Midline Shift 26 - The Death of Delta-Six

Story by Z-JAM-C on SoFurry

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#26 of Chronicles of FinalGamer 24 - Midline Shift

The brief saga of the serial killer comes to an end, at least for now in the eyes of Dahnus Drumarien. His most lethal encounter yet, even in all his twenty years of service to the Citadel, defies all reason to his experience. But a criminal is a criminal no matter what, and when one is as dangerous as this...

He will endeavour to take them down no matter what.

Mass Effect copyrighted to Bioware, FinalGamer to me


The next day, Dahnus and Davis were working furiously together in hunting down any and all potential leads on the current murder case. Already the news was starting to leak out about a deranged killer in the wards, but thankfully there had been no reports on it being possibly a C-Sec officer, and hopefully they would keep it that way. All they knew was that it was a human female with blonde hair, which frankly was not a good description to go with, but it was their best possible lead. Many calls came in of potential suspects all of whom were false. One or two were brought in but they were not Maria Sondheim. Davis would give them a brief interview to make them think they were under suspicion to keep appearances, then let the suspect leave with a heartfelt apology and a clear sign of conscience. If anything it made the police look much more intuitive than they actually were, which would help the public trust them maybe. The news were going crazy to try and think up names for the killer, not having anything good to lead on, not even a weapon. The turian officer kept his eyes and ears alert while on the beat moreso, investigating any and all disturbances or following up possible leads from his locals. Dreen the krogan butcher was unable to help, and whilst Nakamura and Park had finally made reconciliations between each other, they had seen neither hide nor hair of any such suspect as the one that Dahnus had been looking out for. Three days passed since Jarren's incident at school, which Dahnus had more concern for than anything else. His son was recovering well, his wounds not severe and nothing worse than a typical children's fight. But since that day he had become rather insular, hiding himself away in his bed and keeping to himself with his games. Normally he was more eager to come downstairs now and again to watch TV or so, but not this week. Each work shift that passed became more and more agonising for Drumarien. Until the day he got an email from Shara.

Did some searching around myself about Jarren incident. One of the kids was badly concussed, kinda woozy but not as bad as they thought, they want to take action against us but me and the teacher talked them out of it. The other kid's too scared and clammed up saying he was sorry about everything, said that Jarren did something to them but they can't remember what from the knockout. The little girl's mom tried to call me, said that the girl wanted to thank him, Jarren feels better about that so he's not as mopey as he was before. His best friend also called to make sure he was okay. Here's the big problem. There was no weapon used when Jarren fought those kids. No one ever remembers seeing him with one, not the girl or the kids or the teacher. I'm sorry, I know what you're thinking and I don't like it either. I don't wanna ask Jarren about it anymore, he's feeling guilty enough as it is and I don't want him thinking he's being punished for defending some girl. If something like this comes up again, fine, but please, let him be okay? See you at home dear~

