IV: Abschussen im Dunkeln

[Ramlock]

"No thanks."

Cyril refused the tin of cigarettes with a small hand motion. Cigarettes were pervasive in the business he used to partake of, but Cyril had never picked up the habit. More than any moral reason, it was because smoking threw him into embarrassing coughing fits...

Cyril didn't often join "safe with" and "psychopath" in the same thought. If Yuri was crazy and deadly, that was good for him, but it certainly didn't raise Cyril's confidence that Maladi was going to be safe around him. In fact, when someone was too strong to be approached for any reason, it only made life more dangerous for the people around them...

"I'm not trying to be too critical here, but you seem awfully calm. Like you're expecting there to be no attacks for retribution against that little escapade. Maybe things are different here, but I certainly wouldn't trust this calm in the slightest..."

Cyril wasn't going to disappear, in any case. Traveling with Tanner was much better than traveling alone, especially since Maladi was (hopefully) with Yuri. Their erstwhile companions at least had a grip on the realities of life in this city, and were agreeable enough. They certainly represented the best chance of Cyril and Maladi ever finding Edii...

The little shade on Cyril's shoulder was constantly surprising. Her actions were so childlike and so... Human... Cyril couldn't help but wonder if this shade was going to grow up into someone like Tanner, Yuri, or the woman they'd fought earlier. Or... Was that how it worked? Was Cyril even thinking along the right tracks here? The anatomy of these beings was still a mystery, particularly considering how Maladi was changing...

[Nayt]

Tanner shrugged his shoulders and closed the tin. He took one of the matches from inside, struck it against the rough of it, and lit the cigarette between his lips. With little further use for the tin, he slid it back into the pocket. Tanner took a moment to catch a long drag from his cigarette before he said or did anything else.

"Calm?" Tanner asked.

He drew in another long drag.

"No, man," he began, "Calm's not it."

Tanner checked to their immediate right, down the street he intended to walk. It seemed clear enough. There appeared to be rubble down the left side of the street, where a few houses seemed completely demolished, but beyond residual dirt and debris in the street, it seemed otherwise fine.

"It's just grace under pressure," Tanner answered as he turned the corner and started down the street, leading further away from the center of the city.

As calm as Tanner seemed to be, if Cyril examined him with much detail, he might find the practical uses of his stride; he seemed calm--disarmingly so. His arms and legs were loose. His muscles were mostly relaxed and the only tension seemed to be a byproduct of the simple act of walking. He walked near the middle of the street where he had a good vantage point for everything before him, and he kept his hair far from his ears, to hear all that was behind him. This was a man ready to break a man's neck with minimal warning, or at the very least duck into safety . . .

[Ramlock]

Cyril moved with Tanner, his own stride calm by Tanner's definition. His stride was loose, his muscles weren't tensed. However, Cyril's "grace" was perhaps synonymous with resignation. Rather than carrying no fear, he trusted it. Death was as likely to come quickly as it was to come slowly, here. Cyril bore neither the knowledge nor the skills to prevent it. All he really had was dumb luck and whatever improvisations he could manage, and the best he could do was will himself to remain loose and open to events as they occurred...

"This is just a sign of much bigger things, isn't it? And it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better..."

Cyril only half-asked his question. The attack on the four of them was tremendous, and a sign of open gang warfare... Of a level that he had never seen, really. He hadn't seen a citizen yet who had not taken a side in it. The city seemed almost depopulated, really... Which was perhaps all for the better. He was never going to blend in here, even the slightest bit. He didn't look at all like the rest of the citizens, and was in fact a different species entirely. Maladi had the questionable benefit of the shade flesh that now seemed to be a part of him...

"I guess you know our part in this. If we can find our friend, we'll be just as happy to get the hell out of the way..."

[Nayt]

"Yeah," Tanner nodded.

It was open gang warfare in the City of Shadows, and Tanner seemed more accustomed to it than anyone else to this point. It was almost like he was born for these sorts of conflicts.

"The boss is going to want you to stick around for a few, I think--even after you find your friend." Tanner remarked with a shrug of his shoulders, "Free of charge, of course, and with all the comforts of home. Probably."

Tanner took another drag from his cigarette. Darkness fell upon the city and blackened it for a long moment, as the heat lightning all but stopped in the sky. Their only light became the orange glow before Tanner's face, until the near-constant and ever-silent lightning took to the storm ridden sky once once.

"Nothing against you. Hell, I doubt he'll even care about you," Tanner continued as an afterthought, "It's more about your friend and those . . ." Tanner withdrew his cigarette, and with the hand still holding the stick, motioned towards the shade on Cyril's shoulder, "Things."

[Ramlock]

"I appreciate his graciousness..."

Cyril spoke with only the slightest hint of sarcasm, enough to convey his disdain. It was about what he expected, and what he was afraid of... Especially since there was little he could do about it. His lot was thrown in, anyway, realistically. Just being around Tanner and Yuri had assured that. The two of them were somewhat notorious, it seemed...

