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Distance was all that mattered. Xavier wasn't stopping for anything and he sure as hell wasn't taking his foot of the accelerator for a little rain. Xavier's eyes stayed glued to the GPS display tracking their position while the world passed in a blur of red and white lights. The nagging voice of the stout man in his backseat was lost under the pounding bass of his own heartbeat. Already his heart rate was accelerating and his mind replayed countless death scenarios on a short loop. With his conscious mind he scolded himself for taking up the life of a criminal and prayed to whatever god that existed in heaven to guide his hand in escaping this gruesome fate.

Yet as Xavier sped through the lightly soaked streets of downtown Frixion City, anticipation of a nervous kind of energy tingled through him like electrical sparks running throughout his body and gathering in his toes. Adrenaline coursed through his system as a fight or flight instinct.  But it didn't matter to him, they [b]had[/b] to get away.  

Xavier hyperventilated as he mashed the accelerator and swerved around another curve. Outside the windshield, a massive expansive of runway rolled on before them and silhouetted behind a curtain of rain an even larger city. Only a few yard away a ship stalled, ready to take off. 

"Thank God..." Xavier muttered under his breath as he jammed the black SUV into park. 

Just as his life truly depended on it, Xavier stumbled out of the vehicle, slipping repeatedly on the wet concrete as two large men stepped out of the backseat, making way for Xavier's transport.

The man was single handedly fattest person Xavier had ever seen, he could swear he was two full seats on any airline. He lived his life as if to dispel any suggestion that "fat" should be auto-linked to "jolly." He was the most sullen and cynical bastard that ever breathed and Xavier respected him for it. There was an honesty to it. He never sugar coated anything that wasn't edible. If you wanted straight facts he was your go-to guy, for anything else it was just better to stay away.

"The fuck are you gawking at?! Get the transport moving!" The fat man bellowed. Xavier nodded dumbly and stumbled over to the ship. Each breath was like-

[center][b]BOOM![/b][/center]

There was an enormous explosion. It was as though a fist of orange flame had decided to punch it's way out of the ships hull and throw everyone and everything to the ground. Windows shattered. Smoke and fire rushed out. Thousands of pieces of glass and steel, a deadly rainfall, showered down. Alarms - shrill and deafening- erupted.

Out of this shock Xavier felt himself issuing amid a mass of terrible sensations: the fearful blow of the explosion, the noise of glass, the hoarse howl of people, the rushing of men, the sudden gulf, the awful gulfing whirlpool of horror in the social life. But new sounds suddenly made themselves aware. The deafening crunch of folding metal, the blood-curdling roar of some supernatural source, the voracious cadence of heavy gunfire punching through solid steel, carbon fiber, flesh and sinew. Finally came the scream. The scream tore through Xavier like a great shard of glass. He felt his eyes widen and pulse quicken, his heart thudding like a rock rattling in box. The scream came again, desperate, terrified... human. The blood drained from his face and before he was even aware of making a conscious decision his legs were pounding furiously on the even concrete track, his ears straining for more sounds. He had recognized that voice. The voice the man he respected, the man he worked for. 

His breath came in small spurts, hot and nervous. At his sides, tanned fingers curled into sweaty fists, swinging forward as if it would make him faster. Behind him, he could hear the baying howl of the monster that slew everyone and everything in sight. Blood smeared his greasy face as sweat dripped from his matted hair. 

"Please God, let me live." he cried aloud, throwing himself forward with even greater abandon. His lungs and heart were pumping, but the air didn't seem to be enough as he sprinted forward, panic trembling in his exhausted limbs.

The boy didn't make it thirty feet before the hulking amalgamation of flesh and metal lept clear of the gap and landed heavily in front of him. At that moment he could feel the sweat drenching his skin, the throbbing of his own eyes, the ringing of his own screams vibrating in his ears, and the thumping of his own hart against his chest. His fingers curled into fists, nails digging into his palm. Hesitantly, his eyes met that of the beast's. It was unblinking and unforgiving, ever-staring into the depths of those who challenged it, bleeding them dry of the will to fight.

The monster was a predator. 

Fear tore at Xaviers guts, churning his stomach in tense cramps. Fear engulfed his conscience, knocking all other thoughts aside. Fear overwhelmed his body, making it drastically exhausted. However, most of all, the fear made him calm, and that was what scared him the most.

