d one by one, thrown into the shredder at Abbas’ side. It had been quite some time since he’d done anything about the massive mess of documents and what not on his desk. Ever since Riley and Levi had moved in, the Immortal had never found the time to do such things, time itself becoming a rarer and rarer commodity.

As he released a drawn-out, exasperated sigh into the air, a familiar jingle rang outside his office. The noise spurred Abbas’ interest away from the papers and he glanced up, towards his door.

An unfamiliar voice called out from beyond the walls, “Mr. Abbas?” It said. The Immortal scooched himself out from behind his desk and moved for the door, pulling it open quickly to enter the main room of the dojo.

A young man, perhaps mid-twenties, stood in front of the two glass doors. He wasn’t anything much, a bit over average height, an equally average build, short and neatly cropped red hair with deep green eyes. He wore a handsome combination of clothes consisting of a freshly ironed dress shirt and blood-red tie, both underneath a formal black vest. A pair of gray slacks adorned his lower body, with black dress shoes on his feet.

He smiled at the sight of Abbas, rather business like, and the Immortal felt his eyes instinctively glancing over the man’s attire and form, trying to make out any signs of obvious aggression.

The younger of the two, seeing this, held up a hand, palm outward, towards Abbas, a sign of peace, “Please, I can assure you I’m not here to harm you in any way, shape or form. I’m with the RHG.” He explained

The last word took the uncertainty out of Abbas’ mind, and he nodded, “How can I help you?” He said, keeping a calm tone to his voice.

The representative smiled back, but without warmth and the same business like feeling to it. “I have a letter from an admirer of yours.” He said, taking a letter out from inside his vest.

Abbas raised a cautious eyebrow, “An admirer?” He asked, for once in his long life slightly taken aback.

The RHG employee nodded, this time without a smile as he shrugged indifferently, “You actually should’ve gotten it quite a few weeks ago, but due to a complication in the shipping department, we lost track of it for a small period of time. Though once we realized the error, we made sure to locate it and send it on its way.”

The Immortal strolled up to him and took the letter, his fingers running over the paper with just the slightest hint of intrigue.

Abbas once again nodded to the younger man, “Thank you.” He said, the gratefulness actually sincere.

The employee nodded back, then headed for the door, leaving without another word.

Abbas took the letter to his office, where he sat quietly and sliced open the top with his custom letter opener, that is, a crudely constructed knife. The paper cut easily, allowing the Immortal to lift the letter inside to be lifted free of its previous confines.

He read it over slowly, not wishing to miss a detail as he glazed over the words with an earnest interest.



“A God among Humans?” He said quietly, quickly running over that section again. He smacked himself in the forehead, the slightest of frustration showing on his face.

“How did I not notice someone taking pictures of me?!” He complained quietly, taking his hand away. The last bit had him intrigued though.

He glanced over it again, reading the portion out loud, “At any rate, you’ll be hearing from me soon. Keep an eye on the news!” He copied.

Abbas tossed the letter onto his desk and slumped back into his chair. He stayed like this for a minute, silent and thinking, when he sat up abruptly and rifled through the papers on his desk.

Finding a recent newspaper, the Immortal glanced through it until he found the article he was looking for.

Young Detective Helps Police.

Abbas raced through the reading, picking up bits of info that began forming a complicated puzzle in his mind.

“Pure, a sixteen year old detective?” He questioned no one in particular, the words hanging in the air like a cloud.

The Immortal flipped to another page of the newspaper, where a second article caught his eye, this time for darker reasons. He glanced it over with growing concern, the words only emphasizing his point.



A grimace made itself present on Abbas’ face as he smacked the newspaper back down onto his desk. The gesture caused a small gust and sent his letter off the desktop. He snatched it up out of the air, glancing at it once more.

He turned it over in his hands, coming upon a strange message on the back of the paper…



The Immortal’s brow creased and his frown deepened even further. Pondering his choices for a minute, Abbas stood from his seat and moved it out of the way, swinging the portrait behind his desk to the side, revealing the mechanism hidden behind it.

Within a minute of activating it, Abbas was hurling downward in the elevator, the letter still in his hand, along with the newspaper.

He entered the living space hastily, where Levi and Riley sat watching TV. Abbas picked up the remote and shut off their entertainment, instantaneously causing an uproar.

“What the heck man?!” Levi yelled, grabbing for the piece of equipment.

Riley stood from his seat, seeing the troubled look on Abbas’ face, and led the Immortal over to the set of three beds. He shot a look at the two things in the Immortal’s hands, then back to Abbas’ dark brown eyes.

“What is it?” He asked quickly, and Abbas held the letter in front of him, “Read through this, there’s more on the back too. I got some stuff in the paper you need to see too.”

The Dead Man Walking carefully pulled the letter free of Abbas’ grasp and read over it, his right eye blazing red as it scanned over the piece as well.

