Post by Silent on Aug 18, 2012 19:59:25 GMT -5
The Warning and the Ultimatum
The city was a sprawling metropolis, spilling out into the fertile plains surrounding it and consuming them with a voracious appetite and spitting out a profit. Incredibly tall buildings clawed at the sky, as if they were trying to tear it down and sell it to the highest bidder. The cities name was Onadsa which in the native language meant ‘The place of peace and respite’. However, unlike its namesake, it was no place of peace but a city where anarchy and gangs ruled, with the innocent living in fear and the corrupt living like lords. It was a city where anything was available, if the price was right. Those who lived in the shadows of the towering gang spires prayed every night to their various gods for their torment and oppression to end. Unbeknownst to them, a god of gods now stalked the streets in their midst, in search of his brother, and justice travelled with him like a shroud.
The Lawman watched the suns set from the top of a three storey habitation unit. Havanii had two suns, one large and orange and the other small and blue white. They spun in a complex orbit around each other with Havanii orbiting them both, perched rather precariously in the habitable zone around them. That spoke of sloppy workmanship to the Lawman but he was never one to comment. The sunsets where spectacular though. They took place every 47 planetary hours and often took 3 to go to completion. However the Lawman wasn’t really paying attention to it for he was trying to figure out something that was vexing him.
“Why would he come HERE?” he muttered. Suddenly a sound from the plaza below caused him to look down.
It was laughter, pure, innocent and joyous. Three children were playing a game with each other while their mothers looked on contentedly. It was a rare piece of happiness in this grim city and the sight of it caused the flicker of a smile on the Lawman’s features, despite his grim mood. Mortals always amazed and fascinated him, unlike many of his other siblings. He sat down on the lip of the building and watched the children play. This race, humans they called themselves, were by far one of the most numerous mortal races throughout the multiverse. The Lawman quite liked them, for though they had a short lifespan, they could display boundless courage, compassion and ingenuity within that time. They could also be unendingly cruel, capricious and hateful he also considered with a sigh. The last habit was one of the main reasons most of his kin didn’t like them, seeing them as unfit to inhabit the multiverse when they were capable of such petty hatred to each. It seemed to the Lawman that the irony and hypocrisy was lost on all of his siblings but him. ‘They hate them for being too much like us.’ he thought bitterly.
A gunshot snapped his thoughts back to the present. The mothers were gathering up their children and running for the safety of their houses as a roving gang entered the plaza. There were about 40 of them, all male, with gang tattoos emblazoned on almost every piece of bare skin visible. As the Lawman watched the men swaggering through the plaza, his jaw tightened with anger. Not one of the gang was free of the tattoo that he knew meant ‘one kill’. Many of them sported multiples of the ‘kill’ tattoos, with their leader a veritable jigsaw of them. A scream drew his attention away from the gang. One of the mothers had fallen in her flight to safety, her child spilling from her arms. She was stranded, far from her house, and directly in the path of the gang. One of the gang members spotted her and a cry went up, the gang began to increase in speed, racing towards her, laughing and jeering at her all the while. The Lawman saw the mother get up and run once more, scooping up the child in passing, but he knew she would not make it to safety in time. The Lawman looked down at the scene and weighed the results of him revealing himself and the repercussions it could cause and the life of the woman and her child. No contest.
The Lawman leapt from the building, his bound propelling him far out towards the centre of the plaza. With a crunch of broken tiles he landed directly between the gang and their prey. The gang pulled up short, shocked and confused by his sudden appearance. The Lawman stood up and brushed himself off before looking directly at the men. “Leave this place and you may live to repent your previous sins” He said. A few of the men, the younger, newer ones, quietly took the chance to slink away out the back of the group. They didn’t like the look of the figure arrayed against them and something in the way the figure spoke was an assurance that his words were fact not a mere empty threat. The other men were not so easily shaken, for they were steeped in the blood and scream’s of others and thought themselves untouchable.
The leader looked the Lawman up and down once and burst out laughing. His men joined in after a slight delay. “Hey that’s a good one” he laughed, wiping an imaginary tear from the corner of his eye. “Don’t you know that soul’s day is over, huh freak? Why don’t you wobble on back to the asylum?” He continued, still chuckling, the weak joke earning a laugh from his loyal henchman. The Lawman just stood there, unmoving. The leader was slightly unnerved by the figures silence. He turned to the thug on his right; a veritable brute covered in tattoos, and snapped “Al! Go see if you can still catch the girl.”
“Right boss” Al grunted and set off towards the house the woman had disappeared into, skirting the black armoured figure. Suddenly the Lawman was in front of him. To his credit, Al barely flinched when it happened. He pulled a knife from his pocket and brandished it at the figure in front of him. “I would not do that if I were you, Alphonse Carrel” the Lawman said calmly. Al glanced worriedly over his shoulder at his boss who just screamed “Stab the fucking freak you idiot!”
Al gritted his teeth and stabbed at the figure with a snarl. The knife never made contact. The Lawman caught the blow and, with no visible effort, broke the arm in three places and plunged the blade into its owner’s throat.
As Al’s body slowly slumped to the ground several of the gang members took a step backwards in shock. The gang leader stared blankly at the Lawman for a minute or more before composing himself and yanking his handgun from its holster and pointing it at the black armoured figure. “Who the hell do you think you are?” he snarled, hearing his compatriots drawing their own weapons. The figure in front of him did not answer, instead choosing to stare at the ground. The leader sneered, “Don’t want to answer? Don’t worry, I don’t give a shit who the fuck you are. The question is do you know who I am?” he yelled, levelling his gun at the black armoured figure. The Lawman looked up and gazed directly at the gang leader. “Yes I know who you are” he said calmly, “you’re name is Rodrigo de Karo, section leader of the blood cobras gang. You have killed 257 people, robbed and mugged 3005, defrauded 150 and raped 103 women and 4 men. You have no good qualities and even killed your own family” the Lawman finished.
