Unleashed (Open)

It felt like days, weeks even, since he'd been himself. Syd crawled out of bed in his Chicago apartment. It wasn't the nicest place, but it'd do. He watched as a cockroach scurried across the floor. He squashed it with his boot as he made his way to the kitchen. He opened the door to the barely-filled fridge, and grabbed a beer. "No better way to start the morning..." He glanced at the clock, "...or evening."

Syd threw on a shirt and his leather jacket and headed out the door to the streets below. Outside the air was brisk and smelled of murder. It was just the way he liked. Chicago was his kind of town. He lit up a cigarette and began walking down the street. He couldn't wait to see what the night would bring.

What a shame to be all alone. It was getting dark and a single man walked alone down the street. The lookout, hiding in his car further down the street, could tell just from the look of the man that he was wealthy; this would be a nice score. As soon as the man neared the alley the lookout sent the text to the rest of the group and Rin began screaming. She shrieked for help for the first moment then switched to wordless wails of imitated terror and pain. Rather than hide somewhere down the alley or have a pretend mugger Rin came up with a different plan. While standing in the open she flung her body wildly around and grasped onto her face with both hands. She hoped doing this would heighten the targets curiosity, give them a sense of urgency, and eliminate their own feeling of danger.

Should the target come down the alley to check on her he will be met by an ambush of the three other men in her crew. The lookout had also been instructed to swing in from behind to block off the potential target's escape route. Rin had to admit she was proud of herself. She had only met this crew a few days ago and she had already worked them into a coordinated unit. Still, Rin is nothing if not cautious and even if everything fails she has one last tool at her disposal...

Syd heard a shriek in the distance and immediately decided to ignore it. He continued walking down the street, but the screams continued. Finally, he slowly turned around to face the direction of the sound. He saw a figure in the distance and began his stride towards her. "Hey! Quit yelling!" he ironically yelled at her. But she didn't. The cigarette dropped from his mouth and he began to walk even faster towards her.

"Hey! If you don't quit yelling I'm going to rip your voice box right out of your-" he was suddenly cut off by the sound of guns being drawn and pointed in his direction. Three men took position in front on him and to the sides of him. "Easy there, fellas. There doesn't need to be any trouble. Nobody needs to get hurt." Syd slowly began walking backwards out of the situation, but was cut off by a fourth member who suddenly appeared behind him.

He slowly turned back around and faced the lady who had now obviously been crying wolf. "This is a nice little unit you're running here. I wish I had remembered to bring my army...oh, that's right! I don't need one." he said with a smirk, knowing that he was about to get to do what he loves best.

Everything had gone rather perfectly. He had walked into the trap and was now stuck. Rin lowered her hands and stopped her screaming; looks like the man had gotten her to do what he wanted after all. Rin hadn't been running with this group long enough to be any kind of official leader but that was how she already had come to think of herself and since she was the one he addressed it seemed fitting she should be the one to speak. "Pretty cynical aren't you?" she asked in a low, dark tone before letting out a slight chuckle. "Then again, who am I to judge?"

"We only want your money and valuables." She continued while looking him over. The lookout had chosen well, she thought, he looked rich. "You can give them to us and this'll all be quite simple or we can take them from you."

She glanced to the other men. They each looked ready, maybe even eager, but it was hard to tell. The other four had each chosen to wear masks of one kind or another. Rin did not. She may have been young, but standing in the shadows with her dark get up and the look of total conviction on her face it would be hard to argue that she didn't look threatening if not down right creepy.

As she spoke she lay one hand on the dumpster behind her. She couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, with everything having gone so well she wouldn't get to use her little friend.

"If you're looking for valuables, you've got the wrong guy. I left all of my goodies back in Seattle with my....friend." Syd said as he began sizing up the men who surrounded him. "Although, I do have this fancy pack of cigarettes for you to try to take from me." He braced for the fight that was about to take place. The odds were against him, and he wouldn't have it any other way. "Well, are we doing this or what?"

He quickly swung around behind the guy to his left and used him as shield to deflect the bullets from the other three. As his meat shield's arm dropped he grabbed the gun from it and shot two of them in the hand, making them drop their guns. He then chucked his gun at the head of the third guy, knocking him unconcious. As he dropped the body he'd been holding, the two remaining guys rushed him. He was able to block most of them, but they landed a couple shots. Finally, he had enough and grabbed both guys by the back of their heads and slammed them together like two coconuts. The remaining men fell to the floor, as Syd looked up at the woman still standing there.