That only made him even more worried, his hands starting to shake before propping them up into a fist before his face like he was about to pray. Instead he simply breathed into his clutched fingers and sighed heavily, elbows on his desk as he groaned weakly, his heart nursing a sense of fear that he had always managed to suppress, until now. Davis managed to break him from his thoughts, walking in with the usual update on the situation as well as their lunch break. "Hey Dahn." "Mmmh? Oh, hey Greg." "...you alright?" "Fine, what's for lunch?" "Usual dextro-bites, here...you been crying or something?" "No." He took his lunch from Davis a little too stiffly, making the human detective see that not all was well with his turian friend as he sat down opposite, enjoying his sandwich while asking: "How's Jarren?" "Better, his eye's gone down to its regular self and the incident got all cleared up." "No one gonna pursue any action?" "They tried but Shara talked them out of it...she can be very persuasive concerning lawful matters." "Heh, ironic." "Had to learn it somehow, might as well learn it from me." "The little guy back at school yet?" "He'll go back tomorrow, he still has his friends, one of them even called us to check up on him so he doesn't feel alone." "Awwww...heh, kids huh?" "The first three years are the worst, but once you get past that they love you forever if you do it right." "You're something special you know that? Kid like him needs a good strong dad, and mom too of course." "You think?" "Yeah, otherwise without 'em they just lose their way and become...u-uh...sorry." "It's fine." "I didn't mean, not-" "It's. Fine. Now what's been happening on our case?" "No more murders that we know of after Merhliss but either it's not reported or it won't be long 'til it happens again. We got cops stationed on every corner we can around the usual places, seems like this killer always stays in the one area." "Why's that?" "Dunno, never uses shuttlecars or fast transit, always on foot, which is a massive help in narrowing down the area to cover. Still a big area though, that fucker moves fast." "Right." Eating up their lunch, Dahnus continued to work on his reports with a monotonous mentality, trying to block everything out as words simply flowed past his vision, the monitor scrolling each new paragraph that he typed. It was a blessing to be able to lose one's self so easily in such repetitive form. Some people felt therapeutic when becoming trash collectors, others let their minds drift to ignore the pain of long walks covering miles. Dahnus felt blessed to have the same sort of ability to just simply run on automatic. Words he already knew for small cases and incidents, noted files and names whilst only ever looking up to remember numbers for suspects. The only thing that could break him out of this office trance was when it was time to head out on the beat, going back to his usual streets and checking the local fare. The people seemed much more nervous and secluded than usual, having heard the news of this fated serial killer that was now roaming the citadel. Humans suffered the worst, being judged with scrutiny by every other non-human around them. Mostly.

But then his chance finally came. As he walked down his usual street about half a mile from Dreen's butcher shop, Dahnus heard a local signal come over communications blaring in his ear at a safe volume. The voice was a young impressionable officer, panicked and harried after what clearly sounded like him starting to run. "This is officer Martin, code thirteen-four-seven, I'm pursuing suspect Delta-Six, repeat, pursuing suspect Delta-Six, any officers in the area please assist!" This was the signal he had been hoping for, as he called back immediately on the last-broadcasted signal. "This is officer Drumarien, code twelve-forty-seven I read you, what's your location?" "Suspect is in sector five-five-six, repeat, suspect is armed and dangerous with a bladed weapon and a heavy pistol-AGH!" A gunshot came shrieking over the comms as Dahnus made his way towards sector 5-5-6. It wasn't too far from his current location, perhaps not more than 10 minutes away as he went running full speed. People got out of his way easily enough since nobody dared interrupt an officer while running, halls and corners of stark steel blue being pounded under his feet. He slowed down as he made his way towards a large set of stairs leading up to an arching tunnel that took him over a traffic route, nearing the right sector as he called back on communications. "Martin, this is Drumarien, twelve-forty-seven, are you there?!" "Yeah, I'm fine sir! Bitch nearly shot my arm off, where are you?!" "Sector five-five-four I'm crossing traffic, what's your status?" "She ran off towards you, try and cut her off before she gets to the bridge, she'll have nowhere to run if you stop her there!" "On my way. Control, send a blockade up towards sector five-five-four at the tunnel bridge, suspect might be coming up this way!" Running fast up the stairway, he ducked between a small crowd of people passing through the archway and slid down on the handrail once he saw no one was coming up. Passing through streets alongside the main traffic space of the sector, the sound of gunshots and screaming people alerted him towards one area as Dahnus sped on downwards with one hand close to his gun. The crowd of frightened citizens, no more than 12 of them, came charging towards him like a wild stampede, with Dahnus now before them shouting: "CITADEL SECURITY, EVERYONE CLEAR THE WAY!" His voice of authority forced them apart, or at least tried to as the panicky mob moved to the sides of the street to let Dahnus pass through, quickly asking the people nearby: "What happened?!" "S-some woman went crazy!" squawked a salarian, "she went firing at an officer down the street that way!" "Which street?" "Next to um...th-the clothing store, Zara's, one-two-four!" "Thank you, everyone get out the area now but don't run over each other! Just keep it single file and cross the tunnel that way, there'll be a blockade set up so please cooperate with any C-Sec personnel if asked, now move!"

