Arise Old Warrior

[Flankingfox]

Shiv's eyes blinked dully as a mere ray of light pierced the darkness of his bedroom. Laying there on his bed naked he tilted his head around the best he could in a lousy attempt to gain some insight of what happened the previous night. Random, presumably empty, bottles of sake littered the room which was common enough, but nobody to greet the man as he awoke? Now that was an oddity. Was this old mongrel losing his touch? Or was he simply being a respectable individual for once...

Another rarity if the latter was true. Shiv stretched his arms upward and regrettably in the process came a worrisome creaking sound as if there wasn't enough lube to keep the old bones moving efficiently. A cough suddenly came forth from the mongrel as he cowered and shrank into a ball pulling the sheets over himself. Keeping his eyes closed momentarily for a bit longer than a standard blink, Shiv forced his body out of the sorry state it craved. Willing himself upward he swiveled into a sitting position before the scene before him came to view in its entirety. Looks like there were people to greet him... well kinda...

In the darkest portion of the room lay three corpses. What exactly had the mongrel gotten himself into? Not even the slightest inkling of guilt came over the man, however curiosity did seem to gnaw at whatever consciousness was in control right now. This type of thing didn't happen 'too' often, nor did this ever really happen in his own condo, because this place was for other bestial desires. With his eyes finally becoming adjusted the mongrel recognized his handiwork. No doubt in mind, Shiv knew now that these people hadn't died peacefully nor quickly. They had been flayed, de-gloved, and brutally tortured. Scratching his head slightly the burning question now became why? Surely the torture was to gain insight into some illicit activity, obviously that is how it would be spun... who was he kidding though.

A story like this would never surface for fear itself was a powerful motivator to keep truth from escaping enclosed confines. Standing up, Shiv glanced for anything else he may have missed before casually strolling over to the culprit responsible for his reluctant awakening; that sliver of light. Wasn't often the dreary mists parted enough to allow enough sunshine to get into the equally dreary yet lavish looking penthouse condo. Whatever, Shiv was awake now. There wasn't a desire and or need to wait till darkness crept over the village. Pushing air through his tubules the curtains rapidly opened before the naked man who shuddered slightly as the light seemed to expose every demented feature. A smile flashed over his face before a slight chuckle broke the silence. There on the window in blood was a crude arrow pointing toward the corpses with writing labeled 'bad guys'.

Turning attention back toward the mild inconvenience, Shiv saw now a piece of paper he had seemingly, intentionally, left for this very situation. Walking over he crouched down and read it, chuckling again now with clarity of what this mess actually was. Standing up, Shiv raised his hand as a small square shaped object flew toward his palm. Covered in fuuinjutsu, it seemed to activate once it reached his hand reacting to touch as it started glowing slightly. What started as faint and then slowly became of yelling intensity blasted from the object, this was the all too familiar voice of Karagata, Midori. "You're actually awake? That's quite surprising... Maybe you could actually come by the office and do your duties at an appropriate hour for once so I don't have to constantly juggle mine and your tasks, baka! You don't pay me enough for this! Might as well just promote me to Commander of the division already!!!! At least then people would get a response in a reasonable amount of time."

"Good morning hon, I need a clean up crew here pronto. Oh, before you ask, not the usual clean up either. Body disposal, yadda, yadda. I'll be dropping in today, would you like me to pick up lunch? How about that wagyu steak from that nice place down the road from Blood River? You've always loved that, ehh." Shiv's voice was frigid like ice yet also extremely calming in an almost inhuman way. With just these words the fiery verbal onslaught wilted away being replaced by an almost cheerful tone, "Oh, uhm. Are you sure? That would take too long... I mean... wait!! Not the usual clean up?! You mean nobody........ I'll have a team over there within the hour, it'll be like nothing happened." There was another long pause now. It would seem that Midori had just now caught herself being disarmed so effortlessly, but in an feeble attempt to not sound particularly docile she barked, "Fine I'll have the fucking steak, you baka, but this doesn't mean you're off the hook! I'm still angry with you! See you soon." The last words seemed overly excited as a ghostly click followed with the object losing the glow from a moment ago.

The mongrel looked over toward the wardrobe, regrettably this would be a somewhat respectable day, thus casual wouldn't cut it. Shiv's eyes narrowed as they flashed over to his customary jumpsuit. It was getting a bit tighter over the years, but isn't that the reason one wears a elastic one piece. The thought crossed his mind but in an attempt to not think about aging he glossed over the repercussions of such tedious thinking. Instead of the lethargic pace from before, Shiv started flashing into action, maybe in an attempt to prove he wasn't just an old weapon becoming dull with disuse. In the span of a few moments the weapon looked good as new, the front door closed as Shiv made his way into work.... he in fact 'didn't' grab the wagyu steak. Was his intent ever to grab it in the first place? Who knows, but either way little Midori would surely still be ecstatic to see Shiv in the flesh even if she hated his guts.