Silence spread outwards from the Lawman’s statement. Rodrigo’s face had drained of colour and he felt the eyes of some of his men on him. In the silence the Lawman turned to the next man and began to speak again. “Your name is Henry Mare and you have killed 14 people and mugged 125. However you have a family that you love very dearly and would fight to protect.” The Lawman said. The man named as Henry blushed under the tattoos even as the Lawman turned to the next man. And so it continued, in complete silence, the Lawman would look and each man and name him and his deeds, good and bad, until he had named each member of the group in front of him. When he was finished many just stared open mouthed at him, guns held limply in slack hands. “All of you in front of me, you are the kind of people that Hell is DESIGNED for. But I am going to give you one last chance, walk away now and you will have time to repent for your sins” the Lawman stated.
Some of the gang members, those with the most redeeming traits to their name, slowly put away their weapons and began to walk away. Rodrigo looked around wildly, his gang slowly dwindling around him. “Enough!” he roared, pointing his pistol at the Lawman again. “Shut the fuck up! The only one going to hell today is you! And when I get there I’ll kill you again!!” he hissed. “You won’t be going to hell Rodrigo” the Lawman said, “For you there can be no redemption” he stared into the gang leader’s eyes, “only oblivion”.
Rodrigo said nothing for a moment and then his eyes hardened, “Yeah right, die bitch!” he yelled and squeezed the trigger.
The Lawman felt the slight ripple of the bullet hitting his armour and then disappearing. He looked down slowly and then back up again. “Hm” was all he said. Rodrigo stared at the Lawman in slack jawed astonishment. He turned to his compatriots, “What are you waiting for?! Waste him!!” he shouted, panicked. The gang members hesitated for a moment before lifting their respective weapons and filling the area in front of them with bullets.
The combined firepower tore up the tiles of the plaza and raised a cloud of dust. The barrage only finished when they had expended all their ammo. Rodrigo fired his last bullet as the smoke began to settle slowly. “Did we get it?” he heard one of the gang members ask, he peered into the clearing smoke and his eyes widened in terror at what he saw. The entire plaza and the house faces in front of the gang was a bullet strewn ruin but the Lawman stood untouched in the midst of the debris.
The Lawman brushed a speck of dirt from his shoulder plate. He began to walk towards the gang, “Well now that you’ve got that out of your system I think it’s time to end this” he said menacingly. Many of the gangsters were frozen to the spot in abject terror of the being in front of them but some managed to break from their stupor, throw down their weapons and run for their lives. “Before you die you might be able to be of some use to me” the Lawman said nonchantly, “Have any of you seen a figure in a purple hood and green bodysuit?” The Lawman caught sight of a flash of light in the corner of his eye just as the two gangsters who were furthest away from him drop to the ground, dead. “Never mind, he heard the commotion” he said. The Lawman stopped in front of Rodrigo who was now on his knees crying. He looked up at the figure in front of him, “Please” he whined. The Lawman gazed down at the figure in front of him. “How many of your victims said that to you?” he growled, “You are beyond redemption and to leave you alive would only harm innocent mortals. Instead of letting you spend all eternity being tortured in a hell with no chance of the forgiveness and salvation that is attainable by your compatriots I give you this gift.” he raised his hand, “The gift of oblivion”.
There was a flash of light and when it was over the shell that had contained the soul of Rodrigo de Karo crumbled to dust. The Lawman looked up from the ash pile to find that every other gangster was dead and a new figure stood before him. The figure was clad in a green and black bodysuit, a purple cape and hood and a mask that covered half his face. “It always turns my stomach when I see you do that” the figure said. “Mysterion what took you so long?” The Lawman growled. “I missed you too bro” Mysterion laughed, “I got distracted for a day or two with a shiny rock and contemplating the mysteries of the multiverse”. The Lawman stared at him and Mysterion held the gaze for a whole minute before cracking. “Fine I was at a strip club, happy now? What could be so important that it couldn’t wait for strippers anyway?” he said, smirking.
“Honesty has embraced corruption kidnapped Hephaestus, wounded Timorous and declared war on the rest of us” The Lawman stated still staring directly at his brother. Mysterion stared blankly at his brother, “No way” he said, “Honesty? Seriously? You’re pulling my leg right?”
The Lawman shook his head sadly, “I wish I was but this is the truth, I came here to warn you of him”
Mysterion stood stock still for a minute or more. Finally he nodded. He trusted his brother implicitly and knew he would never lie to him. “I was hoping you could help me locate the rest of our kin.” said the Lawman. Mysterion nodded again, still digesting the disturbing news, “Of course I’ll help bro, did you honestly expect me not to?” he gave a little smirk, his cockiness slowly returning. They began walking away from the devastated plaza, side by side. “That reminds me” the Lawman said suddenly, “why were you here in the first place anyway? It’s on the very edge of the spiral and the wrong side for you.”
Mysterion stopped in his tracks, a look of dreaded remembrance crossing his features. The Lawman stopped and turned to his brother, “What? What is it?” he said.
“Honesty told me to come here” Mysterion said sheepishly, “He said this universe was in danger”. The Lawman stared at his brother for a moment before slowly lowering his head into his hands. “I’ve walked into another trap haven’t I?” he groaned. Mysterion laughed, “Hey at least you have me... Even if I’m the one who got you into it” he muttered, still chuckling. There was a sound from behind them and they both turned to see what it was.
The suns had nearly set and they caused everything to cast their shadows long. The shadows cast by the corpses of the men Mysterion had killed were bubbling and wavering. Forms began to rise from them, slowly forming shapes out of darkness. The forms eventually congealed into creatures. They were vaguely humanoid, with jet black skin, one arm with a hand, the other shaped like a blade, no mouth and bright red eyes like drops of blood. All of their eyes were focused on the two figures in front of them. “Void stalkers” the Lawman breathed. He had thought that the last of their kind had been purged from existence when the Void Lord fell, for they were a type of Unreal, creatures made purely of corruption. The kind that stood before him, void stalkers, were able to melt into any shadow before leaping out to strike with their corruption laced blades. The Void Lord had used them as assassins.
The front one stepped forward, obviously the leader, in his hand there was a dark sphere with a single point of light blinking upon it. “What’s that?” Mysterion asked quietly, not taking his eyes of the creature. “How should I know?” his brother shot back, “Just keep your guard up”. The void stalker stopped roughly 20 metres from the pair and a slit opened in its head. “I bring you an ultimatum from my master, Huggles the Great” the thing hissed through the slit in its head. “Huggles?” Mysterion said, nonplussed. “It’s what Honesty is calling himself now” his brother growled through gritted teeth, anger flaring in his eyes.
