At war with myself

[Eddie Amplitude]

The voices of his friends echoed in his mind. Not psychically, he was alone, not another person for miles. “Hey Eddie! Where have you been?” “I haven’t seen you in forever, what’ve you been up to?”, Eddie wished he could tell them, wished he could explain what had been rattling around in his head these last few months.

The boy grasped onto his hair, tearing several strands from their roots. “They can’t understand what it’s like…” he thought to himself. “How do you know unless you talk to somebody about it?” his own thoughts argued back.

The strain was becoming too much to bare alone, being the ‘go to’ guy when someone needed to talk, it had worn him down. “I can’t do this…” he muttered aloud, ripping the leaves off a nearby tree with his unsuppressed voice.

Nobody with guns, no organization out to get anybody, no aliens, and nobody to understand.

It was just Eddie, at war with himself.

[Eddie Amplitude]

Out again at the same desolate piece of land in Eden he always went to be alone, the conflict raged on within Eddie’s mind. Even with the most recent wave of Rikti invasions, he didn’t fight. All he did was put his headphones on to drown out the sounds of war going on beneath his feet as he flew away.

“I couldn’t have stopped it from happening. One person for the other hundred that died that day.” Eddie thought, remembering a small child he witnessed being killed by the Rikti at the start of the second invasion.

“Yes you could have!” his own thoughts retorted. He’d seen the child hiding as a lone mentalist stalked them, but Eddie was paralyzed, he couldn’t believe what he saw. The fear in their eyes as they looked to him for aid, not noticing that the alien had found their hiding spot at was preparing to launch an attack.

Eddie snapped back to reality, “I couldn’t do anything… Every time I fight someone I care about ends up dying.”

His own thoughts came back at him again, “Maybe, but they all died because they cared about you so much that they were willing to die to keep you safe.”

“Get out of my head!” he screamed to the sky to no avail.

This war would continue, but only in his mind.

(Quick thing I should mention OOC, if this story seems kinda wonky and doesn't make sense because it contradicts itself- it's meant to be that way. - Eddie)

[Eddie Amplitude]

Quad three, Lucas and Bob had left to do whatever it is they do during the day. Eddie sat at his desk, repeatedly lifting and dropping a pencil with his thoughts. There was muttering in the hallway, however the walls didn’t matter. Their thoughts were coming through clear as day, but that wasn’t what was he focusing on. Just the pencil.

Eddie was desperately trying to take his mind off of that boy, the terrified look in his eyes, the ruthless efficiency of an alien soldier.

He looked at his watch, “Four days…” he thought. It had been four days since he’d had the smallest bit of sleep. Brushing the hair out of his bloodshot eyes, Eddie looked to the door. He tried to lock it, nothing. He tried again with the same result.

Looking back to the pencil he’d been studying for several hours now, he couldn’t lift it, not with his mind.

Powerless, the same way he had felt that day. “You’re so worthless! Do I have to do everything for you?” a voice shouted at him in his thoughts. “You didn’t save him and now you can’t even save yourself!”

“Shut up! Just shut up!” he shot back, furious with himself.

“Oh, what’re you going to do, get your friends to help you? You don’t have any friends left.” I retorted. “You gave up everything you cared about when you sat there and did nothing. You are a complete waste of life.”

Eddie became paralyzed, speechless. A single tear rolled down his cheek, “You’re right…”

This battle was lost, but the war was far from over.

[Eddie Amplitude]

Eddie skipped class, nobody would miss him anyway. He hadn’t seen any of his friends for months, nobody came to see if he was ok. “Nobody…”

He’d considered just going back home, but there was nothing for him there either. “It’s just me…”

Laying on his back on the roof of the gym, the cycle continued. Eddie would come up with a solution to his problems, and he himself would shoot it down.

On and on through the day, talking himself down.

Finally, the exhaustion from six days with no sleep hit Eddie all at once.

Maybe now he could get some peace and quiet.

[Eddie Amplitude]

Trembling with fear of the war raging around him, Eddie had ducked behind a dumpster hoping not to be found by the invaders.

A fruitless venture, he heard the sound of metal footsteps coming closer. Closer. Closer.

