Bullet

A single eye pierced through the crowds surrounding the Amber Express' depot in the outskirts of the Industrial sector of Khazan. From its mile-away resting place, the eye passed through the crowds, from child to parent to lover to betrayer to every other step in-between. Each head a target. The urge to close the eye and pull away was present with every whisp of a view.

"You know your target." a voice almost sung over the radio piece in his ear. "Think nothing of the others. Only the target."

He needed no reassurance of his mission, but the voice had a perverse soothing effect on his nerves. Like a mother singing a child to sleep. Not that the man can remember what that feels like.

---------- Meandering through the crowds, two women, both with reddish blonde hair, weave in and out of the amassing crowds waiting for the Amber Express to arrive. Neither one comes close to the other, purposely keeping distance between one another in their almost tactical maneuvering through the crowds. Both wear small headsets, carrying out a simple conversation.

"The troops are ready, Emma?"

"When are they not, Emily? They are a simple word away from appearing."

"You know what I mean, sister."

"Oh." Emma laughed distantly. "Does it matter?"

"I would rather not sacrifice too many in a meager mission like this one. Such wasteful tactics go against both our education and our better judgment."

"A simple favor, Emily. When one of our dear friends on the Council asks us to do something, the only thing we can do is graciously accept. After all, we sacrifice a few cannon fodder, and in exchange, we receive even more trust in our dear Mr. Dollar."

"If that is what you truly want, then so be it, sister. I, for one, prefer not to associate with such cutthroat opportunistic fools."

"And what do you call me?"

"A cutthroat opportunistic fool who is my sister."

Emma smiled.

"The train is arriving, Emma."

Emma touched the headset that rested on her head. "The one named Toc Darkoné will be the last to depart the train according to our more than accurate estimates of their behavior. Once he has left the train, strike."

---------- Aluko was the first to step off of the train. Or better yet, his "pet" was the first to disembark. Her leash was strung loosely, looking more like an overstated fashion statement than the bond of servitude that is its true identity. Aluko's grasp on the leash was almost playful, not in the least bit hinting at domination.

RavenAngel shuddered unknowingly as the figure paused mere steps before her. Her heart skipped several beats.

Kyoko was the next to step down from the train, followed closely by an aloof Devyn. They both seemed to purposely avoid direct contact with the other, yet at the same time had no desire to separate from one another. They stood almost with their backs to one another, like some uneasy truce between embittered enemies.

RavenAngel smiled slightly, but was unable to gain Devyn's attention. The more she looked at him, the less he seemed aloof, and the more he seemed alert of something beyond the immediate moment.

Glethen appeared a few moments after Devyn, and immediately saw RavenAngel. A simple nod was all he gave. A simple nod was far more than he ever would give anyone that was not his friend. He began to make his way towards RavenAngel.

Camille was next, who was closely followed by Toc. Their pairing was far more intimate and far more truthful than Kyoko and Devyn's. Camille's hand was stretched back, holding onto Toc's as he descended down the handful of steps to the marble floor of the train depot.

"Now."

Both Emma and Devyn uttered these words within milliseconds of one another.

---------- Aluko let loose the Angel's leash from his grasp once the first wave struck. His hands now freed from their usual tyranny, Aluko proceeded to draw out another implement of domination.

The first crack of Aluko's whip rightly severed the heads of two standard issue Fairchild Sister shock troopers from their bodies. The second crack wrapped itself around one of the platoon leaders necks, who promptly fell to the ground, writhing in sheer emptiness. With a whistle from Aluko, the Angel rushed forth and jumped upon the prone soldier, startling him as she drove her pale hands into his gut and struggled around before pulling out a now-unidentifiable organ with her left hand. She threw the festering body part into the air, and began to chant in an ancient, horrifying tongue, while the still writhing man below her began to shake with more and more violence every moment before suddenly stopping. His eyes turned a vacant black, and his body quickly decomposed, leaving little more than a scorch mark on the ground.

The scarred outline of the fallen platoon leader began to rise from the ground. Kyoko paced behind her creation as it waded into the frenzied melee. Civilians and soldiers both fell as the graveled spectre stormed through the tides of chaos. A woman running frantically, towing the remains of her suitcase from her long voyage on the Amber Express collides with one of the Fairchild troopers. The soldier readies his gun to eliminate his obstacle just as he and his target are ripped asunder by the black hazy outline. With a smirk, Kyoko makes a quick brushstroke in Devyn's direction.

