3 Frozen Time

There she was, a glistening moon in the time of day. Her usual attire was composed of casual clothing with a pair of worn-out sneakers, all out-shinned by her trademark lab-coat and her glasses with round lenses and red frames, matching with the scientist look. Her eyes were endless brownish voids that swallowed all of the information perceived by them, leaving no detail to waste. Nevertheless there was something wrong. Something had changed. Her long silky hair was reduced to a shallow of its former self. It seemed impossible, she was quite fond of it, always with a million steps to ensure that it would keep growing and growing, with no thought towards its future. What had made her do such a heinous act?

Stray wanted to say something anything but his mouth couldn't produce any type of noise, not even scream. His head a whirlpool of thoughts, tirelessly clashing for supremacy, none to ultimately leave their home.

They were stuck forever in that moment, shocked eyes jammed on one another's. The cesspool that was her eyes didn't seem able to perform to the best of their abilities, trembling from the various emotions from their first encounter in years. Every possible action that could sever the chains that kept them in their place weren't even considered. They couldn't even breath properly. Emotions running wild and still, the silence that took them hostage imprisoned them in their hearts. With no chance to escape, their souls were about to give out, screaming in terror, from the pain of their memories together and the error of their misdeeds upon themselves and the others caught in the mix.

A hand reached out from Luna's back, landing on her right shoulder, waking the lady in distress from the living nightmare that has been chasing her for so long. Her guilt and regret.

- Honey, what are you doing over here, your presentation is about to start, you gotta get ready.

The person that could truly make a difference in that conflict of emotions had arrived, the man that was lucky enough to call Luna his girlfriend, Micael.

With his blond hair neatly combed to perfection, he had on a more professional attire, suited for the occasion. Nevertheless, the lab-coat was still one of the most important items for a scientist to wear so he never aloud himself to leave home without it. An accident that took place in the laboratory of their investigation mangled his hands almost completely, scared for life since then. He was way shorter than her but still he could reach the moon with his deformed fingers, an accident that took place in the laboratory of their investigation. That's when Stray saw it, something gold wrapped around Micael's ring finger. The one item that sealed his soul inside and dared him to take heed. Forcing his body to move with no care to its surroundings, his sight locked in the only exit available, he crashed into her sending her butt first onto the dusty floor, trying his best to conceal his hatred from her, erasing all his presence from the room in less than a second.

Luna's mind came to a halt after bumping into the empty man, trying to figure out what in the world happened after taking a step through the auditorium's door. She only saw a pair of sunglasses but she could feel them, looking at her, two stunned eyes of a vengeful being, seeing its prey for the first time in a millenia. The truth is she wanted him to attack her. All that she did she did it out of her selfish desires. Loving wasn't a crime but to betray another was in the eyes of Stray and she knew it. She knew that despite having no connection to him at the present she had to be punished or else her guilt wouldn't let her sleep at night or kiss the man that she loved. Still, her wish of atonement didn't come that day, and it might never come for she knew that even though she hurt him, Stray would never lay a finger on her.

- What the hell just happened, who was that guy? - Micael asked Luna, shocked by the incident.

- He's no one, I have never seen him before.

Micael knew that her answer wasn't true at all but he disregarded it. Maybe she just wanted to deal with the presentation or just didn't want to worry him. Nevertheless, he picked her up by the hand and both went on to the lecture. He knew though that he had to address that issue later, when things calmed down.

******

After running for minutes Stray ended up in a coffee shop that held a special meaning in his heart. He didn't want to go there to jog his memories even further but his body was the one in charge and it wanted to go somewhere safe from more harm.

Still enraged, he closed his eyes and tried to think of his Boss' words but memories alone couldn't help him now, his mind was to keen on causing mayhem. Knowing that he took his phone from his coat's pocket and dialed Boss' phone number and pushed the call button. It rang for a couple of seconds but time was moving even slower for him due to the adrenaline rush he had undertaken.

"C'mon, c'mon."- he said multiple times in his mind, whilst trying to breath and compose himself.

- Hello? - someone had finally answered but it wasn't Boss' voice, it was Tech's.

- Tech, where is the Boss? - Stray said while gasping for air.

- He went to the convenience store to pick up some manga and somethings for the house.

- Hmm, I knew he wasn't going to pick up the call.

Boss has a very unsettling habit to never have his phone on his person, especially when they needed him the most.

- Just tell him I need to talk to him.

- I will write it on a memo.

Tech immediately took a notepad of his desk, wrote what he needed to say and shoved it in a pile of previous requests that he didn't give.

- Sure you will. - Stray knew that he would just forget it. - Are the others still working?

