Phantom Noir Episode 6 - Owner Of A Lonely Heart

Owner Of A Lonely Heart is the sixth episode of Phantom Noir. It was written by SuperNerd295.

Plot
He sat mopey eyed, looking into the fish tank, one of two sources of light in the dark basement room. The other was a red-orange lamp sat by the velvet sofa. His eyes darted up to look at the crescent shaped creature trying to escape it's enclosure, it's arms softly pressing against the lid of the tank. It suddenly looked down at him, as if telling him to open the lid and let it out. And yet Wade stood all the more still, leaning against the counter that lifted the already massive tank above the ground. It stretched from corner to corner, and had a good few feet of space for the octopus to live in. In the midst of the silent staring, footsteps tapped quickly down into the basement. In a dash of excitement, her head peaked from the corner of the staircase and gazed into the bottom room, her soft, golden hair lagging behind by a second. It bounced for a moment when she had finally stopped moving.

"Did you feed Steamroller yet?" She asked cheerfully, causing him to turn around. He nodded then turned back to the tank once more.

"Little guy gobbled the things up quick. Feels like he's gonna be expensive to maintain." He said, twiddling his foot. Rochelle walked up next to him and looked at the octopus inquisitively.

"Wade..." She momentarily went quiet. The former officer turned his head around, his eyes solemn. "You said that... that it spoke to you, right?" Wade yawned.

"It kinda felt like it, yeah..." He said, his eyes rolling away from the angel and to the floor. He was unsure, the experience was strangely foggy to him. The angel put her hand on her chin and closed her eyes, searching her thoughts for something.

"You also have a lead on the current don, right?" She quizzed suddenly. Wade looked back up at her and nodded.

"His name's Destiny. He's tall, some sort of power sapping ability." He answered. The angel nodded and turned around, heading back upstairs.

"I'm gonna go see what I can find out about him. Plant has been looking into something else, if you're interested. I know that Seti already wants to give it a look." She said, disappearing from Wade's view. It didn't take long for the man to stand up, putting his hands in his pockets, and walk upstairs. Steamroller sat quietly in the corner of his tank, watching patiently as Wade exited the room.

OWNER OF A LONELY HEART
Bang! 

A yellow light flashed up as the shadow of a man collapsed against the cold grey concrete. A herd of stamping feet echoed in the silence.

Bang-Bang!

They all fell in another flash of light, the bodies of at least three men. Against the wall, a man was pressed. He struggled and begged for his life, his gun dropping to the ground. A fist was raised to his head, and in an instant, his life was thrown away, just like the others. A line of blood spilled down the wall, the clattering of more feet. The body went limp and fell, curling up before falling over. He kept walking. From behind him, a brawny man wrapped his arms around, holding the intruder in place. Out of seemingly nowhere, a spurt of bullets shot through his pelvis and his grip loosened, allowing his enemy to elbow him in the face. Screaming in agony at his dislocated jaw, his attacker kicked him in the chest, digging his foot through his lungs and heart. Bullets flew threw the air around the mysterious intruder as he all but vanished from sight. Mortified, the shooters backed up, looking behind them and then forwards again. A foot came crashing down on one of their heads, the other two men being shot through with one bullet to their skulls. Turning back in his intended direction, he swiped his cloak around himself, vanishing once again.

Two men standing at the door were instantly choked as the man reappeared in front of them, clenching their necks with an unearthly strength. They choked, their faces blue as they slowly slipped away. The man dropped them and entered through the unlocked door. The inside was dark, a single candle lit it.

"Ezekial. Where is it." He demanded. An old man in a long white garment sat in a folding chair, holding a cane. A mask decorated elegantly with gold and black streaks sat on his forehead, revealing his face. He looked up at the intruder and smiled.

"It's in the back, and please try not to mess much up, I've got some rather prized possessions back there." He exclaimed, grinning wildly and laughing. Ezekial hung his head down as the cloaked man walked past him, vanishing in the shadows.

