Chapter 6: A Massacre

"Looks like my luck has finally turned around!" Stennik rubbed his case of money greedily as he made his way away from the station. He wouldn't dare take the case down to the pit, he'd be robbed blind before he even exited the elevator.

Sten took it to the city bank, despite his status he had an account. In fact, everyone had an account connected to their ID, they didn't have a choice with who handles their money, but they also didn't have to pay a cent for this feature. The government graciously kept an eye on everyone's income and spending for free.

Convenience and the lack of any issues meant that no one had anything to complain about. Stennik sauntered into the bank like he owned the place and announced loudly at the desk that he'd like to make a deposit. The teller in front of him merely looked at him with undisguised annoyance and motioned to a group of machines in the far side of the wall.

"Automatic deposit machines are right over there, sir." Her enunciation on sir made aware that she did not want to deal with someone who looked and smelled like they hadn't showered in over a year. Little did she know Sten hadn't showered since he left the orphanage.

Despite the obvious hostility, Sten was on cloud nine, and nothing could bring him down. Ignoring the teller's annoyance he sauntered over to the deposit machines, scanned his ID and clicked the suitcase open. Wiping away the drool that started to form at his mouth he picked up the first stack and placed it in the counting machine and watched it blaze through the stack.

fifteen stacks later, the number on the machine read 50,000 credits, more than Sten had ever made. He would have been lucky to bring home enough for the cheapest food tubes each week, around 75 credits. With this new amount he had nothing to worry about for a long time.

After he deposited every last bill, he took the now empty suitcase and walked out. "Having money and not spending it would be a waste," he greedily thought as he began to go shopping.

A new set of clothes, a high end food-tube, and an expensive plate of actual food to go. He didn't want to just sit around other people eating, if he could walk around and eat he would make everyone jealous.

It didn't take Sten but 3 hours of shopping to blow through over 10,000 credits, and he wasn't finished there, he hadn't even spent any money on his normal expenses, but those couldn't be bought anywhere but the pit.

*****

At this point, Rain had been following the rat in human clothes called Stennik. The captain informed him that he would have a tail, but Rain was more interested in the information for himself rather than the peacekeepers. After watching him shop, and gorge himself however, his patience was running rather thin.

"How long is he going to flaunt and waste that money?" Rain was already getting to the point where he wanted to just get rid of Sten right then and there.

"I can't just waste the opportunity though, vermin always take food back to their nest, and unbeknownst to them, they also bring the exterminators." Rain glanced at one of the peacekeeper tails while thinking this, wondering if they actually only intended on following and reporting back.

Stennik was finally returning to the pit, and not far behind him the two tails lurked, the peacekeeper team and Rain. They followed the unaware Sten for quite a while, until he came upon a what seemed like a gathering in the pit.

Sten approached one of the men and crouched down, seemingly talking to the other man in a hushed voice. Rain wanted to listen, but even though he opted not to come in his peacekeeper uniform, the shanty disguise he had wouldn't hide his highly advanced body mods if people got too close.

From the neck down Rain's body seemed synthetic, as if only his head was natural. This wasn't completely true, as he had an advanced modification that covered him from neck to toe, and went several inches deep at the thickest. His hands and feet were completely bionic and most of his muscles had been replaced as well.

This would either scare the lights out of anyone who got close enough to notice it, or cause them to ravenously attack him to try to rip any part off. They were all high-end and worth a fortune each, but no one would be able to get close enough to claim that fortune.

Rain observed the obvious salesman scan Stens arm and then reach back and unlock a DNA lockbox. After glancing around for a moment, he handed Sten a large brown bag, and one small one. The smile on Sten's face couldn't be bigger.

After taking the bag and walking away, satisfied with his purchases, he immediately took a bottle out of the bigger bag, pulled the top off and began chugging it while walking. The smell of alcohol piercing the air, many people gave Sten envious looks, but no one bothered him, not here.

It didn't take him long to drain the bottle, and he took out the second and last one, crumpling up the bag and tossing it aside. Just as quick as the first, he uncorked and began to down it as well.

At this point, Sten was already stumbling and red in the face, but he continued to move on. The onlookers noticed he was out of alcohol, and didn't notice the small bag that Sten had already stashed in his jacket, so they quickly lost interest. Even the group of peacekeepers had found what they wanted and moved to return to their station on the first layer.

The only one that continued to follow was Rain, his interest waning, but still present. He stalked Sten for awhile longer, but it was obvious the man didn't have a set destination, and before long collapsed under a cropping. Sten fumbled around with the bag and nearly dropped it trying to retrieve it from his jacket, and proceeded to hug the small bag.

