[IC] Those That Remain Silenced

[TheWendil]

---

The world has indefinitely moved on. Magic and fables are but a thing of the past, mere child’s renditions to explain the primordial chaos that governed the world’s darker times. In the present day, the shining light of technology bled forward a path to new ideas and human intuition.

Of course, all of this was known to the residents of the present. It was night, undeniably night. Citizens, officials, and residents of all different backgrounds and statures would soon be heading towards their homes and loved ones. At least, that’s the objective most people would be accomplishing on this night.

The air was just a little colder, the sky just a little darker than usual. Those working on the police force that served as the front lines for the people’s grand Yggdrasil Unit would currently find themselves checking into yet another stale night in Genesis City. Rumors of a masked assassin running around like some sort of mad man were of course the main media of gossip tonight, but that was all they were surely. Mere stories to scare the children into behaving.

And then there were those who practiced less…. pleasant implications in the face of the law. To the Behemoth, and more specifically the Guilty Kings, they held the exact same thoughts for a night like this. No strife, no conflict abound, only a fresh night that just seemed a little chillier. Nothing to be too concerned about this so called Silencer fellow, right?

One individual in particular cared naught for the city or its residents. Only one goal played in their minds and that was the bitter addiction of revenge. Revenge and the desire to cut down her enemy so she may finally rest in deserved solace.

Three separate beings leading three separate lives. How ironic it seemed, that their story, their fate, would become intertwined in the madness that was to so follow suit.

All to be ignited by the actions of a single bullet.

Perched on a high building very close to the police headquarters, a robed figure seemingly materialized from thin air. The glow of his crimson eyes was the only light present, reflecting the polished metal of his hellish mask.

Shifting his body, the figure produced a rifle from within his coat and squatted to take better aim. The reticule of the gun soon focused on none other than Ruby Atlanta from within the building.

He would not fire until she left or until her shift had ended. He had all the time in the world and he was quite willing to go to such extremes; better to kill her directly in front of the police station to spread confusion and chaos.

And so the Corpse Collector waited. Waited to fulfill his mad vendetta against the world.

[datadogie]

"If I hadn't, a lot of us would be injured or dead."
"I understand that, however you still had to follow orders..."
"And I did. The orders were to shoot if we felt in danger."
"You did well, Ruby."
"Did I, though?"
Ruby's superior nodded, and the woman let out a sigh of relief.
"I feel like I didn't, sir." She says without waiting for an answer.
"You did, Ruby." He paused. "Go out on patrol along the streets, as usual. This meeting is over."
Ruby nods. "Yes sir." She says, standing up.

Ruby walks through the building, sighing. "I swear I was going to get in trouble for that." She says, pushing the button for the elevator. She tapped her foot, looking around the very clean hallway that felt strangely empty. The only thing that she could see in the hallway was a small robot that was on four small legs. It was carrying a large load of small boxes that had many different labels on them. For a few moments, she began to think about what was inside of the boxes, but her thoughts were interrupted by a ding. She turned around, and saw that the elevator had opened. She strolled into the empty, large elevator, and sat down on one of the sides.

Soft piano music began as the elevator doors slid closed, and the elevator began to descend to the ground floor. When the doors finally slid open, she walked out of the elevator and began to head to the front of the building, shyly smiling to herself. She liked her job, even if she got upset or angry at it sometimes. She nodded to the person at reception, and then walked out. She turned and began to walk to the garage to find her police vehicle. She wondered where her partner was, or if he was already there, waiting for her.

[tatszico]

"C'mon man, let's get outta here. We're too close to those pigs in blue. Can't you pick a better place to tag, for Christ's sake?" A tall, thin man groaned as he shivered through his disheveled jacket, rubbing his hands together. His eyes darted around nervously, lips pursed in a worried line. In the distance, sirens blared out as the dogs of the Yggdrasil began to hunt their first pray of the night. The man paled, snapping his head towards the direction of the commotion.

Kevin Sinnet grinned, shaking his head as he slapped a small, white square of a sticker against the cold concrete wall of the building before them. He glanced over his shoulder at his partner who was nearly shitting his pants, his eyes growing wider as the sirens approached them. Kevin snorted in amusement before turning back to his work. Raising a hand, the gangster began to trace complex patterns in midair, his slender fingers dancing gracefully with the cold breeze that accompanied the two men on this particular night within the confines of this lonesome alleyway

"Damn, Aidan. If I'd known how much of a baby you were, I'd bring Buccha instead. Why all the fuss?" Kevin laughed, shaking his head, but kept his focus on the space in front of him, his hands swirling through the empty void right before the white sticker he had placed. "They're not gonna come here. We're surrounded on all sides by these old-ass buildings - there's no way they can see us from the streets, let alone from their own station. Darkness is our shield, my friend, as our souls are black themselves. We're pretty much chameleons out here."