The group went off as calmly as they could despite clearly not being able to contain their own panic as a horde mentality overtook them, pushing and shoving nervously to get out of the area as Dahnus headed into the sector. People began to hide in stores left and right as he saw towards a main thoroughfare his target. Dodging between trees planted in thick marble flowerboxes with benches on either side, was a blonde human female holding a gun in one hand, and a large green duffle bag in the other. "STOP, POLICE!" The woman shrieked and saw the turian ahead of her, ducking out towards one alleyway nearby as Drumarien saw the other officer catch up. A young ginger-haired human with freckles no older than his mid-20s. "Where'd she go?!" "That way come on!" Both of the officers ran into the alleyway just in time to see the suspect flee round a corner, her shadow elongating like a demon across the well-lit wall as they tore off after her. People were panicking, the entire street suddenly stopping like a heart attack, frozen with fear and trying desperately to hide shivering from the ensuing chaos. Dahnus roared out: "IN THE NAME OF THE LAW I ORDER YOU TO STOP!" "GO AWAY!" screamed the woman. "I'M SORRY JUST, PLEASE STOP FOLLOWING ME! I DON'T WANT TO HURT YOU!" "LAY DOWN YOUR WEAPON NOW!" shouted Martin. "YOU'RE UNDER ARREST!" "STOP! FOLLOWING MEEEE!" Maria turned and fired at both in the hope of wounding them, the gunfire soon returned by both Dahnus and Martin once they got a clear shot without civilians. Both of them aimed straight for her legs, but she managed to evade the shots before turning round to deflect another few bullets with the duffle bag itself. The shots went inside but never went through, as something hard and metallic pinged from inside it, shielding her from the shots. The woman ran off ahead, seeing the chaotic lights of C-Sec from across the other side of the bridge beyond as she turned hard to the right. She turned a corner but not before firing off a few shots, trying to slow them down as she almost winged Martin in the shoulder, making him panic and stumble as Dahnus brought up his biotic shield. It wasn't necessary due to the suspect aiming wildly without trying to hit them, but she was clearly doing enough to try to dissuade them to stop running, with Martin getting back up as soon as Dahnus turned off his shield with a swing of both arms outwards. As the two cops turned the corner however, they suddenly lost track of their quarry. Five streets now laid open before them, none of which seemed to indicate where she had gone to. "Dammit!" said Martin. "We lost her!" "Not yet," said Dahnus, "we can do this, she saw the blockade so she couldn't have gone over the bridge, which way would she run?" "I-i dunno!" "You patrol this area?" "Y-yeah, officer Tom Martin, Enforcement." "Dahnus Drumarien. How long you been working with C-Sec?" "Three years...sir." "You must know this area well enough, which way would she go if she knew this place?" "W-well...those two streets are dead ends...so...must be one of those three." "Maybe we can call an officer nearby, see if they saw anything. What if-"