- Sone and Silva are coming home from their jobs but Kitty is still caught in his. His kill order is a very evasive one.

- Either that or he is just wasting time trying to pick up boys again.

- That is a possibility, yes.

- I think I'm gonna rest until nightfall, I'm kinda not in the mood for detective work.

- I will check for more info on private cameras such as phones or laptops to keep you posted.

- Isn't that a bit of a lack of privacy? I can just ask around…

- I'm a hacker, that's what we do. When it comes to the mission I use everything at my disposal.- Tech sounded a bit overjoyed after his last statement. - Even yours…

- You don't mean… you haven't… - Stray knew what that meant.

- Don't worry, I didn't see anything, step-bro…

Stray's face turned red from embarrassment.

- That was just research on a contract, nothing else. - he spouted, effortlessly trying to hide his addiction.

- Research on what, the line between right and incest?

- When I get home I'm going to forge a sword with your parts, you sadistic robot.

- Oh, guess that I have to tell our friends about your "research".

- You wouldn't…

- No, I wouldn't, don't worry…

Stray felt relieved. If they all knew Boss and Silva would probably pick on him, Kitty would probably stop tormenting him, which would be a bonus and Sone… He didn't want to imagine the hell that he would be in if that monster knew.

- Why would I tell them what they already know. - Tech said, laughing maniacally.

- Why you!!!!

Tech hung up after savoring his sadistic pleasures to the fullest.

- That maniacal machine… Oh no, Sone… - he remembered the worst - I think I'm never going home again.

******

Night had set on Covilhã and Luna and Michael were heading home after a successful day of proposal from numerous corporations.

The thick fog and the lack of street lights made it difficult to traverse in the outskirts but that night was even worse than usual. Even the natural lighting of the stars and the moon couldn't reveal any obstacles in their way.

Their house was a couple of miles away from town, so they had to stick to a path through the abandoned warehouses, decadent buildings with their roofs full of holes and the usual countryside critter, such as rats or strays.

Luna couldn't stop thinking about Stray. She didn't love him anymore so, why was he still stuck in her mind? Her mixed feelings were so frustrating. Her eyes wouldn't leave the floor and her walk became sluggish.

- Is something wrong? - Micael asked, although he could determine that she was still thinking about that incident in the auditorium.

- No, I'm just really tired.

- Why do you always do this? There is obviously something wrong but you never tell me anything. I am your fiancé, you should tell me everything.

- I said there is nothing wrong.

- Having a lover's quarrel, hun?!

Luna heard a familiar voice but she couldn't trace it's whereabouts.

- Who's there?! - Micael asked.

- No need to know who I am, just let me take the girl and I'll let you be!

- I'm calling the police! - Micael shouted in a threatening way.

A thick arm came flying from the fog behind him, hitting his right side, breaking his arm and several ribs.

- Micael! - Luna screamed, running towards him.

She crouched after reaching him, holding him in her arms. Whilst trying to check if he was still breathing, she remembered that he had been attacked by an unknown assailant.

That very moment she was kicked in the face, the impact projecting her to the wall of one of the warehouses. Her left side cheek was swollen from the hit, hiding her left eye underneath the bruise. Her right eye could see something but her vision was too blurry, making it difficult to perceive almost anything. Suddenly, a very tall figure with enormous muscular arms and torso but tiny, shriveled legs appeared in front of her, which in turn made it easier to see that he had a mask covering his face. It was round, most of it white and six red stripes, three of them on each cheek. His head had two horns pointing upwards. Something that appeared to be grass was scattered at the edges of the mask, almost making a resemblance to a typical traditional tiki mask.

- I'm sorry for doing this but I was left with no choice. You refused to work with the Doc and now he wants you a little, imperfect.

As he said that he was aiming his fist at her stomach, trying to break her even more.

- Oh, what do we have here? A bull with tiny little legs. I could assume that that's not the only part of your body that's tiny. - said a soothing voice before he could deliver the punch.

Moving her eye a bit to the left she saw yet another masked figure standing a few meters away from her attacker. He had a japanese oni dark blue mask with it's common cultural traits, except for one, the white waxing crescent moon sidetracking its left side, almost like a scar. He's whole outfit was composed of black clothes with a couple of white stripes on the side, ending with expensive white sneakers. All you could tell from the person behind all of those clothes were his heavy blue eyes. He had his hands tucked inside his jacket's pockets, with a carefree posture as if this type of situation was nothing but a daily occurrence.

- Who the hell are you?! - demanded the tiki masked man.

- Sorry, I don't speak cow, but if you understand dog here's what I have to say. Touch her again and I'll make a burger out of you.