It was that time of the month again when Alto was informed that Nero was kidnapped. He assumed that Nero refused to come home due to their fight, but Adonis told him that he never returned.
In the early morning, Alto received a phone call from no one else other than Mr. Carassius Auratus himself.
Every other month he harassed Alto, for whatever reason he could never understand. After Alto married Nero, he started kidnapping him and didn't think much of it, because he always escaped on his own within a few hours, until today.
Multiple images were sent to his phone of him beaten, his hair chopped up, drugged out of his mind.
He was unable to comprehend the images he was seeing, that someone had done something to him. That's not how it works. Reality was conflicting with his carefully curated paradigm; his wiring blew a fuse.
He didn't like people stealing things that were his, and now he would kill and steal whatever was theirs. With cold and careful logic, Alto took out his phone and made a few calls. He would need some help.
It had been a long time since Alto had done fieldwork, but this was a special occasion. He had worked long enough that he knew the right men to send, but he didn't want any mistakes.
If there is a job to be done right, one must do it on their own .
Alto left home, using his favorite car, the green one, and hit the hyper way, immediately driving to the Triangle Corporation's main office. Every cartel in town knew that it was a front for the Aecors. It was a genius idea as well.
They could control how their money is washed, write off business losses and gain even more profit while giving the town jobs.
Even if the people knew the truth, which most of them probably did, no one was willing to risk their job or life to alert the police. At this point, the police knew, but no one wanted to bomb the local economy to get rid of The Aecors.
Like a sore on one's ass, they stayed, a monument to the town's corruption.
Alto parked down the street from the Triangle Corp building and put in enough money for a two-hour parking pass at the meter, he knew he wouldn't be there very long. Within a few minutes, several cars pulled up to the front of the building, blocking traffic in the street.
Alto hated the look of it, the tall, shiny, glass tower above all the smaller buildings, it looked ill-fitting with the rest of the area. The front entrance had a large, yellow triangle on the front, and the security guard was on alert.
The front entrance guard, a portly man in the mustard yellow Triangle Corp. shirt, immediately took out his Control Panel card, stuck it into the wall, and within a few swipes, a metal door rolled down, blocking the entrance, and a secondary plasma shield, one of the few substances that could burn Alterian skin.
Alto went to check in on his employees if they knew the plan.
Diamond, Pumpkin, Adonis, and Azara had arrived, and they had brought backup with other members from the Federals. They had guns, bulletproof jackets, and plenty of ammo.
Adonis brought his rifle, Azara her shotgun, and they all surrounded Alto, waiting for orders. Adonis was put off by his calm demeanor, in fact, it was disturbing that he was smiling, checking his clip, and humming a song.
"You seem pretty calm. Are you okay? Aren't you worried they're going to do something to him," asked Adonis.
"What else can I do but try to stay calm. If I panic then I won't be able to think straight."
Internally he was panicking, worrying that the last thing Nero would ever hear out of his mouth was how he was tired of him, but he was still obsessed with his own bravado, and he reminded himself of another contrived communication skill that he wanted so badly to believe.
Fake it 'till you make it.
Smile and eventually, you'll feel happy.
The Federals raised their guns as people began to exit the surrounding buildings. They were not regular shoppers, but Aecor members, with guns and swords, standard and plasma series. They had the advantage of the home field, it was an obvious and clear trap, and they had run, not walked right into it.
"Araka told us you were coming," said one.
He stood at the front, chest out and proud. His face was covered in tattoos and strange symbols. He believed he was of some importance, but he was not, because his name will never be mentioned.
"Idiots like you are always the first to die," Alto said. "Fuck off."
"I am the great—"
Alto was not a patient man, nor did he care for the diatribes and monologues of outlaws and supervillains.
He took out his handgun and shot the tattooed man in his face. He continued on, not bothering to look back as his enemy fell to the ground.
"Go up top Adonis," commanded Alto. "Don't miss."
Adonis spread his wings and ran off, flying over the buildings, dodging bullets, until he found a good spot, set up his rifle, and took aim. Adonis wouldn't miss, his eyesight heightened, with literal eagle's eyes. He blinked a few times, and his face slightly changed, his brow arched down, eyes a deep yellow, and he could see everything from up above, everyone nothing but ants.
"Azara, lead the rest in defending the front. I don't want this to take longer than needed," said Alto.
"I'm surprised we even came this time," she sighed. "Usually they come to us."
The Aecors moved in, the sounds of bullets crashed in the air, and the citizens of Atlaan ducked, hiding inside the stores, behind trees, underneath public bus stop benches.
Bodies fell down, splayed on awkward angles, blood pouring into the inner sidewalks, turning the water trenches red. Strategically both groups hid behind cars, in alleyways, methodically slicing through, impaling, and shooting whoever came too close, enemy or not.
Alto calmly moved towards the Triangle Corp building, bullets bouncing off of him like little rubber balls. A fish-man with a plasma sword ran out from his left side and Alto sidestepped, swiped his leg, causing him to trip and fall, and then shot him several times.
"Disgusting," Alto whispered.
