Iris was typing away at the computer at the office when she received a text from Peter. She blushed a bit, she always had a small crush on the man so whenever he sent her texts, she'd feel excited.
She opened it up, he was asking if Hippio was in the office today. She responded that it was just her finishing up some paperwork. She has had to take on an extra load because of Minithe getting her face burned. She hit the send button and went back to her computer.
She heard the ding of the elevator; she looked up suspiciously as Peter and Aidoneus exited. The room became immediately unbearable due to the heat.
"Agápi mou, hurry" Peter grabbed Iris and escorted her to the elevator, he quickly hit the down button as Aidoneus started setting the office ablaze with blue fire.
"Oh my God, Peter what is going on!" She said looking at the man.
"War" he responded plainly. Iris looked at him in disbelief. She faced the elevator door as it opened, crossed her arms. "It's about damn time!" she said as she turned her nose up and exited the elevator.
Peter gawked at her response; she always would surprise him with her answers. He trotted after her.
Aidoneus walked through the office as he set it ablaze, he controlled the temperature with ease, keeping a barrier between him and the heat waves he was producing. The computers started to warp under the intense heat.
The glass started shattering as the ceiling started groaning. He turned to head to the stairway, stopped and looked at Minithe's desk. There was a photograph of her and him, he scowled grabbing it as it burned in his hands.
"Breaking news! Fire breaks out at Technologia offices!" The news blared as Hippio and Zen sat there watching.
"This is insane!" Hippio roared. "Zen, we have to do something!"
Zen put his hand up to hush his brother as he watched on. Aidoneus emerged from the burning building, steam swirling around him as the heading turned to "The hero of Atlas takes a stand". Zen was infuriated.
"We just have to wait for the Hyperion's to make their move. If they take him out that's fine" he sipped his cup. "If not then we know where the girl is, we can assume he'll go there, and we can end this insubordination." He pushed back from the table to make his exit.
Vasilinos saw the burning carnage Aidoneus left Technologia in through the newscast on his phone. He started to slowly panic.
"Brother…" he turned. Konstantin was lighting up a cigarette. He took a slow drag. "We outnumber the man adelfós, remember what you said" he blew the smoke out of his mouth "Gods can be killed."
Aidoneus stood outside the warehouse. He was alone as he stared towards the metallic walls. He took a step forward and someone yelled out.
"Not a step closer!" the person shouted as Aidoneus heard multiple clicks of their safety being taken off. He scoffed as he put his hands up.
"I came here to talk…" he kept his hands up showing they were empty. The doors slightly pulled apart as Konstantin walked out nonchalantly, hands placed in his pocket as a cigarette burned in his mouth. He stopped, calculating the distance between them.
"A hundred feet is your limit, right?" He raised an eyebrow at Aidoneus , studying him. Konstantin knew Aidoneus had abilities, thanks to the leaked footage and a loose mouth on Minithe.
Unfazed, Aidoneus stared the man down, he copied his stance, placing his hands in his pockets. Konstantin chuckled.
"What do you want Aidoneus ? You've made an enemy out of practically the whole city" he gestured towards the city lights that were starting to turn on as the sun started to hang low in the darkened storm riddled sky.
Thunder could be heard in the distance as it started to drizzle. The ground was still wet from the spontaneous downpour from before. Aidoneus locked eyes with Konstantin.
"You know why I'm here" he bluntly said. Konstantin laughed.
"And you know that you're not walking out of here alive right?" He sucked his teeth as he walked back and forth, staying a hundred feet out of range from Aidoneus 's abilities. "You were a thorn in everyone's side, you're nothing without the Doukas name. You think you're a god like your brothers?" He flung his arms out "You're nothing but the garbage collector! A gnat that even I can swat off this earth!" He started laughing uncontrollably. The thought of Aidoneus , the weakest of the Doukas's being swatted like he deserves brought him joy. He didn't see Aidoneus move.
Aidoneus was right on top of Konstantin, still holding the same pose as if he was teleported, looking down at the man.
"Funny… the only bug I see here is a fly who refuses to leave the pile of shit that feeds him" He grabbed Konstantin by the back of his neck, as he lifted him like a scolded dog. He flailed in the air pathetically as he yelled "Shoot him!"
A hail of bullets unleashed onto Aidoneus , was a wall of steam formed, the projectiles entered the wall only to be melted when they exited. His touch, searing the back of Konstantins nape, the man clawed at the powerful grip Aidoneus had him in.
