Murder by Numbers (Prodigy/Seraphim/Via Request)

     The twilight hours fell upon L.A, and with them a distinguishable anxiety. From the very dawn of mankind it had been practical to limit activity to the hours of daylight, all because of the impending fear of what was unseen. Unfortunately in the current state of the world they still had yet to acknowledge the fact that it was perhaps their greatest threats that proliferated under the sun, and acted not in the guise of darkness. For this was a new moment in the evolutionary chain. A moment where the foes of humanity were no longer the creatures that skulked in darkness, but that which stood before them in the light of day. Metahumans had changed everything it seemed. But was this the beginning, or was it the end?

  This particular night there were a few foes that wished to restore the natural order. The rule of thumb, that mankind should fear the darkness. The night was not their friend, nor their ally. Metahumans may have changed many things, but on this night even they couldn't stop the darkness. The fear.

  A large white building sat since 1928, spanning to either side as the large building's center portion stretched through the sky and stood tall. The white extension to the air was met with pillars as it tapered off to a semi-rounded tip. For those of you just now reading this, this is in fact a building and not a penis. The several evenly portioned windows were all lit, the office working exceptionally late this evening with the ongoing threats the governor had received as of late. The front of the building was home to five elaborately large arches, evenly spaced with pillars between them. It was here that there were over forty members of the LAPD, all of them armed with unique and rather "updated" weaponry that seemed to be a little beyond their pay grade.

  "If you need proof of the depravity of this foul city you need only look to it's city hall. Such a suggestive shape to inspire the uncouth swine of society. May they all choke on an equally suggestive shape as that one-Oh brother, be careful now. You're starting to sound just as one of those self-righteous types. We're villains after all, let's not pretend like this city ain't exactly our style!" The first voice had a particular cockney accent, though it was rough like a fine grit sandpaper. The interjecting voice, in contrast, was equally grating, however lacked an accent and had a childlike enthusiasm. Add it with the overall higher pitched voice, and you can plainly see who has an awful voice.

  "..." Of the three villains present there was one that preferred their silence, and with a forceful grunt pulled their attention away. The other two turned their heads, looking from the phallic monolith to their enigmatic leader.

  "We'll right well light the place up as soon as you give the signal." The larger man said as he adjusted his tie and snapped his fingers. The secondary man giggled as giddied as a schoolgirl before putting his trench-coat on and seemed to check his pockets, taking a mental inventory of his gear. The cloaked leader just continued to stare out at the building that held it's objective point captive.

 "Whenever you're ready boss!" the second screeched, his voice like nails on a chalkboard. The cloaked figure just continued to stare. He continued to stare for several moments before simply humming, at that moment the two villains moved to enact their plan.

    Under the cover of night the man in the trench coat began to walk towards the city hall, only to be met with the sound of microphone feedback and the demand to stop where he was. Originally he complied, hearing that the city hall was off limits due to the threat of a terrorist attack. Once the explanation was done, the man in the trench coat just kept walking towards them, smiling the entire time as he opened his trench coat and revealed something that absolutely no one wanted to see. He revealed a fully loaded RPG to which he fired off at the blockade of police, only to be met with sniper fire to the kneecap, dropping him to the ground. The next thing anyone knew there were covers coming off of the storm-grated and the manholes, armed thugs pouring out of them and firing. Each body dropping being replaced by another, the occasional thug slipping out and seeking cover, positioning themselves for more kills.

  It didn't take long for the city hall to be overrun, though as the smoke from the gunfire cleared there was nothing more that could be done. Bodies littered the streets and two figures stepped from the darkness. The first being the cloaked leader of the entourage, and the second one being the man with the cockney accent, revealing to be in a rather nice wool turtle neck and a suit jacket over top of it, his face covered by a very, very strange looking mask. They walked up to their ally, the leader remaining silent as the masked man used a foot to kick over the wounded villain.

