Pestilence Arc

Prologue
[14:52, Knyxa City]

I hummed to the lyrics to my favorite song while walking across the skybridge without a care in the world. What was there to worry about after all?

"HELP!"

Such a beautiful day today.

"SOMEONE SAVE US!"

Yup, nothing can go wrong.

"AAAAAAH!"

Ugh, for crying out loud...

"Shut up!" I yelled, then I threw a chemical gas bomb in the general direction of the scream. The I listened carefully to check if the scream had fully died down, then continued walking leisurely. Good to see that my shushkabombs were working fine.

Those screams were caused by some of the henchmen I have. I don't know why my boss gave them to me. I just use them to cause random panic so I can get the good stuff. Those guys aren't really all that useful anyway. Pretty crappy henchmen, if you ask me. I wonder how much they get paid.

I approached double doors and pushed it wide open, announcing my entrance to anyone inside. To my slight disappointment, there was no one inside. I continued on my walk through a doorway that led to a wide area. There were a bunch of people in there. All armed, by the way. No worries.

As soon as I set foot in there, all the attention was on me and there was one deep-voiced fellow that called out to me.

"Identify yourself!" he shouted.

"Identify yourself." I replied.

"Don't play any games with me punk! Answer or we will open fire!"

"But games are fun! You apparently, are not."

"Argh! This is your last chance!"

I shrugged and took out a handful of gas bombs from my pouch.

I tossed one to the nearest guy. "Here, happy birthday." I said.

He caught it, looking dumbfounded. He examined the generic happy face emoticon I painted onto it before it exploded and sent enough toxic gas to kill an elephant in minutes into the air. I tossed a few more around the room, completely poisoning the air. Everyone in the room started vomiting and coughing up blood, and slowly dying from exposure. Except me, of course. My helmet protected me from that stuff. Ah, technology.

I kept on walking and continued humming through the room as all the other people were dying and splattering blood and vomit on the walls and floors. Eesh. I'd hate to be the maintenance guy. Eventually I reached an elevator. I pressed the button to go up and patiently waited for the elevator car to arrive. If I waited too long though, no doubt the cops would find this. And of course, they'll blame me. Well, they're not wrong.

After a minute or so of waiting, the car finally arrived and I stepped inside. There was a multitude of buttons on the panel. I pressed the one for the top floor. The big boss guys were always on the top floor or the bottom floor. Why? I don't know. Top floors are the most susceptible to earthquakes, so it's not very smart. I guess it makes them feel powerful or something. I waited inside the small elevator car for about 40 seconds before it slowed down and came to a stop. Weird. I didn't push the button for this floor. I drew my rifle, the Ripcord V12, and hid behind one of the panels.

The doors opened to reveal three armed men holding shotguns. They must've heard the commotion below and guarded all possible ways to go up. One of them poked their head into the elevator car. I took out a small pill and shoved it into his mouth. He seemed really surprised and confused, along with the other two. Then he stopped, and started smiling. Then his head exploded. Blood and brains splattered onto the horrified faces of the two other guards. Heh, that never gets old.

The pill I gave him is called my Euthanasia Pill. Tastes like the best fruit-flavored candy ever. But it's also an extremely volatile explosive that reacts to saliva. It's not the exactly most humane way to die, but hey, you'll enjoy it. For a few seconds, anyway.

The two other guys were frozen with fear after what they just saw. After waiting a few seconds to see if they would snap out of it, I clonked their heads together to knock them both unconscious. Then I pressed the 'close doors' button and I was headed to the top floor once again. The elevator had some pleasant music playing from a speaker on the ceiling. It interefered with my humming, so I stopped. Of course, I could just break the speaker, but then they would probably hear that. Orders to troops could also be issued through it, so I decided to keep my weapons unsheathed.

Soon the doors to the top floor opened, and I was faced with an extra-large room with tall glass windows for walls, filled with what appeared to be highly-trained guards and big bossy types. They all glared at me the second I appeared.

"Oh hi everyone." I said upon entrance. "I think I found the right place. This is the top floor right?"

None of them answered. How rude.

"Okay then...I thought maybe I'd at least get a nod from one of you. Anyway, I'm here to kill..."

I outstretched my right arm and pointer finger and waved it around the room until it landed on a fat bald guy in a brown suit.

"you. You're the guy I'm supposed to kill."

They glared even harder.

"So should we do this execution-style or would you rather do the 'not go down without a fight' thing?"

"GET HIM!" the brown-suited baldie shouted.

I shrugged. "Down without a fight thing it is, then."

I pulled out my Ripcord and started firing in bursts at the guards. One by one, several of them were felled quickly, but not enough to keep them at a distance. I pulled out my Go-Away-Gun and fired a shot, blowing away a bunch of them at once. It's a really fun weapon. Along with being deadly accurate, it dealt splash damage, homed in on a selected target, and even could launch confetti. But usually I put small American Fourth of July-type firecrackers in there. Big explosions, big fun. Only problem was that it had a limited magazine, only capable of holding six shots at once. I put away my Ripcord and started firing the Go-Away-Gun at groups of enemies, pulverizing them with a fabulous display of fireworks. Soon the only one left was baldie.He was on the floor, his back against the window, trying his best to hide his fear.

"So hey, uh, baldie. This isn't personal. Well at least not for me. My boss just really hates you."

He stayed silent.

"Aren't you going to plead for mercy or something?"

Then he spoke up.

"You think I'm gonna p-plead for mercy to the likes of y-you?" he asked, doing a horrible job of sounding unafraid.

I shrugged. "Alright man, whatever you say."

I picked him up by the neck and threw him at the window, breaking the glass and sending him flying through the air, screaming. I aimed my Go-Away-Gun at him and fired my last shot directly into his chest, blowing him up in a wonderful display of light. I sheathed my Go-Away-Gun and turned around.

I took a few steps forward, then I said, "I guess you could say he," putting on the shades for my display, "went out with a bang."

Then I laughed really hard at my pun, which echoed throughout the huge, empty, bloody room filled with bodies of the dead.