Arc 2 - Chapter 27: The Zirardge Tower

(Quintiles 29, 59 / 8:26PM)

“So this is the tower huh? Never thought it would be this tall.”

“How did you not know it was the tallest building?! It says on the map!”

“Pfft. That takes brain power.”

Both women stood at the entrance of the tower, taking note of all its tinted windows from each floor above. The clouds reaching up to the 3/4th point of the building, they noticed a dark orange plaguing the skyline and everyone else below.

Lifting their heads down, they noticed a large glass door being the gateway into the building. Looking to be four to five times taller than Gwen, she placed her hands onto her hips, and pushed up a smirk that reached the bottom of her ear.

“You know, I have never been inside a fancy tower before.”

“Oh, so do I. Let’s just get the hell inside.”

Speaking to Gwen with a sarcastic voice, Luna grabbed the handle with her right hand. Feeling the gold latch onto her palm, as her skin was glued by the ash and dust from above, it sent a cold shiver to run down her spine. Glancing at the center of the handle, she noticed a keyhole, which meant entering would require access…

Pulling away from the handle, and setting her hand on her thigh, she took a couple of steps back. Spreading her legs far apart, which sent the bottom of her heels to squeeze the cement, she glared at the glass.

‘They could get another door.’

Thrusting her right foot forward, a gust of wind spread with her leg as she aimed at the center. Once her foot made contact, thousands of shards fell from the mainframe of the door.

Sprinkling onto the white cement, Luna pulled her right foot back, as some pinches of glass prickled her skin. Without turning her head at Gwen, she held in some of the pain that shivered her lips.

“Is the glass actually that sharp? Awwww, is the impenetrable Luna about to—”

“Get in the fucking tower!”

“Okay, okay. Someone doesn’t like jokes.”

Gwen let out a sly smirk, as both corners of her lips reached the bottom of her ears. Walking through the marbled floor, with glass shards crackling beneath their boots, they felt their breaths grow cold. No lighting to be laid bare, they tried to pry the details of the darkened room.

Gwen being the one in front, and Luna hanging in back, she had her hands hovering on both of her holsters. Soon after, an eerie stench grew, the smell assaulting its way into both their nostrils.

“Do you smell that?”

“Sniff sniff, let me guess, you ripped out a secret fart?”

“I’ll make fucking mincemeat of you!”

Grabbing Gwen’s collar, Luna clutched the fabric with so much intensity that it dented the leather. Bringing her face close, she glared into Gwen’s raised up eyes, while the freckled woman raised both her hands in a form of surrender.

“Can’t you just liven up a little? Getting angry all the time will leave you bald.”

“I don’t want to hear that from some childish womanbaby! Get your shit together or else—”

Something cold pressed onto her ankle.

Looking down at the ground, her eyes widened at a bloodied man clinging onto her like a lifeline. His breath hot and low, he laid motionless, as only his chest moved heavily.

A pool of blood drenched the entirety of his body, with the smell of manure radiating from his lower stomach. Seeing his face cut in half, with his nose and forehead barely clinging on, it looked like his brain was luckily intact.

“Please … please …”

He looked up to the two women. Her face turning pale, Luna let go of Gwen’s collar, all the while she had her left foot in place. Softening her eyes at the dying man, Gwen crouched down, as the smell didn’t bother her one bit.

“Please kill me…”

She felt her breath hitch in her throat, leaving it to stall in her vocals like a small toy. Extending both of her hands toward his face, he felt his rubber cheeks that prickled like ice.

“Please…”

A yellowish light drew from the tips of her fingers. The particles enacting that of a flashlight, it led her to draw her head to the other end of the lobby. Squinting through the faded darkness, she focused her attention on the…

Barrage of corpses laying restful on the floor. No words to break the silence, many of the bodies were already half eaten, with an abundance of bats doing most of the work.