---

"So," Plant said, leaning forward on the table, swiping his hands out. A map was spread out on it, several pins put in it. "I caught wind of suspicious activity at a local library, right?" He moved his hand over to a green pin, tapping it gently. He began laying his side on the table. "Apparently, every Wednesday and Saturday, some guy holds a club for people with relationship issues. Group includes people who are abused, neglected, cheated, and even people who don't have anyone to love. From the people I talked to, it seems like a nice supportive group. But as you figured, things ain't all sunshine, rainbows, and middle age men." He spoke with his ego slathered all over him, his voice carrying a big sense of self-importance and pride. He stood up normally and caressed his finger down the map, South, to another pin, this one blue. "The home of this guy, the one that owns the club, is here. So, I went out of my way to check it out, I wanted to talk with him, see how things are. Just out of cu-"

"Cut to the chase already." Seti interrupted. He sternly looked down at Plant, his arms crossed. He turned back to Wade as Plant shot him a look. "It was awful sitting through all of this, thought I'd spare you from the full story." He remarked, glancing back at Plant.

"Ugh." Plant groaned, standing upright. "The gist of it, is that the guy in charge of the club has some connection to the mafia, though we aren't entirely sure how. Found this out because some guy was knocking on his door asking him to pay up. This leads me to believe he's possibly tempered, too." He looked over to the wall behind him, at the analog clock. It made it's quiet ticking noise, marking the passing of every second. He turned back to the group. "His little club thing will probably be started by now, so go and infiltrate the little support group and find out what's going on. Already signed you two up for it." Plant grinned, looking at the two. Seti sighed and hung his head low, while Wade's face contorted into one of stupefaction as he leaned forward onto the table. Plant turned around to the top of a nearby filing cabinet, picking up two small pieces of paper. "Me and Rochelle wrote some scripts for you two. Basically, it just contains the 'information' about why you two joined. Read over it on the ride there." He said, extending his arms, one slip in each. The two men reluctantly reached out and grabbed the paper.

---

Wade slammed the breaks on the car. It was a seemingly brand new 1996 Lexus LS, polished and green. Seti looked over at him with a glare. The car behind them beeped violently. Wade started to make it move again. "I swear to god, Plant is not going to write our fake biographies ever again." Wade grimaced. "The hell does he think he is, saying I cheated on my 'wife' for a rich Russian woman? And I used that money to sustain my gambling addiction before getting kicked out of her house? I'm no gold digger, and I'm certainly not a gambler..." He mumbled under his breath. Seti looked back at the sheets. His eyes widened before he shut them, sighing.

"Al'abalah..." He exclaimed, shaking his head in disapproval. "If you think yours is bad, Wade," He leaned over and held out the paper, pointing to it. "Apparently, I have thirty children, have been in a relationship with twenty seven women, and now I frequent bars and nightclubs, and have a drinking problem." He took the papers back to his lap, and crumbled them up. He shoved them in the cup holder and sat back, crossing his arms. "That god damned fool..." The two men's faces contorted in embarrassment.

"Why couldn't we have just waited for the thing to be almost over? Wouldn't it be more effective that way?" Wade asked, shaking his head. The car stopped at a red light. Seti turned to Wade, curiously.

"Wade, I know it's a bit of a personal thing..." Seti stopped apprehensively. "But, would you mind telling me about your past? When you were alive, I mean." He asked. Wade thought on it for a second. As he was thinking, the light flashed to green and he started driving. He nodded slowly.

"Y-yeah. Maybe some other time though, we're almost there." He said anxiously, turning the corner to one of the many libraries in the city. HE seemed to be spaced out a little.

"I get it if you don't want to, I know that it's sensiti-"

"It's fine. Don't worry about it Seti." Wade reassured, pulling up to the brick building. In silence, the two men opened their doors and exited the car. Wade locked the car and then stuffed his hands in his pockets. Seti came around the front of the car, walking behind him. There was a slight breeze in the cold December air. Seti's cape flowed quietly in the drift, wrapping around his calf as they turned a corner for the door. Wade flung it open and held it behind him for his partner. Seti stopped when Wade had finished moving. For a moment, the two store into each other. They saw a reflected emptiness, and yearning for a past they had no choice but to leave behind. To break the stare, Seti spoke.

