The moment Adriel stepped out of his room, a new world met his eyes.
Walls molested with nasty drawings and graffiti, and stony, chipped stairs that ran down to an abyss. Tucking his pistol in his black jacket, and his vial in another, Adriel ran down the staircase—not bothering to use the wobbly handrail in his descent. Leaning on them would most definitely cause death. At times, he had to jump because some steps were simply missing—perhaps caved in by those fancy gadgets that the richer ones liked to rub in his face.
A few minutes down, and he met a shirtless man with scruffy orange hair, skin plastered with tattoos, and a double chin. He had two ladies by his side. A busty, curvaceous one in loose clothing, and another petite, well-kept maiden of stunning beauty in regular clothes. But, unlike the other lady, she looked way too young to be an adult.
"Heya! It's the Silencer!" the man cheered, waving his hands and throwing gang signs as he made a little, subtle dance. "Look what I bagged this time yo! This one's got a nice ass!"
PA! He slapped the busty one in a red dress at her…umm..
"Hear that meeuuusic man! Look at this fair chick at me right!" He grabbed the petite lady's chin, pulling her like she was a dog. She nearly stumbled, but managed to get back to her feet.
Adriel hissed.
"Up for a two-man?" The man asked with a grin. "You can have that one! She's your size and she young too! Barely sixteen. Bet she's a virg-!"
"Kindly fuck off," Adriel said, cutting him off. "I'm in a hurry."
The man scratched his hair and nodded with a strange smile, raising his hands as he bounced to the side. "Alright boss! I won't get in your way! Just know you're never getting laid with that look of yours my friend! A threesome is good enough too. Good enough for me!"
The man continued to rant loudly whilst Adriel ran down the stairs. Of course, Adriel could not care less, though he did feel a bit of a pity for the unfortunate young girl.
The stairs led to a makeshift reception, with dimly lit purple lighting, where several other men and women could be seen. Most were bragging about their guns, drinking, speaking of successful raids, or debating about the top villains of the criminal world. At one desk before the exit, was a woman in a suit and glasses that puffed marijuana with her legs crossed on the table. Her black hair was tied behind her head, and she had one hand underneath her fairly large bosom.
"Name?" She asked, reaching for her keyboard with one hand.
"Adrian," he replied.
"Nickname?"
"The Silencer."
"Alright then," she inputted his details as well as his time of exit into the computer. "You can fuck off now."
Adriel glanced at the metal tank beside her. "You should quit smoking that thing. Ain't much good stuff in there."
"Alright kid, use the door."
Adriel peered at her. "If you die, Ellie will follow."
"...!" The woman's roll dropped from her fingers. First, she sunk back in her seat, quickly reclaiming some clarity from the smoke. Her eyes quickly grew cold, her midnight irises staring into his soul. "Now you tell me how the hell you know her!" she commanded.
"I'll be using the door," replied Adriel as he turned and began to leave. "Try not to do anything stupid in my room."
"GET BACK HERE!"
But Adriel had already left.
The reception did not lead directly to the city as one would have thought, but a sewer. Though it was supposed to be just a sewer, it had several lights and demarcations, as well as boards that had an entire map of the underground city. There were tunnels here and there, and passageways that were drilled through to link this road and the next. Adriel did not need to read the map to get to his destination. Having passed these lanes a couple of times, he headed directly to the multi-storey car park on the surface. A stair got him there.
Adriel emerged from an old, abandoned bunker and surveyed his surroundings. He took in the somewhat fresh air—the air of the surface, but it came with a stink. Some maniac was also laughing at a distance.
"HAHAHA! HAHA! COME ON!!!"
He spotted the duo in a reflection offered by the side mirror of a red car which had crashed into the wall. It was the source of the stink as well. Adriel put his hand over his nose, and he walked closer to observe what was happening in the space hidden by two closely parked vehicles. It was then that he saw it.
One man, perhaps in his thirties, was forcing himself on a young woman whose struggle dwindled with each second. The victim had all ten of her fingers cut, as well as her toes. Her clothes were ripped and tattered, stained with endlessly pooling blood, and there was snot, bloody sweat and tears on her face. All she could do was hammer his back with her fists while the crazed man had his way with her. He was wearing nothing but a shirt, as well as a pair of transparent glasses which had cracks in them. And he was sweating profusely, laughing loudly, fondling, slapping, penetrating and punching her every now and then, but too 'preoccupied' to notice Adriel's presence.
Adriel sighed. He looked over into the car. A beeping red light from the back seat had caught his eyes. At once, he smashed the window open. There, he saw it—a small audio player, linked by a cord to an ear piece. He reached out to collect the device, but his hand met a barrier. The audio player was clutched in the hands of a mummy in a pink, princess-like attire with the stature of a five-year-old. She had an expression of fright and pain carved into her face, even as the box and ear piece continued to sing in her lifeless ears.
