| Duran Duran - INVISIBLE
While AC and her crew were just preparing to set up camp outside the capital city…
Things were far from peaceful within the walls.
Like many cities that grew far beyond what their original creators imagined - the streets of the capital were cluttered and maze-like as it became more haphazard.
Many things happened within the streets, stories that few would ever grow to know, with various alleys briefly crossing paths before turning away. It was truly hard to not get lost. Even those living within the streets all their lives could find themselves getting lost in a place they did not recognise.
At one such crossroad a boy was standing over the kneeling figure of a thug who had fallen to his knee while cradling his battered body. Blood leaked out from his broken nose as he forced himself to look at the boy, no, young man in front of him. A small spark of respect found its way in his gaze.
Though it quickly became clear that the young man was in no better shape than the thug. He may have been standing over him yet his shoulders constantly heaved as he took in as much air as possible to keep his barely functioning body up. His bloodied knuckles rested by his sides as he glared.
"You think you've won just because you've taken me out?" Scoffing at the naive nature of the young man who menacingly stood over his broken body. "I'm merely a small cog in these streets; to you I may feel larger than life however I answer to a bigger fish who answers to someone even bigger than him!"
Letting out a mocking laugh as he looked at the young man as if he had already won. "I don't even know where that sister of yours is so good luck finding her!"
Swaying slightly only to catch himself last second by putting both his hands into the mud.
"Now that I've been taken out these streets will erupt into chaos - a vacuum of power that will be filled yet not after a period of brutal bloodshed. You think you've saved these streets when all you have done is make things even worse hahaha!" Barely able to even lift his head but that didn't stop him.
The young man could only listen to his words in silence while clenching his trembling fists in a pitiful attempt to try and control his agitation. He knew the gangbanger was right but what other choice did he have except to fight? Even if it meant he'd be fighting for the rest of his life…
He couldn't give up on the small spark of hope he had left!
Both silently glared at each other with opposing emotions, one amusement despite losing and the victor who felt forlorn, making for a picturesque scene.
At least that was the case until both heard the small (not oh so noticeable in the silence between them) set of footsteps hurriedly approaching them. Turning just as a little girl in rags burst into the cross road with tears rolling down her face. "B-big brother" was all she could repeatedly call out as she charged forth.
Soon tackle hugging the young man who didn't have the strength left to resist the momentum that came with her. Sending both of them crashing to the ground however neither complained. Just taking a tearful moment as they enjoyed their reunion without involving any unnecessary doubts at least for now.
"You're safe…" Is all he could say as he felt his body demanding he finally let it rest a little.
Nevertheless he realised that he couldn't leave the obvious problems unturned so forced himself to stay awake to ask the girl his most burning question. "How… How are you here?"
That caused the girl to blink in surprise as if she was shocked by his question.
"I-I was trapped in a warehouse with other girls where we were getting beaten up by some mean old woman but then… We fell asleep. When we woke up all the adults guarding us had vanished letting us just walk out the warehouse." Her words showed her own confusion and did little to clear her brothers.
"They were just gone? Also what do you mean you fell asleep?" Somehow managing to get enough energy to push himself out where he held his sisters shoulders at a distance so that he could meet her eye to eye as she replied. "One second I was hiding behind a box then we passed out…"
Those words brought little comfort as his frown grew. "You don't remember anything?"
Suddenly she began to shiver as she remembered something causing her entire body to grow pale with fear becoming etched across her face.
"I-I remember… Smelling death, like thousands of blades poked against my flesh, with the world losing all colour b-before I couldn't handle it anymore. As soon as I woke up I ran without knowing why I was doing it but I knew that whatever took out the guards wasn't human." Coughing as she choked on her own spit.
The brother's worry was obvious yet he didn't ignore the sudden laughter coming from the thug who had suddenly given up all resistance. Collapsing to his back with a thud before he began to prattle on once more as he felt death approaching at last. "Let me give you a tip, kid… Forget about what she said."
Just like that he still left the brother to comfort a now unresponsive sister.
"Aw~ such a sweet happy ending~♪" A melodic voice softly said on the rooftop above the heartwarming scene of reunion. "It almost curbs my desire to kill!"
Hearing that was like a thread leading out of hell for the man currently being dangled by his ankle over the edge of that very same rooftop. Quickly looking up at his captor with a mixture of fear and hope. "T-then you won't kill me right?"
"Now, now, now, le uts not get ahead of ourselves; I still have some information I'd like to gather and sadly don't seem to quite have the skillset I need in order to get it…" Letting out a long drawn out sigh which caused their shoulders to fall. That, in turn, caused the man to suddenly drop.
Being already scared meant that the minor falling feeling was enough to break any remaining resistance the suited man had left. "Y-you wanted to know who'd know the most about these streets right? That's something only I can tell you the truth about as most people would just say the mayor or guard captain!"
That seemed to get his captors attention. "Oh~ho~ so that is wrong~?"
"Y-yea, although all the gang districts war against each other we actually all still report to the same person who truly decides the law of the backstreets, even I'm no different. It's the Count Moribronze who acts charitable even in front of his own family but has more power than a marquis!" Not thinking even a moment before telling this hidden information to the horrorshow that currently held him up.
It wasn't what he saw that terrified him… It was what he didn't see.
One second he was having his usual inspection then - before he even realised it - all his guards and workers had completely vanished with no evidence of their final fate.
Then there was the aura of this monster…
"That is quite the interesting bit of information I may have indeed struggled to get from just asking around on the street~!" Exclaiming merrily with that deceptively alluring voice. "Though I don't suppose you'd know where a poor old sinner could run upon that little noble kid as well as some… Leverage?"