"You can keep walking, I'm fine." Seti said. "Plus, if I wanted to..." Set stuck out two of his fingers and slowly moved them to the side. Behind them, the other set of doors opened. Wade took his hand away.

"Yeah." He said, walking through the opened door. In front of him was a clerk. She was young, and smiled at the two men as they came in.

"Hello, gentlemen. What can I do for you two today?" She said, smiling cutely. He hair was put up in a ponytail. Wade slouched and sighed. Seti nervously bit the bottom of his lip, leaning back on the counter.

"Where would the, uh, lonely heart's club be?" Wade asked, pulling at his shirt collar. The receptionist ditched the smile and put on a more serious face.

"It's just through that door, you're a minute late to the session though, better go in now." She said, pointing to Wade's right. He and Seti turned their heads at the door.

"Thank you." Wade said, turning and walking, Seti right behind him. Wade approached the fine, brown door. His hand extended and grasped firmly the shiny golden handle. Twisting and flicking it, the door shot open.

Inside, at least a dozen men and women sat in chairs, forming a U shape. At the front of this U sat a man. He was completely shirtless, wearing nothing but baggy, navy green pants, and a military helmet. It sat atop his head, unstrapped. He had a light grey skin tone, and one long eye that was half covered by his hat and was positioned vertically on the left of his face. The group went quiet as he turned around to face Seti and Wade.

"Hello there!" He greeted, jumping out of his seat and prancing over to the two men. He extended a hand to Wade, and another beyond him to Seti. "You two must be those Wade and Seti folks, right?" He said, bouncing his gaze from one of their faces to the other. The men simultaneously shook his hands.

"That would be us." Wade said, taking his eyes off the crowd of people looking curiously back at them. As the shirtless man turned around, Wade budged Seti with his bicep. "Think this is him?" He whispered quietly. Seti shrugged.

"Over here, you two." He said, pulling up two more chairs. "You men can sit here, I heard you were friends already." He paused for a moment, turning to look up at his new arrivals. Wade and Seti sat in the chairs. The shirtless man stood in front of them. "This young woman next to you is Samantha, very nice and confident character." Samantha stared up at him.

"Th-thank you." She replied hesitantly. The man walked over to the next two people.

"Shawn, Jean," He turned his head. "Trevor, Oliver, Philippe, all good, strong men. Been through some things, as have all of us." He complimented, excitedly turning to the last six people. "This is Benjamin, Felicia, Yui, Brandon, William, and Desmond." He said, walking into the center of the U. He closed his eye, and hung his head, covering his chin in his hand. His head shot up as he looked at Seti and Wade. "Oh, how could I forget." He said, looking down dramatically and then firing his head into the air. "My name is John Pepper, welcome to the Lonely Hearts Club!"

"It's good to meet you, Mister Pepper." Wade said, smiling lightly and nodding. Pepper nodded back. He walked over to his chair, and stood on it.

"Listen up, people. We've got six new members in the past four weeks, so let's play a game." He clapped his hands, looking about the group. He turned his hips around to face a nearby filing cabinet. He opened the top drawer and pulled out some flash cards and some pens. He handed one of each out to everyone. "All of you, write one of your secrets on the paper, it could be anything from what you ate this morning, to something that's been troubling you, it all depends on how much you're willing to give out." He sat in his chair and leaned forward, clasping his hands together. "Now, you're going to bring them up to me face down, and I'll shuffle them. I get to guess once, and if I get it wrong, you don't get outed. And you can lie, and say it wasn't yours, but you can't claim someone else's. Those who admit to it if I call them will receive a free lollipop from the clerk outside. Got it?" He said, leaning back and stretching. The crowd, sans Wade and Seti, verbally communicated their response, almost being a unanimous yes. Seti nudged Wade.

"What should we write?" He asked, leaning over to him. Wade shrugged.

