Chapter 6: The Toughest Part of This Job Is The Busywork
An old beaten RV drives through the near-empty streets of Rising Heights in the middle of the night. Inside the RV are monster killers Razor Smirnov, Tire Bosch, Dmitri Morozov, Katina Rotten, & Anastasia Petrova. Accompanying them is Colonel Frank Walker, who is watching as Tire drives down the road while Anastasia sits in the passenger seat.
"Care to explain why we're up in the middle of the night?" Razor groggily asks.
"We received a call regarding a monster attack at the Golden Wing Casino," Anastasia begins to explain, "The monster vanished while rampaging through, so we're heading in to figure things out. Lieutenant Manford has already begun a search for the monster so some of our work has been done for us. Of course, this mission will be different from our older ones since we have two new faces occupying us. The northern division's newly appointed Monster Killer Razor Smirnov and Colonel Frank Walker."
Razor turns to look at Frank Walker who proceeds to stand up and clear his throat.
"It's nice getting to see most of you again, as your newly appointed colonel I'll be just here to watch over all of you to make sure you're doing your jobs well. I expect things to be professional and to go smoothly," Frank Walker states as then looks at Razor before continuing, "Regardless of the fact of your sudden new inexperienced addition to the team."
Razor squeezes his arm as he takes the backhanded remark with a smile and passive-aggressively replies, "I'll do my best."
"And we know that," Anastasia affirms before adding, "Though before we get to the casino, you should converse with Katina. From what I heard both of your blasts are in the same category, so she may be of help."
As Anastasia says that, Katina makes her way over to Razor, sits down next to him, and says, "Sure, I'd love to help."
Katina turns her attention to Razor and begins to say, "So basically, all blasts fall under a total of six categories, but the one our's fall under is the shifter category."
Katina continues her explanation, "Basically, when we use our blast our bodies are changed in a certain way but only when we use our blast. For me, all my body parts turn into gelatin and I can bounce all over the place. For you, your body gets covered in some sort of sturdy metal with crystals attached."
"How do you, y'know, activate it?" Razor asks.
"Well for me, the way I shift into my blast state is by focusing on transforming," Katina says.
"And then?"
"And then I do."
"So I just gotta focus on using my powers and I'll just use them?" Razor clarifies.
"Exactly, you got it!" Katina says with a smile on her face.
Katina goes to give Razor a high five. Razor reciprocates, though right before their hands can reach, the RV comes to a sudden halt. The stop sends Katina's hand past Razor's hand and hits him in the face. Katina goes to apologize but Razor shrugs off the accident.
"We're here," Tire says as he puts the RV in park.
The group exits out of the RV and steps onto the sidewalk next to the Golden Wing Casino's entrance. The flashing lights and vibrant colors of the casino brighten up the otherwise dark street. Caution tape, several soldiers, and average citizens all clutter the street as the group tries to make their way to the front door.
Once there, they are greeted by the owner of the casino, Connor D. Dollar. The Casino's Owner is a man of luxury, his curly caramel brown hair has no strand out of place, his white skin is silky and smooth, his green eyes the same color as the money he adores, and a jawline almost as sharp as a knife. He's also wearing an all-white suit with a red rose sticking out of its breast pocket, white dress shoes as shiny as a light bulb, and a golden watch made of – you guessed it – gold.
This dashing young 24-year-old spots the group making his way over to him, and decides to meet halfway.
"Oh thank the stars above us that you showed up! I don't know what I'd do without you peasants," Connor D. Dollar sighs, "I'm the owner of this fine establishment, just in case that wasn't clear already to you lot."
Keeping a professional outlook, Anastasia takes out a notepad and pen before saying, "Nice to meet you, Mister Dollar, I'm Anastasia Petrova from the northern division. Do you mind answering a few questions for me?"
"Sure, sure, ask away."
"When did the monster arrive?"
"You see, it all started when I was nine years old," Connor begins, "I was going about my day as a young lad, just trying to make it by, when I had a dream. That dream was to pull myself up off my bootstraps and start my very own casino so I then began to…"
As Connor D Dollar continues to tell Anastasia his whole life story, Anastasia nods as she takes down notes on her notepad.
"Looks like Petrova's gonna be there for a while," Katina states.
Razor begins to walk towards the front door as he says, "Let's just go get the monster."
However before he could enter the casino, Frank Walker grabs him by the back of his shirt.
"Not so fast kid," Frank Walker says, "since you just started you wouldn't know this but in these types of situations where the monster is missing, you have to interview witnesses."
Razor looks at Frank Walker, "First off you're not that much older than me, and second shouldn't we worry about getting rid of that monster!"
"The more we know about the monster before we face it, the easier the job is," Frank Walker explains as he lets go of Razor.
"Fine," Razor sighs, "we'll do it your way."
The long and tedious interview process as each monster killer goes and interviews a different witness.
Razor is interviewing a middle-aged man by the name of Dwayne Twain who has facial hair, messy dark brown hair, brown eyes, and fair skin. He's wearing a white button-up shirt under a blue jacket and beige khakis. As Dwayne is answering Razor's questions, Razor slowly but surely realizes that the dude is completely drunk.
