A heavy rain poured down upon the city. The full moon seemed a bit shy as it hid behind the dark clouds that filled the sky while occasionally peaking out.
The darkened concrete stretched out across the metal jungle. Perhaps it was due to the rain or maybe it was because of the late hour but either way there were few pedestrians and even fewer cars around.
A man dressed in a long black coat slowly made his way down the sidewalk. With his face covered by the brim of his black hat the man discreetly turned and entered into an alleyway.
He held onto his left leg with one hand while the other was used to balance himself against the brick wall of the alley.
Step by step the man slowly limped to the back of the alley. The man stopped when he reached the backdoor to what appeared to be a factory.
The smell of wet rust entered the man's nose as he fiddled with the chains and the lock that kept the door closed.
The lock and chain only managed to slow the man down slightly. A pair of thin metal picks appeared in the man's hands as he made quick work of the lock.
The chains rattled as they loosened up and fell to the floor, the man entered the building.
Two policemen got out of their cop car and began surveying the area. One of the policemen asked the other.
"Hey Joe, you sure this the right place? This a completely different direction than where he was headed to."
The cop called Joe then pulled out a small electronic device with a monitor " Shut it Mark, I'm sure this is the place.
The signal is the strongest here, now we just need to look." After searching for about fifteen minutes under the pouring rain one of the policemen smiled as he approached an alleyway.
He a cold smirk grew on his face as he pointed at a puddle that had turned red "Hey I think I know where he went."
The policemen pulled their pistols out of their holsters as they cautiously made their way through the alley with their fingers hovering over their triggers.
The sound of their steps were drowned out by the pitter patter of the rain, and both officers eventually reached the door that the man had been at previously.
After taking notice of the chains and the lock on the floor the officer pulled out his electronic device once again.
After looking at the device Joe sent a nod of confirmation to his partner Mark. Joe put his electronic device away and sent some signals to his partner using hand gestures before entering through the door.
Inside was a dark and unorganized storage area. Both policemen held a flashlight up beside their pistols.
Alongside one of the walls were a row of lockers. The eyes of both policemen stopped in front of one of the lockers where a few drops of blood were visible on the floor.
Joe raised his pistol as he approached the locker "Detective Chang please don't make things difficult for us we're just trying to do our jobs.
You've got every station in the city running around looking for you." Joe waited but seeing as there was no response he began moving closer to the lockers"
I know that the situations pretty messy right now detective but you can trust us to protect you as long as you cooperate.
We're from the south central precinct under sergeant Douglas. The boss will take care of everything but we need you to follow us back to our station, it's the only place that's safe."
After a few moments of silence officer Joe reached the front of the locker. Seeing that there was still no response he aimed his pistol and began firing Bang! Bang! Bang!
Smoke wafted from the hot barrel of the pistol and the smell of gunpowder was now present in the air as three new holes could be seen on the door of the rusted locker.
Officer Joe stood in front of the locker with his whole body tensed. The thick stench of iron prevailed over all else as blood began to spill out from the bottom of the locker.
Joe's body finally relaxed "Looks like we got hi-huh?" Joe opened the locker but inside was the body of a white middle aged male covered in tattoos.
Suddenly a figure dropped from the ceiling landing directly on officer Mark who had been waiting a few feet behind Joe.
As soon as the figure landed he used one hand to cover Mark's mouth as he dragged him into the darkness.
All of this happened too quickly. By the time Joe turned around with his pistol ready and his flashlight providing some visibility the figure as well as his partner were gone.
Beads of sweat formed over his forehead and began collecting over the arches of his thick brows. Even covered in water and the chilly night's air his body was hot, urging him to leave this place.
His body tensed as he tried to slow down his shaky breathing. Breath by breath he managed to calm down and focus on his surroundings.
With his concentration raised to the highest Joe was able to detect a faint metallic click 'shit' Joe raised his arms in front of his face.
His skin quickly turned gray and changed to a rough stone like texture Bang! Sparks lit up the dark room for a brief second as a bullet bounced off of Joe's body.
His body jolted back from the impact but he was able to quickly fix his stance. With one arm guarding his face Joe used the other to fire his pistol in the direction he was shot from Bang! Bang!
Shortly after he had fired off the two shots he was hit again but from a different direction Bang! 'Damn it!' the veins bulging from the side of his gray, stone forehead.
Frustration building as he continued to fruitlessly hunt down the direction of his shooter with his own shots only to end up getting hit from another direction.
Click click, click click Joe's face twisted into a nasty snarl "Fuck!" as he shouted he threw his empty pistol into the darkness.
'I can't keep my abilities up for much longer' he thought to himself as he built up his resolve for a last ditch effort.
He began to smash all the crates, desks, tables anything that could be used to hide he destroyed. After a few minutes of his indiscriminate destruction a figure jumped down from the top of the metallic shelves Joe had just tackled.
As Joe was trying to get up from the rubble he felt something loop around his neck and then an immense pressure.