He grabbed the plasma sword from the ground and realized he was starting to pick up the mannerisms of Nero and had a genuine smile, approaching the front entrance, now a real challenge ahead of him.
The Aecors at the front entrance all held plasma guns, and Alto hid in the alley near the entrance, waiting for Adonis to strike, but he didn't.
Adonis was having some trouble.
He had managed to shoot some of the oncoming Aecors as they arrived in increasing numbers by car, but he also saw the police had arrived as well. The police were adding to the confusion, making it hard for him to get a clear shot.
Adonis sat up to stretch, the sounds of his neck popping and grinding, making him shudder. Lying on his stomach was making him uncomfortable. Suddenly, pain tore through his shoulder. A bullet nicked his upper right shoulder, and he cried out in pain. Adonis looked around but couldn't tell where it came from.
He took flight, and soared through the skies, searching for the attacker.
After some time he realized that all the surrounding buildings were shorter than the Triangle Corp building. It was the only skyscraper around. Adonis scolded himself for not moving from building to building or at least surveying the top of the tower.
Adonis tried to fly up the side of the glass building, flapping his wings even harder as he felt the bullets whiz by. His fingernails grazed the windows of the building, and the intensity left a loud screech.
The higher he went the colder it got and the harder he had to flap his wings to reach the top. Once he finally did, he found six men, all with tactical gear and rifles. With one big push, Adonis flapped his wings and let out a gust of air. It pushed off just one man. As the men struggled to get up, Adonis landed on top of the building.
Fur began to grow down his arms as they elongated. His muscular fingers lengthened, and his short, stubby nails turned into vicious, sharp, talons. His mask burst against the break protruding from his face. He cried out in pain as his spine contorted into a new shape. Longer, and longer his spine protruded until a furry tail had grown.
Adonis had turned into a beast, with a lion's body, and the head of an eagle.
Adonis opened his beak, and let out an air-shattering roar of a lion. He went for the closest man, and snapped his jaw against his arm, tearing it off. The main stumbled down to the ground, spurting blood in great long streaks against the rooftop.
The men tried to shoot Adonis, but he powered through the bullets.
The few he took were lodged in his fur, and he hoped that when he returned, that they would fall out along with it.
One by one, he tore off their limbs. Adonis stuck his beak straight through the chest of one and then brought his head up, slicing his upper torso in half.
Organs spilled out over his face, and Adonis shook them off while he paced around, circling his prey. He snapped off the head of another, biting down, and spitting out his crushed head. It wasn't a fight, it was a massacre.
When he was done he promptly soared down to the bottom of the building and began his work on the police at the building's entrance.
The chaos at the bottom of the building was worse than before.
Bodies lined the sidewalk, and various cars barricaded any way to leave. Blood coagulated between the cracks of the sidewalk and drained into the gutters. The hot suns only increased the smell of the already deteriorating bodies and gunpowder. The police had helicopters above shooting to kill.
Adonis swerved down, crashing into the Aecors in the front of the entrance, sending them flying in many directions, and Alto took his chance to break inside. He ran to the entrance, squeezed the handle on the sword, and slowly swiped it upwards.
He strained against the plasma shield, and then turned it sideways, cutting through it, creating an opening big enough to get through. It started to reseal itself, and quickly it squeezed himself inside.
Alto flexed his muscles and stuck his hand through the steel barricade and glass door as if it was paper mâché. He put his other hand through and stretched an opening wide enough for him to walk through. Ignoring the screaming and the onslaught of bullets behind him, he made his way into the building lobby.
The classical music playing over the speakers alongside the screams of agony outside was an eerie juxtaposition. The marble floors shone under the chandeliers and reflected Alto onto the floor as he walked across the lobby.
The employees on the bottom floor raised their hands up as they saw him enter. He ignored them, worried about if he would make it in time, or if it was all an elaborate trap, that he wasn't even in the building. Either way, Crassius and Araka Auratus would be dead by the end of the day.
Alto walked over to the elevator and got inside. He pressed the top floor button and waited patiently for the elevator to go up, planning to work his way down. If he started from the top and went downwards, the Federals would stop them on their way out.
While passing the tenth floor, the elevator came to a sudden halt, the lights in the elevator turned red, and an emergency alert went off over the speaker.
" Please wait for emergency services to help you, and do not try to exit the elevator," said the feminine computer-generated voice. Grunting in disapproval, as if he were waiting in line at a food court, that it was taking too long, Alto pried the elevator doors open, but before him was a wall.
Try again, he thought.
Using his lower set of arms he steadied himself against the handrail inside the elevator. He pushed off the panel on the roof of the elevator carriage with a gentle tap, and he crawled through the opening, and then looked up, staring into an empty void.
The panic slowly started to trickle in, drip by drip, worried that making his way up would waste time, and Nero would already be dead. Alto grabbed the wires that kept the elevator in place and slowly climbed up through the building, wondering what he would tell Adonis and if he would ever forgive him.
He shook his head and tried to empty it of negative thoughts, but the higher he scaled the building, the more his anger was replaced by sadness and fear.