My Servant Is An Elf Knight From Another World

904  A Losing Choice

They laughed at Michael.

Laughed because they clearly weren't threatened by it. Laughed as if they knew he didn't mean it. Or perhaps they did - the way their mockery rang aloud and above the storm.

"Go ahead, call 'em," The tall man said, still chuckling inaudibly behind a taunting smirk. "Hear that, Rudy? We're gonna go now. Gonna leave here soaking, pissed, and most importantly, empty-handed. If that's just fine with you, then…"

They began turning around, swinging backward with a lingering leer, but they took their time, biding it, making only two steps of progress out the exit before it finally happened.

"No, no, no, w-wait, wait!"

Rudy rushed past Michael. The impulsive, frantic movement of an individual pushed far past the brink, willingly yet unwittingly ready to go to any lengths in an attempt to fix everything.

"I-I didn't say anything about…! Michael was just…! No, listen - listen, I'll pay what I owe, I promise! By tonight! You'll still get it tonight!"

It was clear to anyone that Rudy's words held no actual merit to anything. Just more desperation, fear… the kind so easily manipulated. The tallest of three glanced back at him, a hint of malign glee surfacing through his dubious gaze.

"You're saying you have the money now? All this time?"

Rudy blinked twice, a sliver of sense returning to him. "Well, no, b-but I mean - "

"So you're talking shit."

"I'm not! I'm saying that - "

"What, that we're still gonna proceed as planned?" The man probed further, his brows rising behind wet fringes. "Sure Michael here's gonna let us walk out of here with all the stuff? Can you guarantee that?"

"Y-Yes!" Rudy blurted out immediately. "I'll make - !"

"No, I won't," Michael cut in, sounding much more certain.

"No, no, he will - Michael please!" Rudy whirled around in an instant, anger, the helpless sort crackling in his voice. "I promise I'll pay! If it takes years, if it takes decades - my whole life - I don't care! Just let me take care of this first! I need this to go away! Do you understand? Tell me you understand!"

"They're not going to leave you alone," Michael stated bluntly. "Not when you still have so much left to give, left to lose. I'm warning you now, don't let them take away what you still have here."

"Look, I'd rather not waste words, waste time," The tall man scoffed impatiently. "I'm spilling, I'm hungry - what's it gonna be, Rudy? Are we gonna walk? Is Michael gonna stand aside? Or would you rather we do the convincing for you? I don't mind. We don't mind."

"No, wait! You don't have to do that!" sputtered Rudy anxiously. "Michael's just…! I just need - !"

"Leave now," Michael repeated, ignoring Rudy's looks, ignoring all risks, and stepping before the trio once again. "Otherwise, I will call the police. The phone's just in the office. This is your last warning, if not - "

Something snapped loudly amidst the roll of thunder.

All Michael had intended from the beginning was to diffuse, de-escalate. But admittedly, he had never really been good at either. Still, he had to try, because typically, normally, that's what anyone would rightfully do.

Nevertheless, as much as you might try your best, remaining firm, and unyielding, it was still never a guaranteed success. And Michael knew that more than most.

When it came to peace, the peace he knew, the peace he forged. Ultimately, It wasn't words he used to achieve it. Peace wasn't something agreed upon, but something that must be established.

Michael sensed the tall man's fist flying toward him before he even moved a single muscle. He saw the flex in his arm, every callus engraved in his bare knuckles. The most sensible thing for him to do would be to dodge out of the way.

It would certainly be the most considerate thing he could do.

But instead, Michael remained in place, deciding in that fraction of a second, that a lesson needed to be taught.

Peace needed to be instilled.

Then it happened. In a blur of movement, a gust of whipping wind, the tall man's fist made contact with Michael's face, and in a crackling unison, all his fingers shattered at the impact.

"F-FUCK! SHIT!"

The tall man let out an uncharacteristic yelp, instantly pulling back, clutching his broken hand, staggering, and colliding into his bewildered companions as he did.

"You can still leave, I'm giving you that choice," Michael said unfazed and unaffected. "If you still choose not to, just remember, that's your choice."

Alas, nobody seemed to have heard him, and the second of the three came rushing in swinging at him, roaring in defiance. It was wild, unrefined, and blindly thrown without thought.

Michael stepped an inch to the left, and grabbed his arm, twisting it, twisting him, briefly lifting the man off the ground in a violent fling, sending him careening hard against a wall.

The third one charged forward barely a moment after. He was far more skilled, nimble, throwing kicks and punches most of which Michael kindly left unpunished.

He threw another punch which too whiffed its target, but before he had the chance to withdraw his hand, Michael gripped his wrist and in one swift motion, flipped him over his shoulder and slammed him onto the flooring with a thud like thunder.

"Michael!" He heard Rudy suddenly cry. "Behind you!"