"Let me go! I'll tell you anything! Just don't kill me!" he desperately cried as he could feel his brain boiling.
"That was easy" Aidoneus threw the man to the side, Adrian came up behind them as the bullets stopped. There was more firing going on inside. Adrian dragged Konstantin up onto his feet, he scrunched his nose to the burned flesh smell that was emitting off the man's neck.
Aidoneus turned to enter the warehouse, leaving Adrian without a word. As he approached the metal groaned and bent, he stepped through the doors as a hail of bullets went in his direction. They started melting just before they made it to him. His clothing started to burn, as he placed his hands on the metal poles holding up the catwalk. The poles snapped as they melted in his hand, the men above him screaming as they fell.
Peter and the rest of the guards were in the back picking off the Hyperion's bodyguards as best as they could. Peter saw Aidoneus break the catwalk. He then went to the men who fell in front of him, placed his hands on them as they screamed the most horrific screams Peter has ever heard. Their bodies burst into a blue flame. The fire sprinklers in the warehouse went off, but did not extinguish the fires below as the water evaporated before even landing. Aidoneus continued forward as several men tried to stop the monstrous man.
A bullet grazed Aidoneus , his wound healing immediately as steam rolled off the man. He turned, his eyes glowing as he moved so quickly no one saw him leave his spot. He punched a guard, his chest burst open on immediate contact. Blue flames engulfed Aidoneus as his vest melted off, leaving his body exposed.
He quickly turned, putting his arms to block the onslaught of bullets that came down on him.
"That's right! Everyone focus your fire on him!" Vasilinos yelled at his guards from the right of the warehouse. They took aim and unloaded all their bullets onto Aidoneus .
He fell to one knee as steam rolled off his body. Bullets bounced on the floor as his body expelled them. He looked up, and spat out a bullet from his teeth, laughing manically. He hung low to the ground as he charged the group while they attempted to reload their weapons.
Peter and the other guards took advantage of this and took aim. They unleashed their bullets on the group, Vasilinos ducked and went for an exit as Peter started landing head shots on the guards around him. Aidoneus was on the group within a matter of seconds.
"Daimōn!*" they shouted as he grabbed them, snapping their necks. He tossed them aside like ragdolls as he moved on. He grabbed another man by the face, burning him from the inside out, then crushing his head like a melon. He pushed forward as flames started to engulf the warehouse as Aidoneus stood there with a grin on his face.
*Demon*
Peter took the guards out of the back exit, trying to get everyone to safety. He's never felt so terrified of his friend. Adrian stood outside, holding Konstantin as the warehouse was engulfed in flames. He saw Vasilinos stumble out a side door. Konstantin saw his opening and threw an elbow into the side of Adrians head, knocking him down.
"Gamó!" Adrian spat as he pulled himself up off the floor. He tackled Konstantin down, Vasilinos saw the two and quickly made his way to them. He reached the struggling Adrian, grabbing him in a chokehold as Konstantin scrambled to get away from them. He turned and punched him in the face as Vasilinos held him.
"Quickly, before Aidon- "Konstantin was abruptly cut off as Aidoneus placed a hand on top of his head, his hair singed off as he screamed from his skin burning to Aidoneus 's touch.
Adrian jammed his elbow into Vasilios, he let go immediately as Adrian spun around grabbing the man by his arm, extending it and breaking it in one fluid motion.
Vasilinos fell to his knees, cradling his arm as he watched his brother's skin melt off his face, his screams became nothing but a hiss as Aidoneus threw the limp body to the ground as the remains were still smoking. Aidoneus looked up to the sky, pulling his hands through his hair as he let the rain land on his exposed body. He glanced down coldly to Vasilinos.
"Now… where is she" he said as smoke rolled out the corners of his mouth, eyes glowing in the rain.
They dragged Vasilinos into the burnt down warehouse. Aidoneus grabbed the pathetic man and threw him around like he was nothing. Vasilinos wouldn't talk. He would rather die than give Aidoneus what he wanted, and he knew Aidoneus wouldn't kill him. He still needed him if he wanted to find that woman. Adrian dragged him to a chair that survived the fire and tied him up to it, making sure he pulled especially hard on his broken arm. Peter was outside, checking Konstantin's bodies for clues. He found the leather-bound book inside his coats pocket.
"You kept the wrong brother alive! I ain't spilling shit!" he spat blood onto Aidoneus 's face. Grinning, Aidoneus lifted his thumb up and swiped away the blood splatter.
