[BaalsBaby]

Delightful.

It was all so simply delightful and sickening. This place crawled with sickness and was neither fruitful nor completely devastated. He watched all the faces as they passed through the ancient street ways, observing the primitive way they carried their bought goods and stock without the use of any mechanized aid. The cobblestones beneath their feet were worn with use, untouched by a single, mechanical automobile, only the clattering of wooden wheels and warm soles of shoes and sandals, kicking up red dust.

It was full of disease and death. If it weren't for anything else, he could see it gleaming in the eyes of the children behind the doors. Men wore tight masks of white cloth around their noses and women wore several layers of silk over their mouths, as they went about their daily routines. There were hardly any children out, if at all, and those that were unlucky enough to be caught outside never remained for very long. While life was much more simple, this was the price to pay for casting aside the fruits of the modern world. And yet it really wasn't much of a bad thing really, considering the things that those of the modern world came up with to kill you faster, slower, less detectable. The thought caused a triumphant shiver to run a course along his spine. Oh what he could contribute and already had...

The man in white shifted in his seat in the shade and didn't seem to feel the burning heat that shimmered even in the darkest of places here. He hated that his coat was marked with red clay at the tail though; the whole vast, underdeveloped city seemed to have an eternal fog of red dust that lingered in the air, no matter how one fanned or blew. It caught up in your lungs and throat and burned all the moisture away before even the sun could. And yet he made no move cover up his face whether from disease or dust, only swatting away an irritating fly now and then.

Here, time had not yet fully clutched it's grasping claws around the throat. It was a funny thing then, to find a scientist from the Outside lurking here...

[1]

[BaalsBaby]

The sun beamed down upon the bare backs toiling out amongst the streets, and it was all the man could do to keep from chuckling aloud at how preposterous it was that they fought against the encroaching and inevitable modernization that threatened to consume the entirety of the world someday. You're a silent brute, you are...Always have been... He batted again at the fly with his right hand, reminding himself not to rip his own face open in the process.

His right hand...such a wicked thing. The entirety of his right arm was nothing but wires, metal, gears, harmonious and synchronized lethality, edged in blades of sliver. Everything, everything gleamed there and was polished some places and dull in spots, like he really didn't quite care as to what state it was in as long as it was functional. The two longest fingers were sharp slivers of blades, carefully kept honed even without effort, while the rest were dull, rounded cylinders crafted in the shape of the fingers they once were. Tendons and sinew were now hollow lengths of tubes and pencil-thin pipes, though blood still ran through the appendage and he could still feel with it. It was still a repulsive, beautiful masterpiece of his early days as always. Holding it up to the light to watch the reflected red glint off it's twisted and repetitive surfaces, he then truly did laugh. He was thinking again, even through dulled thoughts.

A glass of amber fluid that passed for alcohol here sat idly and lukewarm in his other hand upon the small table outside the shop. He watched the kind woman who had served him tending to the rest of the hungry or malnutritioned  who entered the shop for a morsel. Back to the drink, swirling it in the glass cup before taking another hasty, regrettable gulp as it traced it's path of dull fire down the back of his throat. He had to admit, he hated the stuff, but it stifled his chattering mind sufficiently so that all of the world was clear and yet hazy at the moment. Yes, yes, it drowned out all the rhythms and equations, the functions and method and purpose. Only leaving room for the task at hand...Which was waiting. It was a terrible thing, to be sitting there for the longest time and not have something to do, something to mold underneath his fingertips and so he had to resort to drowning all that out.

But he was still thinking, this foul-tasting water didn't seem to be doing quite the trick. It was leaving him alone with his mind again.

[2]

[BaalsBaby]

His shoulders wracked with the newest laughter as he watched the men across the street whispering to themselves in a pack gathered around the entrance to their own shop. They sat as if they had purpose, all holding masks to their mouths and taking quick glances in his direction when he turned his eyes away. But that didn't mean he did not feel them. He could certainly hear them muttering to one another, as the gap of the street was not so wide and the city not so noisy.