It will most likely become a zombie.
Using his bare hands, he crushed the skull of the mummy to bone and dust. And then, he finally obtained what he came for.
A Joybox. This takes me back.
Adriel smiled. He walked over to a pillar, blowing off the flesh sediments on the box and ear piece. And then he twisted the pink knob on the object, resting his back on the wall. Something shook. And suddenly, a toy ghost sprouted on a spring from the top.
Adriel laughed.
PA!
The woman continued to suffer.
"They've still got the easter egg in there," he said to himself as he pushed the ghost back into place. He played with the object for a while, and then began to twist the toy antenna behind it—shifting it left and right. When he got it into a perfect 90 degrees, he put the earphones into his ears, and started listening to the nostalgic tunes from the box.
🎶 Deary me. Deary me, princess, would you marry me?
The man fisted the woman with so much force that she lost her front row of teeth.
🎵 I like to see the golden streams. Let's wed under the moonlight and eat pie with Ma.
"How stupid," Adriel laughed again, this time, wiping the tear of appreciation that had begun to flow through the corner of his eyes.
🎵🎶 A princess! A pretty, pink princess! Lemme hold your gown and be your knight.
Splatter!
The woman coughed blood on the man's face. Suddenly disgusted, he began to choke her, squeezing her neck without stopping his drive for a second. His arms bulged, and the victim gasped and struggled, helplessly clawing at his skin.
🎵🎶 Would you be my bride? Dear princess?
Thud!
She collapsed, and her head folded to the side. Her eyes lost the light of life, marking her struggle as one which yielded no success. Yet the man continued to pleasure himself—not stopping till he reached his climax. When he was done, he heaved a huge sigh, wiping off the sweat that had begun to bead on his head. He stood up, hands fixed by his waist, and did some stretching exercises, bending from side to side. After that, he flexed both of his arms, flinging them out to loosen his bones.
"Did you see?" he asked, despite knowing the answer.
However, Adriel was busy tearing up and giggling by the wall. "Hahn? You said something?"
The man cracked a wicked smile, and picked up a dagger from beneath the red car. He advanced towards Adriel with a cruel glint in his eyes, and a malicious gleam in his blade.
"Well, it don't matter if you did or not," he laughed. "Cause you ain't saying shit!"
Adriel chuckled again at another funny lyric that hit his ears. He appeared to be rather undisturbed—neither by this man's vile intentions, nor the fact that he came towards him without covering up his privates.
"Pfft!"
"I don't know what on earth you laughing at," the man sneered. "But acting dumb ain't gonna save ya. You had your chance to run."
Adriel wiped his tears. "No…it's just that..that thing…"
He pointed at his genitals and erupted into more laughter. "It's miserable, bro. Fucking toothpick you got down there…
..No wonder she didn't scream."
"....."
At first, the man stood silent, perhaps conflicted as to whether he should be angry or baffled. After two—three seconds of blankly staring at him, he looked down at his thing, which was bruised and limp, and then at Adriel, who couldn't seem to stop laughing.
"You know what happened to the last person that said that? Well, you don't cause she's long dead," the man licked the knife which began to give off a pale, green light. "But it was my nanny, you see. I was pretty young back then, and I just…decided to express myself you know, she being a baddie and all. The bitch laughed at my sword—she fucking laughed! Heh! Hehe!! I made her squeak and swallow till she gave up."
"Uhh…a round of applause? A standing ovation? The fuck you telling me this for?"
The man drew closer to Adriel. "I've been rather open these days, is all. Used to be a homophobe. In the end, every hole works, don't it?"
Adriel shook his head, ignored him and continued bopping his head to the music.
"You don't look very bad for a man," the rapist said, sliding the flat side of his weapon against Adriel's lips. "And you know what? I've still got some juice left in me..hehehe…"
At that moment, Adriel paused. And then, slowly, carefully, he removed the earphones—like one unwrapping a precious gift. After that, he ran the earphones around the Joybox, stuffed it into his pockets, pushed away the knife, and turned to face the man. He was finally giving him the attention he was so thirsty for.
"I am supposed to be meeting someone here," he said. "I was neither spying on you nor recording your crime."
"Crime? Ha! Hahaha! Kid called me a criminal! Guess everyone else is the fucking devil then!" said the rapist who began to hop, not caring that his bells jingled along with him. "Here's what's gonna happen dipshit. First off, those fingers and those toes are leaving! And then I'll take my sweet time with you. Hehehe! You wanna see crime, little one?..."
