Cane was laying on top of a pile of corpses.
He was covered in wounds, and in his hand was a dagger, which was pierced through another man's head.
He'd decided to stay within the Security Room, and lure the other team leaders to his location. All he needed to do was to make his puppet send them over.
And send them over, it did.
As the three entered the third floor, Team 6's leader suddenly spoke up.
"That guy from before... he was wearing the Security Team outfit, right? Why don't we go check out the situation inside of there... what if there are some survivors?"
The other two looked at each other, then nodded. It was a good idea.
Creak...
The door to the Security Room opened, revealing corpses strewn all over the place. A large pile in the middle immediately attracted their attention. On top of that pile...
It was an unconscious, heavily injured man. He had his dagger driven into another person's face, which bore an uncanny smile. Putting all the clues together...
"Is this... the Security Room's only survivor? Looks like he managed to kill the attacker before falling unconscious." These words were supplied by Team 6's leader. They gathered around the unconscious man.
"Ahh!" He seemed to be startled awake by the commotion they'd made. He first looked around in confusion, before recognising their uniforms.
"... Holy sh*t, that just happened." The man quickly got up, pulling his dagger out of the man. "It's good to know there are other survivors. My name's Cane."
"The feeling is mutual. Come with us, you're the only one left." Then, Team 6's leader took hold of Cane's arm and supported him. The group, now of four people, went their way to Senhei's office.
...
"So, tell me. What happened back there?" It was Team 3's leader.
Cane coughed, looking uncomfortable for a moment. Then, he began speaking.
"The guy was like a demon. He barged into the Security Room, shouting "Bad news, bad news!". We thought he was one of ours. Then..." Cane swallowed.
"He began to attack us. The radios and cameras went down first. As you know, us guys in the Security Room aren't issued with guns. We're the recon guys, the tech guys, y'know?" Team 3's leader had in fact not known that, but it was interesting to know.
"So, we just had daggers to fight him. He was like... some body-snatcher. After we killed him, we thought it was over. But then, someone else got up and began attacking us once more."
The other three Team leaders nodded. This matched their own experiences.
"And that kept happening. Finally, there was only three of us left. Then, one guy began to attack me. I barely fended him off - then I started to lose consciousness. The other guy... he said he'd bring back up. Um..."
Cane looked around. "Where is he?"
Team 3's leader took the opportunity to speak up. "He's dead. He got... "body-snatched", as you refer to it. He also came holding a picture of you, trying to frame you. He must've wanted to kill off the witnesses of his body-snatching power. Of course, we now know that you're innocent."
Cane's face paled. "Damn. Uhh, I guess it's nice to know you guys are also safe."
The other three smiled. Yes, it's good to know we're all safe.
Cane smiled with them, and they went on their way to Senhei's office. Floor 4 was just a containment site - it was empty too, due to Senhei's recent lack of supplies.
Thus, the only floor left, floor 5. Senhei's office spanned the entire floor, and it was currently defended on all ends. The windows had a Lizard-Bird defending them, while the door had three Scorpion-Spiders and one Hearth-Sparrow.
It was simultaneously an impressive, but weak lineup. If it'd been Cane from before, he might not have been able to do anything about it, but Cane was now an Apprentice Combatant. Furthermore, he was twice as strong as a regular one.
They knocked on the door to Senhei's office.
"Who - who is it?" A frightened voice peeped out from the room. It was Senhei.
"It's us. The Team leaders, and another guy. We're quitting this sh*tty job." Team 5's leader spoke up.
"And also, turn off the f*cking lockdown alarm and let us out! We've already killed the guy, in case you're wondering." Team 3's leader interjected. He sounded pissed.
A silence dragged out. Finally, Senhei spoke up once more.
"I... if you guys come in here and help me stay safe, for, let's say three days... I'll split the rest of the business with you!" Senhei continued. "Do y'know how much my business makes? I can get each of you guys 3 million points!"
The four of them looked among each other. Points were difficult to get in the City - most people had zero savings, needing to work for 10 hours a day just to live. Having millions was enough to last your entire life. They began to nod slowly among each other.
"Alright. Then, let us into your office."
Beep!
The door opened, revealing a cowering man covered in scales. He looked like a Lizard-man, except for the fact that he had more than 8 eyes, and a scorpion tail on his back. The four of them moved further into the room, noticing the itinerary of contracted monsters.
Truly, this guy didn't follow the rule - never consume your own product.
