Task:

"M-May I ask why we're out here sir?" It was a cold, wet day in the Briss Kingdom. The umbrella Anton held was barely keeping the rain off of him as he followed Captain Stelbourg down the streets. The captain had just come out of nowhere, asking for Anton to accompany him. Whatever it was, it had to have been serious. His face had been grim the whole time. "You'll see soon enough commander." Much to his surprise, Anton had just recently been promoted to the rank of commander, acting as Stelbourg's right hand, and the captain had been continuously using Anton's new title, as if to get him used to it.

The pair rounded a corner, to spy a group of marines and peace officers crowding around a building. At first, Anton assumed it had been some sort of break in, or other similar crime. As the pair approached, the officers took note and moved aside to let them pass. That was when Anton saw it. Nailed to the wall was the body of a man. Obviously dead, the man had been brutally mutilated, sliced open to reveal organs and everything.

Anton's hand immediately clasped over his mouth as he spun around and begun retching, thankfully having nothing in his stomach to vomit up. Stelbourg placed a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. "Hard to look at, isn't it? Unfortunately this isn't the first body to turn up. This is the seventh to appear this month." Anton's eyes widened in horror. Seven!? Seven people had suffered such horrid fates? "Wh-Why isn't anything being done about it?" Anton almost wailed. The captain's face was like it was made of stone. [color =blue]"Take a look at it again."[/color]

Anton hesitated before looking back at the mutilated mess. It was still every bit as horrifying to look at. But upon closer inspection, his eyes widened when he noticed it. The victim was dressed in a peace keeper's uniform. Stelbourg caught onto Anton's realization, patting him n the back. "We're taking over this investigation. More importantly, I'm putting you on this case Anton. Your mission is to find the, the fiend responsible for this and take them down."

Anton spun around fast. "M-M-Me!? B-But I don't even know where to begin!" Stelbourg nodded, "We have one potential lead. There have been rumors going around about a person called 'Bloody Mary' being behind this. You can start from there." "But..But!" Anton spluttered. Stelbourg placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Anton, I wouldn't ask this of you if I didn't think you can do it. I know you can do this. This madness must be stopped before anyone else dies, do you understand?"

Anton had nothing to counter that. The look in his captain's eyes was sincere. He couldn't let his superior down. With a defeated sigh. Anton's eyes fell to the floor. "I-I'll do everything I can sir." Stelbourg smiled, "That's good to hear. I know you can do this."

Deep down inside, Anton wasn't so sure. He was doing everything he could not to cry out in fear.

What was Anton to do? He was chasing down an urban myth, which was going around butchering people, and he had no idea where the heck he was to begin. All he knew was that the culprit was female (judging by the name) and even that was a stretch. For all he knew, this was a dead end, and all the while the body count would continue to pile up.

Still, he had to start somewhere, and the best place to start for information, if he wasn't wrong, was a tavern. After all, all sorts of information floated around in those places. Finding a particularly seedy one, he pushed his way inside, trying not to be intimidated by the dreary atmosphere and the other patrons sitting around the place. Keeping his cool, the marine approached the bar. The bartender, who had been polishing a glass, eyed the well dressed young man as he entered. "What can I do for you?" he asked as Anton sat down.

"Well," Anton spoke up, "I was wondering if you can give me some information on, erm," he brought his voice down to a low whisper as he leaned in, "Bloody Mary." The bartender rose an eye at his request. "Not really sure what I can tell you," he replied, "All I can really say is that she's the crazy bitch behind those murders. No real pattern or anything, apart from loving to slice them open and string them up."

Anton sighed. He already knew that. However, as he was about to turn and lave, the bartender gestured for him to come closer. "Though I have heard a little something. Might be related. Some people near the southern part of the island sometimes comment on hear screams or something at night. Not entirely certain, but it could be related." The southern side of the island. It wasn't much, but it was all Anton had going for him. "Thank you." he aid. Laying some beli on the bar and turning to leave.

As he did so, he didn't notice the strange man in the corner eying him, nor see him get up as he left.


