Chapter 193: Weird Drugs

Cracking his neck, Adryan sighed in relief and looked down at the street below him.

The crimson curtain of the moon lighted his silhouette and darkened the inside of his hood. If the people he was harassing looked at him now they would think he was a Reaper coming to harvest their souls.

"Looks like your plan worked" Flora commented looking at the stage.

Adryan smiled sharply under his mask and whispered confidently while disappearing into the shadows.

"It's all in the details Honey~"

During the past few days, Adryan made 'mistakes' to be discovered by his 'fans'.

Making a lot of noise when moving, leaving fake clues, or being seen directly by random people.

He had visited every gang territory-slave traders or not- to not only make them nervous and thus, more easily to commit errors but to also divert the attention from the churches.

He discovered the presence of the Churches when he was doing his daily routine.

The daily routine consisted of using his Soldier Bird and Eagle Vision to investigate gang territories to plan his next attack...

Completely normal stuff!

Leaving his nothing strange and nothing psychotic activity aside... It was normal for him to discover the games of the Churches.

An abnormal number of Beyonders with the same aura on one side, another large group on another side, and a smaller one on the other side. It didn't take a genius to figure out that it was the Nighthawks, Punishers, and The Machinery Hivemind.

Even a curly-haired baboon would figure it out given enough time.

'Sorry girls but I'm not giving autographs any time soon~' Adryan thought mischievously as he stepped out of the shadows into a dark alley.

It seems that the churches are gradually increasing the resources invested in catching him but they were obviously failing.

'As long as they don't involve the Red Gloves or stronger teams I can maneuver around these fangirls...'

Adryan has the suspicion and theory that the only reason why the Red Gloves or Elite Teams of the churches have not been called was that what he was doing was still within the limits that they could bear.

'I can even say that I'm cleaning up the shit they don't want to touch. As long as I keep my hands in my shit and don't try to spread it I'll be fine.' Adryan joked as he walked in complete silence towards two gangsters who were unaware of his presence. Nor like they could even notice him.

With silent and quick steps Adryan was already behind both men and grabbed them by the neck and with an effortless twist of his wrist...

Crack! Crack!

The gangsters didn't even know what happened. In a second their necks were broken and their bodies in the depths of the alley one on top of the other.

Standing in front of the bodies, Adryan tossed up and down a small cloth bag one of the men had.

Stopping playing with the bag. Adryan pulled the drawstring of the bag and opening it, he looked inside it.

A deep pastel pink powder stared back at him...

Frowning, Adryan clicked his tongue.

'More of this shit...'

Closing the bag and putting it aside, Adryan crouched in front of the bodies, and pulling the collar of one's shirt, he sat him up.

Grasping the head of the body he raised it and again frowned.

The body's eyelids were a deep dark blue, with black veins running all over it in a patron similar to the roots of a plant.

Without feeling disgust or revulsion, Adryan, with one hand supporting his head and the other parting his eyelids, gazed into the corpse's eye.

The sclera that should have been white was a deep blue with the same black veins running through it, in the same root like a patron. The pupil was so dilated that it completely covered the iris.

Adryan checked the other body and it was the same situation. Dark blue eyelids and blue sclera with black veins.

Both men had pleased smiles that combined with their broken necks made them look gloomy and bizarre.

Looking at the men's crotches, thanks to his Night Vision, Adryan could clearly see a large stain on both of their pants.

It wasn't necessary to use his sensitive nose to know it was semen...

Rising from his position, Adryan's hands were covered in a fiery but controlled orange flame, the fire dancing at the redhead's will.

This illuminated the bottom of the alley for a few seconds but with a wave of hands, the fire disappeared and the alley returned to its darkness.

Putting his now clean hands into one of the many pockets of his jacket and pulling out two white cards, he dropped them onto the bodies.

Turning, Adryan took three steps and disappeared into the shadows.

Reappearing on the roof, Adryan sighed and took out the bag he grabbed earlier.

Looking at this bag for about 10 seconds, Adryan calmly said to the air.

"Flora, this is the thirteenth we found right?"

"Mhm." The woman responded curiously as she looked at the bag.

While doing his distraction work, Adryan found this same pink powder being consumed by some homeless people.

Investigating a little more, the redhead discovered that this pink powder was being sold throughout much of the East Borough as a new special drug.

Most of the effects were completely random but the only one that remained the same in every bag was that the user would feel enormous pleasure. Whether psychological or physical, the pleasure was enormous.