Luna’s face darkened at the massacre from the other end of the lobby, allowing her chest to be heavy. Cold sweat running down her cheeks and nose, she felt her breath boil from her dry gums. All the while Gwen kept her light flowing into the man’s body, his bloodied eyes flickering erratically. Closing her eyes, she released a single tear, which fell onto the dying man’s cut-open nose.

“Thank you…”

And out from his heart, and in the palm of her hand, was a ball of white light snuggling onto her skin.

Leaving his mouth open, the man laid bare on the cold marbled floor, his body now a corpse. Clenching her fists harshly, Luna saw Gwen release the ball, which pulled upward like a helium balloon. Once it reached the ceiling, it dissipated, allowing the leftover particles to shine the room with a heavenly glow.

“Come on, those bastards are probably still here.”

With the room lightened by the man’s own soul, along with the corpses staring up at the ceiling, it was enough for Gwen to stand up. Their eyes sparkling silently, Gwen had her hands shivering, once she glanced at the barrage of corpses again.

And saw them seemingly at peace.

“Yeah … let’s get them.”

________________________________________________________________________

(Quintiles 29, 59 / 8:58PM)

—On the 40th floor.

Exiting the elevator, two women popped out from the door, while having the helm of their weapons on standby.

It looked to be a normal office floor, with many cubicles and desks scattering the layout of the foundation. Along with typewriters and papers littering the endless marbled floor, it led Gwen to place her hand on her chin.

“Guess they're not on this floor either.”

Turning their heads left and right, they found nothing out of the ordinary. As for Luna, she noticed something sticking out from one of the cubicles.

“What is that?”

“What is what?”

Her nostrils flared once again, she kicked some of the typewriters in the way. Pinching her nose with her left hand, she made her way toward the cubicle, while her right hand caressed her metal baton.

Poking her head into the little office, the darkened object was just her imagination. Unable to find any body part or corpse, the smell … continued to worsen.

‘Wait … I swore I definitely saw an arm!’

Stepping foot into the cubicle, she found nothing to pinpoint the worsening smell, which wrinkled her lungs like smoke. Everything on the desk was organized, as if no one had even laid a hand on anything.

‘Why the hell can’t I find the corpse?! Where is he—’

—“Hello.”—

She twirled her body 180, and saw a pale figure standing in her back. Letting go of her nose, she pulled out her batons from her holsters, and had the tips of them daggering forward.

Clenching the metal, it crackled and squealed the more her fingers dug deeper. Caressing the buttons latched on the center of the batons, she steadied her stance and sharpened her eyes at the teenage lich.

“Were you the one who killed all those people?”

“Me? Well yeah of course?! Pretty good at it, yeah?”

On his right shoulder, was a bat that snuggled its head against his pale shimmering skin. Patting the bat’s head with his left hand, his bony palm tricked and tickled from the night creature’s black hairs. As he paid no heed to Luna’s quivering body, stalled steadily on the marbled floor.

“Got a hand it to you, the man partnering with me really is cold as ice. Saw me slaughter every single person in the lobby. Actually, I think he’s the man you’re after.”

Her thumbs remained steady on the buttons, leaving sweat to caress the metal from her fingers and palms. And as he continued to pat the bat’s head, he raised his other hand toward his chin, and began scratching it roughly. Allowing a couple of pigments to clutter his nails, a small line of tar ran down his jawline.

“Remember that second night during training? The night where you trauma dumped Luke, explaining your little backstory but only the summary? Well guess what senorita?”

She pointed the tip of her sword at Cameron, her palms stuck to the soles of the metal.

Placing both of his hands on the back of his head, he scratched it, which caused scalp and lice to leap out. Pushing up a sly smirk, he arched his head up, and straightened his back up to his neck.

“He’s up at the 55th floor. I could let you go, unless you—”

A yellowish rope tightened his waist, which dug deep into his intestines and liver. His hands and arms unusable, he fell on top of himself, and slammed his chest onto the floor below. Clenching his eyes shut, as he whimpered from the annoying jab from his stomach, he seethed from his teeth.