Suddenly there came a violent-sounding scream from the north, shattering the very streets as Martin panicked and pointed out towards the second street from their left. "UP THERE! That way's the Amber Parking Lot!" The first thing they saw was a blood-festooned guard's station, a small box for the security guard to stand watch in. It was now the sight of a torn duffle bag with the windows covered in red, viscously dripping as the guard laid slumped at the bottom, staring straight up at the cracked plexiglass cover with a gaping hole in his chest. Martin nearly hunched over in disgust but Dahnus held him up, saying: "Keep your head rookie, you're an officer." "S-sorry...hoh god in heaven." "Listen, I need you to do something for me." "What's that?" "...call for backup and stay here, I don't want this suspect getting out through here and if you see anyone wielding a large blade you shoot first." "Wh-what?!" "I'm relying on you to keep this area covered. Hopefully I can take her down inside but if you see her come running you do not hesitate. That clear?" "Y-yes sir." "Alright wish me luck." "Control this is Martin th-thirteen-four-seven, officer Drumarien just...hhhh...just...headed into the Amber Parking Lot, repeat, Amber Parking Lot sector five-five-s-seven. Suspect just ran in and killed the guard, repeat, f-fatal stabbing...h-hoh god...r-request...requesting backup in the area." The turian cop headed into the darkened lot, which raised up by three stories of vehicles giving him a lot of room to hide and wait, along with the killer herself. The blood trail was an easy clue that helped lead him towards the target, ducking between already-parked vehicles and shuttlecars while hoping none of the owners would return at this time. Between the solid faux-stone columns he could see a shadow rushing up towards the second floor by running up the ramp, with Dahnus hot on her heels as he fired a warning shot towards her leg. "STOP, C-SEC!" "GO AWAY!" She turned and fired wildly, not even trying to hit him as it pinged off a column before she went running harder. The turian caught up by using his biotics to aim right towards the ramp, generating a thick energy from around his body before hurtling forwards over the various parked cars, hitting onto the hard sloped floor whilst rolling to a stop as he fired up at Maria. "STOP, THERE'S NO NEED FOR THIS! YOU EITHER COME QUIETLY OR DIE HERE!" "I'M ALREADY DEAD NO MATTER WHAT, JUST PLEASE STOP FOLLOWING ME!" He hurried up towards her, finding the second floor more vacant than the first as an empty wide-open space that would soon become their battlefield. Columns laid in rows all towards the other end with only the odd lone vehicle or two to break their symmetry. The floor was more spacious than he expected, as he ducked behind a column the moment a gunshot could be heard as a small spark of fire lit up beside him. He tried to look out for Sondheim, keeping his back tight against the fake block structure while occasionally looking out.

A shadow came running from one column to the other, to which Dahnus immediately fired once he saw the weapon being dragged behind it. He tried to aim for the legs but there was no luck, for she ran too fast and haphazardly for him to get a clear beam on her body. She was running towards the third floor, the officer following after as he went dodging from cover to cover, keeping low in a holstered run to become more difficult to shoot at. Soon he had his chance to catch up, running between columns and spending not more than five seconds behind one. The third floor ramp was blocked off by a thick metal gate, preventing any access as Maria Sondheim just screamed in panic and frustration. Dahnus was soon standing behind her, seeing her fully for the first time. A bedraggled human female with straggly blonde hair, frayed with nerves and constant clawing that ruined her complexion. She no longer wore her police outfit but was now in a tight brown coat wrapped round her body, her eyes twitching and cracked with red from constant lack of sleep, or worse. But even Dahnus could see the fresh red spots from her recent killings, as well as from her weapon. The dreaded-looking large scissors that were the height of a child, thick with red blood smeared upon the tip, dripping profusely. "Maria Sondheim...come quietly. You have nowhere to run. I don't want anymore deaths to happen today, so please, drop your weapon." "I-I'm...please...h-help me." "Drop...your weapon." "I just, I couldn't-h-he, he made me...he made me inside my head, he was screaming at me, he mocked me, he knew my mom and the things she'd do to me if-" "Mrs. Sondheim, please, surrender your weapon or I will be forced to shoot." "I CAN'T DROP IT! HE WON'T LET ME DROP IT!" "Who?" "THE...THING INSIDE MY HEAD, IT WON'T STOP! IT KNOWS MY PAIN, HE WON'T TELL ME TO STOP, I NEVER WANTED THIS TO HAPPEN PLEASE YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE ME!" "...alright. Listen, we can get help, whoever's making you do all this we can find a way to stop him, and if the circumstances change then perhaps, we can exonerate you for at least some of these crimes-" "NO! HE WON'T LET ME, HE WON'T LET ME GO HE'LL NEVER LET ME GO!" "I'll make him let you go, whoever he is I'll make him!" "You can't, he...he's not real...he's not...he's inside me...inside this...THING! I've killed too many...I'm sorry...I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm SORRYYY!" She immediately broke into sobbing tears, struggling to not fall to her knees as she brandished her weapon in furious sorrow before eventually giving in. Dahnus started to realise that there was something else at work here. But he would never expect what would happen next. "I will do everything I can to help you...but you have to trust me. If you can't drop the weapon, I'm going to take the weapon from you. If you move then I will shoot. Do you trust me?"