That was immediately met with the man hurriedly nodding as he was more than a little eager to tell the creature everything he knew. "Of course and even better is that you can't miss it due to the mote that makes it stick out from every other house in the centre district. As for leverage it's known that he quite heavily panders to his sole son whom his wife died giving birth to; the brat isn't even in the double digits."
"Good to know; I'll make sure to use it to my benefit so see you on the underside~♪" Those words confused the man only for him to suddenly feel the hand around his shin to release its hold. The weightlessness of the fall caused him to not even be able to scream.
Though his attempts would have been cut short as suddenly a turquoise metal wire around his neck grew taught as it reached the end of its length.
A faint crack echoing into the empty nice as his limp body was just left to hang there.
Whether anyone would find his body hanging from a random rooftop in a random alley was… A question the rogue cared little about. At the very least they were positive it wouldn't be any time tonight which meant it was no skin off his fangs.
Minutes later a guard found himself standing on the lowered bridge alongside his comrade; both just stood in front of the metal gate that entered into the property. Suddenly that guard heard a "plop" from the river so looked over the side to investigate. Only for an apple to find its way rammed into their mouth.
Unable to even rationalise the strange occurrence before the now free hand grabbed them by the collar to pull them over the bridge into the water below.
Their metal armour ensured they wouldn't be discovered for quite some time.
Of course their comrade noticed the extra loud splash so turned to look toward his fellow guard only to be momentarily confused at the figure just squatting on the side. One hand outstretched toward him as a warm flow of fluid began to trickle down from his forehead. Lifting a hand up to the source of the flow.
Soon finding something thick and metal where a smooth scalp should be while turning his eyes upwards to see the handle of a large throwing knife. Any shock they had turned to fear then to literal shock as they passed out only for their limp body to get kicked off the side moments later. Earning a soft chuckle,
"Mortals really are so funny." The assassin mused as they only took milliseconds to pop the lock of the gate open with a set of tools they pulled out their sleeves.
Inside there were more patrols however they had little difficulty weaving through bushes and trees.
Finding themself by the manor wall at which point they easily scaled it where they unlocked a window with one hand while the other held the windowsill of the second floor.
Pulling themselves into the building and discovering they had arrived in some kind of corridor - just as someone was approaching. Quickly running to one side only to jump off it to the other. Then continuing upwards till they ended up far above eye level thanks to how tall the roof of the place was.
When the man servant came around the corridor he didn't notice anything off. At least until a towering figure landed behind them. Quickly reaching around to grab a pen from the breast pocket of the servant which they promptly clicked to extend; jamming the thing into the servant's neck to draw blood.
"Care to share where the young master of the house is resting?" Asking casually despite the fact that the only thing stopping the servant from bleeding out was that they hadn't wretched the pen back out of the man servant's neck. Something the man quickly realised was the case.
Hurrying to grasp the pen in their neck with their body taught in pure fear.
Bringing their free hand to shakily point toward a door just down the corridor causing the rogue to give a bright smile. "Jee~ that sure is convenient!"
Of course they didn't forget to clean up their mess as they brought their own free hand to loop around and grasp the servant by the face. Tears not even having a chance to fall from their ducts before a bout of indigo flame erupted. Hellfire completely engulfed the man to leave not even ashes behind.
From there the figure just waltzed through the corridor while twirling the pen around their long slender fingers in a frankly impressive display of dexterity. Soon arriving at the doorway that they didn't even bother to open like a regular person. Kicking the door off its hinges which promptly awoke the child.
The now terrified child did not so much as make a sound while that rogue just walked up while letting out a merry little whistle.
Not so much as stopping as they picked up the boy by the collar before pivoting to walk back out.
It seemed someone had heard the commotion as they came running around the corridor only for that monster to flick their wrist forward. Sending the pen sailing through the air to pierce right through the forehead of the armed guard. They wore a metal helm but it didn't matter as the pen went right through the gap left in the visor.
They didn't even slow down as they continued to walk through the hallways at a casual pace as if it was just a lazy afternoon stroll.
At that point the child started to cry while saying some name or another.
How annoying.
"Hey, do you want to see a trick?" Fortunately they were very good with children as they flicked the kid in the temple causing them to quickly go limp. "Sadly I can't even kill the kid when I'm done as those guys will go out their way to annoy me again with their lectures… How I wish I could kill them sometimes."
Letting out a long dreamy sigh as they came across another knight who already had their sword drawn.
"Let him go, you beast!" Charging forward with their sword raised to hopefully cut the bastard in half as they filled it with all the power they could - fortunately the rogue couldn't use the kid as a shield so simply stepped out of the way of the sword while readily announcing. "Sure I'll give him up for a sec~♪"
Moving the hand holding the boy upwards over the knight's head while letting go of the boy; an action that the knight followed like a fool.
"What…" Right in front of the knight's eyes that very same hand began to arc in a slashing motion.
"A…" They began as they moved their free hand to striked the pommel of the knight's sword which sent it flying upwards between the pair.
"Noob~!" That sword ended up sliding right into the rogue's open palm as they curled their fingers around the hilt while continuing with their swing. In a smooth series of movements the knight didn't even have time to decipher; they found themselves beheaded by his own sword.
A sword they promptly tossed aside as they caught the boy they had just thrown into the air and moments later kicked down another door into the main office.
"Count, I have come to bargain~!" They announced to the tragically terrified man that sat behind the desk while staring at the boy the rogue carelessly waved around like some kind of trophy. The limp state of the boy's body doing nothing to calm the distressed parent.
Their bi-colour, painted half black & half white, lips curling up into a punchable smirk. "How do you feel about finding me a lizard who is schmoozing a weird cat-dog thing. Such an unbelievable bargain I know but I am just that generous~♪"