Author's note: Okay, I think you can guess from the title what this post will be about. Now, I know that you guys probably miss my epic lists and rants (not really, I'm probably just being cocky here) but I had this dream that was just...so weird and gory that I ended up writing a short about it! Now, it does continue on after the ending, but it gets WAY too gory and bloody afterwards (please refrain from asking how violent my mind truly is...) that I just decided to relieve you guys from the torture of reading that! ... Plus I never really wrote bloody action shorts, so I decided to write this up for now...
Now, just a warning in case you guys didn't get the hint from my previous statements: This does have bloody stuff in it! So for those of you with weak stomachs and big imaginations...refrain from reading please...
(Again, set in Skulduggery Pleasant universe.) Enjoy!
It was now winter in Germany's quaint countryside; the used-to-be green and lush meadows and farmlands were now coated with a thick layer of snow, like icing layered on a cake. The starry night sky was shut away from view because of the giant curtain of dark clouds; the ground still peppered slowly by them with new layers of snow. On the great expanse of snow and dead grass, there stood a random shed.
If it weren't for the fact that it looked broken down and not used in ages, people passing by might have been suspicious. However, the moss growing on most of it's sides and the gaping holes on the roof and door made it seem all the more old and less conspicuous; in addition to the aging wood and the ancient moldy scent around it.
Let us be honest here my dear readers, what passer by would bother to stop, take a look inside a broken shed and then climb down the wooden staircase that they would find if they opened the hatch door which was hidden under a rug? And what passer by would coincidentally happen to have a key card that would open a giant metal door that they would find if they climbed down the wooden staircase and continued to walk through a cement, spherical tunnel? Let us not forget the infinite amount of guards that this passer by would have to be brave enough to walk past if he opened the door with his coincidental key card, which would open into a strange underground facility with cement walls and floors.
Not many would admit into claiming to have met such a passer by and those who have... will most certainly have to nominate him the Oscar award for Countryside Curiosity.
However, such a person did commit all these acts and he wasn't merely passing by. In fact, as soon as the enemy found out he was in the building, they didn't hesitate to track him down and drag him into an interrogation room.
It was cold and had a foul rotten eggs smell hanging in the air like a soft haze. It had a simple square cement design, much like the rest of the underground building. The ceiling was covered with pipes of all different shapes and sizes; every now and then one or two pipes would let out a burst of hissing steam that wouldn't last for long and the room would return to it's deathly silence. Well... a silence that would only last for a short while, before the repeated sharp sounds of knuckles meeting flesh would begin again.
The previous trespasser had his arms and legs tied up to a plastic chair with thick wire rope; a single harsh bright light was shining down on him, leaving ghastly shadows on his face. His ridiculously large jaw was bruised and cut from the amount of beatings it received, one of his eyes were shut and bruised ; his bleeding bulbous nose was crooked at a very awkward angle and his lips were puffy and bloody. The only part of his body that wasn't injured was his brown hair, that was hanging loose in shoulder-length greasy strands.
His "interrogator" was a large muscular man in a white unbuttoned dress shirt with large sweat spots. He had a short Mohawk and his knuckles were bloody from how long the "interrogation" was taking.
"Genug!"
The Mohawk interrogator looked over his shoulder and stood up from his punching stance. Out of the shadows came a rather stout, balding man in a black double breasted suit. The little remaining grey hair on his head was slicked back with obvious care and the same could be said for his chin puff beard. His blank, ice blue eyes looked like they were constantly squinting and his upper lip barely showed behind his thick bottom lip. His suit looked brand new and not a speck of dust or rubble was to be found; he also wore an expensive-looking golden watch on his wrist. Overall, he had the air of a firm businessman and not the clean type either...
Mr. Hokrux slowly took two steps forward, gazed at the slouching and bleeding figure before him and snorted.
"You know, for a woman as well endowed and tactical people claim Ms. Magnanimous to be," He commented "I didn't think that she would be foolish enough to send some unprofessional weakling straight to the lion's den."
He didn't have a thick German accent, but there was a hint of it when he spoke. The only reply he got was a choking sound which then lead to the captive coughing out blood. Hokrux's mouth tilted into a small amused smirk.
"Oder hat sie vergessen, was passiert ist, um die letzte Person, die zu tun ist meine Basis zu infiltrieren versucht?" He mockingly asked with a raised eyebrow.
How could anyone forget what happened?
Poor Lixon was a man who was foolish enough to ask Mr. Hokrux for a favor, but one thing lead to another and in the end costed the lives of his wife, son and all of his money. He tried to take revenge by blowing Hokrux up in his own home, but the one who provided him the explosives sold him out and Lixon was caught. The day after, people found a man's private part dangling from a thin rope under a bridge. It didn't take a genius to figure out who's private part it was and what message Mr. Hokrux was sending.
The big-jawed prisoner shivered from the memory and replied with a heaving glottal voice "T-the f-fire..."
Hokrux simply scoffed "Was merely a distraction set for the security while we made our escape."
There has been a vicious rumor going around that Jocelyn had developed a very powerful shielding mechanism that would revolutionize the magic world, only this rumor managed to spread to Germany and it's underworld syndicates and gangs. Another rumor spread there that Hokrux had his eye on Jocelyn's merchandise for quite some time and others say that the Diablerie and Necromancers have offered him a very good ransom if he could get his hands on the blueprints for the weapons.
"And now that we have managed to get our hands on the blueprints, they are being analysed by our top engineers as we speak," Hokrux continued while turning his back on the prisoner, who suddenly went completely silent. "And even if Jocelyn tried to take them back, she would soon find herself given the same treatment that was given to our dear Mr. Lixon."