Maria said nothing as he slowly approached, keeping his gun focused upon her head for the slightest movement. Once he was within two feet, he slowly reached out his hand towards the scissors' handle. He was almost able to touch the circular part before she screamed: "N-NO, DON'T TOUCH IT-AAAAAAAAAARRGH!" She fell back as Dahnus fired a warning shot near her leg, the woman screaming and writhing in unseen agony as she started to claw at her face, long fingernails shredding the pale skin off of her. "MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP, HELP ME! HELP MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" "STOP IT! STOP HARMING YOURSELF, CALM DOWN AND CONTROL YOURSELF!" "I CAN'T, I CAN'T HE'S IN MY HEAD, HE'S TWISTING MY EEEEEEEEYES!" "MARIA! MARIA STOP IT!" "I...am not...not Ma_ riA. " "What?" "_I..i'M s-soRrY...f-foRgiVe mE...foRgiVe... MEEEEEEEE! _" Maria charged at him with a stumbling run, wielding the scissors psychotically with a frightened look in her eyes. She readied herself to swing as Dahnus pulled the trigger. Twice the shots rang out, the empty space of the parking lot echoing the sound of death as Maria Sondheim fell back with a gurgled weep, scissors clasped tightly in her hand with two holes in her forehead. Her eyes began to glaze, a final gasp of desperation before death finally took her. But Drumarien made certain to keep his gun on her for a few minutes until he was certain she was dead, calling on his comm unit as he kept his eyes on her. "Control, this is twelve-forty-seven. Suspect is down, I repeat, Delta-Six is now dead." "_Control, please acknowledge.." "Shot her twice in the head, she came at me with her weapon. She really didn't want to do it but...something forced her." "Twelve-forty-seven please clarify, was she attacking at the time of death?" "Yes...but...something was making her attack...I think that we need to-wait-WHAT THE-" _ "HHRRRRAAAAAAAAAARRRGH!" _ Suddenly the woman lifted herself up and flew forwards with incredible strength, her legs bending against their will and snapping forwards to launch at Dahnus with her back trailing behind her, leaping like a twisted mantis. He dodged swiftly to the right and fired in the leg, but she did not scream as she turned towards him. Her eyes were now black as night, the tiniest pinprick of light fading out from the center of them as she wielded the scissors once more, her arms and legs bent in uncomfortable positions. "DROP YOUR WEAPON! I SAID DROP IT!" "Drumarien, respond!" "SUSPECT IS NOT DEAD, I REPEAT SUSPECT IS NOT-AAARGH!"

