Cory followed Tony's lead like an expectant puppy, as they crept through the filthy alleyway. The burning desire that had been building as the days rolled by had changed for Tony. He felt almost sedated, and something that felt like anxiety, or even fear, gnawed at his gizzards. "But why?" He wanted this. Every atom of his being wanted to go into this building and bust some heads. He wanted to become the living weapon he molded himself to be… but something was eating at him, nibbling a hole into the bottom of his stomach and leaking his aggressive energy. He ground his teeth in frustration. He didnt know what the fuck was wrong with him, but he had to power through it. He couldnt back down now. Failure was not an option. It was do-or-die time for Tony and Corey. Time to prove he was more then the posers sending him on his non lethal mission.
He glanced down at a bum, shivering with withdrawals. The bum looked up, blankly at first, before his eyes went wide with terror. Tony glared down at him, through the jagged eye holes of his ripped up tiger mask. The bum covered his eyes with his hands and rocked himself back and forth as they passed him by. Corey hesitated briefly, watching the man for a moment before returning to follow in Tony's wake, doing her best impersonation of his shadow.
Tony stopped at the rusted, rotten door leading to the side entrance of the drug den, where their "target" was. He was supposedly banging some piece of jail bait, while his goons kept the junkies and the dealers supplied with their drug of choice. Tony leaned against the wall next to the door as Corey moved passed him and took her place on the other side. Tony scowled. The thought of what the inside of the building contained unnerved him. Junkeys wallowing in their weakness, dealers sucking their health and potential from them, as the king ass hole himself, was ensnaring some idiot kid with her own daddy issues. It all made Tony angry just thinking about it. These fuckers needed to die.
It was a refreshing sensation for Tony, to have the familiar hot and furious energy begin to bubble and burn in his stomach and chest. He was beginning to worry some absurd things. That anxiety had finally managed to get to him, revealing a weakness where none should exist. "No."
Tony submerged himself into the furious rage building in his heart like he was slipping into a warm bath. He felt the familiar warmth pump from his heart, and down into the veins of his arms and legs. It was the adrenaline, the natural high and excitement his own body produced, and it had produced this much out of the anticipation alone. It was almost time, just behind this door, was the cure to what ailed him, the release he needed. There was only one thing standing in his way… Corey.
Tony looked to Corey and she looked at him right back. Her dark brown eyes uncharacteristically alive and flickering with excitement, opposed to their usual cloudy, distant state. Tony grit his teeth in anger, as he thought of Darius and his bullshit instructions. "You know that idiot is as phony as they come right?" Tony growled in a low voice. Corey only tilted her head at that, so Tony continued. "He pretends like he knows the streets, but he's full of shit. I know the streets, and I know what he said was bullshit. We go in there, slap them around with kid gloves, it wont do anything but get us killed." Tony said, waiting for Corey to protest.
Corey watched Tony for what felt like a long time. She stared at him like she was trying to look into his soul or some shit. Tony narrowed his brow. "What?" He finally asked. "Yea you're right… you should do what you think is best." Corey said in a soft, careful manner. Tony's body stiffened, his stomach twisted with anxiety. "What the hell did she say?" She was supposed to be the cautious one, always over planning and over thinking. "What the fuck is she trying to pull here?"
He kept his face carefully expressionless, as she kept her studious eyes on him. "I mean… whatever you do in there… I'll back you up." Corey said, her eyes becoming distant. Tony's mind exploded with inner dialogue. "Does she want to waste them too? Does she need me to be the one to draw first blood? For me to cross the line you cant come back from, first?" Tony felt his stomach gurgle with nervous energy.
"Fuck… you know I want too let loose in there… but we kill someone, that Darius bitch will just cut us off and we'll be back to where we started!" Tony said, snarling out in annoyance. Corey blinked, seemingly taken back by that statement. Tony felt his stomach churn even more, as he felt Corey's suspicion. "What? Your the one always telling me to play nice with him!" Tony half yelled, half whispered. Corey's eyes flickered with uncertainty, as she did her best to search for words, words that never came. Tony's face trembled in frustration. "She cant kill anyone, unless I do it first! Why is it up to me to do all the dirty work?! Fucking useless!"