"Just try not to reveal anything, I guess." He whispered. The two men began to write. Suddenly, a phone went off, it's high pitched jingle chiming in the room. One of the men at the end pulled out his cellphone, and looked intently at the screen. He turned up at John Pepper, who was looking at him already.

"I gotta go sir, I'm sorry." The man said, standing up.

"It's fine, don't worry about it, soldier." Pepper said, nodding. "You do what you need to."

The man walked out, and the room returned to it's quiet. After a few more minutes, Pepper asked to see all of the cards, and the group obliged. He carefully shuffled the cards, flipping the first one over. Before a breath could exit his mouth, he stopped, slowly looking up at Samantha, who looked at him nervously.

"What?" She asked, a small drop of sweat falling down her brow. Everyone turned to her, and she gulped. Wade and Seti looked back and forth at each other and then back at her. Her face became a bright red, and her eyes shook.

"You're the only one with an orange pen." Pepper pointed out. "Samantha, I think it's time you seek out another type of support group." He said, walking over to her. He put his hand on her shoulder and she burst into tears, her face turning red. She curled herself up into a ball as Pepper wrapped one of his arms around her. He looked up at the rest of the group, quickly turning his head to acknowledge each person. "I think today's meeting is over now. You all take care, and have a wonderful day." He turned back to the sobbing woman. Wade and Seti stood up gingerly, trying not to make much noise. "I'm really sorry, boys. I didn't expect the meeting to turn out like this. Best of luck to you two." He said, starting to whisper things to Samantha. The two men walked out of the room, standing outside the door on opposite sides. Seti closed the door shut.

"We only came here to have a word with him..." Seti said, crossing his arms and closing his eyes. He sighed. "Now we're caught up in this." He shook his head. "It's just one thing after another."

Wade looked over to him with careful eyes, not daring to speak a word. He stuffed his hands in his pocket, and hung his head down low. A minute passed. Then another. Footsteps approached the door. Wade was half ready to confront Pepper as the handle turned low, but the figure that walked out of the room was not their target. Instead, it was Samantha. Oddly enough, she did not hunch, she wasn't crying, and her behavior didn't reek of negativity. Instead, she may as well skipped out of the library. Her step was bouncy, a smile on her face. Before she left, she turned back to the room.

"I'll catch you later Pepper!" She shouted cheerfully, a faint reply came from the room. Turning back around, she noticed Wade. "I hope everything is going alright, sorry about how short today's meeting was." She apologized. ''She apologized. ''For a moment, Wade didn't know what to say.

"Oh, it's all good. You take care now." He said, nodding his head. When the young woman had walked away, Wade saw Seti facing him. Before the two could say anything, Pepper called to them.

"Wade, Seti, did you want to have a word with me?" He asked. The two men entered the room, Wade in front. He was tidying up the shelves in the room, fiddling with a model ship. "If it's about your addictions, we can schedule a private appointment tomorrow." He offered.

"Listen, we aren't here for counseling, we need to talk." Wade said, sighing. Seti walked next to him.

"We're here on an official investigation, Saints Helm." Seti explained. "We just need you to answer a few questions, and we'll be on our way." Pepper's head slowly turned back to face them.

"So you know..." He began. Seti tapped his foot impatiently. "I'm not going to let you take this away from me, I help people, you know."

"We just need you to answer some questions, John." Wade said, stepping forward. Pepper went silent.

"Yes it's true, I was involved with the mafia, and it's taken a bit of effort to shake them off, but I've done it. And yes, as you've likely guessed, I'm tempered. What more do you want to know?" He asked, turning around.

"We need you to come with us now." Seti said, stepping up with Wade. Pepper looked at the men with uncertainty.

"I'm terribly sorry, but I don't trust you two enough to do that. I know what's happened to other people, people with powers..." Pepper said, turning around again, starting to clean the shelves. "I want you two out of my room, now." He demanded.

"We aren't leaving without you." Wade said, trying to bargain with him. Pepper pointed to the door behind him.

"Out."

"No."