“You are commanded to submit and lay down your weapons and items. You will then be brought to my master and treated with respect and courtesy.” The void stalker continued. “Not likely” the Lawman snarled. The things eyes flashed and a gurgling noise emanated from its mouth. It was laughing. “If you do not wish to comply here is a taste of what will happen to you” It hissed. The creature raised the sphere and pushed the button made of light.
The sound of screaming suddenly rent the air, emanating from the sphere. Mysterion started forward only to be restrained by his brother. “Mirrorus!” Mysterion shouted, fighting to extricate himself from his brother’s grasp. “It’s just a recording! Get a hold of yourself!” the Lawman shouted. Mysterion stopped struggling, breathing heavily, and his brother released him. The void stalkers were gurgling their amusement at the tortured screaming and the two brothers scuffle. Their leader held up a hand for silence and the screaming ceased from the sphere in his hand. “What is your reply?” it hissed. The Lawman and Mysterion stood to their full heights and looked at each other. The Lawn drew his sword, “I think we’re going to have to decline” he said. “So be it” the creature replied as his companions began to spread out and advance on the pair.
The Lawman’s sword shimmered in his hand and morphed into reel of monomolecular wire. He glanced at Mysterion and nodded. Mysterion nodded in reply, scooped up one end of the wire and flashed the void stalkers a cheeky smile before disappearing. The creatures checked in their advance and huddled into a defensive formation. Minutes passed and nothing happened. A breeze started up and caused the Lawman’s cape to swirl and swish as he stared across at the creatures. Suddenly Mysterion reappeared next to him, wire end still clutched in his hand, and he waved at the void stalkers and blew them a kiss. Now thinking themselves safe from a surprise attack, the creatures began to advance again. At least, they tried to. The leader paused again and looked down in confusion. Its eyes widened as it caught the silvery gleam of monomolecular wire pressed tightly against its flesh. The leader and his companions had all been immobilised by it, as it had been woven between them and around them. Its head snapped back up to stare at the two brothers in front of it, each holding one end of the wire. They both stared back at it, one grinning from ear to ear, the other inscrutable beneath his helm. With a conciliatory nod to the leader they both yanked the wire backwards.
There was a noise which could only be described as Sching! And the leader of the void stalkers staggered forward a single step. “Y-you...” was all it managed to say before it and its followers fell to pieces, sliced through by the wire. The pieces fell to the ground and began to dissolve, eating through reality like an acid and leaving gaping holes into the void which the Lawman sealed with a wave of his hand. “Whoop!” Mysterion said happily, “Just like old times, eh bro?”
“Not quite brother” his brother replied quietly. Mysterion sobered at his brother’s words, “Oh. Yeah. Sooo... What now?” he said.
“We warn the others and then make a plan of action.” The Lawman replied, “But first” he glanced over at what remained of the corpses of the gang members, “I what to finish what i started here.”
“So what’s the plan?” Mysterion asked strolling up to his brother.
The Lawman stared up at the skyscrapers, where all the mob bosses and gang lords lived a life of luxury off the pain of others. “No tower of corruption should be allowed to stand, no matter whom or what created it” he said quietly. Mysterion followed his gaze, “So we blow them down and move on right?” he said. “No” replied his brother, “That would harm those innocents that lived in its shadow, we will cut off the snakes head and its body will die.”
“Ok so we kill all their leaders but won’t that take a little long? I mean we’ll have to go through EVERY tower” Mysterion grumbled, “We’ve a long way to travel.”
“I know that all the major gang and mob bosses are gathering today for a meeting” said the Lawman curtly, he pointed, “in that tower”
“Well then, what’re we waiting for?” said Mysterion, rubbing his hands together, “Let’s go kill ourselves a reptile”
All was quiet in the lobby of heavens tower, home of Gabriel De Medici, the most powerful mob boss in Onadsa. His gang, the Heavenly Scythes, controlled a full half of the city, with him at their head. He had called the meeting of the heads of the gangs in order to settle a border dispute that had been dragging on for 2 years now. The silence was broken by the sound of the front doors sliding open, the susurration of them sliding out of the way loud in the silence. The secretary didn’t even look up when she heard the sound of footsteps approaching. “Mr. Gabriel is not seeing anyone or taking any calls today so i suggest you leave.” She sighed irritably.
“We have an appointment” said the person in front of her in a voice which made her pause.
“No you don’t” she said looking up.
“Oh, believe me” the Lawman said resting his hands upon the counter top and staring directly at the woman, “We do.”
The secretary took in the two figures in front of her and secretly pressed a button beneath the desk that would summon guards. “Then you should just wait here and he’ll see you shortly” she said to them, stammering slightly.
“We’re in a hurry I’m afraid” said the one with the purple hood, “so we’ll just go see him now”. He turned and began to walk towards the lift.
“You will do no such thing” hissed the woman, standing up and facing him. “I’d like to see you stop me” the man replied and stuck his tongue out at her. Suddenly Mysterion’s head left his body and landed in a pot plant a few metres away. The body wavered for a second before crumpling to the floor. The secretary turned to face the Lawman, a bloody scythe in hand. “I bet you didn’t see that coming” she hissed at him. “On the contrary” the Lawman replied, “I fully expected it from you Freya Hauser. You are, after all, the most feared assassin on this planet with a tally of 1672 lives to your name”. Freya’s eyes narrowed in confusion. How could this man know her? Only her employer knew of her existence. The figure in front of her pointed to her left and she glanced over in that direction. There was nothing there. Wait. She glanced back again, confusion now plain on her features; the head in the pot plant was gone! She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned slowly, terrified of what she would see. Mysterion stood there completely whole with a sympathetic smile on his face. “Better luck next time” he said, before drawing his fist back and punching Freya’s head clean from her shoulders. Mysterion walked over to where the head had fallen and looked down at it, the woman’s shock still plainly etched on her features. “You know, I don’t think she saw that coming” Mysterion remarked.