Tony's eyes dilated, his fists clenched so hard, he felt the bones of his fingers creak under the strain. He felt the white hot rage seeping from his chest and overwhelm him. "If it wasnt for me she'd still be in that fucking basement. I brought us this far, only for her to look down on me now? Fuck that… and fuck her too!"
"Fuck this shit!" Tony hissed leaning his masked face up against hers, causing her to recoil in defense. Tony turned to the door. His adrenaline was pumping through his body and lighting up his brain. It fueled his every movement. Tony was done talking. He was done thinking. It was time for action. Time to tear these bitches apart.
The door exploded off its hinges, as he brought his rage driven foot through it like some medieval battering ram. He rushed through the doorway, like a raging bull, his hazel-orange eyes burning with a challenge for any mother fucker to try and stop him. The room was full of junkeys laying or sitting on the ground, or trying to score free hits from the dealer in the center who held a plastic baggy full of brightly colored pills in his hand.
They all stared at the blood stained mask, wide eyed, frozen in disbelief. Tony roared through gritted teeth, that clacked with furious energy as he fell upon them. The first junkey in his way only had time to throw up his hands to defend himself before Tony's fist slammed into his ribs. Tony saw the look of shock twist into agony, as he felt the tweaker's bones crack against his knuckles. He was pulling his punches, and still their bones broke under his blows.
He threw the injured junkey to the side, who landed face down onto the concrete ground before whimpering in pain. The second junkey didnt even react, he just stared at him frozen in disbelief, before Tony swung his fist across his jaw. The junkey's eyes rolled into the back of his head, as Tony's fist dislocated his mandible, and he collapsed face first against the hard floor.
Tony felt a primal pleasure well up inside his body. These pussies couldnt do anything to stop him, he could have done anything he wanted to them, and they powerless. He was god to them. His brain was on overdrive. He moved from junkey to junkey, like a blur of muscle and rage. He wasnt a man anymore, he was a fucking force of nature, disaster incarnate. Tony didnt know what the feeling rushing through is mind was, but he knew he needed more of it.
One of the junkey's actually had the courage to tackle him. He slammed his shoulder against Tony's waist, pushing against him with all of his might, trying to wrestle him to the ground. Tony didnt so much as budge, before snorting in disgust, and slamming his fist down against the man's back, knocking the wind from his body. Tony gripped the stunned junkey around the shoulders and chest, before pivoting his body to the side, using all of his might to throw the junkey across the room. The junkey's back slammed against the drywall, denting a torso sized hole through it, before landing with a bounce against the floor.
A junkey woman ran screaming for the door Tony emerged from, only to have him thrust an arm out, close lining her across the chest and sweeping her from her feet. She landed on her back so hard, the wind rushed from her lungs and out between her lips in a tortured cry, before she hacked and hyperventilated on the ground like a flopping fish, yanked from the water and thrown onto shore.
Tony heard footsteps approach him from behind, and had enough time to turn and see a large tramp, with long unkempt hair and a straggly beard, swinging a lead pipe at his head. He caught the weapon in his hand, before swinging his fist in a vicious hook, into the tramps face. Blood and teeth splattered from the homeless junkey's mouth, as he turned half way around and collapsed face first onto the hard concrete floor.
Tony threw the pipe down against the hard floor, making it bounce and skitter across the concrete, as he roared up into the ceiling, in bestial triumph. Tony felt a warm burning sensation in his brain. "More… I need more!"
Tony turned to the dealer who stood a few feet in front of him. The dealer had managed to move one hand to the handle of a shiny snub nosed revolver, he had stuffed in the front pocket of his hooded sweatshirt, but now he just stood there, like a statue, to horrified to move. Tony threw his arms back and down at his sides, his fingers curled like hate filled claws, as he thrust his upper body foreword. His words roared from his bared teeth. "Come on!" Tony screamed in challenge at the man.
The man turned before breaking into a full panicked run. He drew his pistol as he cried out in horror, sprinting as fast as he could from the big bad Tony. Tony ran after him, quickly closing the gap like a tiger closing in on its prey. The dealer managed to reach a bedroom just as Tony approached, and darted inside, turning to slam the door shut on Tony.
