Not at All, Doll Face

Malachi stirred, opening his eyes blearily as he tried to make sense of his surroundings. A sharp pain rang through his head, making him slam his eyes back shut. He waited until the pain was tolerable before opening his eyes once again to analyze his surroundings.

The first thing he noticed was how dimly lit the room was. It was surprising given that in this city especially, you could never truly tell if it was night or day, given how bright the streets always were. The walls were dull, an institutional gray, and there were no signs of any personal belongings or decor. In fact, the only notable features in the room were the bars that crisscrossed the walls. Malachi sat up, feeling a pang of confusion and unease.

Where was he?

Malachi was still groggy and disoriented, groaning as he tried to lift his hands to his head. But as he did so, he realized something was off.

He had been tied down. His hands were bound behind his back with a thick, bulky chain, the end of the chain connecting to the concrete floors. Frustrated, he tried to move his arms further, but they wouldn't budge. Once he figured out that getting out of the chains would be impossible for the time being, he tried to see if he could stand. 

He succeeded, but he had to bend his knees a fair bit, making the action highly uncomfortable. With an annoyed huff, he flopped back onto the ground, sitting with his legs crossed.

Suddenly, the sound of a door opening from behind him echoed through the room. Malachi turned to face whoever it was, only to find Mono standing there.

"Y'know... we keep meeting in the strangest ways," Malachi stated with a small laugh, carefully sizing up the man. He wasn't scared per se, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to keep his guard up. "You find this funny?" Mono asked, keeping his expression impassive. "Oh, it's hilarious," Malachi replied, grinning wildly. "I mean, the fact that you think you can scare me is really quite funny, my dear."

"Wouldn't it be smart to avoid pissing off someone who can easily kill you?" Mono retorted sarcastically, taking a small pair of mayo scissors out of his belt. 

Malachi stared at the tools, his eyes narrowed as they landed on the bone saw. However, he played it off, deciding letting the man know he was on edge in any way would be too risky. 

"It would be. Too bad I'm not smart," he replied with a small shrug.

 With his hands bound behind him, he didn't have much room to move, but he could still feel the chains. Malachi traced his finger across the cold metal links of the chain, feeling the sharp edges of the rivets. The chain dug into his wrists, leaving red, raw skin in its wake. The cold, rough metal was painful against his skin but he ignored it. He reached the end of a chain link, and he paused. There was a faint line in the link, a weak spot. He ran his finger over it once more, feeling the rough edges.

A sharp slap across his face snapped Malachi out of his thoughts, his head whipping to the side as he reeled from the pain. "You listening to me?"

His mind was forced back to the reality of his current situation. Malachi stared up at Mono, his expression one of defiance. The pain from the slap still stung his face as he snarled, "Not at all, doll face."

A look of pure disgust crossed Mono's face as he grabbed Malachi's hair, yanking his head up just so he could slam it back down onto the cold, hard ground. 

As Mono leaned over, he grabbed a handful of Malachi's hair, lifting him up just enough so Malachi's eyes met his own. "I don't know who you are, and frankly, I don't care," Mono hissed, his voice low and threatening as he continued, "But if you keep talking like that, I'll slit your throat right here and now."

As Malachi stared back up at Mono, a smirk slowly spread across his face. While Mono's attention was on him, Malachi had managed to carefully pull apart a chain link, giving him a bit of extra room to move. 

"I'd like to see you try, love," he said, quickly getting to his feet and jumping back, managing to avoid tripping over the chains. He landed on the ground gracefully, standing a few feet away from Mono. He stared at him for a split second, trying to process what had happened. 

Hardly a second later, Mono dropped the scissors, quickly raising his arms. Large slits suddenly grew visible along the top of his forearms. A chunk of skin lifted, revealing the metal plates underneath. The panels on his forearms parted, sliding aside and resting on top of the faux layer of skin. 

Suddenly, Malachi found himself staring down the barrel of twin striker fire pistols that had out of the seemingly hollow mechanism in his arms.

The first shot was fired, and Malachi used the chains around his arms to block it. The bullet struck the metal with a loud clang. "Damn, your aim sucks," he said with a smirk, watching as the bullet ricocheted and hit the wall. 

Mono simply narrowed his eyes, firing two more shots, one aimed for his face, and the other aimed at his chest. With a small huff, Malachi dodged the bullet aimed at his face, letting the other one hit his chest. "You're no fun," he sighed, watching as a black substance poured from the wound. 

"I really didn't wanna hafta do this cause it feels super strange… but oh well," Malachi sighed, reaching into the wound and pulling out the bullet. "Can't leave that in there too long or it'll actually do some damage, y'know?"

Mono watched with a look of horror and shock on his face as Malachi discarded the bullet. "...the fuck?" He muttered under his breath. The weapon quickly fell back into the slit in his arm. 

"Oh? You're givin' up already? C'mon darling, I was just starting to have fun," Malachi chimed with a grin. Instead of replying, Mono sprinted at him, large sickles emerging from the slots in his arms. He slashed at Malachi with one of the blades, aiming to drag the sharp metal across his neck.

Malachi only narrowly evaded the strike, a few of his hairs being trimmed in the process. "Dammit, ya fucked up my hair!" He jokingly whined, a smirk on his face. "Don't you know how to take anything seriously?" Mono snarled as he swiped at him once more.

Mono's eyes narrowed, his weapon aimed true, but something didn't quite make sense. There was a flash of movement, the clang of iron, and before he could even react, Malachi stood unharmed before him. The chains were behind his back just a moment ago, yet they were now in Malachi's hands, the chains wrapped around Mono's blade. 

"Sorry hun, sarcasm is my first language," he shrugged before pulling the chains tight around the blades. They cut through the chain, but there was now a large crack running across the length of both weapons.

The two stood there in the shards of broken metal, staring each other down.

Suddenly, light filtered through the room, the door opening with a gentle click.

"Enough."