The lift door dinged! behind the pair and they turned to see a group of men armed with short scythes and Uzis pile out. The group froze upon seeing the scene that greeted them, two costumed figures and a headless body lying on the floor beside them. “Ah” said the Lawman rubbing his hands together, “it appears our welcome party has arrived”. The group of men hesitated; there was something in the Lawman’s tone of voice that made them extremely uneasy. A few at the back of the group slowly snuck back into the lift and pressed the button for the 40th floor. The lift doors began to slide slowly shut. The last thing the small group saw before the doors closed was their compatriot’s nervously clutching their weapons as the two figures approached. The last thing they heard before the doors completely sealed was the sound of guns opening up and a scream of “WHAT THE FU-” before it was cut off when the doors shut with a Ding! “Whew” said one of them, “good thing we got out of there”. His companions nodded eagerly, some laughing with relief.
“Um” said one of them near the front of the lift, his face paling, “shouldn’t the gunfire and... screams be fading away?” His companion’s ceased their laughter and listened. The man was right, the gunfire and screams weren’t fading. It was almost like it was following them... The elevator dinged! as it reached the 40th floor and the doors slid open. The men’s eyes widened in horror at the sight that greeted them. The two figures stood in front of them amid the wreckage of the entire corridor, including the people who had been on it. They could see a massive hole in the floor behind the two figures. “How nice of you to finally stop for us” the hooded figure said, “it was getting quite tiring chasing you”
He advanced on the whimpering figures in the lift. 2 seconds later the screaming stopped abruptly and Mysterion turned to his brother, “What’d you think of that?” he asked, grinning. “You didn’t have to do that” the Lawman replied sternly, stepping into the newly redecorated elevator, “That was just showing off”
“Says the man who once killed a demon god using only his thumb” Mysterion retorted, still grinning. “Let’s just get this over with, and NOT have a repeat of what you did on floor 23” His brother growled but with a hint of a smile in his tone as he pressed the button for the penthouse. “Oh” Said Mysterion, “You mean when I grabbed that guy by the-” Ding!
“And then I left their heads up each other’s-Ding! - Is that what you were referring to?” Mysterion concluded as the doors slid open in front of them. “Yes” his brother replied, stepping from the lift, wincing from the retelling. They both looked around their new surroundings. It was a massive circular room, completely glass panelled around the walls, with a large round table made of obsidian in the centre. It also contained roughly 250 men staring in astonishment at the two men sauntering into their meeting. “Who are you?” One of them demanded, standing up and glaring at them, “How’d you get past my guards?”
“Gabriel De Medici I presume” the Lawman said, striding past stunned and perplexed men, hopping up onto the table, closely followed by Mysterion. “What’s it to you?” Gabriel growled. “I am giving you one chance for you to repent what you have done to the people of this city and use your power here for good.” said the Lawman, “This applies to all of you here” he gestured to the rest of the men in the room, eyes still fixed on Gabriel. “Go fuck yourself” Gabriel replied threateningly, dropping his gaze to glare at the other mob bosses, daring them to contradict him. No-one did. “Let me ask you a question Gabriel, do you fear death?” Said the Lawman, his voice pitched low. Gabriel clicked his fingers and 249 people pointed guns at the pair upon the table. “Ignorance and arrogance, a potent combination” The Lawman muttered. He turned to Mysterion and whispered “So how can we finish this quickly and send a message to their underlings?”
“Hmm... Hey, remember Faonil? On the summit of Mount Poena?” Mysterion replied. At this the Lawman laughed out loud, causing 250 men to tense up, “You mean...?” he whispered, smiling. Mysterion nodded, returning the smile, “The High Five of Doom”
“Quit whispering and put your fucking hands up!” snapped Gabriel. “If you say so” Mysterion replied, smirking. The pair slowly raised their hands....
The blast wave took the entire top of the tower off. Such was the force of the blast that much of the debris, glass, chairs, metal and bodies, travelled horizontally for several hundred metres before beginning to fall. Much of it struck neighbouring towers, spreading fear and panic in the people within as windows exploded inward, dumping eviscerated corpses into their midst. Many more bodies fell into the streets surrounding the tower. The rejoicing would begin later when the people found the corpses to be those of the people who had oppressed them all these years. The Lawman and Mysterion stood on top of the now truncated tower, completely unharmed. “That’ll do for now” the Lawman nodded, evidently pleased with the result. “Next we do that, remind me to make you take your gauntlets off” Mysterion grumbled, shaking his numb fingers. “We should get moving” Said his brother, ignoring Mysterion’s grumblings. “Right” Mysterion nodded in reply, “Let’s split up and I’ll go get-”
“NO!” The Lawman shouted turning back to his brother. Mysterion stopped, startled by the outburst, “What? Why not?” He said. “Don’t you see? He’s picking us off one by one while he has the chance” His brother hissed, “We should stick together, we’ll be safer”
“But if we stick together then we may lose even more of our kin” Mysterion retorted. The Lawman hesitated and Mysterion pressed onwards, “If we stay together it’ll take longer to warn and gather everyone whereas if we split up it’ll take half the time” he concluded. The Lawman stood stock still, locked in some internal struggle. Finally he sighed, “Very well, go” he said. Mysterion jumped up and pulled his item from his pocket, “Don’t worry bro, I’ll be fine. We’ll meet you back at the Citadel” He said with a reassuring smile, turning to go. “Mysterion!” his brother’s voice rang out behind him and he turned. The Lawman walked up and placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder, “Just...” he said, struggling to express himself, “Don’t do anything stupid” he finished lamely. Mysterion laughed, “When have I ever done anything stupid?” he joked before disappearing into the void, leaving his brothers hand outstretched, reaching for nothing.
The Lawman stared out across the city from the wrecked top of the tower he stood on. He longed to stay here and finish what he had started. This city, this WORLD, needed cleansing. He would have asked his brother the Anamorph to do it, for he, unlike the Lawman, had the resources to enact a cleansing on such a scale with ease, but the Lawman would prefer to come back to a city full of living, breathing people, not a forest. His brother could be somewhat... Heavy handed when dispensing justice. There were people who could be saved here, he knew it in his heart, and all they needed was a chance. He would seek out every single one of them who dwelled upon this world and offer them that chance, and if they refused, he gripped the hilt of his sword, well... “I will return” he whispered sadly to himself, “and put everything back the way it should be. When all this is over, I will make everything right, for you and for all mortals everywhere...” he trailed off. “When all this is over...” he repeated. And with that he left the world, stepping into the void, not knowing that by the time he would be able to return the city and lives he vowed to save would be dust, their last screams lost and forgotten in the wind.