Kevin glanced over his shoulder once more, blue eyes twinkling with childish delight as the siren's approached them. Just as the blaring sound peaked to it's loudest, it screamed past them before slowly fading away again back into the distance. The man tilted his head with a smug look on his face as Aidan slowly relaxed, releasing a shuddered breathe. Though obviously shaken, he managed a sincere and shameful smile.

"Sorry bro. You know how I get when we're right on their turf. The dogs seem to pick on me the most, nowadays." Aidan shook his head, slumping his lanky body against the cold, hard wall, adjacent to where Kevin was drawing. From within his thick coat, the man produced a pack of cigarettes and an old fashioned Zippo lighter. "Damn. Almost wetting myself has made me pretty hungry. You almost done?" The dark of the night retreated momentarily as the lighter flared, bringing to life an ember that mingled smoke with the sea of shadows.

Kevin smirked as his friend slowly exhaled the poisonous vapors, not even bothering to glance in his direction. Instead, with a few strokes and twist of his index finger through the chilly air, Kevin completed his work. "All done." The man gave a small yawn, turning away from the building and stretched heartily before shoving his cold hands within the comforting pockets of his black jacket. "I know a great place to eat, if you're hungry. Let's go." Kevin began to walk away, his slender frame nonchalantly navigating through the dark. Aidan gunted, smoke billowing from his nose as he followed suit. As he pushed himself off the wall, however, the tall man slapped his palm against the white sticker that Kevin had placed and drew in front.

All of a sudden, the square patch glowed with a soft, white light, slowly getting brighter as the two men walked away. From within the center, yellow and purple light began to emerge in the form of lines, and they began to trace the pattern in which Kevin had demonstrated earlier, the brilliant streams of light intermingling with each other against the gray of the concrete canvas. Soon enough, an image began to define itself in a glowing radiance that broke the shadows - a purple, horned-skull adorned with a crooked, golden crown.

The emblem of the Guilty Kings, etched onto the building by the method of neurotagging - the process in which an artist visualizes his creation, and is brought to life by neurotechnology in the form of a small, white sticker. Despite emitting a brilliant light, the symbol itself stood out to be ominous and malicious, an abstract demon that claimed that particular territory as it's own.

[TheWendil]

The figure in black jumped from one patch of shadow to the next, silence covering the sounds of her motions. Jumping soon turned into sprinting as she let her eyes search the night for her intended target. It had taken some time tracking him all the way here in Genesis City, but perhaps she had gotten lucky?

Who could say for sure?

Slinking in an alleyway, Danelle watched the bustling roads become alit with the lights of cars and small hover craft. Genesis City was one of the more larger complexes of the Yggdrasil Unit, though the Capital was a little more bulkier and more secure than just this. Glancing over at the police station that was bright enough to be a damn beacon for the rest of the world, the girl narrowed her eyes.

Yes, the Capital was much more secure than this place. Did the police even do their job right here? She had passed by several marked territories, no doubt created by a gang of some sort or maybe perhaps a crime syndicate. Whatever the case, Danelle did not seek to cause public strife on her mission. That being said, she wouldn’t dare hesitate to cut down anyone in her path.

Scanning the area further, she raised her eyes to the rooftops above for any high leverage. A gleam of crimson caught her gaze and she turned in the direction of….

Her heart nearly stopped on itself and her blood ran cold. There…there he was. She had familiarized her memory with that dark, flowing shape, like moving tar in the ocean. He sat there now, rifle in hand and aiming straight for…so that was it then.

Another hunt.

Gritting her teeth, Danelle took her pistol into her hand and aimed carefully at the unsuspecting figure.

“Come and face me you bastard,” she hissed lowly before firing off a single electrical round into the night air.

On the building ledge, the Silencer focused his scopes on Ruby’s moving form. It was thus this precise attention that served to fail in him reading the trajectory of the bullet coming from his side.

A crackle was heard much too late, and he prematurely fired his gun a good inch away from Ruby as the ground beneath his feet began to light up with electricity. Saying nothing, he directed his masked face in the direction of his own bullet. The shell would no doubt land somewhere near Ruby within the building.

And then she would know.

[datadogie]

Ruby was about to open her mouth to speak to herself, when she heard a distant crack and a bullet barely missed her. She quickly drew her weapon, and extended it, looking around. Her feet reflectively turned her around and ran her back inside of the building. "Someone just took a shot at me!" She shouts, taking cover. She was breathing heavily, terrified. She peeks her head over the cover; an empty desk at the door, and then pops it back down. Several men pulled out pistols and ran outside.

Ruby remained where she was, too terrified to come out of cover. "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god." She closes her eyes and tears spill down from them. "I-I can't move. I can't move. Am I hit?" She takes a quick look over her body, and discovers that she is fine. However, she had been shot at, and was frozen in fear.

[TheWendil]

Not at all unnerved by the electricity now crackling at his feet, the masked form of the Silencer leapt from his position in the building and plummeted towards the earth below. A loud rumble that shook the ground signaled his impact and he raced across the street towards the police station.