It would have taken a miracle to save him then. He knew it.

A slight glimmer of hope came over him, he saw a boy. Slightly older than him, hovering well above the chaos.

They locked eyes at the makeshift hiding spot was ripped away by the vaguely human figure garbed in red and white. “Please help me. God, please help me.” he thought, still looking up at the distant figure.

The invader gripped its head, a twinge of pain, then black. Endless black.

---

Eddie snapped awake, gasping for air on the roof of the gymnasium. The sun had already gone down, classes were over.

He gathered himself for a few moments before quietly heading back to his room.

“I should have done something… Anything…” he thought, eyes welling up again.

“That’s right, but you didn’t.” his now constant companion replied.

There wasn’t much point in fighting it anymore. How could he? The voice inside…was him.

[Eddie Amplitude]

(Special note: This is an intentional switch from third person to first.)


“There’s no other way.” I thought, “I’ll go in and erase it, that’ll make it stop.”

“If you do, I’ll kill you. Understand?” that damn voice remarked back. It was getting more and more annoying by the day, pissing me off to the point where I didn’t care if it killed me or not. If I did this, it would shut up.

I’d said I wouldn’t do it again. I promised. It caused more trouble that it was worth. Was I wrong for even considering it? I couldn’t think of anything else at the time.

The Mind Scape, a psychic realm I can create in my own thoughts. Back in the day I used it for all sorts of things, practicing my abilities, remembering home when I got homesick, I even helped someone gain another power once. But that’s another story. I was king there. I made the rules, everything was mine. But it came with a price or two. It’s addictive, when you’re in it you don’t want to leave because of the rush of power you can have there. However, you’re not god when you’re there either. If you get hurt there, you feel phantom pain wherever you got hurt for several weeks. I shudder to think about what would happen if you died there.

“That’s it. You’re going to shut up one way or another tomorrow.” I’d thought. I needed time to prepare, it wasn’t something I could just jump right into.

“Bring it on.”

This marked a big point in my life. One way or another, I was going to finish this war that was raging inside me.

[Eddie Amplitude]

I still remember that day, the wind drove chills up my spine as I flew to my secluded spot in Eden. I called it my spot because other than Sam I never saw another human soul there. It made a perfect spot to enter the Mindscape, no thoughts other than my own floating around my head, just raw empty space.

I wore my headphones for that trip. I wasn’t listening to anything at the time, but I’ll get to that a little later.

The pond was as calm as it had ever been, not so much as a single ripple across it’s mirror like sheen.

The taunts of the other voice were getting worse by the minute, berating me, it had to know I was coming to get rid of it. It was a part of me after all.

Settling on a small rock formation in the center of the lake, I sat down, crossing my legs do I didn’t fall over while I was in.

Finger on the play button, I closed my eyes. “Here we go.” I remember thinking, It was time to do or die.

---

A slight vertigo brushed across me as I retracted my mind from the physical world and entered the Mindscape. It was normal so far, as normal as entering your own mind gets anyway. I’d decided on the warehouse as the place to take myself, plenty of heavy things to throw with the enhanced telekinesis I should have had there.

Everything was going to plan as the rows of shipping crates came into view, until I noticed I couldn’t move.

Pinned against that cold steel box drive chills up my spine. It must have been what all those people I’ve done it to felt.

I didn’t have the time to focus on that for long though, there were footsteps. Someone was coming.

Spoiler:

I apologize for taking so long to get this posted. I'll get this finished up pretty soon, I promise.

[Eddie Amplitude]

He, or rather I stepped around the corner of the container I was pinned to. An almost exact duplicate of me, save for the glasses. He…I…It strode several feet directly in front of me holding a small wooden box. Before I could muster any words, it held it at chest level and let out a deafening shriek, shredding the box to splinters that drove themselves into my skin.

I had experienced my share of pain in the past, being brutally beaten by Malta agents to name at least one, but the force of the blast combine with the flesh tearing pain of what felt like thousands of toothpicks boring into me undoubtedly topped the charts. Tiny drops of blood trickled down my body and onto the floor. Forming a small puddle at my feet.

