Taking Down A Mammoth [Province 13]

The sky was filled with thick, black smog. So thick, in fact, that it blocked out the sun completely and the only light came from the lights of the province. Province 13, the smallest province runs rampant with murder.

In the past week, upwards of a thousand people have been murdered, all of which have been fairly rich men with ties to the president.  Each person's body was tortured and mutilated before they were killed. The skin of each was peeled off, and the bleeding was stopped with a special powder so the person wouldn't die. Each muscle got flayed piece by piece, so eventually all that was left was the person's entrails and skeleton left.

"That's some piece of work. How could a human even manage this?"

His olive eyes look over the skeleton, catching on the heart, still beating. It isn't bloody, but is covered in a thin red slimy film.

"He's... Still alive? Damn they're bad. Speaking of which, why are all of his victims still completely human?"

The light drizzle flushes the blood into the sewers, to eventually be filtered and delivered to people as drinkable tap water. Slar spreads himself like a tent over the still living man, so the water can't hit him and sting. From the red tent that Slar made with his body comes down his human head.

"Do you want to tell me what happened? Or is it too painful? If you can answer, please do."

A voice so weak and wheezy it's almost inaudible: "I'll tell you."

"I can help with the pain, give me a second."

From his head comes a small drop of red, and it makes it's way into the man's head. All of the sudden, the man's face eases and becomes slightly happy.

"I've cut off the part of your brain that feels pain. You're welcome. Now, can you tell me what happened?"

In a slightly stronger voice: "It was a man made of all metal. He did something so I couldn't scream, but my pain still happened. I just sat there, unable to move, and unable to make a sound. Thank you so much for this. But... Can you kill me? I don't want to live anymore."

"No, thank you. I'll make sure to hunt down this murderous bastard and kill him, to seek revenge for you and all the other people he's tortured and killed."

With that, Slar forms back into his human form, and stands with his fist facing toward the man's face. A quiet "Thank you" comes from the man before Slar's fist  morphs into a long spike and forces itself through the man's skull.

*********

He sits on the fountain edge, filled with the filtered blood water that came from all the dead bodies. It squirts out of the mouths of four little angels carved from granite.

The rain falls down, drowning out the sound of the city. Screams of babies in their mothers arms, people being stolen from, people being stolen, yelling from the houses of mafia lords, machine gun fire, all things the people of Province 13 had learned to live with on a daily basis.

He looks up, letting the raindrops fall and hit his face. "This is the closest I'll ever come to crying, isn't it?" His hand forms a large spike, driving a hole through the concrete which allows several thousand gallons of water come rushing through the concrete and onto the street.

"Is this what anger and disgust feel like?"

A man by the name of Malachai is sitting in his apartment on yet another dark and gloomy day watching the news and drinking his daily coffee. Yet another killing of what seems to be of an innocent, human male appears on the television. All of the recent killings have been like this. Gruesome, bloody, and in-humane. The thought of some... thing, roaming the streets leaving men to die in such a torturous state leaves him speechless and disgusted.

Lately there hasn't been a day that Malachai hasn't feared for his own life. All of the victims have been 100% human, no mechanisms attached. Which means that those people are more likely to be targeted. And if Malachai's hypothesis is correct he is somewhere on that list because not many people are still fully human.

He looks out his window and watches the rain fall. "Just how much time do I have left?" he thinks to himself as he takes a sip of black, bitter coffee.

In his quarters, Slar stares at the pictures of all of the victims. "This is the last man who gets killed. There's a very limited roster of pure humans now... Which one could it be?"

As he's examining the pictures, a pattern spontaneously erupts. "The next one will have a relatively unimportant defensive job. Now to narrow down the search."

He opens his holo, and inputs a set of parameters. A window pops up with a single name: Malachai Yuto.

**********

"So this is the apartment, huh? Pretty run down, if you ask me."

The rain hadn't let up for the past few days since the last man got murdered, and showed no signs of letting up any time soon. Slar stood in front of the door, letting himself get hit by the rain.

Once he finally decided to walk in, there was no struggle to find the apartment that the man lived in. He'd come along or face certain death, he had to know that there were murders of pure humans happening.

Knock.


Knock.


Knock.

"Malachai Yuto! If you want to live, open the door!"

Malachai hears the door knock. He murmurs to himself "odd, I don't often get visitors around here." He walks up to the door to open it but stops at once when he hears the dreadful words.

"If you want to live, open the door!" Is all that he hears. He reluctantly grabs the doorknob and heaves a sigh as he slowly opens the door to let in the stranger.

"Hello there, how can I help you?" He asks before taking a sip of his coffee. "Come in, come in! Get out of the rain!" He demands, without realizing it. He may not know this man, and his life may be on the line, but he trusts this man. And he sure as hell doesn't plan to die any time soon.

As he walks in, he takes a look around the room. "It's sort of small, isn't it?"