The city was a sprawling metropolis, spilling out into the fertile plains surrounding it and consuming them with a voracious appetite and spitting out a profit. Incredibly tall buildings clawed at the sky, as if they were trying to tear it down and sell it to the highest bidder. The cities name was Onadsa which in the native language meant ‘The place of peace and respite’. However, unlike its namesake, it was no place of peace but a city where anarchy and gangs ruled, with the innocent living in fear and the corrupt living like lords. It was a city where anything was available, if the price was right. Those who lived in the shadows of the towering gang spires prayed every night to their various gods for their torment and oppression to end. Unbeknownst to them, a god of gods now stalked the streets in their midst, in search of his brother, and justice travelled with him like a shroud.
The Lawman watched the suns set from the top of a three storey habitation unit. Havanii had two suns, one large and orange and the other small and blue white. They spun in a complex orbit around each other with Havanii orbiting them both, perched rather precariously in the habitable zone around them. That spoke of sloppy workmanship to the Lawman but he was never one to comment. The sunsets where spectacular though. They took place every 47 planetary hours and often took 3 to go to completion. However the Lawman wasn’t really paying attention to it for he was trying to figure out something that was vexing him.
“Why would he come HERE?” he muttered. Suddenly a sound from the plaza below caused him to look down.
It was laughter, pure, innocent and joyous. Three children were playing a game with each other while their mothers looked on contentedly. It was a rare piece of happiness in this grim city and the sight of it caused the flicker of a smile on the Lawman’s features, despite his grim mood. Mortals always amazed and fascinated him, unlike many of his other siblings. He sat down on the lip of the building and watched the children play. This race, humans they called themselves, were by far one of the most numerous mortal races throughout the multiverse. The Lawman quite liked them, for though they had a short lifespan, they could display boundless courage, compassion and ingenuity within that time. They could also be unendingly cruel, capricious and hateful he also considered with a sigh. The last habit was one of the main reasons most of his kin didn’t like them, seeing them as unfit to inhabit the multiverse when they were capable of such petty hatred to each. It seemed to the Lawman that the irony and hypocrisy was lost on all of his siblings but him. ‘They hate them for being too much like us.’ he thought bitterly.
A gunshot snapped his thoughts back to the present. The mothers were gathering up their children and running for the safety of their houses as a roving gang entered the plaza. There were about 40 of them, all male, with gang tattoos emblazoned on almost every piece of bare skin visible. As the Lawman watched the men swaggering through the plaza, his jaw tightened with anger. Not one of the gang was free of the tattoo that he knew meant ‘one kill’. Many of them sported multiples of the ‘kill’ tattoos, with their leader a veritable jigsaw of them. A scream drew his attention away from the gang. One of the mothers had fallen in her flight to safety, her child spilling from her arms. She was stranded, far from her house, and directly in the path of the gang. One of the gang members spotted her and a cry went up, the gang began to increase in speed, racing towards her, laughing and jeering at her all the while. The Lawman saw the mother get up and run once more, scooping up the child in passing, but he knew she would not make it to safety in time. The Lawman looked down at the scene and weighed the results of him revealing himself and the repercussions it could cause and the life of the woman and her child. No contest.
The Lawman leapt from the building, his bound propelling him far out towards the centre of the plaza. With a crunch of broken tiles he landed directly between the gang and their prey. The gang pulled up short, shocked and confused by his sudden appearance. The Lawman stood up and brushed himself off before looking directly at the men. “Leave this place and you may live to repent your previous sins” He said. A few of the men, the younger, newer ones, quietly took the chance to slink away out the back of the group. They didn’t like the look of the figure arrayed against them and something in the way the figure spoke was an assurance that his words were fact not a mere empty threat. The other men were not so easily shaken, for they were steeped in the blood and scream’s of others and thought themselves untouchable.
The leader looked the Lawman up and down once and burst out laughing. His men joined in after a slight delay. “Hey that’s a good one” he laughed, wiping an imaginary tear from the corner of his eye. “Don’t you know that soul’s day is over, huh freak? Why don’t you wobble on back to the asylum?” He continued, still chuckling, the weak joke earning a laugh from his loyal henchman. The Lawman just stood there, unmoving. The leader was slightly unnerved by the figures silence. He turned to the thug on his right; a veritable brute covered in tattoos, and snapped “Al! Go see if you can still catch the girl.”
“Right boss” Al grunted and set off towards the house the woman had disappeared into, skirting the black armoured figure. Suddenly the Lawman was in front of him. To his credit, Al barely flinched when it happened. He pulled a knife from his pocket and brandished it at the figure in front of him. “I would not do that if I were you, Alphonse Carrel” the Lawman said calmly. Al glanced worriedly over his shoulder at his boss who just screamed “Stab the fucking freak you idiot!”
Al gritted his teeth and stabbed at the figure with a snarl. The knife never made contact. The Lawman caught the blow and, with no visible effort, broke the arm in three places and plunged the blade into its owner’s throat.
As Al’s body slowly slumped to the ground several of the gang members took a step backwards in shock. The gang leader stared blankly at the Lawman for a minute or more before composing himself and yanking his handgun from its holster and pointing it at the black armoured figure. “Who the hell do you think you are?” he snarled, hearing his compatriots drawing their own weapons. The figure in front of him did not answer, instead choosing to stare at the ground. The leader sneered, “Don’t want to answer? Don’t worry, I don’t give a shit who the fuck you are. The question is do you know who I am?” he yelled, levelling his gun at the black armoured figure. The Lawman looked up and gazed directly at the gang leader. “Yes I know who you are” he said calmly, “you’re name is Rodrigo de Karo, section leader of the blood cobras gang. You have killed 257 people, robbed and mugged 3005, defrauded 150 and raped 103 women and 4 men. You have no good qualities and even killed your own family” the Lawman finished.
Silence spread outwards from the Lawman’s statement. Rodrigo’s face had drained of colour and he felt the eyes of some of his men on him. In the silence the Lawman turned to the next man and began to speak again. “Your name is Henry Mare and you have killed 14 people and mugged 125. However you have a family that you love very dearly and would fight to protect.” The Lawman said. The man named as Henry blushed under the tattoos even as the Lawman turned to the next man. And so it continued, in complete silence, the Lawman would look and each man and name him and his deeds, good and bad, until he had named each member of the group in front of him. When he was finished many just stared open mouthed at him, guns held limply in slack hands. “All of you in front of me, you are the kind of people that Hell is DESIGNED for. But I am going to give you one last chance, walk away now and you will have time to repent for your sins” the Lawman stated.