Devyn's leg casually impales itself upon the charred figure that Kyoko set upon him. Black soot and dried blood rained upon his pant leg as Devyn frowned in Kyoko's direction. Devyn pulled out a handkerchief from his jacket and wiped the scum from his pants as he danced around the enemy fire flying about him. Devyn stops in his dance steps just as the last obvious spot is removed. More gunfire rings out, and a flurry of bullets fly from their barrels, only to be instantaneously thrown back in their wielder’s direction. The winds around Devyn immediately die down, and Devyn spins on his heel 180 degrees.

Emily Fairchild stares eye to eye with Devyn. Her concerned green eyes piece into him almost warning him of some dire fate. Their glance is broken as Emily back flips to avoid the consuming blade of Glethen. Emily lands deftly behind one of her sister's shock troops, and whispers an apology into his ear as Glethen's blade impales him in the heart. Glethen only absorbed enough to heal the slight wound given to him by Emily in their current bout, rejecting the rest of the bile and blood from the spike in his right hand and allowing the corpse to fall to the ground. Glethen and Emily both pause. Glethen begins to breath hard, the blood in his cybernetic veins visibly rushing through his body as his skin starts to quake. Emily simply starts to hum a simple tune. Glethen's right arm begins to be enveloped in red metallic streaks, and his fingertips start to drip blood at a consistent rate. Emily's simple tune begins to crescendo. Glethen raises his right hand, which is now covered in cybernetics and blood, crimson electricity crackling from his fingertips. The power from his blood streams towards Emily, and careens back towards Glethen as Emily's song reaches its end with an undecipherable note that only she should hear. Glethen welcomes the crash of blood-infused electricity, and smiles as his own life-forces returns to him in full.

Emily begins to go into a new movement, and starts to sing a slow waltz. Ghostly whisps start to revolve around her neck, encroaching closer and closer. Emily's song ceases as she grasps for her neck, but the spirits dancing about her vocal chords absorb every note and expound the song out in a torrent of muted screams. Camille rushes by Emily and smiles slyly, holding Toc's hand in one hand and the 3 of Cups in the other, her grasp on the card noting that the draw was reversed.

Camille inserts the card back into her deck which lies in her slacks pocket and draws out another. The 8 of Swords. The mass of people before her and Toc fall to the ground, becoming little more than a mass of severed limbs and entrails.

The blood from the bodies did not flow freely, for the air surrounding the mound of death dampened to a hellish cold. Condensing within the mound of severed limbs, the moisture in the surrounding atmosphere merged with the blood, forming a ruby hued lake under the mass of carcasses. The limbs slowly started to rise up, a vaguely humanoid skeleton being formed by the dead flesh. The jeweled liquid rose and started to swim about the skeletal flesh, freezing into place once it had formed a diabolical ruby behemoth.

The behemoth's arms crashed down upon the marbled floor. Ruby ice streaked across the ground, rising up underneath the unsuspecting soldiers still remaining on the battlefield, impaling them from every direction, and raising their bleeding bodies towards the clear blue sky above. The troops bled to death on their death spires gazing into the cloudless horizon.

Emma Fairchild smiled as the last of her soldiers died above her head. She began to speak the key words into her headset when a black tempest arose about her, encircling her in the darkness of the Void itself. Emma patiently waited, peering through the small breaks in the Void's whirlwind. She could see the perpetrator of this action. She old had to wait for the right moment.

RavenAngel saw the bullet coming. She retracted her wings and allowed the gunshot from within her tempest to glide right past her. The shot did what Emma anticipated, though, and RavenAngel's concentration was broken enough to allow Emma to safely leap through the tempest unharmed. Emma tucked and rolled, drawing out her pistol at RavenAngel as she came out of her evasive maneuver. RavenAngel stood poised as well, ready to strike Emma with the might of her dark arts.

"Now." Emma smirked as she spoke into her headset.

---------- The eye, unhindered by the wanton bloodshed occurring on the other side of its scope, took aim one last time.

"Now."

Glimpse pulled the trigger. Perfection.

---------- Devyn watched as the shot rang out from a mile away. He truly wished he could do something about what was happening. His instinct. The tactical practicality. The hints from Emily. She hated to do what she was doing, Devyn knew it, but there was nothing he could do to stop this. Emily's faith in him must be shattered at this moment.

The bullet flew past Devyn, and he watched as it went on to its target.

---------- Camille fell. The bullet struck her dead in the heart. She struggled to hold onto Toc's hand as she fell to the ground, using what strength was left in her body for that sole purpose. No avail.

Camille fell.

FALL... FALL... FALL... FALL... FALL