"Don't look so surprised. It's not my first mugging."

She was calm, confident, satisfied but in a moment it was all over. He grabbed one of her men and when the hail of gunfire began she leapt for cover behind a dumpster. She was probably the only one to notice the bumps that came from within that dumpster. In a moment she stood back up to see the last two men fall to the ground. He spoke to her but she wasn't looking at him. She stood with her eyes wide, seemingly unable to breath. She stared directly towards the man covered in bullet wounds lying on the ground.

Relatively speaking Rin had been doing this kind of work for a long time and in that time she had done some terrible things but she was never comfortable with death. She had seen men die and had even been responsible for a few deaths but she had never killed someone and never liked it when other people did.

It only took her a moment to come back. She refocused her gaze on her target. "Don't be surprised, but this isn't my first mugging either." She spoke quickly, her words were sharp. Just then she shot her hand back and hit the dumpster. "Get up!" she yelled at it over her shoulder. It took only a moment for the lid of the dumpster to fly back as an enormous creature flew out and landed next to Rin. She never took her strange grey eyes off of her opponent.

The creature was pure black and seemed to have black clouds of mist rolling off of its skin. In the dark alley it may have been hard to see it; that is except for its glimmering white teeth and glowing red eyes. It stood on all fours and was roughly the same size and shape of a lion. This is appropriate as the creature was really nothing more than an average stray cat that Rin had corrupted and hid away just prior to getting set up for the mugging. Rin always had a back up plan. However, in terms of speed and strength a lion would have been to her monster what the stray cat would have been to the lion.

Rin smirked as the creature began to growl. "Get him," was all she had to say. The pseudo-demon let out a tremendous roar before jumping at its new enemy. It jumped head first, jaws wide open. It seemed it intended to simply rip his head off in a single bite.

Ordinarily Rin would have considered this overkill and the conflict as being over but she still felt nervous. She would never admit this but even with the strength of her corrupted monster the speed with which Syd had disposed of her allies gave her a reason to doubt, slight though it may be. She crossed her arms and waited for results.

"Get up!"

Something flew out of the dumpster, but it was too dark to see what it was. Whatever it was, it was large and did not look friendly. Syd braced himself. He had taken down the four men with ease, but he had no idea what trick this lady in the shadows had up her sleeve.

"Get him!"

The shadow beast lunged forward. At last glance, it seemed to be some sort of jungle cat, but this wasn't the time for zoology. Syd leapt out of the way as the beast's jaw soared into the ground where he stood moments before. Syd wasted no time, and jumped to his feet. He took off in a quick sprint and headed down a nearby alley. As he was running, he noticed that the alley ended with a brick wall. It was a dead end. Knowing it was a life or death situation, he picked up a little speed and ran up the wall at the end into a backflip, landing on his feet. Upon landing, though, he slightly tweaked his ankle. But his goal was accomplished as the beast now slid face first into the wall, momentarily slowing it down.

Syd now began to hobble as fast as he could down the alley and back to the pile of bodies. He had one chance to make it to one of the guns on the ground, and this was it. He reached the end of the alley, with the beast still in hot pursuit. Just as he went to reach for the gun, the beast pounced. Syd could only partially move out of the way this time, and took a few claws to his left shoulder. This knocked him to the ground, and as the beast landed on its paws, he knew it was only a matter of time. This didn't mean he was going to give up, though. Syd quickly began struggling towards the gun, as the beast began slowly walking towards him. He soon came within reach of the firearm, and went to reach for it trying to aggravate the wound on his shoulder.

Syd grabbed the gun and quickly aimed it at the monster that was stalking him like prey. He pulled the trigger, only to find that the clip was empty. He began contemplating all possible ways out of this, but kept coming up short. The beast was now just a foot away, and Syd looked directly into the blood red eyes of this demonic lion. The lion prepared itself for a feast, and Syd prepared himself for his final stand. He gripped the barrel of the gun and began to inch his way backwards. The lion readied itself to pounce on its prey.