By now, any passing pedestrians were fleeing the scene and some authorities were bold enough to try and shoot down the mysterious attacker quickly approaching them. Without a word, the Silencer allowed the bullets to meet his rushing form, his body passing through the onslaught much to the cop’s surprise. He continued his chase as he phased into the walls of the station until he was now inside the main building.

Reaching to his hip, the masked man brought forward a four-barreled revolver that was almost fitted to the entirety of his fist. The Death Penalty yearned for bloodshed tonight.

“Get back here!”

Whatever remnants of the police remained were suddenly startled by a new presence and turned to their right. From about a couple of hundred yards, Danelle raced towards the station with a gleam of determination present in her own eyes. Raising her black handgun, she waved it around threateningly, all the while passing by a certain restaurant that was to be used by others in this sad little tale.

“Move it or I start shooting!”

[tatszico]

Two men emerged from the warmth and comfort of the quaint establishment, stomachs full of food and burning of sweet liquor. Aiden hiccuped happily as he swayed towards the outside, flustered face unaffected by the harsh coldness that greeted them. Kevin was touched with a slight pink himself, though he had the dignity to stay a little bit more sober. The young man glanced around his shoulders as he held the door open, reaching up to fix his beanie one last time before departing back into the shadows that was him home.

"Thanks again for the food, old man. You know how to treat us bad kids," Kevin grinned, eyes alight with a charming tease. An older gentleman behind the counter, thick and built despite his apparent age and graying hair, scowled at them with an absurd intensity. However, one could notice a warm twinkle in his eyes, and after glaring at them harshly for a few seconds, cracked a smile and waved them off. "Go die in a ditch somewhere, you little pieces of shit." Pops and the Guilty Kings go way back, as he was an ex-member of Behemoth himself.

Kevin smiled, nodding in thanks again, before pushing Aiden roughly out the door. "Alright, baby boy. Time to get you home before you spew all over these nice folks," he shouted out loud, uncaring that he may have startled a few passerbys.

That was when the screaming happened. All of a sudden, a commotion exploded along the streets, the screaming had triggered panic within the crowds. It took Kevin a full second to realize that the uproar wasn't his fault this time, and the man was jolted with alertness as a familiar, dreadful cracking filled the cruel, chilly air...

Gun shots.

The man's head snapped left in right, icy eyes flaring with a dangerous glint as his true sense showed himself - a scarred beast willing to kill in order to survive. A dead man, grasping at his fleeting soul, wanting the chance to live yet again. Years of instincts snapped at his muscles, causing him to tense with such tautness that the soft blow of the cold wind was enough to make him spring with brutal energy. Even Aiden, who was hammered out of his mind, burned with an intensity as he crouched low to the ground, fierce eyes clear as ever as he surveyed the surrounding for the threat that may come to his King and their crown.

"There!" The crouching man shouted, drawing out a hidden gun holstered at his waist. "To our left, at 8'oclock!"

Even as Aiden cocked his gun, Kevin did not react. Even as he could feel his subordinate tense up with the will to shoot, the young man did not bat an eye. Instead, as the deathly tautness of his muscles unraveled all at once in an explosive force, Kevin's body...disappeared.

Not even the wind could follow him as he directed his will at his target. In that split moment, Kevin blinked, ripping his whole form through space itself. And when he reappeared like the mirage of the Reaper himself, the young man did not waste that micro of a second to act, the intensity of his bloodlust evident in his soul as he grabbed for the predator's gun.

"WHAAAAAT THE HEEEELL," Kevin screamed, battlespirit soaring towards the black sky along with some of his spittle, "DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING YOUUUU......LITTLE......girl..?" The young man froze with surprise, fist over his head in mid-punch as he stared eye-to-eye with this young babe that he had clutched by the arm.

[TheWendil]

Danelle forced her feet to skid her body into a full stop, a sudden weight being applied to her left hand. Blinking, she followed the arm that held her to match up with a distinct male shape. Where the hell had he come from? For a moment the two merely stood there, the male letting out some weird bellow into the air that may have been a battle cry.

"WHAAAAAT THE HEEEELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING YOUUUU......LITTLE......girl..?"

At that, the dark-haired girl narrowed her eyes. With a jerking motion, she ripped her hand free from the boy’s hard grip and jumped back. He had exuded a psychic ability that apparently made him teleport. That or maybe it just made him spawn in front of people who really needed to be somewhere and thus serve to generally annoy and irritate. Regardless, Danelle figured that her gun alone would do nothing in this potential fight.

Putting it into the holster on her hip, she brought out a small black cylinder from her right. Pointing it out, a single button on the side activated a purple beam of static plasma and she held the energy sword out in front of her in an intimidating manner.

This boy had stopped her, so obviously he was only going to hinder her goal. And the more time she wasted here, the more distance apart that masked bastard was getting.

“Out of my way,” she warned. “Unless you like getting your ass kicked by girls you suddenly scare the shit out of.”