Hale grunted as he pushed open the door to Pandora Express, the other day he had received many injuries while delivering a box, he had already been patched up by Mrs. Bardsley but the wounds still burned like fire. As he walked in, he was greeted with a grinning Calypso, "There you are! Let's introduce you to our newest member, Mathias!" she had a 'ta da' pose showing off a guy with black hair tied up into a ponytail and sea-green eyes. "Yeah yeah, enough with the introduction, just show me what I'm supposed to do and where I'm supposed to go." Mathias grumbled as he walked off into a room that said 'Packaging' on its front. "Please pardon me but, how did Mathias get in the company with a personality like that?" Hale whispered curiously towards Calypso. "He used to be a detective, in the police force, widely known for being terribly unfriendly. But he is still a member of the police isn't he?"
she replied.
"That explains a lot." Hale muttered as Calypso nodded, agreeing with Hale.
Calypso brought Hale to a door with the words 'DFD,' "Defence For Delivery" Calypso explained as if she could read Hale's mind. "Those injuries of yours reminded me of giving you a shield, made for Delivery Men who are..." she glanced at Hale's arm, "averagely strong." She said trying not to make Hale feel worse. "Take whatever fancies you, we have Greek shields, Roman Legionnaire shields, Hunnic shields, Celtic shields, blah blah blah. All of them are real ones that were passed down and maintained properly by the Epimetheus family. After all, Pandora Express did get founded around 400 B.C." Hale felt like a child in a toy's store, except the 'toys' were real and dangerous weapons.
"Any?" Hale asked.
"Any." Calypso confirmed. Hale looked for a while, and chose a light Hunnic shield covered in leather. He blew the dust off the face of the shield. "Good choice, light and durable; perfect for moving around a lot." Calypso commented.
Hale walked through the neighbourhood with his new addition strapped to his left arm. He felt really awesome, with his new shield and all. After a long walk, he arrived at an apartment and pressed the doorbell. Ding dong! An elderly lady walked out, "Oh dear, who are you here for?" she asked quietly, Hale glanced at the engravings on the box,
"A man named Jayden Lynch Gohl." He cheerfully replied following the DeliveryMan's guidebook. "Ah, that so called, painter who lives on the third floor and rarely comes out during the day? Follow me." She requested, and lead Hale to the back door, "This will seriously hurt our reputation if it gets out, so try not to be seen on the way out." She warned and left for the reception room. Hale walked up the stairs and reached a door with the nameplate 'Jayden'.
He knocked the door, a lanky man with messy hair appeared and grinned madly, "A customer!" he exclaimed. "Come in, come in." he insisted,
"But sir!" Hale tried to explain, but Jayden was hearing none of it, the air stank heavily of blood and sweat, which was probably a health hazard for a shop even if it there were no customers. "As you can see, this one here is called the 'Laughingstock'," he pointed at a painting of a little boy looking down playing with his fingers, it was coloured blood-red. "It's based of the time I was made a laughingstock in class when I was younger! Nice colour eh?" Jayden said as he grinned madly. "But sir, your sins-" Hale began, "Ah, the Sin Collection, I knew you had good taste, come along with me, but please watch your step, the ground is littered with paintbrushes and blood. Do forgive me, you should have booked an appointment with my lovely wife Helen!" he glanced at an almost decomposed body of what Hale presumed to be the remains of Helen.
Hale was terrified. He had just entered a madman's house. "Oh Helen! Stand up for our guest will you?" he looked at Hale with an apologetic smile, "Please do forgive her, we haven't had had a customer for years." They arrived at a new section of the room covered by a ragged drape. The pungent smell of iron blood jetted into Hale's nostrils. "Here is the Sins Collection, I get inspiration from corpses of solicitors, debt collectors, police officers and other people who didn't want to purchase my work, unbelievable isn't it?" he gave a wry smile towards Hale, "You are going to buy one aren't you?" Hale gulped, and started to have beads of sweat down his spine, his legs started to feel like bricks and he suddenly became a lot more aware of the shield on his arm. He mustered up all of his courage, which wasn't a lot and stammered "U-um, I've been trying to say this whole t-time that I won't b-be bu-buying something." Jayden stared at Hale with a confused look.
"Sorry, I must have heard wrong, could you please repeat, customer?" He laughed loudly.
"I w-won't be buh-buying a-anything sir." Hale whimpered.
Jayden's face twisted into a horrifying look of anger, "HOW DARE YOU WASTE MY TIME INTO THINKING YOU WERE MY CUSTOMER!" he screamed like a lunatic. Hale looked into to his eyes and noticed that the man's sanity had long past it's expiry date. Jayden breathed in and composed himself, "Well, if you aren't my customer, I assume you'll be my inspiration for the my next art piece," Jayden creepily snickered as he pulled out a folding knife from his pocket. He charged at Hale and stabbed his stomach, then proceeded to slice Hale's shoulder. Hale when unconscious for about a millisecond and instantly turned into Hail. Without hesitation, Hail pulled out the flip knife, grabbed Jayden's right arm and threw him over his body breaking Jayden's spine. Crack! Then he grasped the box on his right, and flung the contents onto Jayden. Invisible knives slashed at Jayden's arm and legs, slicing the veins, with blood spraying out like a fountain. When the punishment ended, Jayden who was lying on a puddle of blood was already about to die. Hail gripped Jayden's neck and head and snapped it, ending Jayden's life. Hail walked out of the apartment, limped downstairs, flung open the front door and fainted.
Hale woke up in what seemed to be a hospital bed, he was really confused on what had happened, "We found you fainted in front of the victim's apartment." A female voice next to him said, Hale turned his head to see a bored Calypso, "This happens all the time," she continued. "While to populace may like PEX employees, the sinners definitely do not." She confessed sadly. Calypso took out a jar of cream from her purse, "Healing cream, for PEX members who constantly get injured, and it seems you fit to a tee." She smirked.