The suspect hung low as she dodged forwards, scratching across his face in a rising strike that threw him off before he turned and fired right for the face. Another bullet wound went straight into her head just above her right eye, but she simply staggered back slightly wounded. The turian knew that no one could survive that many shots in the head, as the body of Maria Sondheim began speaking in a twisted, broken voice. _ "Poor...wre-etched...moRtAL...agOniSeD...ovEr...mother's FATE." _ "What the hell are you?" said Dahnus harshly. _ "I....aM mO-o-O-orE tHaN yoU cAn POSSibly imaGINE...make me lay DH-down my so-cALLeD wEaPon...offisssssserrrr." _ "...you're not human. You're not anything." He clicked open his heat sink and popped a cartridge out, letting it clack onto the floor hotly with a fresh new round in his clip. "You're supposed to be dead, so whatever you are, you have no rights here. Not after what you've done." _ "And whu-ut...hhhhaVe I doNe, oFfiCeR?" _ "The murder of twenty-six people, and if what Maria said was true then torment and abuse of a fellow officer. I'll make you pay for what you did." _ "How...can I...toRmEnT...wHeN...tOrMeNt alReAdY eXiSts...inSiDe oF someONE?" _ "The same reason I shoot you in the face again but you still won't die. The wounds still remain no matter what happens to you." _ "...r-rrrr....r-r-r-rrr....rrrrrRRRRRAAAAAAAAAGH!" _ The creature flung itself towards Dahnus who immediately fired back, plugging five shots in the head and neck before dodging to one side. Blood never seemed to pour out of its fresh wounds, not even the ones that cut deep into the neck as Maria's body planted itself back against a column and swung its scissors out towards Dahnus. He backed off and fired again, but the scissors lashed out to strike at the bullets, inhumanly fast to the point of shattering the thin metal shards in mid-flight. Drumarien waited for the beast to attack again, or whatever he could call it as he kept his gun pointed straight towards the human head. Suddenly it charged, but it threw the scissors to one side and lunged with open arms to grab at the turian's waist, biting viciously into the armour to try and break through. Amazingly, despite cracking the human teeth into bloody white pustules, it managed to dent the armor with an absurd force, Dahnus nearly falling back as he slammed his knee up into Maria's chin and kicked her back. As he kicked her away however, the scissors suddenly came striking out of nowhere, hurling like a javelin as they impaled straight through his right leg, forcing him to buckle and cry out with agony. The thick metal blades had stabbed deep through the armour, deep enough to scrape the bone of his leg before pulling out with a will of their own, floating swiftly through the air by some unknown force with a trail of dark blue blood dripping from its tip. The shimmering violet aura was frightening, its circular parts of the handle resembling the eyes of demons. "AAARGH! ...biotics?! ...no...I'll show you biotics."

The turian tried to compensate his wounded leg by floating upwards with his own biotic strength, levitating with all the force in his body as a blue aura washed over him. His leg began dripping blood, a deep ocean blue trickling that almost blended with his armour as he waited for the next attack. The scissors went for him first, swinging hard as if controlled by an invisible hand before the turian dodged back while hovering. He fired with a clear shot at Maria, five shots once more into the head as the body brokenly hobbled around towards him, shrieking at his shots but not slowed down by them. Feeling himself now pincered by both a dead body and a levitating weapon, Dahnus tried to trick the scissors into striking out for him, floating himself towards Maria's body as she readily lunged at him once more. Her movements were more static, crippled and unnerving like strings trying to move an actual corpse like a marionette, cracking the limbs back and forth in its movements. The lack of agility helped make his next decision a lot easier as the far-more-mobile scissors suddenly plunged forwards towards him. He swiftly dodged out of the way as his biotic field turned off, landing on his left leg with the right dragging behind him just in time to see the scissors impale the body of Maria Sondheim. A shriek of agony came from the woman unnaturally, the scissors thrust entirely through as a horrid gaping wound was soon exposed both back and front, just like the other victims. But again there was no damage. Not even blood dripped out from the body. _ "CLeVeRr cReAtuRe...fOr a nOn-hUmAn yOu aRe a Ve-E-ERy SpEciAL...crEaTuRe." _ The scissors pulled out of Maria's chest before shimmering fast towards Dahnus, almost teleporting towards him with infernal swiftness before striking out at him. He managed to dodge left, using his biotics to pull his wounded body back and forth whilst trying to get a good shot, the struggle of having to focus both biotics and his mental state while aiming turning heavy. His eyes began to blur as his headache grew, the biotics taking its toll on his wounded body as he pushed through and fired at the scissors. Three shots pinged off of the living weapon, sending shivers throughout its form that made it shriek. Dahnus soon had an idea, now that he realised who was truly the heart of the problem as he waited for another chance. Half-floating and half-stumbling towards Maria's body, the turian tried to keep off his bad leg with biotic hops from underfoot, little boosts that made his head wince slightly. The human body attacked him once more as he came close, quickly ducking around to behind and back as the scissors came charging in, stabbing through the open wound once more. With the weapon now trapped briefly inside of the body, he made a desperate move to attack from the side with a biotic charge, aiming for the scissor handle at the front as his body glowed deepest blue. Roaring with fury, the turian hovered briefly in mid-air before a shimmering cobalt streaked across the parking lot floor, slamming violently into the scissors. The very force of a biotic charge was enough to cripple bones and shatter skulls through armour. Maria's body despite taking only half the damage, broke one of its legs in the force as she rolled hard across the floor.

