Hale was happily enjoying some meatballs at the meatball shack, when he realised that he was definitely going to be late for work this time. "Keep the change." He muttered in a panic, as he paid the casher a stack of cash. He scrambled outside, strongly determined not to be late just because of some meatballs.
Hale stumbled into the building, out of breath. In front of him, stood Mrs. Bardsley, "You better get going now dearie," she chided. "Epimetheus is waiting for you at the briefing room." With wide eyes, Hale jogged towards the briefing room. He pushed open the doors to see Epimetheus. He was sitting on a chair, slowly tapping the table with his fingers. He looked towards Hale. "Please try not to be late to work next time, eh Hale?" Hale muttered out an apology, but Epimetheus interrupted. "Moving on. There has been some recent murders lately, and an employee of ours has been recently killed. Which is why, all PEX employees must reach home by six." He pat Hale's shoulder, "If you need me, look for Mathias. I will be busy setting a trap." He gave a thumbs up and left promptly.
Hail carried out the daily tasks; Practicing Pankration, chatting with colleagues, praising the boss, delivering misfortune to sinners. All the normal stuff. It was now time to head home. After walking a healthy distance away, he changed into his disguise. (Hail had 'convinced' Hale to pack the disguise as well.) He creeped off into the dark alleyways. After some time, he found the perfect victim. The unsuspecting person was in the middle of large space, surrounded by walls. Hail pounced onto the person, only to put the pieces together in his mind. 'A trap' Epimetheus had said earlier this morning. Though, unexpectedly, the person turned into mist. Hail was starting to question whether this was a reality. When a voice boomed, "What do we have here?" Hail recognised that voice, it was Epimetheus.
Hail stayed calm. He looked around the space, but saw nothing but trash. He backtracked to the exit, but was shoved away from his back. It was Epimetheus himself. Epimetheus studied Hail curiously as if wondering what he would do next. Hail realised that with Epimetheus blocking the only exit, he had no other choice than to fight. He pulled out his knuckle dusters. He growled, "Come at me."
Almost immediately, Epimetheus flew towards Hail with frightening speed. And with a quick swipe, he pulled of Hail's mask. In a panic, Hail tried to cover his face. But Epimetheus interrupted. He grabbed Hail's arms and lifted him up, dangling them over Hail's head. Ah, possessed, I presume?" Hail was really confused, but tried not to show his face as this could be his escape card. He decided to play his part and try to support Epimetheus' hunch.
"I'm not possessed, I just like murdering!" he exclaimed,
"Nice try, but that doesn't matter." Epimetheus smirked. He pulled out a gun from behind his suit and pointed at Hail's head, "What a waste, Hale was such a cheerful worker."
Hail had not seen this coming, before he could come up with a plan, Epimetheus pulled the trigger. Bang! The bullet seemed to slow down, in fact everything seemed to slow down. Was this the near-death experience all the books seemed to talk about? Sweat trickled from Hail's eyebrow, he wiped it off with his hand and thought, "I might as well try to think what I could have done differently to avoid this ending." He watched as his sweat trickled down his fingers, how was his sweat moving normally? He lifted his hand closer, then had an idea. He lifted his left leg up, then down. His right leg up, then down. The world had either slowed down… or he was moving really quickly. He decided that he might as well use the most out of this chance. He moved out of the bullet's range, and stepped towards Epimetheus. But on his first step, a sudden tremor vibrated throughout his body, his heart drummed like a drumroll, his breath getting shortened every time he took another, his legs becoming as heavy and stiff as metal pipes. Hail's vision blurred, and he passed out.