"I get the drill. Just do me a favor and remind him sometimes that we don't really have a part in all this mess..."

Cyril wasn't exactly sure what to think of them wanting to study Maladi and the shades. What were they trying to find out? What could they find out? More importantly, what would they want to do with their test subjects if they discovered something? Apparently both Maladi and the shades were new to them... Not that it mattered, really. Cyril wasn't going to plot against people he hadn't even met yet...

[Nayt]

"Yeah," Tanner nodded, "And-- don't worry. Sinir's humane."

Tanner continued his path down the middle of the street, but a bit slower this time--and he was more willing to look over his shoulder, now.

"It's just . . . well, shades don't enter this city, to start, and they sure as hell don't look or act like that," he motioned to Baht again.

He was a bit closer, however, and the smoke of his cigarette floated into her face. She coughed a tiny cough, set her hands over her mouth and nose, and regarded Tanner with a disapproving glare. He didn't seem to grace this with a response. More than likely, he was even less inclined than Cyril was to see Baht and the other two shades as sentient, conscious, and feeling creatures.

"We got billions of those things surrounding this place at all times. If this is gonna start becoming a trend . . . well, I'm sure you can imagine how bad that'd be."

[Ramlock]

"Humane is well and good, but usually a word I'd use for someone keeping animals..."

Billions of shades surrounding the city? What was he talking about? Cyril had walked here, and all there had been was darkness that seemed almost... Suffocating... Well, it was a good thing he hadn't run into shades, Cyril figured. Except that big one. Right? Of course...

"What are you afraid of? A million judgmental little shades scoffing at your smoking?"

Of course, Cyril could see the danger inherent. It was an odd city, but one that was at least populated by sentient creatures... Not that he could really explain the three little shades they had picked up. He couldn't explain them in the slightest. By this point, though... He never really thought about it, but his revulsion at the things had disappeared. And they were essentially like pets at this point...

"How much farther is it to our destination?"

[Nayt]

Humane was the perfect word to use for animals, yes-- and Tanner meant it in the same way Cyril thought of it. To Tanner, shades were just animals.

Once the smoke was out of Baht's face, she relaxed a bit, but still folded her arms over her chest and pouted. She let out a small whine, but Tanner didn't seem to notice or care.

"A million judgmental shades that want us for dinner," Tanner replied simply.

In all honesty, Tanner was surprised that the little shade on Cyril's shoulder hadn't bitten into his neck yet. That was the strange thing about this little shade; it didn't seem at all hungry, not like the others. Shades were some of the most prolific hunters across these worlds. They had only one thought, one instinct: to feed. Even if their bellies were full, they continued their hunt 'til death.

Tanner approached the next corner and came to a stop. He took one final drag from his cigarette and flicked it away. He dropped his arms to his sides and relaxed entirely.

"We're here," he remarked under his breath.

Cyril would hear what Tanner did almost a second after Tanner reacted to it. It was the sound of a click, a very familiar click to someone like Cyril. A bolt was being latched and locked into a wooden frame. It echoed loudly. Tanner slowly lifted his hands into the air.

[Ramlock]

Cyril's experiences with shades weren't exactly pleasant either, and yet... Well, these three were different. Not to mention Maladi. Cyril had listened to an entire city get devoured by shades... His family must have been dead, along with most of the people he'd ever known... But Baht wasn't responsible, certainly. And to a degree, the shades were just regrettably feral and couldn't help themselves...

"Just so long as you aren't doing things you can't take back..."

Cyril immediately followed suit to Tanner, showing his empty palms to the people inside. Hopefully, Baht could figure out to do the same, even if only through imitation. The process was a bit... Concerning. If Tanner had to be searched and wasn't trusted to just enter, he apparently didn't have the clout Cyril had hoped for...

[Nayt]

It wasn't long after that the two men were bathed in a horrid light. It came from ahead and covered the whole area on which they stood. It was blinding to look forward. Tanner shut his eyes and winced in the light as he turned his head away. Baht, on the other hand, covered her eyes with her hands, which had been to that point lifted into the air much like Cyril and Tanner's. She let out a small whimper, the light hurting her eyes. But for a few seconds, it was almost if Cyril had gone completely unnoticed.

"Well, well, look who we have here," a voice spoke from ahead of them, belonging to a silhouette in the spotlight. He seemed short and wide in build, and seemed to have a thick Sythinian accent¹.

Tanner did not reply.

"Is it really you, Tanner?"

Tanner grunted. "Yeah. It's me."

"Haha. Look at this," the silhouette seemed to wave to another similar sized silhouette, "And you're back from . . . what, getting some more of our boys killed?"

Tanner glanced over to Cyril. It was the first time he'd opened his eyes in a good while. "Not quite . . ." he replied.

It was only then that the second silhouette took notice of Cyril, standing there next to Tanner with his hands up and a small shade perched on his shoulder.