'Demon Eye' they called him in their ugly, grating language. 'Silver Skin'. That only made him try to stifle the chuckling that threatened to burst forth even more. He knew he stood out like a sore thumb in this place but it didn't really matter. He was enjoying himself immensely.

[3]

[BaalsBaby]

You'll all end up in the same place, lovelies, every last one of you will find your grotesque end in due time. As for me, they don't quite like my kind hovering about up there...I wonder what is in store when They will not take us? He caught one of the men in a stare with his metallic eye just as the other turned away. Like his right arm, his left eye too was completely fashioned of metals all intertwining so perfectly as to replicate the actual activities of a real one but now performing under the power of his will; nothing involuntary, nothing out of his control. The mechanisms in the eye constricted, his pupil a singular red dot of light that fixed into the other man's very soul as he hurriedly pulled his gaze away and sweated over a change of topic.

His eye, now an ungodly thing of  purpose and function was not unlike someone else's...He scanned the world beyond the reach of the shop's shadow overhead and in his mind, watched everything that walked slowly rot away into skeletons and ash and return back into the palms of the Other. Time was moving faster now, the air swirled and the city around him crumbled and gave way to trees, sand, stone, then became something greater, a larger metropolis of destruction and grandeur and progress.

Because of  him...Give back what is mine...

But that was not his concern right now, he reminded himself. The study lay elsewhere...

[4]

[BaalsBaby]

He blinked and returned back to the present state as a large puff of red dust blew past and down the street. Another sip. There was grit from all this dust in his mouth now...

Something large, black, consuming shifted farther off through the blistering mirages of the heat and moved in his direction. It seemed to swallow all the light and heat and air around as it walked, striding with long, spindly legs that covered great gaps with little effort. The crowd parted whether they wanted to or not, as if some skittering force lapped fiercely at their heels and forced them away as it walked by without so much as a glance their way.

Marvelous creatures, simply marvelous. Though still flawed and incorrect in some aspect, they still retain a beauty of design all on their own... He gave his regards to whoever had thought them up first, taking another sip of liquid embers as it strode up and pulled a chair out to sit before him. There it was, dressed as a man in a black suit despite the sweltering temperatures and just as out of place as himself, not a hint of sweat on either of the two at the table.

[5]

[BaalsBaby]

"Doctor Einsor, at last we meet,"it said back at him from across the table. He heard the silken voice and saw the angular features of the face, but he knew that he was not simply regarding a person...he was conferring with an entity, a powerful force, more particularly...Betrayal. Or maybe...Remorse...his remorse. But he knew in the back of his skull that it would not turn on him; they shared similar goals, or more accurately, they aided one another without hindering the other's actions.

Einsor, the man in white, shifted back in his seat again, trying to keep the bottom hem of his otherwise immaculate coat from the crimson earth. Ironic how he tried to keep it clean just now and not anytime else. He folded his mismatching hands together and the smile stayed as he regarded the arrival through stray strands of short, raven-black hair and thin lenses upon the bridge of his nose. "I assume you call me here for a reason? Surely I did not come all the way out to this desolate waste for nothing?"The red light of his mechanical eye fixed upon the other in black, twisting and assessing. It moved away to the crowd for a moment, just a moment, before focusing back. "I must admit though, the food is a particular change of pace."The smile cracked into a toothy grin that turned up one side of his face.

The suited man's expression twitched some with a passing of some kind of emotion before fading away into the placidness that was there before, lightless eyes staring back with the same intensity. "I don't waste time...I simply bide it."Before the doctor could say anything on the subject, the suited man pulled the front of his coat aside and reached into the inner breast pocket there, withdrawing a small vial with merely a thumb-full of clear liquid sloshing around inside. It gleamed with hidden suns.