Tony punched his fist straight through the cheap door, his fist coming within inches of the terrified dealers face. The dealer staggered back a step and threw his arms out to defend himself, to overcome with fear to use the gun still clenched uselessly in the cowards hand. Tony felt the man's hand brush across his fist, on the other side of the door. He gripped the dealer by the wrist from the hole on the other side of the door and squeezed tightly.
The dealer had enough time to give Tony's hand a mortified look, before Tony yanked his body through the fist sized hole he made, tearing the dealers body through the door and ripping the cheap door in half. Tony let the man fall onto his side, before stamping his foot onto his wrist, grinding the heel of his cowboy boot tightly against the complicated bones, feeling them strain underfoot.
The dealer dropped the revolver from his pinned hand, before pleading up at Tony like a pathetic worm. "Please, stop, please!" He whimpered. Tony growled down at the man in disgust. He was already broken, there wasnt even a point to fucking him up anymore, the pussy had already given up. No sport in kicking beaten dog when its down.
Tony's body stiffened as he sensed the footsteps on the stairway to the left of him. Before he could turn he heard the sound of a semi automatic pistol being cocked back. Survival instincts overrode Tony's body. He darted backwards through the shattered doorway as the sounds of gunshots from the stairs leading up rang out in his ears. Drywall shattered from the wall where the 9mm rounds landed, sending pieces of the chalky white surface to fly into his face. He blinked as he felt the white, crumbly material splash against the mask, and into his eye. He turned around, his right eye still closed tightly, and waited, hoping the gunman would make the mistake to come into the room and into arms reach.
Tony felt his heart thud in his chest, like it was trying to break its way free of his body, but the gun totting thug wasnt taking the bait. Tony crept to the side of the door frame, and quickly peaked his head through before jerking it back. The thug fired off a shot, the bullet slamming into the wall where Tony had stuck out his head. "That was stupid…" Even so, in that brief moment he had managed to get a read on the gunman's location. He had climbed down the steps but hadnt approached much further then that. Tony ground his teeth together in frustration, he was trapped in this damn room.
Tony saw a blur of aqua green, moving so fast he barely had time to comprehend what it was. As the thug ran to the side of the door to get a better angle, Corey had rushed to the gunman's side. She swung the lead pipe in her arms, slamming it against the man's knee. The thug's upper body toppled against the ground, as his knee buckled and the grotesque sound of the man's kneecap shattering echoed against the walls.
The thug screamed in pain, through gritted teeth, and tried to roll to his side, and level his pistol up at Corey. Her long black hair flowed through the air from the back of her mask as she descended upon the man in an almost mesmerizing fashion. Tony couldnt help but feel a swell of admiration, as she swung the pipe down against the thugs forearm, falling upon him like a zebra striped bird of prey. The first strike knocked the gun from the thugs hand, the second blow broke the man's arm at the elbow, as he shielded his head from the blows. Through gritted teeth, the thug screamed up at Corey, as he writhed on the ground. "Dirty mother-fucker…!" Corey tilted her head as she stood over him, studying his movements and facial expressions.
Tony emerged from the doorway, glaring down at the thug. This was his moment, and that fucking guy ruined it, causing Corey to come storming in to save the day. She probably thought she had just saved Tony's life, that he needed her help. The thought burned in Tony's mind as his heart twisted with hatred. Tony embraced the feelings, it only made him stronger.
He watched Corey loom over the thug, the metal pipe held low at her side. Tony knew, she was feeling it too, the rush of adrenaline and power, pumping from the heart and brain and flowing through every part of the body. He clenched his fists tightly in frustration. It was her time now, he had to wait his turn.
The thug's eyes moved up and down Corey's shapely, athletic legs, and the swelling of her hips, the only parts of her feminine form not shrouded in her Miami dolphins starter jacket, and zebra mask. "Holy shit… your a chick? Oh you better kill me, you fucking bitch cuz if I find you…" The thug snarled. Corey swung the pipe down onto the thug, who managed to block the blow to his head with the only extremity available to him, his broken arm. The thug screamed in agony, curling up into the fetal position, bracing himself for any further assaults. Corey stood over him, the lead pipe cocked back in her arms, ready to bring one end of it straight down into the thug's skull. Tony found himself holding his breath, watching Corey as she stood frozen in that position, waiting to see if she would do it. Tony cursed at himself silently, for behaving like an excited child. She would either do it or she wouldnt. There wasnt anything to to get all giddy over, he decided.
