Ch 1
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Chapter Two
Festering Sores
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“My point is, most apartments here are about the size of a wide hallway.” Ren explained as he ascended yet another flight of stairs, trying to act like his legs weren’t killing him. It was important to convey just how athletic and healthy he was, and how much he definitely didn’t rely on his mask to be acrobatic. “So comparatively, this is actually fairly sizeable, is all I’m saying.”
“That doesn’t help when you only have two side rooms and one of those is the toilet.” Tone grumbled, taking up the rear of the procession and acting like he was about to die from the exertion. “At least we have a shower, but there’s so many people living here that you can’t expect to get hot water for more than ten minutes every three or four hours.”
“You need hot water?” Ren smirked back playfully, knowing full well that he too wasted all the hot water he could manage to waste. Tone only groaned in reply, stopping to rub his calves before racing to catch back up.
“Alright Corey, if you would be so kind.” Ren motioned, the small mechanical device flying out of Tone’s pocket and busying itself in the rather complex lock for the door.
“All I’m saying is,” Tone resumed, pausing to pant in agony at the horrific experience of climbing stairs. “I’d like it if we didn’t all have to sleep in the same room when you get your own personal bedroom all to yourself, that so conveniently muffles the sound of Race’s obnoxious snoring.”
“I do NOT snore!” Race snapped, having been cradled in Rook’s arm after giving up climbing a few flights down. “That’s a rotten lie and you can’t prove it!”
“You can’t disprove it; you’re asleep when it happens, short stuff.” Tone tried to voice a grin but lurched forward once more as his muscles ached. Race crossed her arms and continued mumbling under her breath at the horrid accusation.
“I hate it when mom and dad fight.” Rook lamented, earning him a rough elbow from Race in the ribs, which did not move him at all. “Is Corey okay? He’s awfully quiet in there.”
“It’s soundproofed, remember?” Ren lazily rolled his head towards Rook with raised eyebrows.
As if on queue, the door suddenly sank an inch, and then rolled back into the wall with all the slow and methodical energy of a tank. Inside, sitting cross-legged on a rolling chair, was more hoodie than human, the tips of his fingers poking out from the excessive sleeves. Nestled atop the mountain of violet cloth was a ruddy face held aloft by an incredibly thin neck, a mop of almost golden hair hiding the dark brows underneath. He positively beamed at the appearance of his superior, and thrust his almost carpeted arms skywards in overdone salutation.
“Welcome back! I can’t believe that worked as well as it did.” Corey’s hands flopped back down to the front of the chair as he kept beaming, with only injured smiles and cold nods given in return. “I anticipated your timely arrival, and have prepared the appropriate measures for resuscitation.”
Almost smugly, he tapped a key on his keyboard, causing part of the perfectly white paneling which lined every surface in the room to flip down, revealing three plastic spheres with heavy condensation on the inside to the degree that it was impossible to tell what was hidden beneath the capsule’s inedible surface.
“Great. Gotta catch 'em all…” Tone mumbled, swiping one and cracking it open to receive a faceful of steam and a good look at some of the cheapest quality ramen noodles he had ever seen before. And he hadn’t seen many, because- well, never mind.
“And by 'em, I mean cancers apparently. Which one is this now? Ramen Royal? Or did you grow this from your scalp, like last week’s?” Tone glared, picking up a noodle with his fingers and sliding it directly into his mouth… from the top of his mask, inevitably letting it worm its way down into his open maw.
“I d- No. Look, if you hate it so much we could try soup again.”
“Absolutely not.” Tone sighed out a growl. “That’s the last time I’m having cream of broccoli and cheese and blood and pain. Not fun.”
“We could do a cold soup,” Offered Rook, settling himself down on the floor, back against the wall, his massive shoulders and ridiculous height offering little else. “Maybe that wouldn’t hurt as bad.”
“Sometimes half the things you say I can’t tell if they’re trying to be even meaner than me, or if you’re just that unaware.” Tone replied, sticking an additional five noodles down the inside of his mask at once. “Remind me never to invite you to any social gatherings.”
