Hard to Hate You // Michael Langdon

Part XIX - Amends

"A deal's a deal," Michael states from his seat at his desk.

"It was an unfair deal!" I protest as I pace in front of his desk.  "We settled on ending the competition at dinner, and it was not yet dinner when you declared that the competition was over!"

He smirks.  "Well, it was time for dinner.  Everyone happened to be so distracted by the mess that they forgot about dinner."

"I had a plan," I lie, knowing that I did not have a plan.  "You fucked it up."

He shrugs.  "All is fair.  It wasn't stated in the rules that I can't ruin your plan."

"I can't believe you," I sigh as I turn away from him to look around the office.  "This is absolutely ridiculous."

"You're just annoyed that you lost," he states condescendingly.  "I believe another term for that is sore loser."

"And you manipulated the rules so that you would win," I retort.  "I believe another term for that is cheater."

He rolls his eyes.  "Nevertheless, there's no going back, which means it's time for us to figure out how we're going to kill the witches."

I cross my arms.  "I don't want to kill Mallory.  She's nice enough."

"You're just making excuses," he scoffs.  "I know you don't give a damn about that girl."

"Okay, so maybe I don't," I roll my eyes.  "I'm still having trouble figuring out what's next, saying that we do somehow defeat the witches and get out of this alive."

"Simple.  We go to the Sanctuary."

"And do what?  Stare at each other all day?  We barely tolerate each other as it is."

"I'm sure we can find something to do," he suggests with a smirk.

"Don't make me slap that smug look off your face," I roll my eyes.

He chuckles as he stands up.  "Look, we can do whatever you want to do after we kill the witches.  Nuclear fallout doesn't affect either of us.  We can go explore the world - or what's left of it."

"And run into feral cannibals everywhere?  I don't think so."

"Way to be pessimistic," he sighs.

"Not that it matters, considering that we'll be dead in two days."

"For the last time, the witches aren't going to defeat us!"

"Yes, they are!  Last time I checked, they had a plan; we did not, and we still don't!"

"Okay, fine," he sighs defeatedly, holding his arms out.  "I have a plan."

"Oh, really?" I ask sarcastically.  "Enlighten me."

"We can both read minds.  Maybe me better than you-"

"Doubt it."

"-but it works all the same.  We can't read the mind of the Supreme, which is Cordelia Goode, but I'm sure there'll be witches besides her.  We'll read their minds, figure out their plan, and stop it."

"So this plan entirely relies on our ability to read their minds?"

He shrugs.  "I suppose."

"So if the witches somehow figured out a way to block our mind-reading, we're fucked?"

"Oh, come on, have some faith."

"Is this really your best plan?  I was expecting better by now."