'Heh I finally got you' There was a figure standing over the kneeling Joe. He stood behind as he tightly gripped the metal handles attached to the steel wire wrapped around Joe's neck.
Even with the man strangling him Joe was able to slowly rise to his feet, now dwarfing the man behind him by an inch or two.
"Looks like you're out of luck detective. I'll admit you almost got me, if you could have played hide and seek for a couple more minutes my power would be completely drained".
Detective Chang ignored Joe's words as he continued to pull the wire in his hands while clinging to Joe's back.
"The silent treatment huh? Well lets see how long you can keep it up" Joe ran in reverse slamming the detective into the wall behind them.
Detective Chang let out a small grunt as a small trickle of blood dripped from the corner of his mouth but he kept the wire pulled taut.
Thud! Thud! Thud! The relieved expression officer Joe had when he first found the detective slowly began to change to one of panic as he saw that despite ramming into the wall at full force multiple times the wire around his neck hadn't loosened a single bit.
With the shadow of death looming over him Joe let out crazed yells as he continued his efforts with a renewed vigor.
But his struggles would only last for a few moments as shortly after his breathing become labored and his movements more and more sluggish.
Detective Chang's face was barely visible in the darkness as he smiled grimly before coughing up a mouthful of blood "hahaha" his soft laughter chilling and devoid of emotion.
"Looks like you're out of luck officer. I'll admit you almost had me. If only you could have struggled for a bit longer. Though I'm sure that your struggling is what drained your powers even quicker".
The mockery and condescension behind the detectives voice as he returned the words the officer had spoken to him just moments before were perhaps even more vicious than his cold laughter.
Detective Chang kicked the back of Officer Joe's knees and with no more strength left to resist he was forced to the ground.
As he kneeled Joe began grasping at the wire around his neck and tears streamed down his face as he sobbed "P-please d-d-don't do this. I have a daughter, she's only ten and I'm all she has"
The wire refused to loosen as Detective Chang responded "Everyone has a family officer, someone that would miss them if they were gone. That didn't seem to stop you from coming after me."
"No please! I didn't even want to do this. I was just a regular construction worker but they found out about my powers.
They took my daughter and forced me to work for them. I don't know what they'll do to her after I'm gone.
Please just let me go. I'll disappear, I won't tell them anything. I just want to save my little girl, please I'm begging you."
Detective Chang simply shook his head "I'm afraid I can't let you go. I don't relish in the fact that an innocent life must be involved but for the plans I have painstakingly built, it's a price that must be paid.
If I let you go you would simply become another uncontrollable variable I would have to factor into the equation."
Starting from the bottom up Joe's skin began returning to normal. The gray stone texture slowly disappearing.
"No! Please! Oh God no!" Joe struggled to maintain his power but it only served to slow down the transformation of his skin.
Eventually the stone texture covering his neck was also gone and the wire that had been grinding against stone began to dig into his flesh.
The pressure so great Joe could not even utter a sound, his face contorted in pain, his lungs burning like a great inferno were raging in his body.
Surprisingly after a short moment of silence Detective Chang began speaking but with a warmer and humane voice.
"Although it may be inappropriate for me to say this as the one who is delivering you to the doors of death but I hope you can find solace in the fact that the plans I have made are for people like you.
So that no one else should have to suffer a fate such as yours. So that your daughter may be the last that has to lose her father.
I want you to know that you and your daughter's sacrifice are not vain and empty but add to the weight of a cause much greater than ourselves."
The hands that once gripped at the wire limply fell to the sides of his body. Even with the body limp and unresponsive Chang kept the wire tout for another minute.
After letting the body drop to the floor with a dull thud he then drew out the pistol from his holster. He pulled out the clip and checked the chamber 'Just one bullet left. How fitting' He lowered the pistol aiming at the back of Joe's head Bang!
'I guess that's the weight of two more souls I have to shoulder' Chang took off his black coat and the white long sleeved dress shirt he had underneath. His back was an assortment of black, purple and green.
What was of even more concern were the pieces of wood sticking out from the bloody wounds on his lower back.
He pulled out the larger fragment before he took out a thin metal cylinder the size of a pencil. He twisted the bottom end of it resulting in a needle appearing on the other end.
Without any hesitation he then stabbed the needle into the right side of his lower back.
The flesh on his back began to wriggle as though his muscles had turned into hundreds of earthworms that were moving underneath his skin.
"Aagghhh! Rrrrrraahhhhh!" He fell to his knees as he began yelling and grunting in pain. Miraculously shards of wood and metal began being ejected from his wounds and they slowly began to close, leaving only faint scars.
"Huuuuh huuuuh" His slow and labored breathing a testimony to the painful ordeal he had just gone through. He rises to his feet and closes his eyes.
'God, I am not afraid of the weight of my actions but of how much longer I can continue to carry it. All I ask is for a chance to say goodbye to her.
Please grant me the strength to last just a little bit longer and I can accept my punishment with no regrets'
After all his wounds finished mending themselves he put back on his ragged and bloody attire before proceeding into the darkness of the building.