Seeing as Rook appeared genuinely hurt by this, Ren rolled his eyes and unslouched his posture, where he had been devouring the ramen at a ferocious pace with a plastic spoon. “Hey, I need you three to check on that party coming up in a week or two, see if that would be a good place to spring the next raid. It’d gonna be a rough one no matter what, but I need to make sure it’s worth it.”
Rook gale a cheery salute, implying that everything was smoothed over by the change in topic, at least for now. Tone gave a silent snort in reply before turning towards Corey. “Say kid, where’s your ramen? Thought you’d want to share in the poison same as the rest of us.”
“I was starving while you were out, and made mine in advance.” Corey looked crestfallen at the confession. “I needed brain food for all this work I’ve been doing.”
“Hey, look, if I’m not here, you don’t have to just eat this gunk.” Tone dug his gloved fingers around in the plastic bowl. “You should convince ol’ bossman to spend some of his rich living money to get you some snacks to survive off of.”
“Maybe…” Corey looked even more crestfallen, but still managed to turn in pleading fashion towards Ren, hoping his miserable plight of being hungry sometimes would inspire him to invest in a personal snack stash.
Ren rolled his eyes yet again and waved the pair off, heading towards one of the interior doors.
“So there’s a chance.” Corey whispered, his eyes glowing with delight.
“Yes, but don’t you worry. I’ll convince him it’s for the best.” Tone chuckled deviously, lightly punching Corey’s shoulder in affirmation.
“Sir! The kid and Tone are conspiring again!”
“SNITCH!!” Tone snarled at Rook with a grin, who recoiled in horror. Corey chortled at the artificial drama, but Ren had already left the room, standing in the restroom door for a moment before slowly closing it behind him. Race was silently standing, facing the wall, one foot on the shower tile, holding something in her hands.
“Hey.” Ren murmured, kicking slightly at a crooked tile in the floor. Race only murmured in response. “I know this isn’t the best time, but we need to talk.”
Race turned, her face flat, her hands holding a series of metal pipes, which curved and twisted all over the place, proceeding from and entering back under her shirt. “Yeah?”
“That-” Ren cleared his throat slightly. “That was stupid of you today. You knew the risks you were taking.”
“I appreciate your concern.” Race blandly replied, sniffing for a moment. “But I know what I’m doing and I don’t really need your ‘big brother’ protectiveness. And don’t bring him back up, either - everybody lost something that day. But you don’t offer the same kind of consolation to Tone, or the kid, or anybody else. So save the sympathies for someone who asks for it, okay?”
“It’s not about sympathy.” Ren sighed, straightening from the leaning position he had taken against the wall. “Going that fast nearly killed you before, Race. I can’t have you putting yourself in situations so blatantly dangerous again. I’m not willing to lose you the way-”
“Mm.” Ren pressed his curled fist against his mouth until his teeth hurt from the pressure. “I’ll stop. Before I do anything else stupid. But please be careful, Race.”
“Ren?” Race replied, cutting him off just as he turned to leave. As he looked back, she folded up the metal piping, which effortlessly twisted about in her hands, and compacted it back into the metallic hollow in her stomach.
“You do good.”
Ren didn’t smile in reply. He tried to, but nothing got out.
“NO, you idiot! That’s direcwuy into the guard’s wuestoom!” Tone sounded as Ren and Race returned to the main room, just in time for the inspiring visual of Tone holding a straw down his mask with a funnel in one hand and a beverage can in the other, trying to pour it down in non-chaotic fashion.
“Tone, be nice,” Ren scolded with mock weariness, marching across the room and leaning over the back of Corey’s chair. “What do we got, boys?”
“Front access,” Corey demonstrated with the cursor as he spoke. “Then spike the drinks, Tone releases a noise from outside which sets off the fire alarm, if enough of the drinks are spiked we’ll have absolute pandemonium inside. Rook then suggested we try taking the service elevator after that point, but yeah, that’s the guard station there, and they’d surely have someone behind for security. Can we guarantee taking him out before alarms are raised?”