 "H-H-Hey now! Y-you were supposed to shield me! Y-you said you'd get the sniper! R-r-remember!? W-we're still a team r-right!?" The sight of the high-pitched voice cowering was more than amusing enough. A red dot lined itself up on the cloaked figure's head as he looked over his wounded comrade. The masked villain seemed to look at their leader with a devious smile, waiting for the opportunity to rid themselves of this burden.

 "I needed more time to find the sniper..." the leader said calmly and quietly, the explanation seeming to bring a wide smile and a sigh of relief from the squeaky voiced villain. Of course that was met with a groan and regret from the masked man. The sniper went to pull the trigger when suddenly he felt something hit the back of his head, the gun being forced down to shoot the ground and the sniper falling over the ledge, only to catch the flagpole and hang there. The two villains looked up as the leader simply stepped over his wounded comrade and walked into the building.

  "W-wait! Don't leave me with him!" The wounded one cried, though the second only scoffed.

 "Oh please Carmine, as if I'd kill you after he just said to let you go..." The pompous masked villain scoffed, obviously dissatisfied in many regards. OF course the sniper began to try and wiggle his way back towards the ledge, though he was quickly intercepted by a bird, dark as midnight with it's head cocked slightly to the side, it's beady black eyes staring right down at the man. With a twitch and then a sudden thrusting downwards, the razor sharp beak fired down as the bird nipped the finger of the policeman. Then another finger before the officer began to wave a hand at the thing, holding on by one, single good hand. The black bird flew off, though circled back around, waiting for them an to get his grip once more. The damnable bird was toying with him! It nipped at his hands again, was waved off and it repeated the process one more time. Finally, the bird seemed to tire of the game, and this time jumped a bit down the pole, shuffling before positioning itself between the man's hands and looking down at him.

  Screams of agony could be heard as the man fell to his death, crashing to the ground with a sickening chorus of snaps while blood splattered everywhere. As the man's head turned to the side, Carmine could quite clearly see why the man had let go, as there were no longer any eyes within their sockets. Blood drops fell from the sky as the bird seemed to vanish within the night sky...

 Inside there were many people cowering as thugs ransacked the building, some of them breaking things just for the sake of breaking things. There was one that was using liquid nitrogen to spray random areas and object. Some of the goons even began to spread even further lies but kidnapping some hostages. Meanwhile the thugs cleared the way, as if the cloaked leader had been of an imperial status. The cloak barely graced the ground, if at all as it swayed to and fro. A sharp turn and finally, at the top of the floor was the very man he wanted to see. The Governor of California, standing with his hands above his head, police and secretaries dead around him. The cloaked leader signaled tilted his head to the side, like a creepy doll before two of the goons walked over and opened the windows.

  "Please, don't kill me! I have resources, contacts! I can get you anything you want, just please let me go!" The man began to babble, though with a twitch of the head the Governor was brought around the front of his desk and taken to his knees. Finally he seemed to say the right choice of words. "J-just tell me what you want!" Immediately the hooded figure's hands struck out like vipers, clasping into the side of the man's head and pulling his face forwards as he leaned down, the leader's own mask was in view, red tinted lenses covering his eyes.

  "Very well..." He said softly, the Governor frantically saying thank you died quickly down as he seemed to catch himself up to his current predicament.

 "Oh thank you! Thank you! You won't regret this, I promise you. Now- what was it again that you said you wanted?" He said, sounding much more composed than before. Though his captor's expression was unreadable.

  "What do I want? Why... the same thing every villain wants...." He said as he released the government official's head and stepped back. The man looked suspicious at this but his head turned when he felt a clasping on his shoulder. A pronged foot with black talons had appeared and a black bird stepped from the light on his desk onto his shoulder. Once the bird was attached, it's black beady eyes went white, like a fog had become trapped within them, and in response the Governor's eyes did the same...

"Everything..."

Whatever was happening, this was big...very big.