Then, without warning, Team 6's leader began to fire at Senhei! Instantly, the other two Team leaders and Cane leapt away from him. The other Team leaders began to shoot at Team leader 6.
In the chaos, the three Scorpion-Spiders didn't survive. The Hearth-Sparrow was even worse off, directly being sacrificed by Senhei to deal a devastating fireball.
Fwoom!
But at that moment, Team 5's leader also began to shoot at the others. Cane suddenly shouted out.
"Don't kill him! I think he can only swap bodies if his current one dies!"
It made sense. After all, most abilities wouldn't be very powerful until the Master rank. Before that, most of them weren't broken by any means.
Hearing these words, Senhei commanded his Lizard-Bird to directly restrain the man instead. Senhei, Team leader 3 and Cane all looked at each other in relief. Then, Cane suddenly sliced Team leader 3's neck, spurting blood all over Senhei's face. Meanwhile, a metallic blob suddenly erupted out from the nose of the corpse of Team leader 5, covering the face of the Lizard-Bird.
Like a vile snake, it wrapped around the Lizard-Bird's face, cutting off vision, hearing and oxygen. Then, it burrowed through the nose of the creature, accessing the brain and whipping around violently.
In an instant, the Lizard-Bird was also dead - its brain blended up like a smoothie.
"SH*T!!!" Senhei swung his scale-armoured fist at Cane's face, only to meet air. His fist continued forward, carried by momentum - only to have the barrel of a Plasma Pistol pressed point-blank at the elbow.
ZZAP!
His arm fell off at the elbow. Cane quickly weaved around Senhei, who was half delirious from the pain. The next moment, Senhei's knees and other arm were shot out.
"AARGGHH!!" In a fit of rage, the scorpion tail struck at Cane's stomach. Unfortunately, it'd already met Cane's Omnitool, which had already wrapped around him like an armour. He ripped the tail off, too.
Senhei continued to scream, curled up on the floor like a shrimp. He had nothing now. No more mech, no more subordinates. No more limbs either. He was completely at Cane's mercy, tortured and in agony.
And Cane loved every second of the screams.
He watched silently. Tears fell from Senhei's multitude of eyes, and tears fell from Cane's eyes as well. With every writhe of pain, every groan of horror, he could somehow feel like Noelle, Chuck, Krouse and Abel's souls were freeing.
This was what they wanted. This was what HE wanted. It was what they needed, and it was what HE needed as well.
"Y-you... why are you doing this..." Senhei's weak voice slipped from his throat. "Who are you? What - what have I done."
But Cane didn't say a word. He looked down at Senhei's body, and ordered the Omnitool at the next moment.
It slithered through the bullet hole in Senhei's leg, and began to fill itself between the man's muscles and skin. Cane began to remove his skin - fully, completely. He'd already decided - Cane would wear the scale-skin as armour and clothes in the future.
A memory, a homage, to his friends and enemies.
But Cane still wasn't done. He reached down, grasped one of Senhei's eyes, and pulled it out from the socket.
Squelch!
He then ate it, savouring each bite. After he was done with the first eye, Cane moved onto the next. And then the next. And then the next. And after a hearty meal... Senhei was also blind.
Cane pondered for a moment.
Looking down at the thing's raw, bloody skin, he decided to leave the building for a moment.
...
Half an hour later, Cane came back with as much salt as he could buy. He grinned at the sight of Senhei, who was still there. He then began to pour the salt all over the man, covering him. Like collecting salt to form a mountain.
Senhei had already been reduced to a bloody mess. He'd died at some point, but Cane didn't know when. Nor did he care.
Cane laughed. It started with a light chuckle, then a hiccup, then a roaring laughter. He bellowed out his happiness and pain, holding a pile of bloody, scale-skin like a trophy, bits of leftover eyes stuck between his teeth.
This was Cane's Sweet, Sweet Revenge.
...
Hours later, the police finally entered the building after calls were made - about the smell of blood.
As soon as they entered, they realised it was a Black Market business, with walls and floors coated. There were no alarms to set off.
The men could only watch in shock and horror, seeing piles and piles of bodies, people dying in pain, horror... or fear. It'd been a total massacre.
The culprit? Seemed to have long vanished.
When they reached the top, all they found was a pile of salt.
"Nothing useful over here. Let's get the bodies below cleaned up - and get someone to identify them!" The captain ordered his subordinates. He then turned to the window, silently brooding.
I don't know who, or what did this. But I have a feeling...
A monster has been unleashed into the Cities today.