“I thought it was a good idea…” Rook murmured, to which Tone laughed and guzzled more of his foul beverage.
“Fellas, you’re looking at it all wrong.” Ren smirked. “It’s an excellent plan-”
“Fhank you.” Tone replied with as smug a tone as possible.
“…Anyway, I think trying to get in at the base and find our way all seventeen stories up without detection is going to be a little difficult. Assuming I can confirm the level of tech access these things have, Corey, do you think you can fly a helicopter?”
“Whaaa?!” Corey’s eyes lit up with wonder and his mouth climbed into a massive smile, but fell back into disappointment and sadness a second later. “Oh. From in here.”
Tone began having a stifled laughing fit, causing him to choke on some of his drink, which prompted Race to slap him repeatedly on the back unhelpfully as he tried to ask her to stop. “If we can get in through the roof, and maybe had Tone enter through the front, perhaps we’d be able to secure our exit much easier that way. Security cameras on all sides don’t cover close to the building’s exterior until about halfway down, so we wouldn’t need to take them out of commission until we’re on our way out.”
“Excellent plan,” Commented Tone, in between coughing what sounded like five or six lungs out. “Race if you don’t stop I’m gonna have to sue you for malpractice.”
“And with that, I have to head to bed.” Ren slowly raised himself off of the back of Corey’s chair. “Don’t stay up too long now; we all have our places to be tomorrow and a long rest is necessary for all of us to recover.”
“Right.” Tone spat, finally extracting the straw from his face. “You all, anyhow.”
“I wish I could sleep.” Rook replied, even as Ren carefully lifted the silvery, spiked mask from off its faceless host, which slumped immediately afterwards. “Instead I just get to talk to the wall all night.”
“I’ll work on something to keep you busy at nights.” Ren gently smiled, gingerly placing the mask down on an ornate pillow. “The rest of you, have a good sleep. Lots of big events coming up soon; gotta stay at the top of our game.”
“Mm.” Race murmured, deftly unrolling her sleeping bag and clambering inside. “Rook, if you catch anyone snoring, it’s undoubtedly Tone. Got it?”
Rook awkwardly looked between her and the snickering Tone, who flattened the beverage can in between his palms like a marshmallow and missed a throw towards the trash can. “Uh, yeah. Sure. Whatever, I guess.”
“Works.” She mumbled, collapsing downwards and staring endlessly into the opposite wall.
Ren shook his head with a smile and exited into his narrow bedroom, more akin to the mental image he had of the local apartments. Standing still until the light from outside his door disappeared, and the chatter died into muffled whispers, he calmly turned off his light and lowered his bunk from the wall.
There, inset into the wall, was another ornate pillow, one with a different mask atop it. It was very tall, two narrow, darkened slits at the top serving as the eyes, leaving practically no room for scalp. The rest of the way down was massive, ivory teeth, which curved out just before both jaws met, somehow carved into a smile. It was devious and monstrous, and yet exhibited a commanding air, as if it would be improper to speak before this mask got the chance.
For a moment Ren was silent. Then, kneeling on his cot, he closed his eyes, keeping his back as straight as he could. A terrible coldness entered the room, which he fought back the urge to shiver at. It had not been so easy before.
“𝐻𝑒𝓎, 𝒽𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓈𝓁𝒾𝒸𝑒.”
Ren sighed, opening his eyes to the unfortunate sight he knew was waiting for him. A black trail spilled down to the floor, at once like both roots and leaves, elevating this wicked mask off the ground, as it looked about the room in an almost lost fashion.
“𝒜𝒽, 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉’𝓈 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓅𝓊𝓉 𝒾𝓉.” The apparition drifted overtop him, the ethereal substance splitting to cling to the walls of the tiny room, using its teeth to grasp an ornate Japanese pipe in its massive teeth. The slim face turned back towards Renner with an even more devious nature than before, the jaw somehow moving despite being made of inanimate materials. “𝐿𝑒𝓉’𝓈 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝓌𝑒𝑒𝓉, 𝒿𝓊𝒾𝒸𝓎 𝒹𝑒𝓉𝒶𝒾𝓁𝓈.”