There was a loud clanging sound, and at that moment, as the metallic ringing subsided, feeling the hard cold of Matt's wrench against the side of his head, Michael wondered if it was rust that had him react much too late. Or perhaps, he had just been far too complacent.

After all, he never really was fond of fighting. Because, among various other reasons, most of the time, he never felt like he was actually fighting.

Just slaughtering.

And right then, he still felt much the same, seeing the fear and shock tremble and quiver in the tall man's wide-open gaze.

"What?! What the fuck?!"

Michael took advantage of the man's confusion and pried loose the wrench from his other hand, kicking him to the ground where he lay sprawled, all sense of balance and composure leaving him as he struggled and failed to stand back up.

"You could have killed someone with that," Michael said, slowly walking over towards the man, wrench still swinging in his grip. "Over this? Over parts? Is that really how little life matters to you?"

"You're fucked! You're messed up!" The man tried crawling away, making very little progress against the track of grime and mud. "What the hell?! What are you?!"

"Don't worry though," Michael said, going down on one knee and raising the wrench high and firm into the air. "I assure you I don't think like you do."

Another clang rang out, followed by a harsh, rippling scream, and the man curled up in pure agony, clutching his other arm laying almost limp, almost lifeless, breathing through spit and heavy pants.

"Leave," Michael said once more, letting the wrench fall with a clatter. "I don't want to warn you all again."

Nobody said a word.

Nobody dared oppose. Not anymore.

The tall man was helped up by his two partners, recovering from their own blows and sporting their own swells and bruises.

Michael watched them slowly pass through the shutter, shambling under the rainfall, before eventually disappearing in the swirl of mist and darkness. But only after hearing the fading rumble of an engine did he finally tear his stare away.

"There," He said, grabbing hold of a mop leaning nearby against a wall. "They're gone."

Rudy could do nothing but just stare at him. Michael could feel him watching, as he mopped up the mess of footprints, as he returned the heap of tools back into the toolbox; question after question mounting in his ever-increasing bewilderment.

"They'll be back," Rudy finally spoke up, shifting his gaze outwards into the slowly subsiding storm. "I haven't paid back what I owe, they'll be back."

"They'll stop eventually," Michael replied. "I'll stop them."

"No, Michael, that doesn't fix anything!" He said, exasperated. "It'll just make things bigger, worse! It's already worse! All I had to do was pay back what I owed - but now?! I don't even know what will happen now! You attacked them, injured them…"

"I assume someone else will show up," Michael said, continuing to clean. "Someone bigger than them."

"Oh God, how did this -? Why did this -?!" Rudy swayed and buckled, his face buried deep in his palms, and his breath shaky. "Why'd you have to go and play the hero, Michael?"

Michael paused, the mop handle frozen in his clutch flung forward. "If I didn't step in, they'd have wrung you dry. You'd keep stealing, they'd keep taking. Did you want that?"

"No, of course not! But there could have been another way! You didn't have to…! I was already talking to them, I was sorting it out!"

"You were being manipulated."

"I know I didn't have a choice, alright?!" Rudy snapped. "But that was my choice to make! Maybe I'll let them take things now! Maybe I'll figure something out tomorrow! Let things be, let things lie - definitely not escalate matters! If you would have just let them go…"

"Let them steal?"

"I'd still be just another poor fucking scam victim!" He yelled from the top of his lungs. "After what happened, after what you did - what am I to them now?! What are you?! This shop! My uncle!"

Michael was silent. He didn't really have a definitive answer. Too much was still left unknown, far too many variables to consider. Rudy was right… perhaps a more passive approach would have been better, learned more, and planned better… rather than jumping the gun without knowing all the details at play beforehand.

Had he simply complied, that would have been the end of it - at least temporarily. Now, however, there was simply no way to know what would come next… the risk, the dangers… all of it out of his control.

"I know I fucked up, I know I made a mistake!" Rudy anguished. "I know this isn't the best way to fix things! But I… I was trying, alright?! I was fucking trying!"

He was glaring right at Michael, despair, tears, reflecting in the fluorescent white from above.

"And I know you were trying to help, and I know you were being a friend… and I know I should have come to you sooner, asked for help, asked anyone, but now?"

Rudy's eyes wandered around the shop, drifting, gazing, taking in every inch, every crack in the wall, every hint of imperfection, and finished with a deep breath.

"Before you warned me that I shouldn't let them take everything from me, that I still have so much to lose…"

He shook his head slowly, as his tears began to trickle down his face.

"I'm not so sure about that anymore."

Next chapter will probably, most likely be the last chapter for the Michael origin story for now. There will definitely be a continuation somewhere down the line, but I'm sure you're all itching to get back to the present and back in the comfort of each of your best girls respectively. 

I know that feeling. I feel it too. Brendanjoke