Corey dropped the pipe next to the curled up thug, who flinched at the sound of the metal ringing against the concrete. Corey turned to Tony, looking up at him expectantly. Tony narrowed his eyes. He wasnt sure what she wanted from him. A pat on the head, a compliment? The last thing he needed was Corey getting a big head. So she's fast, and nimble, so what? Tony wasnt about to let the girl show him up. Tony grunted and turned to the stairway. "You had your fun, the VIP… he's mine!" Tony declared angrily, a competitive flame beginning to drown out his other emotions. Corey glanced at the stairway with a cool, nonchalant gaze, before shoving her hands in the side pockets of her starter jacket. "I got your back." She said calmly.
Tony furiously stormed up the steps, while Corey slowly crept behind. He stopped and looked around at his surroundings. A hallway, with several rooms on either sides of it. He narrowed his brow as he looked at the doors in frustration. As Tony reached out to open a door at random, Corey slunk passed him. She held up a finger, signaling for him to keep quite. Tony crossed his arms and waited impatiently, as Corey methodically stalked through the hallway, placing each foot ahead of the other. Tony rolled his eyes as he watched her.
Corey stopped, less then halfway down the hall and cocked her head to the side. Tony watched her with peaked interest, as she leaned towards the door on her right and listened for sounds on the other side of the door. She glanced back to him and gestured with one finger, for him to come. Tony grunted and quietly walked behind her.
She had turned back to the door, and didnt react to him approaching. He leaned over and glared at her through the eye hole of her zebra mask, until she finally glanced back at him. "In there?" He whispered, to which Corey shrugged. Tony took a step back and twitched with pent up frustration, his fists vibrating with rage. She tapped the side of her head, trying to communicate something to him, but Tony didnt have time for twenty questions. He violently shoved past her and moved to the front of the door. Corey threw a hand up in a silent protest, but Tony didnt give a shit. He slammed his shoulder through the door and broke it open, charging through the breached doorway without hesitation.
Tony stopped in his tracks and straightened. Before him was the tattooed dirt bag, Conrad. Like Darius predicted, he was with some painted up, teenage slut. Except instead of having the teen earn some free hits, with those clown red lips, he was holding her against himself like a human shield, a snub nosed .38 held tightly against her temple. She looked up at Tony, her eyes wide with terror. Lines of mascara were streaked down her cheeks by fearful tears. Her body trembled against Conrad's body, like a tiny leaf against the wind.
Tony ignored her completely, and kept his hate filled eyes focused on his prey, with as much intensity as a starving tiger watching a wounded gazelle. Everything in Tony's life had been leading to this moment, and it was almost over. This bald piece of shit was the last crumb, the last morsel, for a meal years in the making. Tony radiated with violent energy, his body tense and ready to explode at the man at any moment. The only reason he hadnt already charged through Conrad and his painted up meat shield, was so he could savor this moment. The last bit of violent action before another drought of unbearable inactivity.
Tony bared his teeth under his ripped up mask, as the bald drug supplier withered under his violently longing glare. Beads of sweat dripped down his forehead, as he pushed the revolver against his human shields head, causing her to whimper and close her eyes tightly. Tony snorted at him, and glanced down at the man's hand. Even though he was pushing the barrel of the gun so hard against the teenagers head, it was causing her pain, but he could barely keep the gun in place, his hands were trembling so much.
Tony raised his furious gaze as the tattooed scumbag began to speak. "Take one more step… and Ill blow her brains out!" Conrad said, trying his best to assert what little control he had over the situation, or rather, what little control he thoughthe had. Tony took a slow, purposeful step foreword, his body as tense as a tightly wound spring waiting to snap. Conrad took a half step backwards, pressing himself up against the wall and window behind him. He was as far away from Tony as physically possible without breaking through the glass and droping down the eighteen foot drop. Tony would just hunt his crippled ass down in the streets if he tried that shit.
"I mean it… I'm going to kill her." Conrad said, his voice cracking. Tony glared back at the man before responding in a gruff, dangerous voice. "Yea? Well I dont give a shit." Tony said. Conrad stiffened, his eyes widened in terror, as Tony took another step closer. Tony's wasnt afraid, if she died, she died. If he turned his gun at him, he'd be on him before he could even squeeze off a shot.