The scissors however, went plunging through her with a vile shriek of his penetrable force, the biotic slam sending it hard across the tarmac to skid and clatter like a broken sword. A sound of demonic fury came from the weapon before it trembled with rage. _ "InSUFFERABLE FREAK! NoW yOu DIIIIE!" _ Dahnus waited for the next charge, but so focused he was on attacking the weapon that he briefly forgot about Maria. Her body crawled behind him with broken leg, scraping her nails upon the ground before latching onto Dahnus from behind. She bit into his neck, or at the very least tried to with her mouth bloodied and crippled, her cracked teeth splintering at the gums as she tried to restrain him. The turian struggled at first, shoving her back with arms pinned down against his body as he tried to bend down away from her, forcing her to overreach and loosen her grip. Even as a corpse she was surprisingly strong, as Dahnus threw out his arms and spun on his good foot before pistol-whipping her hard across the face. But in that same moment he overbalanced to his right, just before the scissors came plunging through his body. A gargled scream came from the police officer as he saw the tearing flesh rip through his armour, piercing out underneath his eyes. He wasn't even able to lean down to the floor now hanging from a hook, limply coughing from the feeling of his waist impaled on a thick steel blade. He could barely look down at himself, seeing that the scissors had not managed to pierce the very center, but instead had plunged through the left side of his waist, piercing through the kidney area as hot blue blood dripped sweetly down both blades. Dahnus couldn't even more, no matter how much he wanted to, staring up at the bruised bloated face of Maria Sondheim speaking that infernal voice. The scissors unsheathed themselves out of his body to let him fall hard onto the floor, before being kicked hard across the face and then into his new wound. His gun fell from his grip as it skidded across the floor as he was kicked hard once again, the foot of the human driving into his torn armoured wound. _ "UsELeSS...eVeN aCrOsS StArS tHe fLeSh iS WEAK!" _ "GUUUH! UGHK-KHUH!" _ "I hAvE LOST mY hOsT...I mUst fi-i-inD hhhhimmmm...yOu kNoW wHeRe hE iS." _ "I don't...know who you're talking about...even if I did...I'll...I'll tell you nothing, freak." The body of Sondheim grabbed at Dahnus' throat, tightly clasping its fingers round his neck hard enough to choke him before dragging him up towards a column and slamming his head against it. Blood streaked darkish-blue across the tarmac as he tried to hold his wound, feeling the cracked armour dig into it slightly from the impalement. _ "Iiiii...cAn MaKe yOu SUFFER fAr loNgEr tHaN yOuR bOdY ShAll LiVe...pErHapS I sHoULd SsssSEE yoUr HHHH-HeArT...I...hAvE oNLy eVeR sEeN...hUmAn oNeS..." _