"Interesting and reckless place to stow it,"the doctor raised a brow. He stabbed a razor finger down into the table and beneath it lay the twitching body of the unfortunate, irritating fly. Flicked it away absently.

[6]

[BaalsBaby]

Einsor fixed his gaze upon the treasure and held open his metallic claw, licking his lips as the man obliged and simply plunked the vial into it. Metallic fingers closed around the fragile thing, how that wicked claw could be so deadly yet so very careful when he wanted it to be. He held the vial at eye level and perused it with the red-lighted eye, scanning it's unseen contents and ingredients. There were a few blanks in the information, but he didn't care all that much. It would probably last him a lifetime without him ever needing to try and replicate it. Sometimes, even in science, there were variables that could not be explained or fathomed, and he had learned to accept that somewhat.

"It's all you'll need,"the man across from him said, as if on cue. "For those that cannot die by Time, by normal means. Simply speak the words 'Leave this world' after it has been injected and the patient will die."

"Death merely by the tongue? Delightful,"the doctor smiled and clasped his razor fingers around the vial again, hiding it from sight. "You're as much a devil as I, Lasveir, whether you know so or not. But I suppose that's all very well of your nature and debt."The suited man said nothing and only stared back from deep pockets of shadow. There seemed to be a fire dancing behind those hidden eyes, and he knew they were watching. He could feel an unnatural heat coming from the man.

"They don't trust you...You know that right, doctor?"the man, Lasveir, said then, his face still unchanged.

Einsor leaned back casually and stuffed the vial into his pocket, careful not to puncture the coat with a finger.. "No need for the titles, my friend. You yourself are one, as I recall. As for those who don't believe in me...what do I care for their misguided reasonings and desires? Had they mistrusted me any stronger, you would think that they would not have allowed you to come at all, don't you agree?"The claw drew repetitive parallel patterns into the soft wood of the table.

Lasveir shrugged slightly and nodded as Einsor continued. "And I thought you were free of them?"he said with a quizzical, piercing stare, folding his hands again.

"I chose to stay. We share a common goal..."

"I see, I see. Well then, I appreciate you coming all the way out here to deliver this."

The heat faded. Lasveir pushed his chair out, stood and took one sweeping bow, "Then I leave it you, Einsor. We will be keeping in touch, yes?"There seemed a kind of warmth in his voice now, as if they were old pals having just reunited after so long. Einsor recognized it as congeniality between men in the same field of work.

"Of course, of course."Just as quick as he had come, the black-suited man was gone in a puff of red dust just down the street.

[7]

[BaalsBaby]

What was he up to this time? That snake...

Damn. How was he supposed to know one of the Hierarchy would be here, let alone their 'beloved' scientist, who allegedly pulled all the puppet strings in the castle. If he'd had his forces here right now...

He shook his head. But he didn't have anyone else here. No one. Not even Nano had been around; it puzzled him as to why he'd been absent of late, as he was always so eager to follow along. Either way, he'd just wanted to escape for awhile and perhaps try to enjoy what was left of his life...but now this snake had reared it's ugly head...

A wave of regret passed through him. If only he'd had his powers, the Hierarchy would be one less monster by now...

Withholding the urge to cough up more red dust, Nazuna turned instead and strode away calmly so as not be noticed, feeling a dull throbbing in his mind. It had been all so easy back then...He cursed his weakness now, as always, cursing his inability to do anything to help the cause of the Rebellion. While he lead the entire operation, he still felt very inadequate and false. He should've been out there fighting them as well...but instead, he was stuck hiding underground...

[24]

[BaalsBaby]

A ragged, lumbering cart pulled past, giving him the opportunity to cross the street and down into a well-lit alley with another street at it's end. At all costs, he had to avoid the man, and yet he wondered what exactly had just transpired there under the shade of that shop. They were up to something, as always, and if Einsor himself had arrived to take care of it, then it must surely be of importance. But there was no way at the moment to harass the madman into telling him what he wanted to know. Einsor could have had his patchwork lackeys prowling the area, which he reminded himself he had to be careful of as well.