Pepper fell silent for a moment. "In all my time serving the US Army, I never learned a more important lesson then that of love." He turned around to the two men. He spoke in a harsh, authoritative voice. "Tell me, what do you know of love? What is it, exactly?" Seti and Wade fell silent. "Because I can assure you, love isn't just liking someone." He took a step towards Wade, who raised his gun. "It's even more then a feeling of compassion, dedication and an unrivaled stick to something."

"Step back." Wade ordered in a brisk voice. Seti noticed this and threw himself into a fighting stance. Pepper took another step forward, without any hesitation.

"Love is a faith," He began. "It is the test of how determined you are to something." Seti lowered his stance, his cape gave out a quick jiggle. "I exited the army on accounts of my lesson of love. Because there is one thing I love most in this world, and that is helping others." He took another step forward. Wade sneered, though he wasn't sure what about. "I know you feel the same, right, Wade?" Pepper asked. Wade preemptively took a step back, Seti looked curiously over to him. Wade lowered his head an inch, obscuring his eyes from sight behind his cap's visor.

"It's true... But I need you to come with me." He responded. Pepper combined his feet together and extended his hand towards Wade. Seti tensed up, his eye thinning.

"Then please, put the gun away. You're here on an investigation, correct? You will be the only two people aware of this." Pepper spoke softly, ditching his strong voice from earlier. He turned at once over to Seti. "It's best that you stop being so tense, I mean you boys no harm. It'd be better not to strain your muscles unless an actual incident were to occur."

"I can't leave here without you, Pepper. Come with me." Wade said, keeping his tone calm. Pepper turned back to him, bringing his arm to his side once more.

"After everything I've said, what you've seen me do, you still don't understand?" Pepper inquired, gritting his teeth together. "I know what your organization does to people, I know what you do to people, Wade. I've seen it with my own eye."

"Come with us, Pepper. I can talk to her." Wade offered, lifting his head up again. "No matter what, we can't leave here without you." Pepper glanced at him.

"Drop that already, you sound like a whiny dog." Pepper said. "I'm not giving up on this. Even if you do talk to her, and your angel friend doesn't send me down under, I'm still going to be unable to use my powers. I've been here long enough to know that. So for heaven's sake Wade, Seti, drop it and leave me alone. Those people are happy, I'm helping them." Pepper explained.

"No."

Pepper went silent, the word echoed in his mind, ricocheting off of it's every corner. It dripped through it's innermost crevices and stabbed itself into his brain. His breathing halted. "I see now... There's no way to talk reason into you boys, is there?" He asked, staring empty eyed at Wade. Wade cocked his gun.

"On the ground. Now." He demanded. Pepper stood tall. During this, Seti felt a strange feeling in his chest. It was a strange ticklish, crawling sensation, but it was warm and soft. He clutched his chest, and he felt his heart skipping a beat, his blood pumping and warming up. He looked over to Wade, trying to quickly see if he was showing the same symptoms. Instead, Wade barked gruffly at Pepper to get down once more. For Seti, time itself seemed to be in slow motion as he looked at Wade. He examined him like a crazed bird watcher. In a rush of emotions, Seti leaped onto Wade, holding him tightly. Wade fell on the ground and fired his shot off in the air. Taking advantage of this, Pepper leaped on top of the filing cabinet to his right, snatching a rapier put on display. He slashed it to his side in the air, and then prepared it's position as he lunged at Wade, preparing to stab him in the throat. Seeing him, Wade threw up his shield, snapping Seti's arm out of place and blocking the strike. Pepper clutched onto the sword as he tumbled down behind the two men. Wade shot up, and put the shield away. Seti lay on the ground, the feeling relieved, though now in pain. "Sorry." Wade said, running up to Pepper with his gun in hand. Right as he got close, Pepper stabbed the rapier through Wade's thigh, making him fire off a round onto the floor, and then collapse over the veteran. The blade slid through the rest of Wade's leg, tearing straight through his hamstring.