"Oh, no, you misunderstood..." He placed both of his hands on the side of Vasilino's face, his face started to slowly melt under the palms of the tyrant. He started screaming when Aidoneus removed his hands, seeing his skin stuck to his palms like gum, made the man throw up.
Aidoneus stood there looking at his hands, flicking pieces of the skin off as Vasilinos emptied his stomach onto the ground. He scoffed, walking circles around the man like a shark would their prey. He placed his hands on the back of the chair he was tied to.
"Imagine this happening to your wife" he leaned close to the man's ear as he whispered, "Wouldn't it be terrible for your unborn child to be evaporated into non existence?" He leaned back as Vasilinos shot a glare at him. Aidoneus had an evil smile plastered across his face.
Adrian stood there, listening to the threats his boss gave this scumbag of a man. The threats made Adrian's stomach turn, the smell of burning flesh didn't help. He knew his boss wouldn't follow through with his threat, but it's the fact that it rolls off his tongue so easily is what made it unbearable to hear. He knew this was the reason why the rumors started, and Aidoneus wanted people to be afraid of his name.
Peter walked up to Adrian; he was reading the book he found on Konstantin.
"Hey, what's that?" Adrian walked over to him curiously, he wanted a distraction from the torture. Peter closed it, looking up at his friend with disbelief written all over his face.
"It's... We have to find Ms. Caterino first" Peter stuffed the book under his vest for safe keeping. He knew this information was too much for Aidoneus to handle right now.
Collin looked into his phone camera as he carefully stitched up his face. Grinning, he placed the last stitch, his body was forever marked by his precious Kore. He turned to face her. The venom finally had a hold on her as she sat perfectly still. He grabbed a bottle of eye drops and walked over to her.
"See, isn't this much better?" He said as he tilted her head back, dropping the drops into her red eyes. "Sorry, I think I used too much venom, you can't blink so we have to keep those pretty eyes moist" He licked his lips looking at her, the eye drops rolled down her cheeks, or was it tears?
Kore could barely breathe, her lungs were struggling to gain the air she desperately needed, her vision was blurry as Collin dropped eye drops in her eyes. He pushed her head back into a straightforward position. She felt him start to caress her broken ankle; she wanted to scream but nothing came out. The pain she was in was unbearable. Collin got eye level with her, inspecting her closely. He smiled and went back to his table.
She kept staring straight ahead, she started hallucinating her memories of Aidoneus . Tears slowly started streaming down her face, the thought of never seeing him again hurt her more than her injuries. 'To leave him alone... in this world' her chest tightened as she slowly started to suffocate from her lungs slowing down. She used all of her energy to fight off the venom from earlier, she had nothing left. Aidoneus had his forehead on hers as Kore slowly faded out of consciousness.
"Fight agápi̱ mou" he whispered in her ear as her vision snapped back into focus. She wanted to hear his voice again; she wanted to feel his touch again. She focused on what energy she had left to disperse the venom enough so she could breathe a little easier. Kore had an ace up her sleeve, and that was her ability to slowly get rid of poison in her body. It's one of the reasons why she loved working with all plants.
The longer the poison took to leave, the more immune her body became. Collin knew she could remove the effects to an extent, but he didn't know she could eventually completely null its effects. She had to play her cards right and use this to her advantage.
Collin returned with a wrap and started wrapping Kore's ankle. He could hear her muffled screams coming from her mouth, it brought a sickening grin to his face. He tied the wrap tight, as he slowly rubbed his hand up her leg.
"So soft, I can't wait to play with it..." he lent down and licked her inner thigh, and worked his way up to her face, leaving a disgusting slimy spit trail on her. He went to bite her again but stopped. "Have to be careful, you can't die yet my little doll" he poked her nose and walked off back to his table. She heard him messing around with some instruments. He turned with a scalpel in his hands.
"Let's make it so you won't run again" he waddled up to her, took one foot in his hands and cut out a section of her skin on her feet. Her muffled scream came through again, as Collin swayed to the horrific sound, he found to be music to his ears.
Detective Alexander sat there looking at the blood analysis report. He pulled up the police index and typed in Kore's name. The only thing that showed up was her address.
She had a clean record. He reached into his drawer and pulled out his badge and gun, stood up and headed out to his vehicle. Her apartment wasn't too far from the station.
