//Sae: Perspective

Sae stood in the spacious empty room, quietly observing the flashing, energetic-looking lights that very much contradicted the silence that filled the area. Silent, except, of course, for the sound of shouting and gunfire coming from what she assumed was the owner's office that Ahn had gone into.

What was taking him so long?

She quickly scanned her surroundings to make sure there were no reinforcements coming, then decided to monitor what Ahn was seeing. They were able to do this without restriction in order to locate targets more easily while on missions. This technique wasn't something they used often though, as when they did it, whoever switched their perspective couldn't see their own surroundings.

Ahn was standing on a literal pile of androids, looking down at a fat middle-aged man, who was whimpering and trying desperately to pull a heat blade out of his hand. The sword had pinned his hand to the ornate desk he was sitting behind, and was driven almost to the hilt through the wood, which was very hard to come by in that day and age.

"Are you the one in charge of this casino?" Ahn was asking.

"Y-yes, I swear!" the man stammered, flinching as he tried to sit up. "I have money. I can get you whatever you want!"

Ahn twisted the blade. The man let loose an agonized scream as blood splattered onto the table. "Do you know what's great about heat blades?" Ahn asked. "They almost immediately cauterize wounds if they're left in the entry point. Whoever gets stabbed won't lose much blood, and won't suffer fatal damage unless you target vitals."

The man looked ready to pass out from the pain. He opened and closed his mouth, unable to speak, looking like a fish out of water that was trying desperately but futilely to breathe.

Ahn looked mercilessly down at the man in front of him. "Do you know who Marvin is?"

The man was visibly confused, seemingly trying to recall something. He shook his head, wheezing.

"What about Ava? I'm certain you at least remember sending your people after her, right?" He clearly didn't expect an answer. None came.

"That's all I needed to know," he said, wrenching the sword out of the man's hand, producing more wails and fresh pool of blood.

"If you've needlessly taken so many lives that you don't care enough to remember the names of those who died only days ago, you're undeserving of your own." This man wasn't being told to kill people. His family or his life weren't being threatened. He was killing innocent people like Marvin and Ava through his own volition.

"Like I said!" the man choked out. "I have mon-" he was cut off by a sudden blow to his ribs, knocking the wind out of him, sending his overweight body out of the padded chair.

"Money won't get me what I want," Ahn said, grabbing the man by the throat, pushing him against the floor. He tightened his grip slowly, stopping when the man was able to breathe just enough to stay conscious.

The man opened his mouth again in a final attempt to negotiate. It was useless. Ahn wanted nothing from this person other than his death.

He delivered another punch to the man's ribs, producing a loud cracking noise this time. He repeated the process, increasing the force behind each consecutive punch. The man was coughing blood now, his eyes wild with the fear of mortality.

The next punch made a squelching sound. Ahn had punched through the man's torso entirely. He watched as the eyes slowly glazed over, the life leaving them as if it had been drained out.

Sae returned to her own perspective. She wasn't disturbed by Ahn's sadistic display. Apparently, he had acted like this on his missions when she was locked in the experimental chamber. This was one of the reasons Sae had been released without conclusive results - Ahn was attracting too much attention with the gruesome ways he was carrying out his assignments. Somebody needed to rein him in.

As soon as Sae joined him on his missions, Ahn stopped acting out. It was as if he were an entirely different person. For this reason, along with their effectiveness as a team, Sae was allowed to resume standard protocol, and wasn't sent back for more experimentation.

Despite the macabre nature of Ahn's anger, Sae felt perfectly safe when he was like this. He only ever acted that way when Sae or one of the few other people he cared about was being harmed.

He approached her, his right arm covered in blood, stepping over the bodies scattered about the room. The red had faded from his eyes, being replaced by his usual resolute silver. The fire was out.

There was still a hint of blue in the corners of his irises.

Sae had started trying to be more sensitive to Ahn's emotions since she felt her own for the first time. She understood how much impact they could have on someone.

"We can still help Ava," she said, not entirely believing her own words, but if they could at least temporarily ease Ahn's mind, they were worth saying. "We don't have to let her suffer like you did. We can't let her be alone in her pain."

She paused. The feeling had returned. Guilt.

It was selfish of her to say that. She let Ahn get lost in those same emotions for almost three years. She had no right to voice her opinion on the matter.

But Ahn just smiled softly at her. "Right," he replied. "Let's head back to the underground workshop. I think I pushed myself a little too hard."

'That's right,' Sae remembered, looking at the nearly two-inch hole in Ahn's stomach, then shifting her gaze to his shoulder, which was falling apart again. He was in bad shape. He would never admit it to her, but he was probably in a lot of pain.

They walked back into the crowded streets, away from the silent building. Away from the monolith that had ruined countless lives.

In one night, its power had been turned to dust.