“Welcome to my realm, worm. You can call me Trenton.” he said when he finally spoke.

“Good, now I know what to put on the tombstone…” a twinge of sarcasm managed to slip out of me.

“Let me lay it out for you. Incase you hadn’t noticed, you have no power here. I give the orders, at least until I get bored and dispose of you that is.” Trenton remarked.

I knew my ego all too well at that point, one challenge and I’d get my chance.

“We’ll see.” I muttered under my breath.

“What was that?” he shouted, hitting me with another shockwave of vocal energy.

“I said let me down and we’ll see who gives the orders. Or are you just having too much fun playing god against someone who can’t move?” I smirked, if he really was me, he’d be getting mighty annoyed about now.

Trenton smirked back, “Alright, I’m in a fairly good mood right now anyway. Ten seconds, that’s how long you have after I let you go to run before I hunt you down. GO!” Jackpot.

I fell to the ground, slipping slightly from the blood I had lost.

“Ten…”

[Eddie Amplitude]

“Nine.” Trenton’s countdown reverberated throughout the warehouse, taunting me.

“C-12, C-13, C-14, Got it!” I thought. “You may be in charge here, but I created this place. I’ve got some fun planned for you. Hopefully.”

“Eight.”

I shut the door of container C-15 with a slam. It didn’t matter if he heard it, I figured I’d be dead before tomorrow anyway. Sprinting to the back, my heart jumped when I saw it was still there. My backpack.

“Seven.”

There wasn’t enough time to see if everything was inside or to see if it all worked, so I reached in and grabbed the first thing I could.

“Six.”

A tiny leather pouch with a belt clip. I knew the second I felt it what was inside. A beat up Zippo lighter that my dad used to carry. It was so dark at the time that I couldn’t see the black smoke coming from my fingertips, but the smell of sulfur was unmistakable.

“Five.”

I slipped it onto my waist and the bag over my shoulder and bolted for the door. Something was written on it, something I didn’t put there. “We’ve got your back.” I only had a moment to read it before I heard Trenton rattle off the countdown again.

“Four.”

[Eddie Amplitude]

( Intentional switch back to third person. )

The tension mounted as Eddie rushed towards the source of the countdown, Trenton. The strain of running combined with the searing pain of his wounds drove him to a screeching halt. Leaning against one of the many containers, Eddie slid into a sitting position.

“Three.”

“Screw it…” he mumbled, straining to catch his breath. He pulled the bag off of his shoulder and began rummaging through it once more. “C’mon, where are you?” he thought, Eddie had a particular item in mind this time.

“Two.”

He couldn’t help but manage a weak smile as he pulled out the next trinket, an old plastic watch baring the image of Bryan’s favorite hero, Superior Man. Eddie slipped it on his wrist and felt a wave of energy wash over him, quite similar to how it felt to use telekinesis, but on a much larger scale.

“One. I’m coming for you, worm.” Trenton threatened.

The countdown was over, but Eddie didn’t seem worried, he had help coming from some unexpected places.

This war was going to end today, one way or another.

[Eddie Amplitude]

“Gotcha.” Trenton smugly remarked, it had taken only mere moments for him to find Eddie. Injured as he was, it wasn’t difficult for the doppelganger to track him down.

“Got the running out of your system now?” he inquired, trying not to laugh.

“You could say that.” Eddie replied, a half grin crossing his face.

“Well then, say goodnight ingrate.” Trenton replied, inhaling deeply for the finishing shot. The force of the scream was powerful enough to send the container and three rows behind it crashing into the wall and flattening them, yet Eddie hadn’t budged an inch, he remained seated in the same position as he was before the blast.

“What the hell?! I control this world, not you! You shouldn’t be alive you little piece of shit!” Trenton exclaimed, sending another rapid succession of blasts until the floor and everything surrounding Eddie became a fine powder.

Eddie snickered to himself which quickly lead to laughter. “You may be in control, but I created this place, remember?” he remarked, his image beginning to ripple as it did when Bryan used his powers to create a protective bubble around himself. “I figured you something like this might happen, so I planted a little backup.” He said, slowly lifting his arm to show the watch on his wrist. “This is Bryans watch, he never goes anywhere without it. I just made it so that when I wear it I get to use his powers for a little while, and I’ve got a whole bag of tricks, all for you.”

