The Ghost drifted lazily along the hallway, his feet moving in a rolling heel-toe gait. His dark eyes glittered in the dim illumination of the wall sconce lights, turned down in this area for efficiency's sake. Coming to a smooth halt at last by one section of otherwise unremarkable wall, he paused and seemed to stare at nothing. 

In truth, he saw much more than the unremarkable walls. 

The Ghost saw right through the wall in his mind, having no need of his physical eyes to direct his attention. The thick interior wall was load-bearing, almost four feet of solid stone. Beyond that was a little-used conference room. Tonight, two men would be meeting there. They intended to exchange money and words, then walk away. One man was the presiding judge of a small court, where a case was being examined with great discretion. The other... Aito's jaw rippled in silent anger. 

He couldn't hear through the stone, that wasn't his gift, but he didn't need to. What else could the two men be discussing? The case in question was a rather messy accusation of rape, and the details were open-and-shut. That the girl had been brutalized was beyond question, Aito had ghosted into her hospital room and seen her injuries himself. The accused had been the only one seen leaving her home, she'd recently insulted him, he'd sworn to hurt her... it was very clear. With those facts, the only ones presented, it was damning evidence. Aito would have voted guilty himself. 

But Aito knew something more. 

The judge was being bribed to speed the trial along. Swift justice, closure for the poor girl so she could begin to recover, that was the excuse. It was understandable, almost forgivable, the judge thought he was honestly doing the family a favor, and enjoying the opportunity to make a little cash while he was at it. That wasn't worthy of death. 

No, the wickedness he was here for stemmed from something else. 

The man giving the bribe didn't represent the family of the girl. He was from someone else... someone who didn't want a certain piece of evidence being discovered. Someone who knew that if the standard times were observed, something overlooked would come to light. Someone who was related to the true culprit, and who was enjoying this opportunity to shame a rival family. Who they were, Aito didn't know. Nor did he especially care. 

It was easy to find out, after all. All he had to do was prevent this meeting from taking place. And that would be easy, the judge was running late. Aito had seen to that. 

The stranger entered the room on the other side of the wall, and Aito grinned. Perfect ambush. This was how he liked it... a nice, solid piece of stonework that would not be moved or broken up for many generations to come. Nobody who knew his target was supposed to be there. No other witnesses. Rolling his neck, he allowed himself to ghost into the wall. 

His power was... hard to describe. It was as if he just reached out and [i]pushed[/i] every single molecule out and away, just a little out of alignment, into a place where they wouldn't collide with anything in the world. Then he walked forward as if his feet still had traction, and watched himself sink into the wall. His physical sight went black at once, but his mind's eye could still perceive his journey. Two steps into the darkness, then he was out again, right behind the man with the envelope of money. He re-entered the physical world, drawing a knife. He then did three things very quickly. Seizing the man's hair, he yanked backwards savagely, stomped on the back of his knee, and held the knife before his victim's face, where it could be plainly seen. 

The man began to babble. Aito ignored his yammering, allowing him to fully embrace panic and appreciate his position, then cut him off at last. "The money," he growled. "The money, ass. Give me the money, that's all I want." 

An envelope was produced in shaking fingers. Clamping the knife in his teeth, Aito grabbed the envelop and stuffed it into his pocket without looking at it. Then he seized the back of the man's belt, and forced both his body and the stranger's into Ghost. This was much harder, and much more tiring. This was always the most dangerous part of his ambush. Stepping backwards, he re-entered the wall, dragging the man with him. Darkness enveloped both of them. The man kicked and struggled, trying to scream into solid stone to no avail. Aito let him, every moment deliberate, remaining fully aware of his body, his timing, and the world in his mind's eye. The moment his victim was fully within the heavy stone wall, Aito let go. 

There was a horrible sensation of utter [i]wrongness[/i], and a vibration in the stone that resonated horribly in his ears. Such a sound had never been given a name, and Aito had yet to find a suitable word for it. Molecules were horribly compressed and fused together as laws of nature fought to reassert themselves. When Aito stepped the rest of the way out of the wall and returned to the physical world, he was grinning savagely. It was horrible. It was barbaric. 

[i]We live in a fallen world,[/i] he thought. [i]Man's sin has created this state. This was not how it was Meant to be.[/i]

He shouldn't enjoy the opportunities that the Perversion of Creation gave him quite so much. 

"God, forgive me," he muttered aloud. He pulled out the envelope and thumbed through the money nestled inside. They said that the love of money was the root of all evil. Whoever said that was probably right. Aito told himself he didn't do this for money, but these dark deeds of his didn't take up much time. He certainly could have held down a full-time job and never missed a beat. 

But it would have been just wasteful to leave that money inside the stone wall. And Aito didn't much care for honest work, it was highly overrated.