The southern side. Anton quickly made his way down the street. He hoped that the rumors were true. The sooner he could find this Bloody Mary, the sooner he could put this nightmare behind him. Provided of course he was able to defeat her. After all. The woman had strung up a cop without any problem. Granted, a cop wasn't a marine commander, but still.

As he walked by an alleyway, suddenly multiple pairs of hands grabbed him, yanking him into the darkness. Anton tried to scream, but something immediately covered his mouth. A rag. Anton struggled wildly against his attackers, but suddenly his movements became sluggish, his body becoming heavy. It was then his cloudy mind realized the rag was chloroformed, quickly sapping his strength. Anton's eyes slowly rolled back into his head as he drifted out of consciousness, only vaguely aware that he was being dragged.

Anton let out a low groan as consciousness slowly returned to him. What had happened? He remembered being dragged into an alleyway, some rag before shoved in his face, and then everything went black. He tried to bring a hand to his forehead, but realized that he couldn't move it. Something was holding it in place. It was then that he realized all four of his limbs couldn't move. That realization snapped him back into reality, his eyes opening wide.

He appeared to be in some sort of room, dark, with a small table bearing numerous sharp instruments, and a rather dirty tub on one side. The walls were covered in pictures and diagrams of anatomy, organs, and other things Anton would rather not think about. He looked around wildly, seeing he was strapped to some sort of wooden cross, his shirt and coat removed. He struggled against the binds to no success. "Wh-What's going on!? Where am I?" Anton yelled out, his voice filled with panic.

"Why, you're in my little workshop of course." Anton looked towards the only door to the room, watching as four people entered. Three of them were large men, all wearing hospital gowns, their faces covered with bags. The last was a small woman, with messy hair and dressed almost like a nurse.

Spoiler:

Anton stared at the girl as she approached him. It only took a second before everything clicked into place. "A-Are you Bloody Mary?" The girl merely giggled. "Well, that's what they've been calling me, so I guess that's a yes." She extended her arms out wide, showing off the bleak room, "And welcome to my home." Anton struggled again against the binds. "Y-You're the one behind all the killings! Why? Why are you doing this?" Bloody Mary giggled as she walked over to the small table, picking up a scalpel. "Why?" she burst out into a twisted laugh, "Because I love it of course! The look on their faces when I slice them open, seeing their organs pulse and throb before finally dying, to see all that beautiful red blood!" Judging from her expression, she was enjoying the thought of that a little too much. She let out a delighted shudder. "Nothing compares to it!"

She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down as she walked over to the bound commander, scalpel in hand. She leaned in close, those insane eyes locked onto his own. "And you, well, I'm going to have so much fun with you. Cutting up a beautiful thing like you, slicing open that smooth skin," she shivered with anticipation, before bringing the scalpel to his chest, "I might just lose it before I barely start."

That was enough. Anton let out a cry as he began to struggle. The three men silently moved in, trying to hold the commander down. Bloody Mary giggled at her struggles before bringing the scalpel back up. He had to get out of here. He was not going to end up like all her victims! He let out a shriek before suddenly, his body changed, shifting from his human form into his hybrid form. His second set of arms shoved two of the men off of him, before his strengthened struggles managed to break the wooden cross he was attached to, freeing him. Bloody Mary backed up, her eyes widened in surprise. "A zoan!" she yelled out, her expression a mixture of shock and delight, "Hold him down boys! I need to get some special tools for this!" As she dashed from the room, the three men advanced on Anton. The marine lashed out with his legs, screaming like a banshee. It was odd. The men didn't even seem to try and dodge as the blows connected, sending them flying back against the walls.

As they slammed into the walls and slumped down unconscious, Anton noticed one of the bags slipping away, what he saw causing him to pause. He moved in close. The man was shaved bald, with numerous scars on his head. The man had been lobotomized! It didn't take him long to figure out that she must have done the same to the others. His teeth clenched as he balled his fists. How could she do something like this!? He turned and quickly headed for the door, hoping to catch up to Bloody Mary and put an end to this insanity.

Anton dashed down the hall, his mind focused on finding Bloody Mary. Normally, he would be running away from the crazy psychopaths, but he had a job to do, and that job was to stop her before she killed again.

