Henry was going down a dark alley, the borrowed uniform in a bag under his arm. Like a good Guardian, he used a different path each time. Except when he didn't, just to throw off possible tails. He didn't like this particular place because it was akin to a rathole, but here he was all the same.

West watched Henry walking into the alley and decided the time was right. Reaching out with threads of Mind, he wove them around Henry, even as he let his light-bending Invisibility spell drop. After he had snared him in the Telepathic Control, West forced Henry to shake like a epileptic, dropping the bag. Just like Ryan. He forced him to kneel, and West pulled out his Sig as he approached, and put it to his head. "Any last words?" he asked Henry, even as he held him immobile with his spell.

Henry gasps as the spell makes him lose control of himself, and he shakes uncomfortably. He takes his breaths in gasps inbetween shakings. At West's urging, Henry manages to say, through painfully gritted teeth. "Only... three... Why?" He'd have said something longer, but this was, well, torture, and he wanted the other guy monologuing. His mind starts going through the list of things he could do to get out of this. They're all risky, but risk came with the job.

"Because you deserve to die," West answered, as he put a bullet through Henry's collarbone tissue.

Henry screams incoherently when the bullet hits, flattening itself against his skull and sending him to the pavement. Unable to break his fall, the asphalt scrapes his arm and head. "Not giving a chance?,"Henry gasps painfully. "Just execute, is that it?" He channels a few threads of Life into himself, to heal that wound as fast as he can.

West felt Henry fulfill the Counterspell's condition as it left West's pattern and tore Henry's Life spell apart. West leaned over him and put the barrel of his gun ot Henry's head, pressing it against the concrete. "Guardians protect Sleepers," West said. "That boy didn't deserve to die just for being curious about a book. Atropos didn't think so, either. We'll find out what she thinks of you." West took his gun and moved it to Henry's other clavicular area, and pulled the trigger.

Henry screams once more as the bullet goes straight through his shoulder, punching through bone in the process. His perception gets hazy through the pain, but he manages to gasp. "He was getting close." Henry takes another breath. Damn, it hurts. "I gave him a chance, he didn't take it. The Veil is more important than anyone's safety."

"That's why we're taught to erase memories," West said, standing up and holstering his weapon. "Now we'll find out if the Fates consider you worthy of life. If you try to Heal yourself again, I'll finish the job. Do you understand?"

Henry coughs, a hacking sound that can't be good. "Crystal clear." What in the world does this whackjob have in mind? Henry would have argued that altering memories is temporary and crude at best, but you don't argue with someone who's shown you a flush when all you're sporting is a pair.

"Don't ever go Lone Ranger without the Consilium's approval again," West said, and used Forces to bend light around him, disappearing.

Henry watches West disappear as impassively as he can, considering the pain. He goes through a 30-second breathing exercise before standing, slowly, not using the punctured shoulder, and still grimacing all the way. Once upright, he pokes at his two injuries, and instantly regrets it. He looks around, and utters, "Bastard," as he starts hobbling on his way. He'd put more ressources to getting revenge right now, but this is not the time. He instead concentrates on getting home.