He leans against the bed taking up a large part of the room. "Where to start? I haven't had to show any sort of empathy lately..."

"You're the last pure human Peace Keeper. The rest of them have been killed by the murderer. I'm sure you figured you're on his list by now, with the news being so blunt."

The light flickers quick enough to make Malachai think that Slar's human form isn't actually real, as he becomes slightly transparent as light fills the room again.

"What I'd like to do is exact revenge on this guy for all the murders. I promised the last man that got killed that his death wouldn't be in vain. So what I propose is this: You're obviously skilled in the art of combat, so would you like to help me out?"

This information isn't new to Malachai yet it still leaves him a little shaken. He looks at Slar with wide eyes. "I'm not ready to die" he says, hitting the counter with his fist.

"Ill help you, but first I must know. What is your name?" He asks. Malachai then examines the man in his apartment and can tell of his slight transparency.

"Well, I'm waiting"

"I'm Slar. We really should get out of here though, to somewhere more protected."

He walks to the door, looking out to make sure there isn't imminent danger. The killer would be here soon though; the killings happened at exactly the same time every day.

"If you want to come, gather your things. Do you have your gear here?"

***************

After Malachai gathers his things, Slar leads him to his own personal hideout.

The place happened to be hidden close to the capital building of Province 13. Awkwardly close. Within a few feet of the capital's basement, in fact.

It was surprisingly large inside, an underground fortress of sorts. The entrance was hidden down an alley about half a mile away from the capital, and there was a small pod that transferred whoever knew the code.

When Slar and Malachai arrived at the hallway filled with doors, he would notice that everything was in pristine condition, despite being made of glass and metallics. A blue sheen filled the hallway, and it reflected off of Slar's body, making him appear slightly purple.

Opening the door to the room at the end of the hall, Slar motions for Malachai to enter. The human would notice that everything except for a single wall across the room was completely bare.

"Those papers plastered on the wall contain all the information I've managed to gather on the murders. Anything you notice?"

Malachai slowly begins reading all of the papers on the wall. He notices a pattern to the killings. "They are all one hundred percent human.." he states in a monotone voice.

Looking around he sees more and more information which leads to him, one of the last remaining humans.

Malachai looks to Slar in question. "What should we do?" He asks politely and quietly.

"We hunt down the murderer. What else? We should sleep, just take a room."

He walks out, leaving the man to stare at the wall.

**********

The next day, Slar is waiting inside the investigation room for Malachai.

"So you're up. How'd the bed treat you? Well, I hope."

He gets up from sitting on the floor as a small leopard, transforming into his human form.

"I was thinking all last night, and I came up with a plan to catch this guy. The leader of the province just happens to be all human, he's going to be killed sometime soon. All we have to do is get close to him."

He walks to the wall, taking a seemingly random picture down. It looked the same as all the others, a skeleton with the entrails hanging out.

"I remember this one like it was yesterday. My previous partner. He was just like the rest of you, completely human. But how exactly did he get killed by this murderer? He was always on his toes, and refused to let anything get to him. But look at how that turned out."

He pins the picture back up on the wall.

"But I don't feel sad at all. I don't feel anything. I just know I need to seek revenge for everyone who got killed. I may not be able to relate to the President, but I know you can. Do you have a clue how we can get the President to be a sort of bait so we can stop whoever, or whatever, is doing this?"

"The bed treated me fine, thank you." States Malachai. "And to your other question, all I can say is that as long as the president proves to be completely human, he should be targeted soon."

Malachai takes a sip of coffee and looks arounf the room at the pictures in disgust and curiosity. "What exactly could a man do to deserve this sort of punishment" he thinks quietly to himself.

Then Malachai looks at the gruesome picture of Slars previous partner with fear in his eyes. If nothing is done soon, then he himself will be forced to endure the same fate as him.

"There must be some way to avoid this.." he says under his breath. He looks at Slar with fear and frustration in his eyes. "I'm not ready to die just yet!" he says.

"That's not much of an answer. I asked if you could do anything to get close to him emotionally, so he understood exactly what kind of danger he's in. I already know he's one hundred percent human, so it's just a matter of convincing him to help us kill this murderer."

Slar begins pacing back and forth across the room, staring at the floor while doing so. His eyes are blank, clearly thinking about something.

"Now I'll ask you once and only once. If you and I find this murderer, are you willing to die if need be to kill him? If not, you're of no use to me."

He waits for a moment, to let the shock of what he just said truly sink into Malachai.

Malachai looks Slar directly in the eyes with a look that lacks any emotion.

"If I die, so be it. Im still one hundred percent human so ill die if i help you or not, so count me in."

Looking at the floor, Malachai thinks about what he said. Not sure what compelled him to say it but he already said what he must and there was no backing out now.

Malachai Stands up abruptly and places his hand on Slars shoulder

"If i die though, make sure it is not in vain.."