The teen emptied the remaining contents of his backpack on the floor in front of him. Inside was Artie’s sheath, a beat up tiger electronics game held together with bits of tape courtesy of Ves, Sam’s fingerless gloves, and a heavily scorched PDA which his uncle had on him at all times. “You know what these are.” Eddie said as he pulled the gloves on, placing the smaller items in his pockets and the sheath side of his belt, opposite his fathers lighter.

“I know what they are, but they aren’t going to keep me from killing you.”

Eddie shrugged as he pulled himself to his feet, “Well, lets find out then. Shall we?”

A menacing grin crossed Trenton’s face, “Lets go!” Looking almost confused as Eddie looked towards the ceiling and shouted.

“Hit the music!”

[Eddie Amplitude]

The floodgates had opened wide, adrenaline flowed all through Eddie allowing not only Sam’s strength, but also her tough gene to activate. From what he could remember, every other ability he was using was almost passive, merely taking concentration to use. The teen dispersed the barrier between himself and his enemy, the memories and absorbed thoughts of his friends and family rushing back into his mind.

Fighting styles, techniques, possible combinations, all returning to one central nexus. The mind of one young teen.

Eddie rushed forward against his duplicate, the music of Crush 40 setting a melodious backing for the battle.

Trenton unleashed another vocal blast against his opponent, barely slowing him down. The blow his enemy landed felt like a freight train against his sternum, sending him flying into the back wall some 50 yards away.

A thought crossed Eddie’s mind as he quickly erected a baseball sized gravity field in his hand and pumped as much of his fathers sulfuric smoke into it as he could. “Batter up!” he shouted, hurling the ball as hard as he could at Trenton. On contact it released a cloud of black smoke, sending his downed clone into a coughing fit.

“That’s, cough, cough, it? That’s your plan, to suffocate me?” he questioned, as he tried crawling out of the cloud into fresh air.

“Not really. Remember chemistry class? All smoke is just unburned fuel!” Eddie shouted, using his uncles power to ignite the cloud. Turning away so he wouldn’t see himself being burned alive, the screams so loud the building was shaking.

Without warning, the collective voices of his friends boomed in Eddie’s mind “Look out!” as a wooden container slammed into his back, sending him skidding across the floor.

“Physics class, worm.” Trenton mocked, steam still rising from his shoulders. His shouting had extinguished the flames.

Unscathed from the impact, Eddie rose to his feet again, taking another charge at Trenton. Increasing the gravity around his feet so it would be impossible for him to move out of the way. He made contact with his jaw with an almost satisfying snap, sure he had broken it. Still immobile, Trenton was helpless as Eddie jammed an elbow into the center of his back, paralyzing him as he dropped to the floor.

Eddie knelt down beside his fallen counterpart, a slight look of pity crossed his face. “It’s over…” he said, “Let me out.”

All Trenton could manage was a hateful look as he twitched on the floor.

“Don’t make me do this. It’s over now, let me out.” he pleaded.

Trenton’s mental voice echoed slightly in Eddie’s mind, “Fuck you. As long as I’m still alive you’re not leaving.”

“Alright…” Eddie managed to whisper as he covered his foes gaping mouth and began releasing another torrent of smoke directly into Trenton’s lungs. The look of hatred on his face quickly turning to fear.

Eddie turned away again to avoid seeing himself like that, but it had to be done to return his life to some semblance of normal. Moments later, the twitching subsided, and the moaning stopped. Trenton was dead.

Control of the mindscape returned to its creator within seconds. Eddie floated his backpack to his side and began returning his friends possessions from whence they came. “Thank you. All of you.”
The boy then opened the door to exit his mind in a flash of light, and there he was, back in reality. Shirt stained with blood from his nose as was normal from pushing himself so hard. No voices in the back of his mind, taunting him.

Sore all over, Eddie rose to his feet and began his walk to the hospital. Having pushed this far, there was no telling if he had caused some real damage to himself this time.


Never go to war, especially with yourself.