The lion quickly jumped towards Syd, who just as quickly swung the gun at the lion's head with all his might. This took the demonic being by surprise and made it a little off balance just long enough for Syd to rise to his feet. He then scrambled to the other bodies and found a second gun. He aimed and fired as fast possible, and this time it was successful and the lion collapsed. Syd dropped to his knees, and attempted to catch his breath. "Is that...all you got?"

Rin watched with great anticipation as the beast began its assault. She crossed her arms and looked on as it missed its first strike then ran past her in pursuit of its enemy. While this would have been a moment of great satisfaction for Rin in most cases the fact that the man had the speed and collectiveness to escape the first strike continued to give her cause for alarm. As soon as her beast and the man had gotten a few feet away Rin lunged forward and swooped a pistol off the ground before shoving it into her inner jacket pocket. Sometimes even a backup plan needs a backup plan. She was just in time to glance over and see the two fighters rush back in front of her. Her and the stranger must have been on the same thought process because upon his arrival his first instinct was also to use a firearm. As soon as he pointed it at her beast her eyes grew wide as she grew worried. Apparently it was out of ammo. As soon as she realized that she calmed back down. Perhaps she had overestimated his chances.

That is until he swooped up a second gun and a single bullet was fired off. The creature dropped to the ground, let out a final shriek, then died. The moment it did its glowing eyes flickered out and its body began to dissolve and turn to black mist. In less then twenty seconds its black skin had completely dissolved and in its place lie the original alley cat, its fur seared off.

Rin's eyes never left the man. She breathed heavily through her nose. Her hands and parts of her face seemed to twitch. It was clear she was furious. "Is that all you got?" she thought to herself. How arrogant, how dare he! "No," she said, "I'v still got something left." As before, she spoke quickly with sharp words.

Just then she pulled the gun from her jacket and pointed it at the man. "Now listen, you're going to put your gun down and leave. Our business here is concluded." She wasn't sure this word work. As she saw it, he was unlikely to want to continue. Between the injuries to his shoulder and leg that he received from her demon and the fact that the only enemy he had left was a young girl (she counted on people's sympathy towards her quite often) she was almost certain he would just want to leave. On the other hand, she knew that he dispatched her allies without a moments hesitation, so who really knew what he was capable of.

Then there was the other complication; Rin was fairly unwilling to shoot him anyway. Despite the trouble and possible danger this man presented Rin was still uncomfortable with death and already consciously knew that if she shot it wouldn't be to kill. Not that it mattered much, unbeknownst to either of them, Rin only had one round left in her weapon.

"Generally speaking, I dislike people who try to kill me." Syd said while picking himself up off the ground slowly. "You...are currently on attempt number three. And that means I really dislike you. I really really dislike you." Syd began to slowly limp towards her. "So, the way I see it...is that if anyone should be walking away from the situation...it's you." Syd quickly raised his gun towards her and every muscle in his body tensed, assuming that such an action would cause her to fire her weapon.

The fear turned to rage rather quickly, and it flowed through his veins. This girl had used four men to try and kill him. Then had somehow created a monstrous lion and used it to attack him further. Now she had the audacity to point a gun at him and tell him to leave. He was at his boiling point and one more false move would be all the reason he'd need to blow her away. That is, if he wasn't about to be blown away himself.

Rin's whole body tensed up. Her teeth were now clenched and she was visibly breathing quite deeply to vent her rage. That changed when her opponent pulled up his own gun. For a moment Rin completely froze and she seemed to be unable to breath. She regained movement, though not control, as the man began to move closer to her. Her body shook more and more with every step and despite her every instinct to pull the trigger and end it she was unable to bring herself to do it.

Her eyes shot rapidly from the assailant to her downed partners to the dead cat. Finally she let out a scream. Not a scream of fear or rage but one of frustration and defeat. She felt as though she had the weight of the world crushing down on her and she could simply not handle it. She dropped the gun to the ground and shot off running. She ran down the alley as fast as she could, holding her hands over her head and ducking down. She hated to run away, but your priorities change when you're sure you're about to get shot in the back.

"Wait! Hold on!" Syd yelled, as he lowered his gun and ran off after her. He obviously knew she wouldn't get far since he had run down the alley previously only to find it was a dead end. He found her ducking down at the end. Syd dropped his gun on the ground in front of her. Suddenly, his entire demeanor changed. He seemed less angry, and although he was still quite injured, he kept rather calm.