Sten reached into the bag and brought out a tube, not too dissimilar to a food-tube, and kissed it, then pressed it against his arm. Watching this Rain knew exactly what was happening and just watched for a few more minutes. Stennik was addicted to a brand of drugs that was rampant in the pit, one that gave them a sense of euphoria and accomplishment. Something that seemed to only be a problem in the pit, those living above had no idea what was happening merely one floor below them on the ground level.

Rain approached Stennik after he stopped moving and went limp.

"Should have guessed that you were one of the drug rats." Rain grabbed him by the hair and wrenched his head up to see his face.

"Yep, you used a full dose, from how milky your eyes are I bet you'll be out for the next few days." Rain threw his head down and it bounced off the hard ground, a trickle of blood pooling at the impact area.

Rain grinned at this and slammed his foot in the side of Sten's head, "I wonder if you'll feel this when you wake up! I bet that video of yours was a fever dream from all these drugs!"

Rain reared back for another kick when he heard a shout, something similar to a warcry a few alleys over.

"What's this? Some sort of brawl? Well as an upstanding officer of the Peacekeepers, I should do my job and break it up!" Rain stood up straight as he said this, placing his hat back on his head. He took one last look at Sten, wondering if he should finish the job but decided it wouldn't be any fun and turned to find the source of that shout.

Being a few alleys over didn't mean much, he was close by distance but the labyrinth that is the pit kept him from getting there immediately. He could hear them, but couldn't find the way to the source.

It didn't take long until he saw a man running away, bleeding from a cut on his head. Rain wasted no time rushing this man from the side, and had no problem gripping him by the throat and slamming him against the wall. The man opened his mouth to scream out in pain, but was unable to with the grip on his throat.

"Are you running from -- Stop struggling!" As rain tried to speak the man was squirming and freaking out, thinking that this man was one of the thugs he had ran from. This fear was replaced with a much deeper, and blood chilling fear as a Nano-blade appeared an inch away from his eye.

"If you keep it up, I. Will. Take. One." Rain stared the man in the eyes, and the man immediately calmed down and just gave a small nod.

"Good. Now, as I was asking, are you running from that sound of people fighting?"

Rain loosened his grip to allow the man to speak, leaving it just firm enough to continue holding the man up.

"Ye-Yeah? Why?"

"Tell me how to get there."

The man did not hesitate to give Rain directions, he had already pissed himself and didn't want to die here. After receiving the directions Rain only gave him a wicked smile and dropped him.

"Run along before my graciousness runs out."

At Rain's words, run the man did, and he did not look back once.

Rain turned and began walking down, following the directions, and it wasn't long before he spotted a couple more people fleeing. He no longer had any need for information, and took at his Nano-blade again. As he did several drops of water dripped from it's tip, and he lightly swung at the first that was about to run past him. The Nano-blade seemed to expand with water following the arc and sliced cleanly through the fleeing man's torso. He dropped dead immediately, creating a new pile of blood where he fell.

The others that were behind the fleeing leader froze at that. He had been cut down and killed in less than a second, without a chance to even realize he was about to die. They looked back at the warzone they had already fled from and decided they had a better chance to try to slip by the new threat.

It didn't take rain longer than a minute to make his way to the entrance of the disposal area, and in his wake not a single individual was able to make it past him. Blood and limbs littered his path, and as he was approaching the entrance, a scream of pain rang out from the area in front of him.

As if trying to win a contest, Rain approached the group that was trying to decide if they were going to turn and flee, right into the monster who had snuck up behind them. Rain raised his blade and brought it down, cleaving down the shoulder, all the way down his side and leg, causing an insane amount of pain, but not enough damage to kill them instantly.

The scream this illicit was enough to freeze blood, an obvious winner in their sick contest. A moment later his head was separated from his body, cutting the scream off abruptly.

All movement stopped, and the entire crowd turned to the latecomer. As if to invite their hatred Rain tipped his hat slightly just enough to show off an arrogant smile, and swung his blade again, ending another life.

Seeing the Nano-blade the would be invaders began running in all directions, some past Rain to be promptly cut down, and others in the other directions.

The man with the scissors hand let go of Spike's arm, at this point he had lost all interest in the dying man. A small fortune just delivered itself to him, and he was keen to take it.

Spike's remaining three friends took the opportunity to grab Spike's remaining arm and slip away. The thugs had lost interest in Spike in accordance to the man with the scissors's orders.

"I want that man's head at my feet!" He roared inciting the thugs to charge Rain.

Rain purposely began narrowly dodged all of their attacks, letting them cut his clothes to pieces to get them a sliver of hope. All to keep as many people as he could from running.

In less than 10 minutes, there was a bloodbath surrounding Rain, and the man with the scissors hand had lost his own head while vying for Rains.

Rain was trying to decide which group to chase after when he heard a loud siren. He couldn't help but let out a laugh at the luck.

"Guess I'll wait the rain out here." Rain planted himself right on the mountain of scrap.