Tony couldnt wait any longer, he erupted foreword from where he stood, roaring through clenched teeth. His entire body directed towards his target, like a fury guided rocket. Conrad threw the teen by her head and hair foreword, into Tony. He slammed the back of his hand against the teens head, knocking her out of the way, sending her crashing against the wall.
Conrad's eyes were wide with terror as he leveled the gun, but Tony was too fast. Tony's shoulder slammed into the bald headed dirt bag like a freight train, slamming him against the wall. Conrad's back and shoulders smashing a hole into the drywall, while his left arm smashed through the window, sending droplets of blood and glass shards raining down on the sidewalk below. Tony kept his forearm pressed tightly against the dazed drug suppliers chest, keeping him propped up, as Tony's fiery, orange hazel eyes burned into his.
Tony turned and threw the tattooed punk onto the ground. Conrad landed in front of the smashed open doorway with a heavy crash, his left arm breaking under the force of the impact. The gun slid from his right hand and skittered through the doorway just before Corey reached a foot out and caught the gun under her shoe. She stuffed her hands nonchalantly in her aqua green jacket as she. She turned her head to the side, as she shifted her gaze from the gun held under her foot, to the man coughing and moaning on the ground in front of her, finding it clearer to peer out through the zebra mask, one eye at a time.
Tony stomped towards the downed drug supplier, grabbing him by the back of his shirt and hoisting him to his feet as if he were weightless. The drug supplier only groaned in pain, as Tony grabbed him by the back of his bald head and squeezed. Tony clenched his teeth tightly. The man was beaten, broken. There was no more action to be had, and there was nothing planned after this.
An intense frustration erupted inside of Tony. He had been waiting, for weeks, for months, years if you counted the time he spent sculpting his body… and it was already over. The used up piece of shit couldnt even fight for his life, he hung limp in his arms. His lips were moving, muttering something that could have been begging or even praying. "Pathetic…"
Tony was done here, but he was far from satisfied. He got a taste of what he wanted, downstairs as he ripped through the mobs of junkeys and bums, as he crashed through them like a tidal wave of destruction… but it was only a taste. Conrad moaned in pain, as Tony's fingers squeezed tighter, reacting to the violent mood brooding within. And then, something snapped inside Tony.
Tony slammed Conrad's bald, tattooed face against the wooden door frame with all of his might. That was when he felt something shift in his hands. For a brief moment, he felt the man's skull change shape, like an unwholesome click resonating through his hand. Tony's eyes widened in realization… he had just killed the man.
He immediately released his iron grip and took a step back from what he had done. Conrad slid from the door frame and fell to a sitting position, before flopping onto his back. Tony didnt want to look down, but he knew he had too. His eyes glanced down, and saw the pool of red bubbling from what used to be a man's face. He quickly looked back up. He had seen enough. The consuming fury inside of him had evaporated all at once, leaving only the empty realization… he was now a killer.
Tony had never killed a man before, even though he had thought about it many times. Even back in the war, he fired his rifle, kept his head down from getting chromed by a bullet, but he didnt have a single confirmed kill. He was just a big brute who was out of place in a uniform and following orders. He would talk tough, put anyone in their place who talked shit about him behind his back, but truth be told, he was a shitty soldier. He thought giving into his frustration and anger, would be a relieving experience, but in doing so, he just ended someones life. "And for what?"
Tony stepped over the body and barely realized he was staring in Corey's direction. He reluctantly met her gaze and grimaced at what he saw. Her eyes were wide, not with fear, or surprise… but amazement. She was happy Tony killed that man. He felt the anxiety grow in the pit of his stomach, and wanted nothing more then to leave the room, the building, and the broken man behind him, but Corey was standing in his way.
"What?!" Tony snapped at Corey, in frustration. Corey didnt react, instead she continued to stare at him in astonishment, before lowering her gaze to the dead man on the floor. "You… killed him." Corey said, her voice reverent, barely whisper. Tony felt a pang of guilt blossom in his chest, so he forced it back down, focusing instead on his annoyance. He threw his arms to the side belligerently. "Yea? So fucking what? I said I was going to kill him, you knew I would!" He snarled at Corey.