Pepper heaved Wade's body off of his, making him lay face up. He yanked the sword out of the officer's leg and walked over to the disabled Seti, who had just stood up. Seti grabbed his arm, and then painfully shot it back into place. He grunted and jerked forward. Allowing an opening to be made for Pepper. Suddenly, the blade began to peel apart through the middle, Seti looking up with a grin. He roundhouse kicked the old man, building up enough momentum to spin around and hook him across the face. Pepper's feet kicked up in a frenzy, trying to keep himself upright. Teetering backwards, he gave himself another chance to strike, ducking down below the assassin's next punch and jabbing his chest. Using his recoil, Pepper gave Seti an uppercut. Following this, the veteran jabbed him in the chest again, causing Seti to spit up blood onto Pepper's face and helmet. He fell to the ground.

BANG!

Wade, struggling to stand, and gritting his teeth in pain, had fired a shot into Pepper's right shoulder. "Eye for an eye, John." He remarked, limping towards him. Pepper chuckled, backing up towards the window.

"I see your leg is paining you?" He asked, spreading out his arms.

"It's none of your business." Wade said, limping slower and cocking the gun.

"Oh please, I'll help you ease it." Pepper said, snapping his fingers.

Suddenly, Wade's chest seemed to cave in on itself, and his blood began pumping. He twitched, and started to breath heavier. In an rush of pure adrenaline, Wade tackled Pepper, shattering the window and sending the two men rolling around in a grassy garden of shattered glass. Wade stood up, infuriated to such a degree that the numerous stab wounds were nothing more then a nuisance to him. Pepper shrieked out in pain, looking up to reveal a shard of glass in his eye. Suddenly, Wade's feeling of fury was swiped away from him and instead replaced with a feeling of overwhelming guilt. He became helpless, his muscles loosening, as he dropped to the earth. He was helpless. Pepper stood up, grunting in pain, and bent over to pick up Wade's gun. He put it against his head.

"All of this happened because you couldn't just leave me be. You are a man without love, Wade Evans. A man without love!" Pepper screamed, hitting Wade across the face with the gun. Wade didn't even react. "There's no chance for either of us now. Once I'm done here, I'll be as good as dead." Pepper looked to the side, abashedly. "Oh God... What have I done..." He dropped the gun and took away the feeling of guilt from Wade. Wade stood up, putting his hand on Pepper's shoulder. The veteran hung his head.

"Are you going to come with us now?" Wade asked with forgiveness. Pepper choked.

"I'm sorry, I was mistaken to call you a man without love." Pepper said, stepping backwards, Wade's hands slipping off of his. Wade chuckled.

"No, I think you were right." He said, closing his eyes. "We're all missing something here." He shook his head. Pepper turned to look at him. Slowly, the veteran and Wade turned their head to the start of a pink and orange sky. The bright ball of light was setting in the horizon, turning everything into a light show of brilliance. Pepper turned back to him.

"Have any idea what Hell is like?" He asked. Wade shrugged. Pepper looked back out into the sun. "You know, it seems like this is how the afterlife was meant to work." Wade refocused his gaze on him. In the building behind them, Seti watched from the shattered window. "How much of immortality can we really take? How much of it can we withstand before becoming mad?" Wade found it hard to speak. Instead he turned his head to the sun, watching the several skyscrapers slice through it, as it shimmered lower and lower to the Earth. Seti hopped out of the window, walking through the softly swaying grass.

"So, is he coming with us?" He asked, looking skeptically at Pepper.

"Yeah, he is." Wade replied, walking over to Pepper, Seti following. Wade knelt down behind the veteran, cuffing his hands as he looked out at the setting sun.

"I suppose," Pepper began. "I've had this coming for a long time now. The many men I've killed..." He shunned away from the sun and looked at Seti. "I'm sorry." He said to him. Seti nodded his head. Wade stood up, finished with cuffing Pepper. "Shall we go then?"

"Seti, you want to drive?" Wade asked, patting Pepper on the back to get him walking.

"Why not." Seti responded.

Their shadows lurked across the bright grass, leading them into the darkened parking lot. Placing in the keys, the car started, and drove off down the street.

Cast

 * Wade Evans
 * Rochelle
 * Joshua Plant
 * Seti Aziza Mostafa
 * John Pepper