Kyklops
It was just over two in the morning on a Sunday. Sam was on his way back home to wife and kids after a long and wet night on the town. Still quite few miles west of clean stinking sober, Sam wobbled around here and there, not really walking a straight path to his front yard. Even so it was a beautiful night, with dawn just a few hours away.
Not a cloud on the sky, the stars shimmering cold and bright, the new moon ever so slowly gliding across the heavens. It would have been even better if that pick pile of rock didn't block the way to Raccoon Campus Subway Entrance. «Probably some damn art project that has gone loose.» Sam grunted to himself, stumbling along trying to find away around it.
After a good five minutes of fooling around, Sam figured that even being drunk, this was getting ridiculous. It was almost as if the stones were alive and moving around, preventing Sam to enter the subway. «Listen here you stupid piece of mud! I wanna go home and screw my wife, so fuck off!» Sam spat out his words, along with a generous spray of saliva.
The rock moved around and Sam could see his reflection in the largest yellow-green eye he'd ever seen. Larger than his head and flanked by two smaller eyes on either side. It might not be the best thing to do when facing a demon at the size of a large SUV, but all Sam could do was vomit out the last drink he had before leaving the bar.
Some hours later, Trish banged into Dante's shop down at Portland. «Wohoo. Where's the fire Trish?» Dante asked, glancing up from his newspaper. «A man was found dead at Raccoon Campus.» Trish said, all fired up. Dante just looked at her with a dumb expression. People die all the time, where's the newsflash?
«Relax Trish. If something odd comes up the cops put Leon on the case, then Leon gives me a call. As you can see, the phone isn't ringing.» Dante said with a happy tone before sinking back into his chair. «Leon won't be getting this case as the man was apparently killed in an accident.» Trish explained. Dante didn't even bother looking over his newspaper for that one. Since when did he give a damn about accidents?
Turning another page on his newspaper, he saw a short story about what Trish had been talking about. «Says here he died because he got a rock over him.» Dante mused, not impressed. «Yeah, though there's real explanation to where that rock came from, or where it went afterwards.» Trish shot back, still excited. Dante peeped over his paper again. «The rock just walked away?» He asked. Trish nodded.
Hiding behind his paper again, Dante said: «That's some smart rock you've got there Trish. Even got the brains to leave the crime scene after the crime is committed. Hot damn that one sharp rock, yes ma'am.» Trish didn't give up, and just walked over to Dante's bookshelf and found what she was looking for.
Sitting on the edge of Dante's desk, she began to read out aloud. «Kyklops, although they appear similar to the Phantom, they are still one of the low-class evil spirits. However, since they take on earth and rocks as host elements, they have substantial durability. Contrary to their appearance, they have superb leaping abilities.» That did get Dante's attention.
«Trish my girl, you're not that hot over low-class stuff. It's the big guys that gets you running, so what gives? Kyklops, they're pushovers right?» Dante asked, sitting straight in his chair, folding his arms on the desk and twisting his thumbs. «These are demonic relatives of Phantom, one of the biggest guys out there.» Trish explained. She carried out telling Dante that Phantoms usually served as high ranking officers in the invasion army that Sparda drove back to the Underworld.
There are no human records of anything stronger than Phantom. Most likely because no human ever got close enough and lived to tell the tale. If there were Kyklops crawling about, Phantoms rarely were far away. They were a good sign, kind of like bite marks on someones neck – you know you're dealing with vampires then. From there it didn't take Dante long to give Raccoon Campus a little visit.
Once there both Dante and Trish managed to get lost. «I thought you knew this place.» Trish pouted. «Cut me some slack, this place is huge.» Dante grumbled, looking around. «You graduated from here, so you should know your way around.» Trish snorted back. Dante gave her an odd look.
«I've never graduated here you dumb skull.» He told Trish. Now it was Trish's turn to look dumbstruck. «I quit school some time during junior high.» Dante admitted a little sheepishly. «Because of the chainsaw and Asuka-san?» Trish asked. Dante just nodded.
They walked around some more, looking at the sights and if anything out of the ordinary would pop up. Nothing special came to their attention. It looked pretty normal all things considered. «Do you have a graduation then?» Dante asked in a offhand manner while musing at a billboard. «Hardly.» Trish chuckled. What's with that laugh? Lack of education is no laughing matter, Dante thought, but held his tongue as he was no better off himself.