"Allow me to introduce myself, miss. My name is Drew Slade, and I am the CEO of Aerotech Weapons. But...more importantly...I am the guy who is going to help you out." Drew smiled at the girl, assuming that she'd be confused. It was one of his favorite parts about transitioning from Syd. Syd was always so agressive and confrontational, so when he became passive, friendly Drew most people never knew what to think. "Firstly, you're welcome for saving you from the guy who currently wants to rip your head off. It took a lot to calm him down and convince him to hand things over to me, but from what I've seen...you'd be more valuable alive than dead."

Drew began to test the water, and took a few steps towards her to see if she was warming up to him at all. "Like I said, I'm the CEO of a weapons manufacturing company in Seattle...but there's obviously more to me than that. Just like there is obviously more to you. You see, I was watching the whole thing that happened back there, and at first it seemed like a nice attempt with the hired guns. But..." Drew eyes lit up when he thought back to what had happened after that. "...when you made that tiny cat into the big monster. That was impressive!" Drew smiled at her, trying to comfort her more.

"On top of running a weapons company, I also have a little side project going. It's something that I think you'd be perfect for. And the pay is not too shabby...that is, if you're a money person. Which, judging by your little operation here, you are. So..." Drew reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card and extended it to her.

Rin ran head first into the dead end. She fell to the ground in pain but quickly got back to her feet and actually began trying to scale the wall. Obviously, it didn't work so well for her. She whipped around just in time to see the man drop his gun. Rin either didn't notice or didn't care because she continued to cower down and cover her head and face with her arms. Suddenly, the man began to speak with a noticeably calmer tone. As he did Rin slowly began to calm down herself. Her breathing slowed and she began to stand back up. Her eyes never left his face and she listened intently, if not cautiously, to his words.

By the time he had finished speaking and held out his business card Rin had completely collected herself. Still, she did not stand perfectly normal. She had a defensive stance but it was less noticeable, more like a nervous child standing up to a bully than a woman addressing her potential killer.

Slowly, as if in a daze, she reached out and took the business card from his hand. She held it for several seconds before gaining the confidence to take her eyes off of him and look at the card. Indeed the card agreed with his claim to be Drew Slade CEO of Aerotech Weapons.

"Other guy," she whispered to herself. She believed him when he said it. Perhaps he was merely referring to his anger and violence as another person but she believed he was being more literal. Some kind of split personality would explain his sudden change in attitude. Slowly she looked up from the card and locked gazes with the man. Her eyes had the exact same look of rage and conviction they had had just before she sicked her demon on him. "There are nearly three million people in this city," she talked slowly, anger in her voice, "and you're telling me we happened to pick a fight with the one that's insane and makes death machines for a living?" She paused for only a moment before a smile crept across her face and she burst out into laughter.

The laughter was genuine. A mix of relief and finding the humor in her own misfortune. But at the same time, she now saw an opportunity. Rin had always liked to use her monsters and goons, but she had always considered her true weapon to be her arsenal of words and deceptions. In truth, she was still terrified and outraged at the man but now she saw an opportunity to get out of this and maybe with a little something.

She stopped laughing and stood up perfectly straight. Her eyes remained dead serious but she allowed herself to maintain the smile for another moment as she held out her hand. "Rin. Rin Ten. I would love to hear about this little side project of yours."

"Fantastic!" Drew said with a smile. "But not here. I'll arrange for you to travel to Seattle. And there you can meet me in my office and we can discuss this further." Drew was happy that she accepted and knew that this was only the first step towards his ultimate goal. He knew that Rin was about to play a very important part in his plans, but anybody who can do what she does should be able to handle any obstacles thrown at her.

"The address is on the back of the card. It was nice meeting you, Rin. See you in Seattle." Drew gave one final smile and turned to walk away. His little vacation he had planned for Syd was going to have to wait. After he got some medical attention, it would be straight back to Seattle. There was work to do.

Well that turned around rather quickly. Rin stood and watched the man turn and walk out of the dank alleyway. She stood there for several minutes just trying to process everything that had just happened. Again she glanced down to the business card. "Hmm. Work for him?" The thought disgusted her. Rin had never done well with employment or with taking orders. On the other hand, she knew an opportunity when she saw one.

She too began walking out of the alley. She stopped to pick up a cellphone from a fallen comrade to call an ambulance for them. By the time it arrived she was long gone. Show was making her way down the street towards her next score, and perhaps, her new life.