"28 year-old girl missing, suspected kidnapping."
The headline sent Edward into a rage, it could have been unrelated, but he couldn't help but know that this was the one, it was Nudd, and he was here for sure. Edward swung the paper through the air angrily, watching as it caught fire. That was completely unintentional, and now he couldn't actually read that paper, good thing he'd managed to catch the girl's name and her parents'.
A few minutes and a lot of convincing later, he'd managed to learn where the girl had been kidnapped, and apparently a large swarm of insects had appeared just before she disappeared into the distance. This was all Edward needed to hear, Nudd had his first victim, and Edward was sure she was already dead. Hopefully Edward could find him before he took a second.
It was useful to be as fast as he was, he had found out more information in a few minutes than the police had in hours. Including the fact that a factory had been suddenly infested by a massive nest of Killer Bees, far north of their usual range, and the workers had been evacuated pending an extermination. Edward knew that this had to be Nudd, attempting to set up a safe haven, he'd have to attack the castle before Nudd could get settled. He approached the building quickly, the windows broken out and a massive number of both bees and other flying creatures exiting and entering as was common with bee infestations.
Edward had lost to this man once, never again, he would not let him take another life. Edward clenched his fist and growled, charging towards the abandoned factory and crashing through the wall with a leap. He rolled to a stop in the center of the room and looked around at a crouch. There were spider webs everywhere and insects flew by his ears every second, but they all seemed docile, not curiously approaching him as insects usually did. The machinery was all still in place, however infested it was. At the other corner of the room was a silhouette, standing just out of the sunlight. Edward grinded his teeth and focused on him, Nudd, as he knew it was.
"Nudd!" he yelled. "Where's the girl?" Nudd was still out of the light and his actions were hard to make out, but by the tone of his quiet voice, Edward knew he understood.
"Free," he whispered out in a soft, sweet voice like a kindly grandfather. All of the insects suddenly stopped loitering and alertly moved to his position as he strode into the light. His mutilated face shining wetly in the sunlight as insects crawled in and out of his mouth, ears, and even eyes. His bloated stomach twisted and deformed with every passing second.
"Hello sir, what a pleasure to have you in my home," he said sincerely. "I see you've already heard my name, I'm not sure who from, but yes, I am Nudd Richards, humble drifter." His calm demeanor was off-putting, as was his attempt at a smile, hideous due to his lack of lips or eyelids.
He scratched his head, freeing a hornet from just under his skin.
"And to who do I owe this pleasure?"
"Cut the shit, Nudd, I know who you are, and I'm here to stop you." For good if necessary. Nudd snickered with a shake of his shoulders.
"How rude, and how utterly cliche as well, I've heard that line enough times to know that it's not coming true," he stated happily, almost gleefully. Edward took a step back and stuttered, Nudd had completely changed, he was so... nice, not like a murderer should be.
"Uhh... yeah... well, I've not had the time to come up with something better, what with my mind being filled with revenge and all that." It was if Nudd had eaten the rage right off of him, though the disgust and confusion remained, especially with the repugnant odor Nudd was letting off.
"Oh, revenge eh? By any chance do you happen to be Edward Iwan?" Edward's eyes shot open.
"So you do remember."
"How could I forget my best friend?" Edward grunted, this felt wrong, not at all like the climatic battle he had expected. "You know I was going to free you first, I was surprised to find your... friend, rather than you."
And the rage was back, even stronger than before.
"Free us? You murdered my boyfriend! You're lucky I didn't tear your arms off and feed them to you!" Nudd laughed loudly.
"Oh, you don't understand at all, do you? It's fine, fate won't have her dirty hands on you anymore after I'm done here."
He took a knife and pulled it across his wrist, sending out a veritable horde of killer bees. Edward snorted and ran right through them, grabbing Nudd by the collar and punching him so hard his jaw only remained attached by a few strings of flesh. No blood leaked out of the wound however, instead a group of insects shot out towards his face, Edward had to back away rather than deal with them.
"You've gotten stronger since we last fought. I'm impressed, fate must not wish to part with you quite yet," he complimented as a group of ants re-secured his jaw to his face. "Too bad I've made my choice."
Nudd opened his mouth and a great number of insect species poured out, spiders, wasps, scorpions, all large and presumably dangerous. Holding his knife in his left hand, Nudd gestured upwards, and all the insects that still remained in the room gathered on him, forming a cloud around his body. Edward shot around the pack and struck at Nudd, only to be surprised when he hit nothing but insects. Nudd replied by bringing his blade down on Edward's neck, yelping in shock when it failed to pierce Edward's durable skin.
Nudd leapt back, enraging Edward, who begged to whoever that would listen that this next punch connected. He charged forth, all of his focus on directing his fist, only to be surprised by a sudden searing pain in his midsection as Nudd's knife hit home. At that speed, no matter how durable his skin, the knife could pierce, not quite as deeply as on a normal human, but deep enough. Ignoring the pain, Edward threw a volley of punches, killing enough of the insects to get to Nudd's face, which he punched at least ten times, hard enough to send one of his eyes flying from its socket, still attached but barely. Nudd grabbed at Edward's arm, grabbing it tightly, but Edward slapped it away and knocked Nudd away with a speedy punch, sending him across the room with a groan.
Edward looked at Nudd, scared finally, as his eye was pulled back into the socket, and he pulled himself to his feet and was flown away by a group of flies. Edward had him on the ropes finally. He prepared himself once more, and then took off at a run.
Only for a great number of burning pains to suddenly appear on his lower right arm, a less painful one on his left. He collapsed to the ground, in an incredible amount of pain. Nudd approached, chuckling.
"I thought you would notice, I really did." He raised an arm, and a group of insects crawled their way out of Edward's sleeves. "Bullet ants, one of the most painful stings in the animal kingdom, Fat-tail scorpion, possessed of an exceptionally deadly venom, and American dog ticks, with a numbing agent in their saliva, preventing you from noticing the large number of insects crawling up your sleeves," he explained matter-of-factly.
"When I noticed that you couldn't be hurt by my knife, I knew there had to be another way, when you impaled yourself on my knife, I knew I had to use your speed against you, so I grabbed you and planted the insects on your arm, to be activated when you next took off. The ants would stop you in your tracks, and the scorpion's venom would free you, easy as that." He tittered. "I always remembered you as the smart one, though it looks like I'm your better now."
Nudd pulled on Edward's hair and planted a foot upon his back, putting painful stress on his lower spine.
"I told you I would free you."
Edward groaned in pain as the bullet ant stings horrifically burned at his arm, but with a cry, he threw his head back, cracking Nudd's cheekbones as his nose wasn't there to hit. As Nudd grabbed at his face, Edward stumbled to his feet and took off, his vision beginning to blur as his expedited metabolism quickly spread the poison through his body.
He made it to the middle of the streets before finally his legs gave way, and he collapsed, bouncing along the concrete and crashing into a parked car. He realized just how badly he had fucked this up just as he passed out.
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