"Whoa! Hey!" the second silhouette, another man with a Sythinian accent, grabbed the first man by the shoulder to alert his attention. He pointed to Cyril.

"A . . . a human?" the first man seemed perplexed. There was a long pause, before he shouted in Cyril's direction, "Identify yourself, human!"

---

¹. The Dystopian equivalent to a Russian accent.

[Ramlock]

"My name is Cyril. I've got a gun in my right pocket, so if you're going to take it, please don't send someone jumpy."

Cyril couldn't really see what was going on, but he could only presume weapons were aimed at them. He had no interest in fighting if it could at all be avoided, and he certainly wasn't going to reach down and possibly inspire any accidents. Anyone could get trigger happy if they were scared...

"I'm not looking for any trouble. I'm just here with Tanner. The shade is mine. She's harmless."

Cyril kept perfectly still with his hands up. It was rather undignified in a way, really, but not unusual. He would just have to wait for them to react or overreact, as the case may be...

[Nayt]

"Cyril, huh?" one of the silhouettes shouted.

"Get your gun," the other silhouette commanded. There was another click. Another shot loaded into a wooden frame. "Nice and slow like."

"And kick it this way."

They weren't about to go attempt to disarm this man. They didn't know him, and clearly in their distrust and dislike for Tanner, they weren't going to trust him by proxy. He'd come here with Tanner, after all. In the worst case scenario, attempting to disarm him would lead to Cyril getting the jump on them, getting off a couple shots before they could do anything about it, enough shots to open him up an entry route right to everything that mattered to them. No, it simply wasn't worth the risk.

[Ramlock]

Cyril slowly and steadily reached down into his pocket, drawing his weapon by the tip of the barrel, holding it with just two fingers to make it clear it wasn't really usable. From there, he would set it on the ground, lightly kicking it forward. He wasn't really a fan of firearms sliding across the ground, but it wasn't likely to hurt anything...

"Believe me, I'd just as soon be out of your business and out of this city entirely."

Cyril had no way of knowing what was going on, really. He had no network of allies, no unbiased knowledge of the situation, and no ability to blend in even marginally. All he could do was hope his new erstwhile ally could help him...

[Nayt]

The gun scraped against the ground and passed Tanner by without a hitch. The second silhouette slowly moved toward it and lifted it. Its frame and design was out of this world. It was improbable, but did not look overtly impractical. Three chambers and a rotating barrel . . . it was like some secret weapon of war. It was a large revolver that could fire pseudo-automatically, and took much longer to run out of ammunition than a standard pistol. The way the second man showed the first and they both examined it in silence suggested some manner of awe.

Following this, the first man began to circle around them. Tanner watched him for a moment, but took his eyes off of him once he was closer to the back of them. He knew what was coming next, and was beginning to regret his decision to come this way. It was supposed to be harmless.

The next thing Cyril would feel would be a quick and precise pain in the back of his neck, just where his spine met his skull, followed in short by a loud yelp from the shade on his shoulder . . .

And then there was darkness.

---

IV.6 Lost and Found

Exitus slowly drew himself to a stop. He-- obviously --could not see his surroundings, and he was fully aware of his utter lack of presence in this city for the duration of his life, yet he felt something familiar here. It was not the energy source to his left, the man named Shin Shiden that walked with him. In fact, he could sense no direction to it. It was like a tick in his brain. It was there and active and he couldn't explain it, not even himself. Something here, Exitus had felt before, yet it had no name.

He turned his head, trying to allow his right ear-- his better ear --to face the direction they were going.

Shin would be able to see it all just fine, though. The two men had come to a stop in the very middle of a road, specifically at a four way intersection. The strange black road was starting to crack here, a bit worse than it was when they were closer to the center of the city-- to Sturm's facility and the gargantuan tower that stood above it.

They were in too open of a place. It was too still. Too quiet . . . There was no movement to base on, no bodies other than Shin that warranted caution or informed Exitus of direction.

Exitus was losing his way.

[Shin]

Shin followed in silence, he had too much going on in his mind that demanded sorting out. Shin liked to dwell on things he could not change, things that could not be and would never be. He wished away his current sickness because that’s all he could do, he couldn’t fight it, not like he fought the majority of his battles.

Mentally he struggled, as well as physically now, though he did his best to show it and in front of Exitus who couldn’t actually see him he figured it wouldn’t be that difficult. When his thoughts finally brought him to Exitus he looked up to his blind friend and only then did he noticed that they had stopped.

Shin gave a quick survey of the area, they were at a cross road. And very very exposed to the open, naturally Shin didn’t like it but he trusted in his companion’s sense of hearing. “A cross roads.” Shin mumbled as Exitus turned his better ear to listen and Shin assumed he could hear something.

“Where are we going?” He asked as he too tuned his hearing and sight to the area, maybe he would pick up on what he thought Exitus heard or see something and just to be sure Shin turned his attention to the air above them, scanning it for sign of danger that Exitus might not have been able to hear.