Freedom. The next street came up, filled with a river of people who walked about with masks covering their faces as if the very air were a toxic hazard. Nazuna was vaguely wondering if he, too, should be sporting a silk mask just as a flash of silver blinded him suddenly. A force pushed him back into the alley in mid-stride and his back collided sharply against a hard mud brick wall, knocking the wind out of him. He would have doubled over if it weren't for something pressing firmly against his shoulder holding him upright. Through hazy, spotted vision he saw a flash of white teeth.

"Vice of the Mind...Goodness, I haven't seen or heard from you in ages."A chuckle, deep and silky echoing in his ears as he tried to catch his breath. "All those lackeys you send out to do your dirty work not doing a sufficient enough job? So tell me...What is the leader of the Rebellion doing around in such a vile place?"

Coughing, the once-psychic peered as his vision grew steady again and dread crept slowly through his veins like poison.... He met the visage of a true monstrosity...

Einsor...

[8][25]

[BaalsBaby]

The pale face was pressed up close, blocking all the rest of the world from view. Only that eye...Einsor's human hand held him up against the wall but Nazuna knew deep down that there was no escape. Even though the madman was far more human, physically, Nazuna knew he was not a match without the powers that he had once possessed. He sighed in defeat and glared back at the scientist, focusing on trying to breathe.

"Did you see something interesting, standing there in the corner?"Einsor continued, as Nazuna had not responded. He never was the talkative one of the family...The scientist had seen the figure hiding out amongst the bustle of the streets with his inhuman eye as he'd spoken to the man in black.

A simple line broke out, he couldn't hold it back. "What is it for?"

"Come now, Nazuna, this isn't '20 Questions'. I'm not one of those fools who sow my own seeds of destruction by telling someone how everything works...No."That abomination machine that he called a hand came up close to his face, waggling a finger. "I will, however, tell you that it does not concern you at all. No worries..."


[9][26]

[BaalsBaby]

Still holding Nazuna hard against the wall, unseen by the busy streets just beyond the alley, Einsor pressed the palm of his claw flat against his half brother's stomach, Nazuna's shirt and cloak close against his skin to the point where he could feel the piercing coldness of metal. The madman leaned in close, almost fully against the other, savoring as his prey winced under the slight pressure as if he expected pain to come soon. He was so close that he could see the small vein in Nazuna's neck pulsing with the beat of his heart. For one that had been so eager to die in the past, he surely seemed much different now. It was almost like he feared it now...Einsor could feel another chuckle rising in his throat; this was like a delightful game...

He leaned closer, his warm breath tingling at Nazuna's ear as he removed the bottle and dangled it enticingly before the other's eyes. The cloaked figure's eyes watched the vial carefully but he made no attempt for it, knowing that would be a foolish endeavor.

"I'd try it on you first, Nazuna, but you're already too easy to break."The claw replaced the vial, now tracing a path upwards and a razor rested under the captive's chin. His prey made a move to look away, though slowly so as not to slice his own throat open. Einsor smiled and slowly bit into the soft flesh of the other's ear, toying with the poor thing, feeling him squirm underneath his touch. "I want someone who'll fight a few moments before they squeal for mercy...And you...You wouldn't give me the pleasure of that, would you?"The other refused to give in and remained silent under the scientist's teasing...

[10][27]

[BaalsBaby]

It was all he could do to keep from knocking the madman away, but the once-psychic only stood silently under the pressure of the man in white, feeling the heat of the wall behind him seeping into his back. He closed his eyes against the red light of that burning sphere, shivering against the sharp teeth at his ear.

Suddenly, all the pressure moved from him except for the arm holding him against the wall and the metallic claw, which returned to his stomach. That liquid voice again, a dark cooing..."But don't be too jealous, I've something just especially for you, brother..."

