Mr. Pressley drove the truck rapidly through traffic. His knuckles were white on the steering wheel. His jaw was clenched so tight Marcus could see the muscles jumping.

 

"Are you okay son?" He asked.

 

"Yeah. Yeah. I'm getting over the shock."

 

"You stay in the car. I'll deal with Alex."

 

"No. Of course not." Marcus looked at him. "Do you have a handgun in this car?"

 

"I said I'll deal with him."

 

"You said you respected me. I won't sit in the car." Marcus was shouting now. His voice cracked with desperation.

 

John sighed. "There." He pointed. "Open the glove compartment and pull the bag behind it."

 

Marcus opened it. Pulled out the gun. Checked the ammo. Made sure the safety was off. The metal was cold in his hands. Heavy. Real.

 

Then he remembered Tyler was at home.

 

He started calling him. On the third ring Tyler picked up.

 

"What is it Marcus?"

 

"What do you mean what is it? Alex, the crazy employee, is raiding the house! How are you still asleep?"

 

"What?" A pause of a couple seconds.

 

"Tyler! Tyler! Are you there?"

 

"I took a pill. I didn't hear anything." Another pause. Marcus could hear movement. Then Tyler's voice came back, high and tight with fear. "He is actually in the common room. MARCUS HE HAS A GUN!"

 

"He didn't shoot Irene, right?"

 

"No. He seems off. Not like drunk but drugged. He is jumpy. Constantly asking questions to Irene. Making her cry."

 

"That son of a..." John's hands tightened on the wheel.

 

"Tyler, we are three minutes out and coming. Open your window. I'll come from upstairs and climb down."

 

"What?"

 

"Just do it."

 

When he closed the phone, John was looking at him. "Are you MacGyver?"

 

"John, please. I have a plan. You go in through the front door. I will come from the back."

 

"You will fall. Or Alex will shoot you."

 

Marcus was looking at him with dead serious eyes. "You don't know what I am capable of."

 

When they entered the building, Marcus rushed to his upstairs neighbor, knocking on the door rapidly.

 

"What is this?" A voice came, and an old woman opened the door. "Aren't you the downstairs kid? There is too much..."

 

"Not now Mrs. Golden. I need to..." He pushed past her.

 

"Hey! What is going on?"

 

But Marcus didn't wait for her complaints. He directly entered the room above Tyler's, opened the window, and climbed outside.

 

The night air hit his face. The city stretched below him. One wrong move and he would fall. But he had trained his body for months. Had faced things far worse than this.

 

When he saw Tyler waving from below, he gathered all his confidence and started climbing down slowly. Hand over hand. Feet finding purchase on windowsills and decorative brickwork.

 

Tyler's hand caught his left leg. He was trying to pull him inside but he was destabilizing Marcus instead. In the end Marcus's hand slipped. His back hit the window frame and he fell inside Tyler's room.

 

"Dude! I was scaling down!" Marcus hissed.

 

"I don't know!" Tyler panicked. "I was trying to help!"

 

Marcus gathered his breath. Without minding the pain in his back he readied the handgun and stepped out.

 

The common room was ahead.

 

Alex was in the middle, between Mr. Pressley and Irene. He was clearly drugged and jumpy. His movements were erratic. His eyes were wild. But his gun was pointed at Irene and his finger was on the trigger.

 

When Irene noticed Marcus, he made a shushing gesture with his hand.

 

"Alex, this is going into territory of no return." Mr. Pressley said. His voice was calm but Marcus could see his hands were shaking.

 

"I don't care." Alex's voice was raw. Broken.

 

"Let us go." Irene was crying. Her face was streaked with tears.

 

"Stop saying that you bitch!"

 

Marcus wanted to jump from behind and knock him out. But the gun was pointed at Irene. Even if he knocked Alex out, a simple reflex could pull that trigger.

 

He couldn't take that chance.

 

The only thing he could do was pull Alex's attention elsewhere.

 

"Hey." Marcus called out. "Hey you idiot."

 

Alex returned. His face was completely red. His arms were covered with self-harm scratches. Fresh blood marked his skin.

 

"What are you doing in my apartment?" Marcus stepped forward, mocking him. "Didn't I kick you out?"

 

"Look. The instigator came." Alex's gun swung toward Marcus. "You ruined everything. We had a good cycle."

 

"I know right. Shoot at cardboards. Drink from cartons and bully coworkers. What a life." Marcus took one more step.

 

"Who the fuck are you to judge me? You got kicked out for making a bomb! You are nothing! You are nobody!" Alex's craze was getting higher.

 

"So is this about envy? Or jealousy?" Marcus took another step.

 

"Shut up! Don't come closer!" He sniffed. "I don't envy you. Why would I envy a fifty-pound penniless unemployed kid?"

 

"Didn't you hear? I became a millionaire." Marcus was stalling, making Alex turn his back to John.

 

"Stop with the lies! Is that how you tricked Irene?"

 

"So this is about Irene then?" Marcus took a step to the side, making Alex completely turn behind John. "She never mentioned you."

 

"I was getting there! Finding dope for her when she needed it!"

 

"Relapsed!" Irene shouted. "I relapsed three times because of you!"

 

Alex brushed off her comments. "Our love was rocky, yeah. But it was getting started."

 

"Lies." Irene's voice was stronger now. Angry. "You are delusional. Narcissistic. A hate-ball."

 

Alex turned rapidly toward her. "SHUT UP!" He shouted, hate twisting his face.

 

But Marcus took his chance.

 

He dropped the handgun. Leaped forward. Grabbed Alex's arm and raised it toward the ceiling.

 

"JOHN! NOW!"

 

Alex pulled the trigger. BOOM. The bullet went into the ceiling. Plaster rained down.

 

John was already moving. He grabbed the laptop from the table and swung it like a club. It connected with Alex's skull with a sickening crack.

 

Alex crumpled. Unconscious.

 

The gun clattered to the floor.

 

For a long moment, no one moved.

 

Then Irene collapsed into Marcus's arms, sobbing. John stood over Alex's body, breathing hard. Tyler emerged from his room, pale and shaking.

 

"It's over." Marcus said. "It's over."

 

John was already calling the police. His voice was steady but his hands still shook.

 

Marcus held Irene close. She was trembling. But she was alive. She was safe.

 

That was all that mattered.

 

"I love you." She whispered into his chest.

 

"I love you too." He held her tighter. "I'm never letting you go."

 

Outside, sirens began to wail. Getting closer.

 

Marcus closed his eyes.

 

On another world, his counterpart was chasing a tyrant through burning woods.

 

Here, on Earth, the battle was over.

 

But the night wasn't finished yet.