«How did you survive? I mean you quit at 11 years old.» Trish asked Dante. Frowning a little over the question, Dante tried to remember back. «Hell if I know, I took it one day at the time I guess.» He replied after some thought. Trish just nodded at the answer before she headed over to a small kiosk on the campus to ask for directions.
Another round without getting anywhere near the crime scene came and went. «What are you going to blame this time? The sun or the moon?» Dante asked. «Shut up, that old fart in the kiosk was lousy at giving directions.» Trish pouted. I know something else that is just as lousy, Dante told himself quietly in his mind.
Suddenly Dante got very excited and walked over to one of the buildings. «We've got to make note of this place!» He said, beaming like the sun. «What for? There's nothing here!» Trish argued, waving her arms around. Dante chuckled and replied that here were the gates to paradise. Trish on the other hand didn't look the slightest convinced.
Pointing down at the ground, Dante showed Trish what he meant. Down at the bottom of the wall were basement windows and just inside were showers, the ladies showers. «What are you? A perverted old geezer!?» Trish asked furiously while throwing a kick after him. Dante easily dodged and laughed it off. Finally they got some directions from one of the students and made their way to the scene.
There wasn't much to see. A pool of blood, a small crater on the ground and a trail of blood drops going off in a direction before stopping. «Okay, here we are. Shake your tail feather or whatever you do.» Dante said, opening his arms to the crime scene. «Who's going to shake what?» Trish asked with an insulted look on her face.
A student walked up to the two of them. They both stopped their conversation and looked at the student before exchanging glances. «Hey babe, can I take you on a date?» The student asked Trish. «No, you can go to hell. You can go to hell and you can die.» Trish replied coldly. «Dang girl, that guy's gonna have a limb dick for weeks 'cause of that.» Dante said, sounding impressed.
Trish walked around the crime scene, while she replied to Dante's comment. «Good for him, more blood for the brain. Good for his studies. Heck, he should be praising me when he gets the exam results.» Aren't we exaggerating just a little bit here, Dante thought to himself but decided to keep shut.
After examining the scene for a good hour, Trish had no real leads. «I'd say our best bet is to stake this place out. They might come back to this place.» She concluded. «Fine by me, who takes first shift?» Dante asked. Trish looked on her watch, frowning a little. «Well what do you know? If I leave now, I'll just make it home for my favorite series.» She said with a smile.
The hell? Buy a damn VCR! Dante had his mouth full of things he'd tell Trish when she came back. And she better come back or he'll do more than just tell her a thing or two. The hours dragged by slowly. Wish I had something to do to make the time move faster, Dante pouted to himself. He did find some entertainment earlier, peeping on the womens shower through one of the basement windows. Unfortunately the show was short as the girls finished far too quick for comfort.
Maybe the idea that women spend ages on the bathroom is exaggerated? A guy screamed for help, cutting through the otherwise calm campus grounds. Dante spun around and dashed towards the sound. Lucky me! Rounding another corner, Dante froze solid in his boots. It was just a weak guy getting bullied by some rather tough looking girls.
Kicking, hitting and tearing his clothes a part. The girls had the time of their lives. Awh well, nothing to do with me, Dante thought. He had bigger fish to catch. Bloody and bruised, the girls left the guy trembling and fumbling around for his glasses. The sun was nearly gone from the sky, hidden well behind the skyscrapers of Staunton Island.
Dante stood some ways away, watching the guy still looking for his glasses. In the poor light and with what must be terrible eye sight the man had little chance of finding his glasses on his own. Minutes dragged by, Dante kept on watching. Weak whimpering came from the man as he began to loose spirit.
Looking away, Dante considered taking another round over campus to see if the Kyklops had come out of hiding before he turned on his heel and walked up to the man. «Hey mister, you okay?» He asked the man. The man shrunk back, shielding his head with his hands. «Please, please! Don't hurt me!»
Pleas from the bottom of a broken spirit. Guilt stung inside Dante. Maybe he should have done something after all. Squatting down, Dante picked up the glasses. The frame was bent and one of the glasses had cracks and scratches in it, probably from when someone stepped on them. «Here, are these your glasses by any chance?» Dante asked, poking the mans trembling fingers with the glasses.
Slowly, like a flower opening itself to the warmth of the sun, the man lowered his guard and looked up at Dante. Not saying a word, the man picked up the glasses and adjusted the frame a little before putting them on. «C'mon, we better get you to a doctor. Carson General Hospital is not far from here. Can you walk?» Dante offered his leather gloved hand to the man.