‘I think I know who that is…’

Slowly opening his eyes, he saw a woman beginning to walk toward him, with freckles plastered underneath her eyelids. Her eyes sharpened at him, she soon towered over him with her body, while her chest heaved up and down with a hardened strain of control.

Her hands trembling violently, it made Cameron and Gwen ignore the shadowy Luna.

“You couldn’t wait?”

“Whatever it is you are doing, needs to stop.”

“Or what? You’d probably let me go scott-free, just like your younger brother?”

She stomped her foot right next to his face, her boot inches away from his nose. As she redenned her eyes, she thrusted her right hand downward, and grabbed the hem of his white cloth. Bringing his face close to hers, she felt like her knuckles might pop out of place.

And since he was brought up, his bare feet simmered and glued down to the floor below. Letting off a smug grin, he stared devilishly at the extremely frustrated Gwen.

“Hehe, I hit a nerve didn’t I? But you should do something about your soldier, because she’s about to handle a very personal matter.”

Glancing in back of her, she saw the elevator door close shut, and knowing that Luna was nowhere near her…

She let go of Cameron’s collar, and leaped through the air to reach the already closed door. The floor below becoming a static minefield, electricity zizzled evermore on the trail that she laid. Once she reached in front of the elevator door, she banged her hands on the metal, which swallowed a thudded boom.

‘Why is she going up there? She’s going to get herself killed!’

Her hands already formed into fists, she looked down at the floor, as she grizzled her eyes into red. Trying her best to regain her haggard breathing, and her beating chest, she had her head tilted down as she stared blankly at her boots.

‘I can’t screw up again…’

Unfortunately, she had unconsciously pulled back the rope that binded Cameron. Already long dimmed into thin air, and with her mind mostly on Luna than him, it gave him the ability to…

“Looks like you and I are battling.”

Extend both his hands out.

Standing firm on the floor with his bare feet, he spread his legs far apart, followed by a couple of bats landing on his shoulders. Letting out a cocky smirk, his right lip reached the bottom of his ear.

All the while Gwen turned to look at him too. Closing her eyes, a slow breath of air breezed through her throat, which allowed her lungs to fill the void of empty air. And upon opening her eyes, she saw Cameron in the same place, who just continued to smirk while more bats began to land on his body.

“You know, you should’ve hidden when you had the chance.”

________________________________________________________________________

—On the 55th floor.

Bursting through the elevator door, was none other than a tanned beauty.

Looking to be the room of a CEO, the windows were all tinted, while the orange smoke from outside devoured the light. Leaving the scenery to be clastined in a hellish glow, it made the light turn orange. And as the woman looked around the room, she noticed a figure at the far end, who looked down at the heights below.

Being in the center of the room, his hands situated in his all black jacket, the beauty already had her blades sticking out. Pointing her right sword to the man covered in black, her hand started to tremble the more she laid eyes on him.

“You…”

—Her teeth grinded.

Her stomach tightened.

Her chest froze.

Veins sprouted alongst her neck.

Cardinal red blistered her face.

Bloodshot red cluttered her eyes.

Her eyes sharpened.

Her forehead wrinkled.

Her vocals jumped with each breath.—

“I’ve waited …”

Orange smoke reflected against her pupils. As he had his left hand pressed onto the window, he had his right inside his jacket. Hearing her slowly trickle the steps of the marbled floor, each step growled the surface by the heels of her boots.

“I’ve waited, I’ve waited, I’ve waited, I’ve waited…”

He turned to look at the tanned beauty, and let his hand drop from the window by doing so. Tucking it into his jacket, he then sharpened his eyes, and remained still like an ice cold mannequin.

His breathing tame compared to her, his hands weren’t fully inside his pockets.

She pushed herself off the marbled floor, which dented from the strength she harbored after years of training. Flinging her arms back, both of her swords slashed through the air, as her voice croaked.

“I’ve waited six years for this!”

Charging herself to the man clad in all black, he had no other choice but to pull out his hands. Seeing his hair ravished in ginger, two chainsawed swords were pulled out, his palms stationed at the main base…

And he revved up the two silent beasts.