Finally, he gave it back and the Immortal handed him the newspaper to read, pointing out the two articles he’d seen before.

Riley sped through them, glancing up from time to time with obvious concern.

Levi was flipping through channels and, as Abbas watched, hit one of the many News networks.

He rushed past Riley and grabbed the Hunter by his shoulder, Levi looked up at him, and Abbas right back, “Keep it here. I need to see something.”

His accomplice nodded, then turned his attention back to the screen in front of him. Just as Abbas had thought, reports of brutal murders, matching the ones he’d seen in the paper, were being told.

Abbas, Levi and Riley, who was done reading, watched intently, but were abruptly interrupted as the channel’s signal was lost, and was met with nothing but static. The Immortal grabbed the remote, desperately trying to get it back, “What’d you do?” He asked, but Levi shrugged helplessly.

“Nothing! The channel’s having issues I guess!” He floundered, eyes wide.

Riley remained steely in his demeanor, standing tall over both of them. Suddenly, he raised his metal right arm, pointing a carbon finger back at the television. “Guys, look.” He said, simple and clear.

Abbas and Levi, who were both fumbling over the remote, glanced up to see the connection was coming back, but not a news broadcast, rather, a black screen and simple audio. The three of them listened, the words sending chills down all of their spines.



As soon as it was done, the screen returned to static, then to the original news broadcast. The trio remained silent.

Levi broke the quiet first, “Who are they talking about guys?” He said aloud, and Abbas shook his head.

“Me. They have to be talking about me. The letter, this girl, Pure, she said she wanted to become a detective after seeing me take down those crooks on the highway.”

Riley shook his head, “They may have been talking about you in the broadcast and the letter, but this Pure chick sounds like a good enough person, she wouldn’t go around brutally murdering people as a detective. I think her antithesis just revealed herself, Virtue. She was the one addressing you on the television just now.”

Abbas nodded, thinking it over, “The extra letter on the back, the other anonymous writer, I don’t what he wants, but it’s clear he’s got a bone to pick with these two girls.”

Levi waved at Riley to hand him the letter, and the Operative obliged, allowing Levi to read it over quickly. The Hunter set it on the couch when he was done.

“Well, you don’t want any trouble with this person right? Don’t associate with him then. Don’t write back.”

Riley shook his head at the thought, “He can’t, as best as I can tell, this man means to kill both girls, no matter innocent they may be, in cold blood if Abbas doesn’t reply.”

The Immortal, distracted, wasn’t listening, as he’d strolled away from the discussion and was grabbing a pen from one of the bedside tables. He came back over and picked up the letter, beginning to scribble his reply underneath the second message.

Riley grabbed his arm, temporarily stopping him, “Whoa Abbas, don’t just go diving into this headfirst, you don’t know if this guy is a friend or foe.”

Abbas ripped his limb away and continued to write, “If I don’t reply, two girls, innocent or not, might die. I shouldn’t risk that. You’re former CIA Riley, you would know better than me about dealing with threats.”

Riley shrugged the aggression off, backing away slowly, “Alright, alright. But still, consider all your options. You don’t know if this guy is actually able to do anything and he may just be pulling your leg for information. Think on it.”

Abbas shook his head, “Other men would walk away and do nothing. I won’t, Riley, I will not be a coward and possibly condemn these girls to death. Besides, if Virtue is the one murdering these criminals, she did say that herself and her followers would continue spreading my ways, and now even more murder cases are being reported. It can’t be a coincidence.” He explained.

Levi was nodding his head, and Riley was shaking his, “Fine, go ahead, maybe you can catch the writer while you’re at it.” He replied, defeat in his voice.
***
Twenty minutes later, under the setting sun’s light, Abbas made his way to the nearest RHG facility, intent to deliver his return letter.

As he walked, he looked over his letter, reading it once more before finally sealing it in the envelope.

[spoiler]
Dear Anonymous,

I don’t know who yo

Name:
Dante Rockwell

Abilities:
Cybernetic forearms / hands / fingers; augmented to release light and sound waves from the palm of the hand to disorient opponents, and to vibrate everywhere because he's into that shit.
Guns, knives, and money.
Half gay.

Weaknesses:
Does not have real arms or hands.
EMPs will fry his cybernetic arms and hands.
Half gay.

Personality:
He likes having sex a lot but has a nasty habit of the right thing instead, as this occasionally leads to more sex with more people, and sometimes even money. Go read his stories.

Appearance:
Contrary to popular belief, Dante Rockwell is actually quite attractive. Standing at 6'1", with pale white skin, a muscled physique from "jogging," and luscious light green eyes concealed by locks of medium-length black hair that flows over his face, ears, and has been cropping up on his chest lately, Dante is in fact the epitome of "tall, dark, and handsome -- but now in his thirties."

Story/Demo:
He fought a hamster once.