Some of the gang members, those with the most redeeming traits to their name, slowly put away their weapons and began to walk away. Rodrigo looked around wildly, his gang slowly dwindling around him. “Enough!” he roared, pointing his pistol at the Lawman again. “Shut the fuck up! The only one going to hell today is you! And when I get there I’ll kill you again!!” he hissed. “You won’t be going to hell Rodrigo” the Lawman said, “For you there can be no redemption” he stared into the gang leader’s eyes, “only oblivion”.
Rodrigo said nothing for a moment and then his eyes hardened, “Yeah right, die bitch!” he yelled and squeezed the trigger.
The Lawman felt the slight ripple of the bullet hitting his armour and then disappearing. He looked down slowly and then back up again. “Hm” was all he said. Rodrigo stared at the Lawman in slack jawed astonishment. He turned to his compatriots, “What are you waiting for?! Waste him!!” he shouted, panicked. The gang members hesitated for a moment before lifting their respective weapons and filling the area in front of them with bullets.
The combined firepower tore up the tiles of the plaza and raised a cloud of dust. The barrage only finished when they had expended all their ammo. Rodrigo fired his last bullet as the smoke began to settle slowly. “Did we get it?” he heard one of the gang members ask, he peered into the clearing smoke and his eyes widened in terror at what he saw. The entire plaza and the house faces in front of the gang was a bullet strewn ruin but the Lawman stood untouched in the midst of the debris.
The Lawman brushed a speck of dirt from his shoulder plate. He began to walk towards the gang, “Well now that you’ve got that out of your system I think it’s time to end this” he said menacingly. Many of the gangsters were frozen to the spot in abject terror of the being in front of them but some managed to break from their stupor, throw down their weapons and run for their lives. “Before you die you might be able to be of some use to me” the Lawman said nonchantly, “Have any of you seen a figure in a purple hood and green bodysuit?” The Lawman caught sight of a flash of light in the corner of his eye just as the two gangsters who were furthest away from him drop to the ground, dead. “Never mind, he heard the commotion” he said. The Lawman stopped in front of Rodrigo who was now on his knees crying. He looked up at the figure in front of him, “Please” he whined. The Lawman gazed down at the figure in front of him. “How many of your victims said that to you?” he growled, “You are beyond redemption and to leave you alive would only harm innocent mortals. Instead of letting you spend all eternity being tortured in a hell with no chance of the forgiveness and salvation that is attainable by your compatriots I give you this gift.” he raised his hand, “The gift of oblivion”.
There was a flash of light and when it was over the shell that had contained the soul of Rodrigo de Karo crumbled to dust. The Lawman looked up from the ash pile to find that every other gangster was dead and a new figure stood before him. The figure was clad in a green and black bodysuit, a purple cape and hood and a mask that covered half his face. “It always turns my stomach when I see you do that” the figure said. “Mysterion what took you so long?” The Lawman growled. “I missed you too bro” Mysterion laughed, “I got distracted for a day or two with a shiny rock and contemplating the mysteries of the multiverse”. The Lawman stared at him and Mysterion held the gaze for a whole minute before cracking. “Fine I was at a strip club, happy now? What could be so important that it couldn’t wait for strippers anyway?” he said, smirking.
“Honesty has embraced corruption kidnapped Hephaestus, wounded Timorous and declared war on the rest of us” The Lawman stated still staring directly at his brother. Mysterion stared blankly at his brother, “No way” he said, “Honesty? Seriously? You’re pulling my leg right?”
The Lawman shook his head sadly, “I wish I was but this is the truth, I came here to warn you of him”
Mysterion stood stock still for a minute or more. Finally he nodded. He trusted his brother implicitly and knew he would never lie to him. “I was hoping you could help me locate the rest of our kin.” said the Lawman. Mysterion nodded again, still digesting the disturbing news, “Of course I’ll help bro, did you honestly expect me not to?” he gave a little smirk, his cockiness slowly returning. They began walking away from the devastated plaza, side by side. “That reminds me” the Lawman said suddenly, “why were you here in the first place anyway? It’s on the very edge of the spiral and the wrong side for you.”
Mysterion stopped in his tracks, a look of dreaded remembrance crossing his features. The Lawman stopped and turned to his brother, “What? What is it?” he said.
“Honesty told me to come here” Mysterion said sheepishly, “He said this universe was in danger”. The Lawman stared at his brother for a moment before slowly lowering his head into his hands. “I’ve walked into another trap haven’t I?” he groaned. Mysterion laughed, “Hey at least you have me... Even if I’m the one who got you into it” he muttered, still chuckling. There was a sound from behind them and they both turned to see what it was.
The suns had nearly set and they caused everything to cast their shadows long. The shadows cast by the corpses of the men Mysterion had killed were bubbling and wavering. Forms began to rise from them, slowly forming shapes out of darkness. The forms eventually congealed into creatures. They were vaguely humanoid, with jet black skin, one arm with a hand, the other shaped like a blade, no mouth and bright red eyes like drops of blood. All of their eyes were focused on the two figures in front of them. “Void stalkers” the Lawman breathed. He had thought that the last of their kind had been purged from existence when the Void Lord fell, for they were a type of Unreal, creatures made purely of corruption. The kind that stood before him, void stalkers, were able to melt into any shadow before leaping out to strike with their corruption laced blades. The Void Lord had used them as assassins.
The front one stepped forward, obviously the leader, in his hand there was a dark sphere with a single point of light blinking upon it. “What’s that?” Mysterion asked quietly, not taking his eyes of the creature. “How should I know?” his brother shot back, “Just keep your guard up”. The void stalker stopped roughly 20 metres from the pair and a slit opened in its head. “I bring you an ultimatum from my master, Huggles the Great” the thing hissed through the slit in its head. “Huggles?” Mysterion said, nonplussed. “It’s what Honesty is calling himself now” his brother growled through gritted teeth, anger flaring in his eyes.