Hokrux suddenly heard a sharp whooshing sound, followed by a painful grunt and the large thump of a body collapsing to the ground.
"But you're forgetting one thing Mr. Hokrux."
The stout man's eyes widened with shock before he whirled around and saw his interrogator lying on the floor with a sharp, metal needle-like bullet jammed messily through the side of his neck. Blood flew and dripped from the Mohawk man's lips as he desperately tried to pull out the shard with shaking hands, but soon was lying still with lifeless eyes staring up at the ceiling. Hokrux slowly looked up from his friend's profusely bleeding carotid artery and saw his suddenly female prisoner biting onto a weird pen-like tube while smirking at him with a mischievously evil twinkle in her eyes.
"I don't have a dick to lose"
Before Hokrux could yell for help, his captive shot another needle-like bullet at a pipe above him and a huge billow of scaldingly hot steamed burst onto him, burning his entire head and hands. Hokrux let out a painful screech as he held his burnt hands close to his body. He tried to stumble away from the bursting pipe, but some of the steam was shot into his eyes which left him wobbling around blindly.
"I wasn't foolish enough to go straight into the lion's den Hokrux" Jocelyn's voice echoed tauntingly around him.
Hokrux tried to open his tearful eyes to catch a glimpse of his prisoner, but by then the room was already filled with steam that continued to erupt from the pipe. Hokrux was now sweating like a pig; his eyes, while blinking out tears of pain, were now wide with panic and fear as he turned around left and right like a gazelle being circled by a lion.
When a shadow grew over him, he whirled around and gasped shockingly as he stumbled back and collapsed to the floor. Jocelyn stood there in all her bloody glory, the thick wire rope that held her captive was now held by her like a whip. She was now a 5 ft 8 woman with pixie cut brown hair and a long nose with rather big nostrils; the clothes from the previous man she was disguised as (a ragged and bloody two piece black suit with black dress trousers and a leather belt) were now very baggy on her.
"I just needed a little evidence." She grinned at him and held out her other hand which had a weird, small and bloody hole right on the palm. There were soft and short sounds of flesh being ripped apart and Hokrux whimpered with disgust and horror when he saw a strange, metallic device slowly grow through the hole. It looked like an old fashioned mini-microphone that was covered in blood with a magic symbol on the tip. Jocelyn bent her finger and gently touched the symbol before it lighted up. Suddenly, Hokrux heard his own boasting voice being played back to him:
"And now that we have managed to get our hands on the blueprints, they are being analysed by our top engineers as we sp-"
Jocelyn tapped the symbol again and the light shut off along with Hokrux's voice recording.
Hokrux's face drained of all colour and he whimpered in fear when Jocelyn started to step slowly towards him, the wire rope in her hands now dangling threateningly towards him.
Jocelyn's grin widened into a cruel smirk and just before she could raise her arm, a sudden buzzing sound echoed around the room. Al Yankovic's "the Saga Begins" started to play and Jocelyn patted around her clothes in search of where it's coming from while Hokrux still sat frozen in a cowering position, too afraid to move an inch.
Jocelyn quirked an eyebrow confusedly and tilted her head slightly to the side when she couldn't find the device. Finally a look of realization dawned on her face; she lightly smacked her forehead while chuckling amusingly and pressed a finger against her ear.
"Hello, Magnanimous Speaking!" She cheerfully greeted with a large grin while dropping the wire rope and reaching up towards the metal bullet stuck into the pipe.
Hokrux finally broke out of his stupor and saw his chance to escape. While Jocelyn wasn't looking, he quickly spun around, tried to get up on his feet and run towards the door. However, before he could even place one foot on the ground, he felt a sharp and excruciating pain on his leg which made him howl in agony again. He looked back with tearful eyes and saw Jocelyn crouching down next to his leg while holding onto the needle-like bullet that was jammed through his calf. She smiled mischievously and wagged her finger at him teasingly, like she was scolding a child.
She stabbed the bullet deeper into his leg (earning another scream of torture and another spurt of blood) and held up a finger before replying pleasantly "Sorry sweetie, how much time did you say I have again?"
The sound of a squeaky voice started to project from...whatever device Jocelyn had plugged into her ear and Jocelyn simply nodded and hummed in confirmation as it continued to ramble on. However, it was what she said later on that made Hokrux freeze in terror:
"And all the bombs are in place?"
Bombs?! How did she ever place bombs in his building?! These were a few of the hundreds of questions that were running a million miles per second in Hokrux's head, along with: Will I be spared? and How long will it take for security to get here?! But all these thoughts were wiped out of his head when he felt Jocelyn sharply pull the bullet out of his leg, causing another tormenting wave of pain to course through his entire leg. By now, his entire body was shuddering from the agony and blood loss it was going through. Hokrux, now heaving with pain, flipped himself around (very slowly and painfully) until he was in a close enough sitting position and looked up again at Jocelyn while clutching his injured leg.
She stood up from her crouching position and Hokrux saw the wired rope now back in her free hand again, while the other was still pressed against her ear. She gave a cheerful farewell and ended the call before turning back to the pathetic and sniveling man cowering on the floor beneath her.
"Well Mr. Hokrux!" Jocelyn beamed, somehow making Hokrux even more terrified "It seems that I will take my leave soon, so I'll have to cut this meeting short."
It was only when Jocelyn's smile miniaturized into a malicious smirk and when she whipped the wire rope into both her hands, did Hokrux truly understand what Jocelyn meant by cutting this meeting short...