With one sudden, unceremonial motion, the beast's blade was thrust into Xavier's soft, pudgy flesh, making a satisfying squish and and hiss as the tip of the blade sank deep enough to make him scream. The beast twisted the blade in his hands, all the while sinking it deeper and deeper. His skin was tore to shreds as the energy blade rotated, the sound of his muscles and nerves being severed and burned growing louder. Then, without warning, it jerked it all the way into his chest, until the yellow light had disappeared inside him and out the other end while the black handle was pushing against his broken skin. His cry was a brilliant sound, guttural chokes mixed with an agonized roar. It smirked, and pulled the blade out of the now deathly white victim. He sank to his knees, continuing to scream, convulsing and trembling like a rabid animal while thick blood flowed freely from the gaping hole in his chest. The cascade of the boy's life source gushed out in all directions, scarlet liquid squirting up all over the beast. It turned away as the boy pleas for mercy became quieter and the bitter tang of blood tingled in his nostrils.

The runway was absolute carnage.

What was left of transport burned in the flames of a deadly fire. The SUV had been turned into Swiss Cheese and any survivors had been meticulously slaughtered in a similar fashion. Worst of all was the corpse of fat man. Already mutilated beyond repair, the body was further maimed as the beast off-handily severed the cadaver's head from its body. 

Unconstrained, the creature presented the capitulum against the light above his head and juxtaposed it to an image pulled up on a holo-screen projected from his bionic right arm.

A low, harsh growl exited the beast's maw originating from the deep pit that was it's belly. [color=DodgerBlue]"It's a match."[/color] it confirmed, forming a savage grin that betrayed all innocence.

A catch like this would bring in at most two hundred thousand credits. That was at least three years salary for some lunch-bucket. All that was left to do was drop the head off on the lap of the bounty starter, collect his reward, and start after the next one.

Somewhere off in the distance, the sound of a siren could be picked up under the pitter-patter of rain on metal and concrete. By it's calculations, it had about three minutes before the authorities arrived on the scene. The beast growled once more and shoved the bloody head in his military style coat. It was time to make it's get away.

Peerless eyes scanned the airstrip for any form of transportation. Obviously there was. Within a hanger, a jet cruiser sat ready for flight. The beast wasted no time and took to it's cockpit. It's massive hands flew across the console, turning on the battery, activating standby power, switching to auto, setting all four electrical engine control switches to norm, and ensuring that the hydraulic demand pump switches were set to off. Finally, the beast activated the continuous ignition and left the computer to take on the rest of the controls.

Smoothly, the cruiser lifted-off into the air and sped off, leaving behind chaos in it's wake. Inside the cockpit, Mal'akuth Toratall, the Apex Predator, reclined leisurely on a leather seat, resigned to let the computer pilot the jet for a time while he fantasized on what to do next.

Naturally, turning in the day's bounties and reveling in it's victories was what he considered to be next logical step. But the sudden, insatiable urge to celebrate now rather than later overtook Mal'akuth. 

The Apex Predator grinned wolfishly and leaned forward to dial in the coordinates of his favorite bar into the console. Nova, a modern-esque bar that came off as hipster rather than new. It was a seedy place where no one asked questions. A rather comfortable stop for the massive alien. 

Within minutes Mal'akuth's jet cruiser stalled above the location. He hovered precariously over the threshold of the blast boor. For a moment, he considered landing the plane and instead driving here. But the time it would take for him to commandeer a vehicle and make his way back was unappealing in nature.

Without so much as a second thought, Mal'akuth stepped over the edge and entered free-fall. The cold air rushed past as he accelerated faster and faster. Then after a time he felt like he was floating and not falling at all. But the city grew larger and closer. As if on instinct, Mal'akuth adjusted his body so that he was feet were facing downward. On command, vector vents blowing hot air revealed themselves by the sides of his mechanical legs; dramatically slowing down he decent. A moment later Mal'akuth touched-down, as if he had only been a feather blown to the wind.

The the crowds who witnessed it made acted as if they didn't. Falling or flying though the sky was a common sight in Frixion City. Mal'akuth took a second to compose himself before turning into the bar.

The bar was a den of hundreds of conversations told in loud voices, all of them competing with the music that dominated the atmosphere. Along the wall was every hue of amber liquid in their inverted bottles; every vice that Mal'akuth had had rather to avoid but indulged. 

Quickly, he found a rather dark corner to seat himself and for a moment, opted to listen to the conversations of those around. His acute ears picked out the keywords of each verbal exchange. 

"…course…planning to…something to him…lot of…profit from it...dealer, so…my business…"

"…holy….you're…out..."

"…well…, gonna….a wrench...big plans."

Something was coming. Mal'akuth could deduce that from the words being thrown around bar. And it was something wanted no part of.

Mal'akuth raised a mechanical finger to call a server, and when they did not appear he turned his head slowly to his right to watch her scrubbing the glass of the chiller cabinet.

[color=DodgerBlue]"Oi!"[/color] he called, [color=DodgerBlue]"How about a drink."[/color]