“You are commanded to submit and lay down your weapons and items. You will then be brought to my master and treated with respect and courtesy.” The void stalker continued. “Not likely” the Lawman snarled. The things eyes flashed and a gurgling noise emanated from its mouth. It was laughing. “If you do not wish to comply here is a taste of what will happen to you” It hissed. The creature raised the sphere and pushed the button made of light.
The sound of screaming suddenly rent the air, emanating from the sphere. Mysterion started forward only to be restrained by his brother. “Mirrorus!” Mysterion shouted, fighting to extricate himself from his brother’s grasp. “It’s just a recording! Get a hold of yourself!” the Lawman shouted. Mysterion stopped struggling, breathing heavily, and his brother released him. The void stalkers were gurgling their amusement at the tortured screaming and the two brothers scuffle. Their leader held up a hand for silence and the screaming ceased from the sphere in his hand. “What is your reply?” it hissed. The Lawman and Mysterion stood to their full heights and looked at each other. The Lawn drew his sword, “I think we’re going to have to decline” he said. “So be it” the creature replied as his companions began to spread out and advance on the pair.
The Lawman’s sword shimmered in his hand and morphed into reel of monomolecular wire. He glanced at Mysterion and nodded. Mysterion nodded in reply, scooped up one end of the wire and flashed the void stalkers a cheeky smile before disappearing. The creatures checked in their advance and huddled into a defensive formation. Minutes passed and nothing happened. A breeze started up and caused the Lawman’s cape to swirl and swish as he stared across at the creatures. Suddenly Mysterion reappeared next to him, wire end still clutched in his hand, and he waved at the void stalkers and blew them a kiss. Now thinking themselves safe from a surprise attack, the creatures began to advance again. At least, they tried to. The leader paused again and looked down in confusion. Its eyes widened as it caught the silvery gleam of monomolecular wire pressed tightly against its flesh. The leader and his companions had all been immobilised by it, as it had been woven between them and around them. Its head snapped back up to stare at the two brothers in front of it, each holding one end of the wire. They both stared back at it, one grinning from ear to ear, the other inscrutable beneath his helm. With a conciliatory nod to the leader they both yanked the wire backwards.
There was a noise which could only be described as Sching! And the leader of the void stalkers staggered forward a single step. “Y-you...” was all it managed to say before it and its followers fell to pieces, sliced through by the wire. The pieces fell to the ground and began to dissolve, eating through reality like an acid and leaving gaping holes into the void which the Lawman sealed with a wave of his hand. “Whoop!” Mysterion said happily, “Just like old times, eh bro?”
“Not quite brother” his brother replied quietly. Mysterion sobered at his brother’s words, “Oh. Yeah. Sooo... What now?” he said.
“We warn the others and then make a plan of action.” The Lawman replied, “But first” he glanced over at what remained of the corpses of the gang members, “I what to finish what i started here.”
“So what’s the plan?” Mysterion asked strolling up to his brother.
The Lawman stared up at the skyscrapers, where all the mob bosses and gang lords lived a life of luxury off the pain of others. “No tower of corruption should be allowed to stand, no matter whom or what created it” he said quietly. Mysterion followed his gaze, “So we blow them down and move on right?” he said. “No” replied his brother, “That would harm those innocents that lived in its shadow, we will cut off the snakes head and its body will die.”
“Ok so we kill all their leaders but won’t that take a little long? I mean we’ll have to go through EVERY tower” Mysterion grumbled, “We’ve a long way to travel.”
“I know that all the major gang and mob bosses are gathering today for a meeting” said the Lawman curtly, he pointed, “in that tower”
“Well then, what’re we waiting for?” said Mysterion, rubbing his hands together, “Let’s go kill ourselves a reptile”
All was quiet in the lobby of heavens tower, home of Gabriel De Medici, the most powerful mob boss in Onadsa. His gang, the Heavenly Scythes, controlled a full half of the city, with him at their head. He had called the meeting of the heads of the gangs in order to settle a border dispute that had been dragging on for 2 years now. The silence was broken by the sound of the front doors sliding open, the susurration of them sliding out of the way loud in the silence. The secretary didn’t even look up when she heard the sound of footsteps approaching. “Mr. Gabriel is not seeing anyone or taking any calls today so i suggest you leave.” She sighed irritably.
“We have an appointment” said the person in front of her in a voice which made her pause.
“No you don’t” she said looking up.
“Oh, believe me” the Lawman said resting his hands upon the counter top and staring directly at the woman, “We do.”
The secretary took in the two figures in front of her and secretly pressed a button beneath the desk that would summon guards. “Then you should just wait here and he’ll see you shortly” she said to them, stammering slightly.
“We’re in a hurry I’m afraid” said the one with the purple hood, “so we’ll just go see him now”. He turned and began to walk towards the lift.
“You will do no such thing” hissed the woman, standing up and facing him. “I’d like to see you stop me” the man replied and stuck his tongue out at her. Suddenly Mysterion’s head left his body and landed in a pot plant a few metres away. The body wavered for a second before crumpling to the floor. The secretary turned to face the Lawman, a bloody scythe in hand. “I bet you didn’t see that coming” she hissed at him. “On the contrary” the Lawman replied, “I fully expected it from you Freya Hauser. You are, after all, the most feared assassin on this planet with a tally of 1672 lives to your name”. Freya’s eyes narrowed in confusion. How could this man know her? Only her employer knew of her existence. The figure in front of her pointed to her left and she glanced over in that direction. There was nothing there. Wait. She glanced back again, confusion now plain on her features; the head in the pot plant was gone! She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned slowly, terrified of what she would see. Mysterion stood there completely whole with a sympathetic smile on his face. “Better luck next time” he said, before drawing his fist back and punching Freya’s head clean from her shoulders. Mysterion walked over to where the head had fallen and looked down at it, the woman’s shock still plainly etched on her features. “You know, I don’t think she saw that coming” Mysterion remarked.
