Disclaimer: I don't own anything that doesn't belong to me.
…
The door slammed open as the couple stumbled into the apartment, laughing and clumsily tearing pieces of clothing off each other. The woman, clearly more intoxicated than her partner, was constantly tripping all over herself and might have fallen to the floor or bumped into and knocked over many of the tasteful but incredibly expensive pieces of art scattered about the luxurious penthouse suite if the more sober male of the duo weren't there to carefully guide her away from them.
They entered the bedroom, where the man threw the woman onto the massive, incredibly soft bed, the female actually sinking an inch or two into the mattress. As she moaned, hiccuped, and fumbled to remove the rest of her evening attire, the man ran his eyes up and down her curvaceous form lustily.
God, she was beautiful. Lithe and shapely legs without an ounce of fat kicked off absurdly high heels, revealing absolutely perfect feet with her toenails painted a glittering gold. Her voluptuous form was barely contained in the sparkling canary yellow strapless gown she had somehow poured herself into, one of her breasts already slipping out of her décolletage as she started trying to rip her dress apart with her elegantly manicured nails as the details of how to remove it properly slipped her addled mind.
She threw her head back, exposing more of her luscious, swan like neck, and laughed drunkenly, her clouded amber eyes rolling wildly as her long dark hair came out of its complex weave and spilled out on the bed spread. "Like, omigaim," she slurred, moaning in ecstasy. "This bed is soooooo soft. We're, we're gonna have shooooooooooooo much fun. Sho much fun. That bitch Akari is gonna be super-jelly I got to go home with you inshtead of her."
She frowned, realizing her partner had yet to join her on the bed, and was instead methodically and carefully taking off his remaining clothing a piece at a time and carefully laying it out on a nearby chair. "Hey, what are, what are you doing over there? C-come over here and do the shex with me!"
The man chuckled, unbuttoning his shirt. "'The sex?'"
The woman rolled her eyes, and kept rolling them, getting dizzy. "You know what I mean! I can't, can't, think so good right now. That musht've been some drink you gave me back at the club!"
He smiled, a hint of amusement in his eyes. "Yes, I rather think there was."
Removing his belt, the man walked over to his closet. Noticing this, the woman on the bed moaned. "Come ooooooooooooooon! Get over here!" She whined. "I'm so lonely! I want you inside of me!"
"Don't worry, I'll be inside of you soon enough," the man promised as he entered the walk-in closet and advanced towards the back, out of view of his partner. "I just need to get a few things first that'll make this experience a lot more… Pleasurable."
The woman's eyes lit up at this. "Ooooh, kinky!"
The man laughed. "Oh, very much so."
The woman tried to raise herself up on her elbows to look into the closet after him, but the mattress was just sooooo soft she kept sinking deeper into it… And she was finding it harder to move, all of a sudden. "What kind of toys we talking about here? Strap-ons? Vibrators? Plugs?"
The man grinned as he put his hand on a seemingly innocuous portion of wall right next to the full-length mirror at the back of the closet. There was a beep as the hidden sensor recognized his handprint and the mirror silently slid aside, revealing a room with a metal table in the center with four strong leather cuffs at the corners. Over a dozen perfectly preserved cadavers of gorgeous women resembling the one on the bed were hanging from the ceiling by meat hooks. An image board at the back of the room was covered in pictures of the dead women and others like them, most of which were either circled or had big red X's crossing them out.
Right in front of him, at the foot of the table, was a cart covered in syringes, bottles of chemicals, and instruments of torture. "Oh," he said, picking up a scalpel and admiring his handsome reflection in the blade. "Nothing so pedestrian-"
Blood spattered against the cart and table.
The scalpel fell from trembling fingers and bounced on the ground as the man, gurgling and foaming at the mouth, reached up to touch his neck, which had just been slit from behind.
He collapsed, knocking over the cart as he tried to grab onto it for support and spilling its contents onto the floor. The syringes and bottles broke, their contents oozing out across the ground and causing foul-smelling vapors to rise into the air.
The woman, now completely sober and clad from head to toe in a black ninja outfit that might as well have been her actual skin considering how well it hugged her form and emphasized her considerable assets, regarded him dispassionately with cold eyes, watching the man as he bled out with no more interest than if he were a particularly large bug she had stepped on by accident.
(Was that offensive to the Hive? Nobody was really sure.)
After cleaning the blood off her hand scythe, she produced a piece of paper and neatly folded it into an origami mantis. She placed the mantis on the now-dead man's chest, bowed her head to pay her respects to the spirits of the women this predator had violated and slain, and tapped the side of her head. "It is done."
"Excellent. As always, you have excelled in your duties, Mibojin," the voice of her mistress replied. "The authorities have been notified and are on their way. Quickly remove all traces of your presence and go to the roof immediately."
The ninja frowned at this. "The roof? Has the extraction plan changed?"
"In a sense. There is someone up there who wishes to meet you."