Corey let his hostility roll off her like water off a ducks back. She moved her curious but cautious look onto Tony's eyes for several moments. She waited for what felt like an eternity before finally speaking. "What did it feel like…?" Corey whispered in a shuddering breath.
Tony shoved his way passed her, before turning and barking out his response. "Nothing, it feels like he's dead, so what? Its what the fucker deserves, hiding behind some bitch instead of taking the shot! I'm glad he's fucking dead." Tony said, storming off. He stopped at the stairwell, and turned to glance back at Corey. She was standing there in the hallway, still staring at what Tony had done.
Tony gritted his teeth. "Corey! Get your fucking ass over here! Do you wanna get caught? Fine, stay here until the cops come you fucking idiot!" Tony snarled at her. Corey glanced over at Tony, her actions unnervingly cool and collected, before looking down at her feet, at the puddle of blood growing and reaching out towards her shoes. She took a step back, just as the blood would have touched her foot and turned to follow Tony's trail.
Tony looked down at the floor, at the trail of blood red foot prints he didnt realize he had left behind. He turned and stomped down the steps, finding a piece of cardboard, one of the junkies was probably using as a makeshift bed, and wiped his feet angrily. Corey approached behind him, her hands still calmly tucked in her starter jacket. "Lets go." She said.
Corey and Tony were silent the taxi ride back to her apartment. Their masks were kept in plastic grocery bags, so Tony could see Corey's face for the first time, for what felt like years. Tony kept his eyes narrowed, and his jaw hardened, staring straight ahead the entire ride. Only twice did he glance off to the side in Corey's direction. Both times he caught her staring at him out of the corner of her eyes, trying to pretend she wasnt gawking at him like an idiot school girl.
Tony kept his eyes foreword. When the taxi pulled up to Corey's building, Tony glanced down at his red stained fingers, poking out from the black finger-less gloves her wore. He wanted nothing more then to wash his hands right now.
Tony followed Corey up into her apartment silently brooding to himself. She unlocked the door and stepped inside. Tony followed, but Corey blocked his path. She stopped and turned around to face him. Her lips were slightly parted as she watched Tony thoughtfully, as she did her best to mentally form her upcoming questions. Tony squeezed his hand into a fist so tightly, he felt his fingernails dig into his palm.
"How do you feel…? Do you feel… different?" Corey asked cautiously. Tony snarled his lips at her. "Different?" Tony asked indignantly. Corey nodded slowly. "Different… now that you… you know…" Tony bared his teeth and took a menacing step towards her, getting his face right up into hers. Corey blinked and leaned back, her eyes widened. "Now that I killed someone? Why dont you stop being such a fucking pussy and find out yourself!?" Tony roared at her. Corey's jaw dropped, and her eyes widened in shock.
Even though he could see the damage his words had on Corey, it still felt good to let it all out. Against his better judgment, he kept going. "Dont think I didnt notice… "Oh Ill follow your lead Tony… whatever you think is best Tony" you couldnt do it yourself, so you had to have me do it, why? Why Corey!?" Tony yelled, taking another step closer, pushing his face against hers.
Corey had closed her mouth at this point, her stormy eyes were flickering between what looked like sorrow and anger, like she couldnt decide which emotion was stronger. Tony's upper lip quivered as his spite filled words stabbed from his lips at her. "Because you're to much of a coward to do anything about it… you weak, pathetic little fan girl!" Tony said, spittle spattering from between his clenched teeth.
Corey's eyes became expressionless. Her entire face looked numb. She no longer looked at him, she was looking off to the side at nothing in particular. Tony pushed passed her into her apartment. He didnt want to feel sorry for what he said, they both knew it was true. He didnt say anything he should regret.
Tony barged through the bathroom door and cranked the hot water nob on full blast. He ran his hands under the hot water, vigorously scrubbing the blood from his hands. His face was smeared with a deep disgusted scowl, his eyes were dark, as he scrubbed and scrubbed.
Red water swirled around the drain, from his fingers, wrists, and gloves. He pulled his gloves free and threw them into the bathtub, pushing his hands back into the now scalding water. He felt the pain blossom in his hands, as steam clouded his vision, and fogged the bathroom mirror, but still he kept scrubbing.