The lift door dinged! behind the pair and they turned to see a group of men armed with short scythes and Uzis pile out. The group froze upon seeing the scene that greeted them, two costumed figures and a headless body lying on the floor beside them. “Ah” said the Lawman rubbing his hands together, “it appears our welcome party has arrived”. The group of men hesitated; there was something in the Lawman’s tone of voice that made them extremely uneasy. A few at the back of the group slowly snuck back into the lift and pressed the button for the 40th floor. The lift doors began to slide slowly shut. The last thing the small group saw before the doors closed was their compatriot’s nervously clutching their weapons as the two figures approached. The last thing they heard before the doors completely sealed was the sound of guns opening up and a scream of “WHAT THE FU-” before it was cut off when the doors shut with a Ding! “Whew” said one of them, “good thing we got out of there”. His companions nodded eagerly, some laughing with relief.
“Um” said one of them near the front of the lift, his face paling, “shouldn’t the gunfire and... screams be fading away?” His companion’s ceased their laughter and listened. The man was right, the gunfire and screams weren’t fading. It was almost like it was following them... The elevator dinged! as it reached the 40th floor and the doors slid open. The men’s eyes widened in horror at the sight that greeted them. The two figures stood in front of them amid the wreckage of the entire corridor, including the people who had been on it. They could see a massive hole in the floor behind the two figures. “How nice of you to finally stop for us” the hooded figure said, “it was getting quite tiring chasing you”
He advanced on the whimpering figures in the lift. 2 seconds later the screaming stopped abruptly and Mysterion turned to his brother, “What’d you think of that?” he asked, grinning. “You didn’t have to do that” the Lawman replied sternly, stepping into the newly redecorated elevator, “That was just showing off”
“Says the man who once killed a demon god using only his thumb” Mysterion retorted, still grinning. “Let’s just get this over with, and NOT have a repeat of what you did on floor 23” His brother growled but with a hint of a smile in his tone as he pressed the button for the penthouse. “Oh” Said Mysterion, “You mean when I grabbed that guy by the-” Ding!
“And then I left their heads up each other’s-Ding! - Is that what you were referring to?” Mysterion concluded as the doors slid open in front of them. “Yes” his brother replied, stepping from the lift, wincing from the retelling. They both looked around their new surroundings. It was a massive circular room, completely glass panelled around the walls, with a large round table made of obsidian in the centre. It also contained roughly 250 men staring in astonishment at the two men sauntering into their meeting. “Who are you?” One of them demanded, standing up and glaring at them, “How’d you get past my guards?”
“Gabriel De Medici I presume” the Lawman said, striding past stunned and perplexed men, hopping up onto the table, closely followed by Mysterion. “What’s it to you?” Gabriel growled. “I am giving you one chance for you to repent what you have done to the people of this city and use your power here for good.” said the Lawman, “This applies to all of you here” he gestured to the rest of the men in the room, eyes still fixed on Gabriel. “Go fuck yourself” Gabriel replied threateningly, dropping his gaze to glare at the other mob bosses, daring them to contradict him. No-one did. “Let me ask you a question Gabriel, do you fear death?” Said the Lawman, his voice pitched low. Gabriel clicked his fingers and 249 people pointed guns at the pair upon the table. “Ignorance and arrogance, a potent combination” The Lawman muttered. He turned to Mysterion and whispered “So how can we finish this quickly and send a message to their underlings?”
“Hmm... Hey, remember Faonil? On the summit of Mount Poena?” Mysterion replied. At this the Lawman laughed out loud, causing 250 men to tense up, “You mean...?” he whispered, smiling. Mysterion nodded, returning the smile, “The High Five of Doom”
“Quit whispering and put your fucking hands up!” snapped Gabriel. “If you say so” Mysterion replied, smirking. The pair slowly raised their hands....
The blast wave took the entire top of the tower off. Such was the force of the blast that much of the debris, glass, chairs, metal and bodies, travelled horizontally for several hundred metres before beginning to fall. Much of it struck neighbouring towers, spreading fear and panic in the people within as windows exploded inward, dumping eviscerated corpses into their midst. Many more bodies fell into the streets surrounding the tower. The rejoicing would begin later when the people found the corpses to be those of the people who had oppressed them all these years. The Lawman and Mysterion stood on top of the now truncated tower, completely unharmed. “That’ll do for now” the Lawman nodded, evidently pleased with the result. “Next we do that, remind me to make you take your gauntlets off” Mysterion grumbled, shaking his numb fingers. “We should get moving” Said his brother, ignoring Mysterion’s grumblings. “Right” Mysterion nodded in reply, “Let’s split up and I’ll go get-”
“NO!” The Lawman shouted turning back to his brother. Mysterion stopped, startled by the outburst, “What? Why not?” He said. “Don’t you see? He’s picking us off one by one while he has the chance” His brother hissed, “We should stick together, we’ll be safer”
“But if we stick together then we may lose even more of our kin” Mysterion retorted. The Lawman hesitated and Mysterion pressed onwards, “If we stay together it’ll take longer to warn and gather everyone whereas if we split up it’ll take half the time” he concluded. The Lawman stood stock still, locked in some internal struggle. Finally he sighed, “Very well, go” he said. Mysterion jumped up and pulled his item from his pocket, “Don’t worry bro, I’ll be fine. We’ll meet you back at the Citadel” He said with a reassuring smile, turning to go. “Mysterion!” his brother’s voice rang out behind him and he turned. The Lawman walked up and placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder, “Just...” he said, struggling to express himself, “Don’t do anything stupid” he finished lamely. Mysterion laughed, “When have I ever done anything stupid?” he joked before disappearing into the void, leaving his brothers hand outstretched, reaching for nothing.
The Lawman stared out across the city from the wrecked top of the tower he stood on. He longed to stay here and finish what he had started. This city, this WORLD, needed cleansing. He would have asked his brother the Anamorph to do it, for he, unlike the Lawman, had the resources to enact a cleansing on such a scale with ease, but the Lawman would prefer to come back to a city full of living, breathing people, not a forest. His brother could be somewhat... Heavy handed when dispensing justice. There were people who could be saved here, he knew it in his heart, and all they needed was a chance. He would seek out every single one of them who dwelled upon this world and offer them that chance, and if they refused, he gripped the hilt of his sword, well... “I will return” he whispered sadly to himself, “and put everything back the way it should be. When all this is over, I will make everything right, for you and for all mortals everywhere...” he trailed off. “When all this is over...” he repeated. And with that he left the world, stepping into the void, not knowing that by the time he would be able to return the city and lives he vowed to save would be dust, their last screams lost and forgotten in the wind.