“I told you what to expect.” Ren coldly replied, turning just enough to eye the creature with a healthy dose of disgust. “The statue is in the storage unit, sixth one I’ve had to open to avoid suspicion. Rook doesn’t lie having to move everything around like that all the time.”
“𝒫𝑜𝑜𝒽 𝓅𝑜𝑜𝒽.” The mask sarcastically spat. “𝐻𝑜𝓌 𝓂𝓎 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓉 𝒷𝓁𝑒𝑒𝒹𝓈 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓅𝑜𝑜𝓇 𝒦𝒶𝒽𝓃, 𝓉𝓇𝓎𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒷𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝒾𝓂𝒾𝓉𝒶𝓉𝑒 𝓂𝑒. 𝑀𝓎 𝒶𝓅𝑜𝓁𝑜𝑔𝒾𝑒𝓈 𝒾𝒻 𝓂𝓎 𝓈𝓎𝓂𝓅𝒶𝓉𝒽𝒾𝑒𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝒶𝓈 𝒹𝑒𝓁𝒾𝒸𝒶𝓉𝑒 𝑜𝓇 𝑔𝑒𝓃𝓊𝒾𝓃𝑒 𝒶𝓈 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝒹𝑒𝓂𝒶𝓃𝒹, 𝒷𝑜𝓎.” Its ivory incisors clicked against the mouthpiece of the pipe. “𝐼 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝓂𝓎 𝑒𝓎𝑒𝓈, 𝑅𝑒𝓃. 𝐼 𝓂𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓂𝓎 𝑒𝓎𝑒𝓈. 𝐸𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒾𝓈 𝓈𝑒𝒸𝑜𝓃𝒹𝒶𝓇𝓎 𝓉𝑜 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉, 𝑒𝓈𝓅𝑒𝒸𝒾𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒹𝑒𝓁𝒾𝒸𝒶𝓉𝑒 𝑒𝑔𝑜𝓈 𝑜𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒶𝓈𝓈𝑜𝒸𝒾𝒶𝓉𝑒𝓈.”
“You’ll respect them - All of them, creature.” Ren replied with a sudden dangerous tone as he turned his head back towards the ornate pillow. “Or you’ll never get your eyes back at all.”
“𝒜𝓃𝒹 𝒷𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝒶𝓂𝑒 𝓈𝓉𝓇𝑜𝓀𝑒, 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓃𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝑔𝑒𝓉 𝒴𝒪𝒰𝑅 𝑒𝓃𝒹 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒷𝒶𝓇𝑔𝒶𝒾𝓃.” The spirit flicked a theoretical tongue inches from Renner’s face, its voice producing a cruel hissing sound as it spoke. “𝐵𝓊𝓉 𝐼 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝒷𝑒 𝑔𝓇𝒶𝒸𝒾𝑜𝓊𝓈 𝓉𝑜 𝓂𝓎 𝒽𝑜𝓈𝓉 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓅𝑒𝒸𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓇𝒶𝒷𝒷𝓁𝑒 𝒽𝑒 𝓀𝑒𝑒𝓅𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑜𝓊𝓃𝒹 𝒽𝒾𝓂. 𝐼 𝒶𝓂 𝒶 𝓂𝒶𝓃 𝑜𝒻 𝓂𝓎 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝒹, 𝒾𝒻 𝓁𝒾𝓉𝓉𝓁𝑒 𝑒𝓁𝓈𝑒.”
“You’ll be able to bring him back when you’re at full power, just like you promised?” Ren tried to keep up his own personal mask of indifference, but he could feel his own enthusiasm causing it to slip.
“𝒪𝒽, 𝒸𝒽𝒾𝓁𝒹.” The mask settled back in its alcove, nibbling on the end of the illustrious pipe with whimsy seeping out of his blackened sockets. “𝐻𝑒’𝓁𝓁 𝒷𝑒 𝓈𝑜 𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓅𝓎 𝓉𝑜 𝓈𝑒𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊.”
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Ch 3