He spoke up again, shouting at me, "This shit ain't about you! Just fuck off out of here."
I nodded petulantly to the men behind him and said, "It doesn't seem to involve her either, but here we are anyway."
He swung at me, letting go of the girl and flinging a wild haymaker with his right hand as hard as he could. It probably could've knocked me out or seriously injured me if it had connected. Unfortunately, he was inebriated and slow, and his swing was telegraphed and easily foreseen. I took a step back, and his fist passed through the air where my head was located a moment prior.
I hadn't foreseen that he would immediately follow his wild hook with a left jab. He had stepped forward with his previous strike, and the jab connected with my cheek. I had moved my head mostly out of the way, but he had made contact. He stepped back and pulled his hands up to guard his face, but he was billowing as if we were in a hurricane, rocking back and forth.
That's when I felt it. I felt something else in my head, moving through my thoughts like a shark darting through the water in search of prey. It was cold, brutal, and unforgiving. The pressure I felt building for the last month came to its zenith as this presence came to the forefront of my thoughts.
It announced into my mind, "I WILL HELP."
I then felt my entire body recede away from my control, the feeling of my limbs becoming numb and the pain in my face completely fading. I couldn't move my limbs anymore. I watched this parasite in my head take over my body and manipulate my appendages how it saw fit. I was a mere spectator in a fight in which my body participated. I found that I wasn't at all concerned or scared with what was happening, despite the logical part of my mind saying that this shouldn't be possible and that I should be freaking out. I also noticed that the pressure I had assumed was nerves had completely gone. I was incredibly relaxed -- and the only possible explanation was outside influence.
The man swung his fists at my head again. No longer under my command, I was momentarily concerned until my body began moving on its own. The fight continued like this, completely surreal and unexplainable to me. The girl was frozen in terror against the wall, oblivious to the scuffle. One of the suited men stepped into the entrance of the alley I had come from and stood there. The other walked to the other end of the passage, took out a phone, and began calling someone.
I watched through my own eyes as my body fought another man. I hadn't been in any real fights before, but the presence that had taken over my body certainly knew what to do. It was incredibly passive and defensive, letting the other man attack constantly. Almost every strike was cleanly avoided, while the handful that landed were either glancing blows that barely connected or were blocked by my arm from connecting with their intended target.
Astoundingly, the places where I had been struck didn't hurt. They stung on the initial contact, but the pain almost instantaneously faded from my perception. I was also confused because, at several points, even I could tell that the man had left himself wide open to counters, but the thing controlling my body never took them. I also noticed that my limbs never felt heavy, as I had anticipated. I wasn't becoming fatigued from the minute of brawling, but the same could not be said about the man who had swung at me.
Eventually, even in his inebriated and emotional state, he came to the obvious conclusion: I was toying with him, elongating the fight for some reason. That's what I also saw, only I didn't understand why the alien in my mind was doing it. It wasn't attacking him, but it easily avoided everything thrown at it without tiring like the other man. When he came to this conclusion, I could smell the fear grow and fill the alley. It was already covered in the scent, as the girl had been absolutely petrified in terror, but now his fear was competing with hers. The combination threatened to overwhelm my senses. Hints of concern from the two suits melded in the noxious mixture.
While I contemplated how weird it was that I could smell their fear, the man turned and ran away. I guess it made some sense -- I was here elongating the fight for some reason, and he wasn't going to stick around to find out. He was only putting on a show about getting the money from the girl and knew that there was nothing good for him here. He ran out the way I had entered the alley, and the suited man there let him pass with a sigh. They must've known where he would go and could get their money later. It wasn't my problem, anyways.
I watched him flee into the night and then turned to the girl. She still exuded fear, even though the man who had been screaming about something she didn't understand had left. It was almost overpowering in its toxicity. She kneeled on the ground while I was fighting, wrapped her arms around her knees, and was holding and gently rocking herself. It was awful to see someone in this amount of pain. Her condition left me somewhat conflicted with my decision to allow the asshole to flee unhindered magnanimously. Although to be fair, it wasn't entirely my decision. What a mess.
As I looked at her, I felt the presence return control of my body. It was a unique experience, suddenly being able to perceive your aching limbs again after a minute of nothingness. I'm sure that I stumbled as I took my next steps. The presence didn't fully recede, remaining against the surface of my mind to ask a question.
"WHAT OF HER? WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO WITH HER?"
That was a very confusing way to frame that question. I wasn't sure I had any authority to do anything with her. I suppose I was going to try and comfort her, draw her out of the immediate shell she was hiding in, and see what she needed to get out of this mess. If she was amenable to that at all. It wouldn't be unreasonable for her to reject my offer out of hand entirely.