He arrived, looking through his phone as he stepped up to the doorway. Several reports were made for noise, the one that caught his attention was a recent report made by Katarina Roe, saying her friend is being stalked by the man living next to her. Her friend was none other than Kore.
He entered the odd lobby, the reception desk empty, there was blood all over the stairwell. He studied it as he walked by, 'This wasn't recorded' he thought to himself as he made his way up to the second floor. He stepped off the last stair, his attention immediately went to the apartment that had its door wide open, the walls riddled with bullets, casings laying on the floor. He sighed and pushed forward.
He entered the apartment while putting on a pair of gloves. He moved around the debris left behind. He noticed a pile of mail, with bloodied rose petals on top. He pulled out a baggy, picked up the petals and placed them into the bag. He looked through the mail, it mostly consisted of coupons and ads. He found a stained envelope with no return address; it reeked of chemicals. He turned it around, opened it and flipped it upside down to see if anything was stuck in it.
"Usually, the killer sends a cryptic note" he told himself. All the other victims of the doll house killer had items they loved mailed to them with some mutilation added to them along with a cryptic message stating how many days they have left. He found it off that the message was missing. It could be the girl has it on her, but why not tell Aidoneus what was sent to her?
He folded his arms as he made his way to Kore's room. He looked through her drawers, her closet and under her bed. Nothing really interesting or relevant. He shrugged, he went and checked the bathroom before he left her apartment.
He stood in the hallway, stroking his mustache while he was in deep thought. He glanced over and saw the number on the apartment next to Kore's. It read 66. He looked at the report on his phone and matched the numbers. He walked up, knocking on the door with his knuckle.
"Hello, this is Detective Alexander, I have some questions to ask you". There was no answer. He looked down at the handle, something told him to try it. He reached down, turned it and the door opened with an eerie creak.
The rain steadily poured down on Aidoneus and Vasilinos. Aidoneus had the man's face pointed upwards so his exposed nerves would get every ounce of sting possible.
"STOP!" Vasilinos screamed.
"Then tell me what I need to know!" Aidoneus placed his hand on the back of the man's neck, burning him.
"This is going slow…" Peter walked up to them.
"Afentikó, may I?" Peter gestured towards the man. Aidoneus backed off from Vasilinos, letting Peter step up. He grabbed the man by his face, digging his fingers into the man's burns.
"You have a phone, yes?" Vasilinos didn't answer the question, he avoided eye contact with Peter.
"Take that as yes, you see your brother had one, but it was smashed. Such a shame." He said as he patted the man down. Vasilinos struggled to throw Peter off, but to no avail. Peter found his phone in his right breast pocket and pulled it out.
"Password?" Peter cocked an eyebrow looking at the man. He spat at Peter, Aidoneus grabbed his head and started burning the top of it like he did to his brother Konstantin.
Peter put a hand up, to show he was thinking. "You don't seem like a very smart man Vasilinos" Peter looked at him as he was screaming from the pain.
"I WILL NEVER…" Peter stopped him "Oh, I know. I was saying you're not smart" he kept eye contact with the man as he inputted the code 0000, it was the default phone password. Shame washed over Vasilinos face.
Peter scrolled through the phone; his attention was caught by an unknown number that texted Vasilinos a few hours ago. He opened the messages; he looked away from the screen with disgust. Aidoneus walked up, his hand was stretched out for Peter to hand him the phone. Peter hesitated but eventually handed it over to him.
Aidoneus 'eyes narrowed as he saw Kore's almost naked body in the photo. He clenched his jaw, spun around and punched Vasilinos in the face. A sickening crack echoed through the burnt remains of the warehouse. Aidoneus grabbed him by the collar and lifted him and the chair up.
"Where is she!?" He roared as flames flickered around him, threatening to engulf Vasilinos.
"I…I... swear… I don't know!" Blood dripped from his mouth. "Our contact doesn't tell us where he goes. All we know is he does half of his work elsewhere then drops them off at a designated spot and finishes" Aidoneus dropped him as he finished, the chair shattering from the impact.
"We can't risk calling the number, it might tip the killer off and have them kill her" Peter said as he walked up to Aidoneus. His boss towered over Vasilinos.
"Guess we have no more use for you..." He said leaning towards the man.
"Wait! Wait!" Vasilinos pleaded with his one hand up. "I... I have a name!" Aidoneus stopped, looking down at the pathetic man. "It's Collin! Collin Atropos!" he said cowering and covering his face from Aidoneus .