"I'LL SHOW YOU!"
Tap! Swish!! One round arc of green and silver sliced through the air towards Adriel's face.
Adriel shot a glare at him. His hand flew up at once, smacking that of the man into the wall.
BAM!
"AHHH!!!"
The force shattered every phalange and joint in his limb. Even the pillar seemed to bellow, gnashing at the gash—the small depression where a bloody hand was buried. The knife fell to the ground, and ricocheted into Adriel's grip.
This fight had just started, but it had already ended.
"Ack!" The man tried to gasp, but nothing but blood pooled from his mouth—and his neck. There, in a crimson dip, Adriel's index finger had poked through—barely missing his jugular vein, spine and a few other veins.
"Gah! Ahh! Ahhh!!"
Adriel spun the knife, and then he slid the weapon over his lips. But this time, he used the sharp side, tearing open his half-charred, half-white lips.
"Shhh!" He hushed, slicing down to the man's chin. He spoke in his ears with the softness of a mother patting a child. "I just thought of an excellent idea."
Adriel looked into his eyes. The man's horrified gaze met his subtle, blank one.
"What do you think about getting deep-throated with your own dick?" he asked in a whisper.
"Ack! Mnmmm!!! Mnnnnn!!" He cried, and shook his head.
"So you think it's a good idea, huh? I could make you digest it."
"MNMMMM!!! MNMMM!!!!" He shook his head vehemently.
Adriel cracked a small smile, but it vanished quickly. "Don't mind me. I'm not as crazy as you think. I wouldn't want to touch something that nasty anyway."
With those words, he dug his entire hand into his neck—grabbed a portion of his spine, and yanked it out. His movements were so rapid, that no blood was spilled—save for that which pooled from the wound.
The man fell lifelessly to the ground, twitching, and wriggling one final time before..silence. Adriel thought it resembled the last moments of a dying chicken. He examined the knife with keen curiosity, playing with its hilt as he spun the weapon. It was crudely shaped—as expected of something which wasn't made by man, and there were unreadable letters on its hilt, which had a skull shaped at its centre.
"This is a 'Natural'. How did this guy obtain one of these?"
"From a hidden vault, perhaps," answered a voice from behind.
Adriel turned. "You're late."
A white-haired man in white suit and shoes emerged from the darker side of the car park. Adriel couldn't fully observe his features because of the distance. All he saw was the gleam of the glasses, a subtle glint behind them, and the white of his attire.
"That weapon is for you, Adrian," he said, glancing at the dagger through the tinted lens of his stylised, luxurious glasses.
"Adriel," he corrected. "I see. So you set this up."
"Well I wouldn't say that, really," said the man who rubbed his beardless chin. "He had the choice of letting the hostage be. Didn't think he would force himself on a woman begging for help, but whatever bought time was fine. I'm Mark, the others call me Sly, and I believe you are Adriel, the Silencer."
Adriel stabbed the corpse of the rapist. "I am."
Shhk! Shhk!!
The body began to shrivel up at an incredible pace. Water poured out endlessly from every of his orifice, some rising as steam, leaving nothing but a severely dry clump of flesh and bone that continued to harden and flatten till it literally fell off the blade. A mommy was formed, just like the princess in the car. Adriel connected the dots and realised that the woman was most likely her mother. But, he cared more about the weapon.
It's the real deal. A true Natural.
"That was going to be it," declared the white haired one. "That should have been it! My evaluation for you, I mean. But, you see? The boss has been a bit….sceptical lately."
"Hm?"
"We've been under attack, Adriel. Many attacks. We've got spies from the Unit sniffing around our network, ruined factions tipping against us and all the sort. In a few months, we've got fifteen doppelgangers claiming to be 'Adrian the Silencer'. Of course, as you wished, we eliminated them all at once."
"But you need to be sure that I'm the real deal," Adriel completed his sentence. "And the fact that I used the right name will not be enough."
Mark clapped. "Well I'm certain you're the one. Eyes don't lie."
Adriel glanced at his left, and then at his right. "Except yours, perhaps."
I hear footsteps. Many footsteps.
"This is the last test, Adriel. I promise."
Fifty?
Sixty?
Hundred?
It's a hundred.
Several people—more male than females, emerged from seemingly nowhere all at once, encompassing him like packs of wolves. They wielded varying weapons—different gun models, clubs, axes, hatchets, twin swords, and sabers. Adriel wondered why he hadn't noticed them until they entered a thirty meter range.
So that's what the long talk was for.
"It's a fine technique you've got," he remarked. "Concealing people and things, I guess. Is this why you're called Mark the Sly?"
"Part of it."