It slowly crawled out of the creature that had previously held it hostage and lay on the floor. The man, Mannheim, had twelve bullet wounds in his back that were bleeding. The octopus turned itself around to face the man. It looked into him, it's eyes turning fully black. Mannheim began weeping. The octopus put it's tentacle on his shoulder, then brushed his face. "Yous... yous spat me out..." He said. The octopus looked at him compassionately. "Is it... no... No I take that back! I don't want to go! Please!" Mannheim pleaded. He seemed to understand the octopus perfectly. "It can't already be decided..." The Octopus simply closed it's eyes and shook it's head. Mannheim hugged it. "If..." He sniffled. He couldn't talk. He kept trying to say something but choked each time. "Thank you..." Mannheim said. His arms and head dropped down. The octopus brushed his eyes closed with it's tentacle, slowly drifting over to Wade and Seti. It looked at them. It closed it's eyes and spoke to them. Not through words, not through actions, but strictly through feelings. Wade picked the creature up, and the two men and the beast left the hall. Their fate had been decided.

Cast

 * Wade Evans
 * Seti Aziza Mostafa
 * Mannheim
 * Destiny
 * Steamroller