Knowing her mistress would not elaborate further, Mibojin did not press the point. Instead, she quickly gathered up the clothes and wig she'd used for disguise, carefully scanned the apartment for any hint of DNA or evidence that could be possibly tied back to her – not that anything would come of it if there were, her clan's reach was great, but she would be punished severely for slipping up like that – and slipped out the apartment through a window, leaving only the dead body and the origami mantis as proof that she'd ever been there.
As she climbed to the roof – not that it took very long, she was already on the top floor – she heard sirens and noticed police cars pulling into the courtyard below.
She shook her head in distaste. They should've been here several minutes ago. Then again, if they were truly any good at their jobs, people like her would not be needed in this world.
Flipping herself onto the roof, she discovered, to her surprise, that the person waiting for her was not only a lot smaller than she expected, it wasn't even human.
Resting on top of a cooling unit was a large mechanical praying mantis, one so big it looked like it could easily wrap its fully articulated limbs along her wrist. Its body was largely made of bright yellow metal covered in hexagonal patterns with crystalline wings inlaid with incredibly complex circuitry. Its bladed arms were incredibly sharp, sharper than her own scythes, and looked as if they could slice through the strongest of metals with ease. Its large red eyes took up most of its head and conveyed no hint of emotion whatsoever, and a Hive microprocessor was placed in its forehead just beneath its antenna, almost looking like a third eye.
It was very still, and very silent.
"A Hive drone?" Mibojin murmured, perplexed.
"Not a drone," the mantis suddenly spoke up in a dry, elderly female voice which immediately reminded the ninja of her mistress, causing her to instinctually draw her scythes. "But one of the Divine Insects who protects the Hive and serves the Queen. You may call me Manti."
Warily, Mibojin put her blades away. She could sense no healing intent from the mantis… But her instincts told her that should she want her dead, Manti could remove her head before she even had a chance to draw a weapon. Bowing her head in respect, she inquired, "And what would a personage such as yourself want with a humble Shinobi such as myself?"
"I have observed you since you encountered your target at the club," Manti informed her. "The way you deceived him into thinking that he had successfully drugged you like he had so many of his previous victims nearly fooled me into thinking he had the upper hand. And the way you executed him? So swiftly and cleanly? Perfection! As was how quickly and efficiently you were able to clean up after yourself!"
The mantis frowned, or at least as well as she could given that she didn't technically have a mouth. "I do not understand the point of leaving that origami mantis behind. What was the purpose in that?"
"A personal affectation, as well as a bit of misdirection," Mibojin explained. "Human serial killers often leave a calling card of sorts at the scene of the crime. It is a blatant and pathetic cry for attention, to tell everyone that they were the ones who committed the deed. And if the authorities believe there is a serial killer on the loose…"
"They will never expect it to be a ninja such as yourself," Manti concluded. She nodded. "Most impressive. Such a thought would not have occurred to me. There are no serial killers among my people." She pointed an appendage at Mibojin. "Which proves to me, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you are indeed the one whom I have been looking for. My queen and your world are in grave jeopardy, Mibojin. We are beset by many enemies, and we will need the power of those who dwell in the shadows to strike back against those who would seek to destroy us. Normally such a task would fall upon our own shadow warriors, but their ranks have been sadly depleted in our flight from the homeworld. It falls upon you, and those whom my brethren have chosen, to save us now."
Mibojin narrowed her eyes. "Shadow warriors? I was led to believe the Hive were a peaceful race who expanded their empire without bloodshed. What need would your people have for assassins?"
"We are a peaceful race," Manti insisted. "Guided by a wise and all-loving Queen the likes of which your kind cannot even begin to imagine, who seeks to bring prosperity to all worlds and peoples and shine her light into even the darkest, furthest reaches of the cosmos and lead everyone into a brighter future."
She bowed her head. "But… There will always be shadows that even her light cannot pierce. Shadows in which lurk those who envy us, despise us, wants nothing more than to see our kind and benevolent Queen torn down and our glorious civilization brought to ruin. Against those who crawl in the dark, only those who also understand the ways of shadow can possibly stand in defense of Her Majesty's immaculate radiance." Her antenna twitched, and she regarded Mibojin. "Much, I think, like your own clan. Your target tonight is far from the first such monster you have slain."
Mibojin nodded. "He is not even my twentieth."
"More monsters are coming, ones greater and wicked than you have ever faced before. Will you aid us in fighting them? Will you use your darkness to fight the greater dark that is on its way?" Manti asked.
Mibojin considered for a moment, and then bowed her head. "I do not believe I am worthy of such a task, but if you are certain I am the one you need, then I shall of course lend my assistance… So long as my mistress allows it."
As if on cue, her mistress spoke up. "I have discussed this with the clan elders. You are authorized to aid the Hive in repelling this threat to the planet. Go forth, Mibojin. Do your duty."
The ninja nodded in acknowledgment. "As you command."
Accepting her fate, she turned to Manti and said, "It would appear that I am at your disposal, then. What is the nature of this threat that seeks to destroy your people and mine?"
"Those who drove us from our home in the first place," Manti said gravely. She hesitated, and then glanced away, regret filling her voice. "Those whom we once regarded as kin…"