As he ran into a room, there was a sharp pain in his leg, causing him to cry out and stumble, falling to the floor. Looking back, he saw a scalpel jammed into his leg, right between the joints of his exoskeleton. A twisted giggle caught his attention before something lept atop of him. Anton struggled as Bloody Mary tried to hold him down, her weight and his injured leg preventing him from getting back up. The twisted nurse let out an insane giggle, brandishing a knife in one hand, and a bonesaw in the other. Finally, she straddled his waist, her knees keeping his arms pinned down. "There we go," she said, her eyes wide with excitement, "Now I've got what I need to get through that pesky shell of yours." She leaned down, forcing an arm on his throat to pin his head back. "Now, let's see how different your insides look in that form."

As she slowly brought the bonesaw down to his abdomen, Anton noticed his sword propped up against the wall. If he could just get a hold of it. He painfully brought his legs up, and rubbed them together sharply, causing a sharp, painful sound. Bloody Mary shot back, groaning in pain as her hands shot to her ears. Taking advantage, , Anton sharply rolled his body to the side, throwing the surprised psychopath off of him. Anton quickly scrambled to his feet, pain shooting through his leg as he ran for the blade. Grabbing the sword, he spun around, just in time to stop Bloody Mary in her tracks. The woman backed up, Anton's blade pointed at her throat.

The lunatic looked into Anton's eyes, seeing a sharp glare being directed at her. While Anton was still afraid, he was more angry at the twisted woman, remembering the horrible things she had done, and was about to do to him. "This ends now, Bloody Mary," Anton hissed. With a twisted giggle, Bloody Mary lifted her hands into the air.

"You did good Anton, you really did," Captain Stelbourg smiled at the commander as they watched Bloody Mary being taken into custody. All the while, the demented woman was watching Anton, causing the commander to shudder. They hadn't found Anton's shirt and coat, so he had a blanket draped over his shoulders. "What about the men inside?" Anton spoke up. It wasn't really their fault, after what Bloody Mary had done to them. They really couldn't think for themselves. Stelbourg sighed. "They'll be taken into custody, and then into medical care. There's no undoing the damage she did to them, but at least we could make their lives a little bit more comfortable." Anton nodded. That was really all they could do for them.

"Hey! Stop! Men, grab her!" Both Anton and Stelbourg looked up at the shouts. Bloody Mary had managed to break free, grabbing the sword of one of them and charging headlong at Anton, her face split into a manic grin. Stelbourg reached for his sword. "Anton! Look out!" Anton reacted without thinking, grabbing his sword sitting against the wall and bringing it up.

There was an explosion of pain as Bloody Mary drove the sword straight into Anton's shoulder. Since he was back in his human form, he didn't have his exoskeleton to protect him. His eyes widened as he stared into the psychotic gaze of the woman in front of him, before both of them looked down. The woman had run right into Anton's sword, his blade embedded in her stomach. Blood had splattered onto Anton and was now dripping onto the ground below. Despite having a sword in her, despite all the pain she must be in, Bloody Mary only giggled. "So...beautiful..."

With a sigh, she slumped to the floor, the blade sliding out of her. The sword embedded in Anton's shoulder fell out, clattering to the ground. Anton stood there for a moment, completely shocked, his eyes wide at the body in front of him, the blood covering his body.

Then he screamed. He tried to move back as far as he could from the body, his hand gripping his injured shoulder. Everything seemed to hit him at once. While he had killed people before, he had never seen them bleed or die right in front of him. This, combined with the pair and what he had just been through, was all proving too much for him. Tears run down his face as he continued to scream. Some marines ran over to drag away the body, while a doctor ran over to lead Anton away. "Sir! We need to get that shoulder stitched up right away!" he said urgently as he led the traumatized commander away. Stelbourg was close behind him. He couldn't blame Anton for his outburst. Every man's first kill was a hard one, and this one, after all that had accompanied it, was especially harsh.

But, at least it was over. With that woman's death, the killing in the Briss Kingdom would stop.