Dmitri is interviewing Bastard who's showing what happened by making giant bombastic hand gestures.
Tire is trying to focus as he's interviewing a 20-something by the name of Avdotya Smith who has long curly black hair, golden honey skin, amber eyes, long eyelashes, and purple lipstick. She's wearing a purple parka jacket over a red shirt with a spaghetti strap neckline that goes down to a few inches above her pierced belly button, a black skirt, fishnet leggings, and red high heels. The interview is surprisingly going by quickly and Avdotya is answering questions well.
Anastasia is still writing down notes from Connor D Dollar as he continues to go on about his life story, while Katina is interviewing a man named Alexander Black. Black is a tall lanky man with black hair, brown eyes, and white skin. He's wearing a blue long-sleeved shirt, black sweatpants, and off-brand white sneakers. As the interview goes on, the more zoned out he gets.
As the interviews continue, Frank Walker starts communicating with a man sitting on a bench who is reading a newspaper.
Razor continues to interview the drunken Dwayne Twain, but during the interview, Dwayne's drunken logic decides now is the best time to do a magic trick. He attempts to do one but fails, so the two stand there looking at each other awkwardly.
Dmitri continues his interview with Bastard, and Bastard is trying to demonstrate what the monster looked like by posing like it. All the while, Tire wraps up his interview with Avdotya but continues to talk anyway since everyone else isn't done.
Katina wraps up her interview with Alexander Black, not because she got her information, but because she gave up trying to get a straight answer from him.
"And that's how I started The Golden Wing Casino," Connor D Dollar says before adding completely mortified, "WHICH NOW HAS A GIANT HOLE IN THE FLOOR CAUSED BY SOME TREACHEROUS CREATURE AND NOW THERE AREN'T ANY PEASANTS WHO WANT TO ENTER!"
Anastasia closes her notebook and says, "Thank you for answering my questions. We'll take it from here."
"I sure hope so," Connor D Dollar states.
Anastasia nods as she walks away toward where the rest of the monster killers & Frank Walker are standing.
"So what did you guys gather?" Anastasia asks.
"Not much," Katina begins, "The guy I interviewed said the power went out during the monster attack, so he didn't get a good look at anything."
"The one I interviewed said that the monster kept making noises that sounded like trumpets. Kind of like an elephant but more….off," Razor answers.
"Yeah Avdotya said she managed to get a good look at the monster, she said it looked like a white elephant with gold spots all over it," Tire says.
"Bastard said that the monster went on a rampage all over the place," Dmitri says, "Most of the victims have minor injuries but one person in the alleyway behind the casino didn't quite make it."
"I see, as for what I learned… nothing that could really help us," Anastasia says.
"Say since this is your first job," Dmitri begins, "You get to name it."
"Name it?" Razor asks.
"Oh wait you don't know?" Katina questions before explaining, "Basically we have this thing where we name the monsters. Best part is that they have to include the name on actual reports of the incidents!"
"That's just something those two freaks do," Tire groans as he points to Katina & Dmitri.
"Well if I really need to name this monster," Razor begins to say, "What about Eleph-"
Razor stops talking as he looks over to the crowd.
"Elephy? That's kind of lame but if you want we'll roll with it," Dmitri states.
Ignoring what Dmitri just said, Razor approaches the crowd, more specifically the one individual he overheard.
Once he gets there, Razor asks, "Hey can you say what you just said again?"
"Oh uh, I just said that I hope you guys find the monster soon," Avdotya says, "The poor kid that was taken by it must be scared to death."
After hearing those words, Razor's eyes go wide as he recalls his youth. Seeing that monster loom over him, the blood of another dripping off of its cold black claws, that feeling of complete and utter helplessness.
It all floods back to Razor as in a fit of rage he storms into the casino, the rest of the monster killers & Frank Walker trying to catch up with him.
He runs through the casino, passing by all of the slot machines, poker tables, and other equipment till he stops at the center of the room where a giant hole is in the floor. The hole leads to the sewers down below the city. Some slot machines have fallen down the hole. Katina, Dmitri, Anastasia, Tire, & Frank Walker reach Razor.
"Why the hell did you run off?!" Frank Walker shouts.
Razor turns around and yells back, "You didn't hear her? That monster is holding a kid hostage! While we were doing these stupid interviews, there's been a kid stuck with that thing and we don't even know if they're still alive! If they are then I can guarantee you that they've been praying to be saved!"
Frank Walker looks shocked at what Razor said as the new monster killer jumps down the hole and lands in the sewers below.
"I'm gonna go find this monster and actually do my job," Razor remarks, "If that upsets you Colonel then maybe you should find yourself a new job."
Razor begins to walk down the sewer however before he can get far he hears someone else land in the sewers. He turns around and to his shock, Frank Walker is there.
"While I appreciate your determination kid, you're going the wrong way," Frank Walker says before he points behind him where there are several wet footprints from the monster.
After being taken aback for a bit, Razor smirks and says, "Alright Colonel, lead the way!"
See You Next Chapter!~