EVAC vs. the Night Widow

Sometimes, certain moments in-game will speak to me, and story will write itself in my head. This is one of those moments.

To set the stage: E.VAC (illusion control/radiation emission controller) is on a Statesman Task Force. The mission is to defeat the real security chief in order to gain access to Dr. Aeon's lab. There are a lot of Arachnos forces along the way.

As far as the game was concerned, E was trading mental blows with a Night Widow. He was using Blind, Spectral Wounds, and Power Blast. She was using her smoke grenade and mind blasts. Then E's Phantom Army, finished with their previous target, came over and finished her off.

E gritted his teeth, sending darts of mind-numbing pain into the Widow's head. She sent back psionic bolts of her own, sending twitches and convulsions through the hero's body with each blast. E fired his gauntlet blasters in an attempt to knock her off balance. She lobbed another smoke grenade, trying to distract him, thinking the hero would lose concentration if he couldn't see.

"You know," she suddenly said, flicking the pin out of another grenade, "it doesn't have to be like this."

"Like what?" he growled, sending out another wave of pain, fueled by his own wounds.

"We don't have to fight," she tried to say between grunts of effort. "Arachnos could use someone like you. We're not so different. And Widows aren't exclusively women any more." She looked him up and down beneath the concealing helmet. "We could use... a man like you."

EVAC laughed hollowly as he squeezed off another shot from his wrists. "Sorry, lady," he said dryly, "but there's one big difference between me and you. Between me and the kinda psychics you guys recruit."

She raised an eyebrow, thinking she knew exactly what he was going to say. "Oh, yeah? What's that?" Heroes always say the same thing.

E chuckled and stood up straight, jerking a thumb back over his shoulder. "These guys," he said simply.

Her eyes widened in horror as four phantoms swarmed over her and tore her mind apart.