The creature grabbed at Dahnus' chest and swiftly tore off the armour, despite the officer's protests as he tried to kick back. Punching and breathing harshly with blood dripping from his mouth, the turian struggled in trying to keep the killer's hands off him, only to find his right hand pinned suddenly against the column behind him, brutally cracking it viciously into the faux-mortar as he roared in agony. His shattered broken hand no longer resisted as he tried to turn, tossing back and forth against the killer's advances. As his body tried to move desperately, they would both hear a strange little sound tingling at the cusp of their hearing. The human suddenly stopped, hearing it with such startlement that its eyes even widened when full of darkness. _ "Wh-WHAT!? ...wHaT...WhAt iS thAt sOuNd?!" _ Dahnus remembered hearing that sound before, noticing it came from himself as he shook. The creature suddenly twitched with a weird look in its eyes, snarling as it looked everywhere around itself with shrieks of pain coming from its throat. _ "THAT S-SOUND! WHERE IS IT?! WHY IS IT HERE?!?!" _ As he watched the human struggle to find the source of the noise, he looked down at a glint of light nestled beneath his suit. A shining little bell, hanging from his neck by a pendant. His left hand slowly sneaked into his shirt and pulled the bell out, ringing it loud and clear to see the killer suddenly cry with agony. A most horrifying shriek that he wished he could forget A sound even reapers would know suffering from. _ "A-AAAAAAaAaAaAaAaAaAAAARRRRRGH! THAT THING! WHY DO YOU HAVE SUCH A THING IN THIS WORLD!?!" _ "Because...I like them. What's wrong...hhhh...you don't like the sound of bells ringing?" _ "YOU WORTHLESS VERMIN, YOU THINK YOU CAN STOP ME?! I WILL DESTROY YOU, I WILL END YOUR BLOODLINE AND YOUR EXISTENCE ITSELF!" _ "Hhhggk...try me."

He rang the bell harder, hearing the monster scream louder with anguish, shrieking to the very heavens of the galaxy as it clawed its own face. The flesh of Maria Sondheim soon came undone from her cheeks, torn to bloodied red underneath. Pain ran through the monster's eyes, the scissors themselves shivering in both fear and fury unimaginable. The human grabbed at the scissors before stumbling across the empty space, shrieking and shuddering as its body spasmed with dark trails behind it, leaping towards the outside of the parking lot. The creature did not even hesitate, its last savage shrieks echoing throughout the parking lot before it jumped off the edge and disappeared from his sight. Dahnus simply breathed hard struggling not to fall asleep, his body wanting to turn unconscious in a desperate attempt to avoid pain and suffering. But he gritted his teeth, his blood still pouring out as it leaked into a puddle beside his feet. He tried to not think on the fight that had just occurred as he reached for his comm unit slowly, breaths shaking with agony. "HHHHhhh...Control...twelve-forty-seven...officer down-GUH...repeat...officer down." "Control, confirm your position." "Sector...five-five-seven...Amber Parking Lot...second floor. Request immediate assistance, bad injuries...abdomen...possibly...guh-hhhk...bleeding out heavily." "Confirmed, sending over medical and backup to your position, any danger in the area?" "No...she's gone. Couldn't stop her...hhhkkk...lucky to be alive...stabbed pretty badly but not...fatally enough unless you get held up by a few hours." "Acknowledged, ETA in five minutes." "Alright...thanks." Dahnus turned off his comm unit and shuddered deeply, wincing everytime he drawed breath. His waist was still bleeding, as he tried to staunch the blood with some medi-gel on him that would keep him alive, covering the more superficial wounds to prevent further bleeding. He was left alone with his thoughts for the next five minutes in the darkness of the parking lot, trying to think back on why he managed to scare off his assailant. "H-hhhhhh...ughk...why did she run? ...dammit...freaked out when she heard that...bell..." He felt for his little bell that tingled sweetly around his neck. A smile soon came to his lips as he shuddered through the pain again, the feeling of the stabbing wound still throbbing as if the blade had never left. "Heh...dunno how it happened...but...guess love wins in the end after all..."