To this, Nazuna couldn't help but look back at his captor, wondering just what exactly he meant. That was when that piercing red light stared directly into his own eyes, melting his mind, numbing his limbs, dulling the world to a standstill ...No .........This couldn't be real...It couldn't...There were sparks of light in the darkness behind his eyelids as the world slipped away.... The last thing he could remember was a brilliant red sun...and the sound of his own cries....

[11][28]

[BaalsBaby]

I am dead, he told himself. I am dead.

Maybe he'd wanted it all along and just needed some help. He wanted this cool darkness, this nothingness, this endless night. There would be no pain, no sorrow or anguish, no failure...

And yet there was a blasphemous ticking rhythm that told him this wasn't so. The slow pulsing of a heart in the darkness. And then a flaring pain from all around, edging the darkness in a crimson glow with unseeing eyes.

He felt as if he were suspended in water, but a small opening of the eyes, hesitant at first, proved that he was high and dry and someplace strange. Well, not strange.... Just, nostalgic. This was home, or had once been. But how? Nazuna saw himself, a little younger, sitting in that familiar oak desk and scribbling as he'd always done. He looked down at himself but did not seem himself, there was nothing there, and he was only an invisible...essence...watching everything from both near and afar. Perhaps an astral projection of some kind...or maybe a dream? Or a part of the past, for he could clearly remember this moment just as he could any. They were so precious and so few now...

[29]

[BaalsBaby]

I am dead, he told himself. I am dead.

Maybe he'd wanted it all along and just needed some help. He wanted this cool darkness, this nothingness, this endless night. There would be no pain, no sorrow or anguish, no failure...

And yet there was a blasphemous ticking rhythm that told him this wasn't so. The slow pulsing of a heart in the darkness. And then a flaring pain from all around, edging the darkness in a crimson glow with unseeing eyes.

He felt as if he were suspended in water, but a small opening of the eyes, hesitant at first, proved that he was high and dry and someplace strange. Well, not strange.... Just, nostalgic. This was home, or had once been. But how? Nazuna saw himself, a little younger, sitting in that familiar oak desk and scribbling as he'd always done. He looked down at himself but did not seem himself, there was nothing there, and he was only an invisible...essence...watching everything from both near and afar. Perhaps an astral projection of some kind...or maybe a dream? Or a part of the past, for he could clearly remember this moment just as he could any. They were so precious and so few now...

[29]

[BaalsBaby]

The walls were a pristine white. The room was wide and almost circular in nature with one wide, metallic door serving as the only entrance and exit, the desk settled on the far wall opposite it, facing towards it so that Nazuna could get an immediate look at whomever strode in. There wasn't much in terms of decoration or furnishings here, the bedrooms were located on the lower levels. No windows, only a few neatly placed side tables and a couch near another wall of the room, presumably for the opportunity of relaxation, had Nazuna ever the chance. A metallic fan twirled overhead, more for looks than anything,, as the air vent cooled the room full force on occasions, though no one had ever really seen him shiver in the least bit. There was a bookcase behind his desk, though he didn't really ever read them, and his desk was littered with hap hard stacks of paper, pens, a glass prism, and one of those little devices where you pulled up a metal ball on a string at one end and they clanked against each other for the longest time. These were doing just that, only, they never touched one another. And there was, an odd addition he had to admit, a small mini fridge next to the desk, handy in that he didn't have to travel to get a decent cold drink. Nano had always told him what a lazy bum that he was whenever he got the chance.

The Nazuna there was looking quite busy, alone in the room with nothing but the buzzing of the fluorescent  lights, head perched on one hand, the other scribbling away. He remembered that that had been orders for food shipments and whatnot to keep the whole place running, and that they were supposed to be delivered to a different location, a necessary step to keep this place from any unwanted notice. He'd have to go pick up the shipments in a week or two after he sent the notice away.

[30]