The dangerous knowledge that Adryan had that would cause anyone other than himself to die a horrible death from corruption only yielded one result...

'This stinks of Rose School everywhere. After all, unrestrained pleasure is their motto... I have to be careful.'

All kinds of drugs appeared here every day and this would not be enough to get their attention. The Churches would keep an eye on it but would not give it much importance. Not until something serious happened.

'This drug has been on the market for at least 7 days. The negative effects are how extremely addictive it is and how people become like zombies, walking aimlessly until they get more...'

This drug could skyrocket crime in the East Borough if left unchecked.

Sighing, Adryan tossed the bag aside, and before it could hit the ground a fireball struck it, destroying it.

Adryan was no longer on the roof when that happened.

'Well, I'm here for something, right? Who better to call the attention of the Churches than James Holmes?'

Grinning under his mask, Adryan stepped out of the shadows in front of a building.

This was the new secret base of Red Skeleton, one of the drug traffickers.

"Having sold that drug that means you have a lot of money right? I must thank you for that." Adryan grinned sharply.

Taking another step, he disappeared into the shadows.

...

In another place.

Cough! Cough! Cough!

Walking through the dark streets of Wolf Troath, only with the crimson moon as a companion. Tom stopped and staggered as he coughed.

"...It's back..." Tom gasped as he dropped to one knee. A line of blood fell from his lips.

The symptoms had reappeared a few days after he returned to work but he had ignored it because he thought he had not yet fully recovered and it would disappear with time but after a week the disease returned.

Taking several deep breaths, Tom managed to stand up but his legs were shaking so using the walls of the buildings, he continued on his way home.

"This is nothing..." Tom murmured weakly.

"...Jerry got the medicine that cured me... I can recover again... I just have... I just have..."

Plap!

Falling to the ground, Tom gasped. He could feel his chest sinking in and it was getting harder and harder to breathe.

Raising his eyes from his position on the ground, even though his vision was blurry. He could see his home.

The old residential building stared back at him. Tom made an enormous effort and focused his attention on the room he shared with his daughter on the third floor.

He could see a small light through the window and couldn't help but chuckled weakly.

"Little Mouse...I told you to not wait for me...Daddy will be there in a moment...I just have...I just have to take...a little nap..." Lowering his head, Tom slowly began to close his eyes.

Tap* Tap* Tap*

Opening his eyes, Tom saw how a man was approaching him.

Raising his hand, he pleaded weakly.

"Help..."

He knew he would be ignored as it was normal in East Borough but he couldn't help but ask for help.

But to his surprise, the man approached him and took his arm, and helped him up.

The man put Tom's arm around his shoulder.

"Thank you..." Tom said gratefully to the man.

Now that he had the kind man's face so close he could see it better.

It was a simple face, black hair, and eyes of the same color. With an equally simple nose.

"Please help me, kind sir... My house is in front... Just bring me closer to the stairs..." he said weakly as he raised his hand with great effort and pointed at the residential building.

The kind man ignored him, just looked ahead, and started walking towards a nearby alley, dragging a confused and weak Tom with him.

"Sir... My home... is on the other side..." Tom protested but since he was so weak he couldn't do anything, his voice equal to a whisper.

The man ignored him and began to enter the alley.

Tom turned his head and looked at the window where his daughter was, he extended his hand towards it in a futile attempt to touch his daughter's hair one last time but he was dragged into the dark and cold alley.

...

Walking to the window and looking out at the streets with worried eyes, Jerry frowned and hugged a piece of newspaper close to her chest.

"Where are you Daddy..." she asked as she looked at the streets in search of her father not knowing that he would never return.

...

"Please..." Muttering even more weakly, Tom looked at the figure standing in front of him. He was on the ground, his back against the wall of the alley.

The moment they entered the alley the man had easily thrown him deeper with just a move of his arm. It was like he didn't weigh anything to him.

"I have money... Today they paid me... Here." Putting a hand in his pocket, the father shakily pulled out a few 5-soli bills.

The man simply looked at him with cold, cruel eyes.

Tom held up the wad of bills even higher.

"Please..." He begged with tears in his eyes.

Before he could plead further, he watched as the man pointed his open left hand at him.

The hand had a gray glove.

Tom's teary eyes stared in confusion at this action which quickly turned to terror and shock as he watched as a mouth appeared on the man's glove and rows of sharp teeth smiled at him...

In that dark alley, just in front of the department, he shared with his daughter. Tom Catnuss died and Creeping Hunger satiated its hunger for the day...