<b>Darion<br/>
</b><br/>The alleyway stretched out before him, the buildings rising like great looming walls. He couldn't see them, but he could hear them ahead, up a concrete stairwell on the side of a building, past an alcove. Darion followed, edging past a giant red spray painted kanji. Shi. Death. He paused at a juncture, waited. Then he heard a woman yell for mercy, echoing from beyond an arched tunnel, the rim black with a grimy residue. He could hear his footsteps echoing in the narrow tunnel. As he exited it, to his right was a sheer drop down into untold depths, a void filled only with great beams of steel in support to the superstructures above. A light buzzed noisily on the side of the building next to him, it's light yellow.<br/><br/>He heard her yell, could make out the words this time. He knew them, but only just. It was a surprising language to hear in this part of Pangu. "Lass mich allein!"<i>Leave me alone.</i>German, desperate, scared. Past the drop he came upon a dead end, a heavy metal doorway the only way out, held shut with a heavy bolt and old padlock, the key to which likely lost to time. And there she was, trapped, back to the door, and the two men like animals cornering prey - barely out of their teens.<br/><br/>She was shaking, her golden hair damp, clinging to her face, those terrified eyes. She trembled, her soft pink lips parting in rapid breaths. "Bitte... Bitte..."<i>Please.</i><br/><br/>They closed in on her, speaking in a broken German, muddied with eastern accent. He put his hands on her and she shook. He stroked her cheek, kissed her neck and she sobbed. He reached inside her coat with his hands...<br/><br/>Darion understood the words that followed only too well.<br/><br/>"What the fuck...?"<br/><br/>It couldn't have been but the flash of an instant as her eyes narrowed, her trembling lips parted into a sadistic grin. He jerked and foaming blood spewed form his mouth. It was hard to tell what was happening from where Darion stood, but the sheen of steel streaked in blood protruding from the back of the man's neck. She whipped her arm, sending a spray of blood across the wall, before twisting and pivoting, dropping and jamming the blade protruding from her arm up between the other man's legs. He screamed like a child as she looked up at him. She jammed her fingers into his stomach like a talon, pinning him against the wall, then slowly pulled the blade out, blood pouring down between his legs, staining his pants red.<br/><br/>She stood up, and Darion realized the fingers in his stomach were quite literally in his belly. The tendons on the back of her hand glistened silver. She pressed herself against him like a lover would away from prying eyes, stroked his cheek with her hand, the blade vanished from it, but the blood of his friend still fresh on her fingers, leaving streaks on his cheek. She whispered something in his ear as he shook in agony, hands around the wrist at his midsection. She smiled at him, kissed him, and jammed her hand into him, and up into his sternum.<br/><br/>He was dead before he hit the ground. "Gute Nacht... Liebhaber." She said, then crouching down and riffling through his pockets, taking credits, discarding a knife he had hidden. It clattered on the concrete.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><b>Spook<br/>
</b><br/>The barman spotted another patron waving him over, and he headed down the bar. The one eye'd cyborg hadn't stopped looking at Spook.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>