Taking one arm over his shoulder and placing his free arm behind the mans back, the two walked at a slow pace towards Carson General Hospital. «Thank you...» The man said after some walking, his lips cracked open again and blood began to pop out again. «...no problem.» Dante said back, still feeling a stinging guilt.
The sky grew darker and by chance Dante looked up at the clouds high above and noticed a big piece of rock blocking his view. A split second later, Dante had shot off to his right, narrowly escaping the crushing lading of the Kyklops. The stranger Dante had helped was less fortunate and was utterly crushed under the rocky body.
Dante looked at the pulp of crushed human flesh. The guilt stinging on the inside grew, it felt like a glowing steel javelin. Trish came running up at that point, guns in hand. «Caught it! I spotted this one around a warehouse at the edge of Belleville. Took some time to flush it towards your place.» She was breathing heavily, but Dante didn't listen in.
He kept on looking at the remains of the poor man he'd helped, with each heartbeat his rage grew. «They can shoot rocks from their mouths, which they form by eating dirt. Try to avoid standing in front of them whenever possible. Although their armor is made from rocks, it is not unbreakable. Use the Devil Trigger to bash the monster along with their armors.» Trish carried on.
Swiftly drawing his sword, Dante rushed head first into the fight. «WHY YOUUUU!!!» Just before the sword cut into the stony skin, Dante unleashed his inner devil. Never slowing down, never pausing for a breather and abandoning all notion of mercy, Dante brutally poured all his rage into the fight.
At the end the Kyklops was reduced to a pile of hand sized rocks. Trish stood in the background, mouth gaping. She'd seen Dante move about before, but nothing anywhere near this. The rage, the hate that Dante had for all demons had always been used for fuel in combat, though constrained. For the first time Trish had seen Dante simply let go of nearly all constrains and focus on the enemy.
Had he been up against a more advanced enemy he'd lost, but Kyklops aren't the smartest of demons. What was the trigger? Trish was intrigued and made sure to make special note of this. Whatever the trigger was, she had to find it. It would prove vital in the time ahead. «I suppose congratulations are in order, on a job well done.» She finally said.
Dante was kneeling down, breathing heavily and felt how both his teeth and kneecaps were clattering from the adrenaline. «Do these guys have a lair of some sort?» He asked Trish with a hoarse voice. «Yeah, it's not unheard of that they group up together in a single location.» Trish replied.
Getting to his feet, sheeting his sword behind his back and checking the bullets in his guns, Dante smiled to himself. «Belleville, huh?» With that, Dante left for Belleville and ended up rounding up another 4 Kyklops. All of them with ruthless efficiency and with the same near senseless rage that had killed the first one.
Back at Dante's shop the mood was heavy and oppressive. «That was... different.» Trish finally said. Dante remained silent, quietly disassembling Ivory for cleaning. «Want to talk about it?» Trish pressed the subject a little further. Again Dante didn't bother with a reply. «Well, at any rate get some rest afterwards. You had a busy night.» She finally said before taking her leave.
Alone with his guns, Dante paused his cleaning. How the hell was he going to sleep after something like that? Sure his body was screaming for a break, but his mind and emotions were all over the place, racing around like mad. Why now? He'd seen and even done worse to people than simply crushing them under a rock.
What the heck was going on? Why couldn't he get that stupid pricks face out of his head? How come that his humble thank you kept echoing in Dante's ears? «FUCK!» In a fit of rage, Dante swept his arm over the desk, sending phone and gun parts flying into the wall. Rubbing his face, Dante peeked form between his fingers. His eyes landed on the photograph on his desk. It calmed him down a little, though he was still troubled.
While Dante struggled to find right from left as far as his emotions went, Leon was busy giving Ada gun lessons. On the shooting range, Leon had told her time and time again what Dante had told him. Ada was not going to run around playing hero, this was a safety measure alone. It seemed to do the trick as Ada didn't raise any objections on the issue and grew confident with her gun. She also experimented with alternative firearms like shotguns and sub-machine guns.
On their way back from the shooting range, the two of them ran into Trish. She asked Ada if she had heard of an incident similar to the one that had happened at the campus. Ada on the other hand said she rarely saw Dante doing his work while she was around. There had been episodes yes, but they were not a field team in that sense. From the few times she had seen Dante in action, she couldn't recall any episodes of him going berserk, as Trish called it.