Death Supreme teleported into his office. Straightening his tie before he bent over, jaws opening unnaturally wide as an awful retch rose from his throat and 221's bulking form spilled in a sticky saliva soaked mess on the floor.
Coughing and spluttering on all fours, 221 gasped as he staggered to his feet, disoriented. "You killed him." he gasped, a fist reeling back to hit the Supreme who dodged it easily as 221 overbalanced and stumbled, he laughed.
"You should have done as you were told." The Death Supreme sneered as he raised his hand and snapped, a pillar rose behind 221, long tendrils whipping out with wicked speed and pinning him to it. "You have interfered enough in my affairs. I'll make sure you never do again."
221 glared at him, wincing as the tentacles tightened. "I knew you were an anima addict," he accused.
"Oh, please. Give me a little more credit than that. I am not like those crazed wraiths, they are just a means to an end. I'm just doing what is necessary to keep this system from overloading. I need the wraiths to control the flow and cull the unworthy to ease the load on the system. You have seen what the human realm has become. So many sullied billions. It is time we set things in balance."
"That is not for you to decide." 221 growled.
"On the contrary, I believe because of a lack of action from those above, I need to take action myself in whatever way I can. No one cares about the elderly and infirm, I just pointed the hungry in the right direction."
"None of the last week of souls were elderly and infirm, you are insane."
The Death Supreme shrugged, "maybe. I doubt our sweet 404 will last too long against that wraith once her human vessel wakes up, however. It's just a matter of time. I just need to let this problem sort itself out. The wraith gets what it hungers for and I rid myself of an irritatingly smug employee."
"I'm sorry. But I can't let you do that."
The Supreme turned to face him once more, "And how exactly do you plan to stop me? The way I see it. You are now a liability. I think it's time the voiders take care of you and get rid of this problem all together."
He snapped his fingers again and two men entered the room from a side door, dressed in black, their faces hidden beneath runed white hoods. Voiders.
"Get rid of him." Death Supreme commanded and they stepped forward, the restraints crumbling away as the two men stood on either side of 221 and took hold of him.
"Like hell." he growled, drawing back his head and slamming into one of the nearby men, sending him staggering, in shock. The other reacted quickly, trying to draw his weapon as 221 swiftly took his feet out from beneath him and kicked hard, spitting at him as he spun and charged at the Death Supreme.
Before he could react 221 barreled into the Supreme, slamming him into the ground, ignoring the piercing pain in his abdomen as he proceeded to pound his fists over and over again into the Supreme's face, each crunch more satisfying than the last before the two voiders recovered and lauched at him once more. 221 reacted quickly, reaching into his inner pocket and pulling out a heavy glock-like weapon, pointing it directly at them and firing.
The boom was deafening, the voider on the right erupting in a cloud of ashen dust as the other immediately halted their attack, backing away, hands raised defensively.
"Good idea." 221 growled as the voider bolted and he turned back to the Supreme, pointing the gun directly at him.
The Death Supreme lay in a pulped mess before him, his ridiculous teeth shattered as a thousand eyes locked onto the barrel hovering centimeters from his face. "You recognise this don't you, 066?"
A gutteral gurgle rose as 221 realised he may have pummeled him a little too hard. A perk of his position that he rarely took advantage of. He could inflict damage on employees in a way they could not. A necessity and very guarded secret to all but those taken into custody. He did not have time for this crap.
"You move and Betty will fucking obliterate you from existance. I told you I cannot let you do this and I meant it." he snarled, pushing the barrel into the flesh of his nose for extra emphasis. Fuck this guy, the inconsiderate prick. He should just pull the trigger.
Thinking better of it, he tried to think and figure out how to sort this out. Nothing had gone as he expected. This had started as something personal he was pursuing on extended leave. It was becoming clear this matter was going to need to involve the boss. He was never going to make it to 404 and the unacocunted on time without his registered vessel and he didn't have any favours left to use to pull some strings. This was bad.
And then an idea. It was brash and it could potentially get him right where the Supreme had threatened but what choice did he have? The wraith may have already caught up with them and finished the job on the unaccounted. He just hoped she was in one of her better moods.
Chuckling a little to himself at the notion of what he was about to do he searched through his back pocket, taking out a handful of items including a small steel drawing pin, a blue point pen and one of his business cards. Perfect.
Planting a foot firmly on Death Supreme to keep him pinned he scrawled a note on the card before pushing the pin through the top centre and looking down at the Supreme.
"Oh I hope she is pissed off enough at me to take it out on you." he grinned as he crouched down, the Supreme barely responsive as he reached forward with pen in hand and wrote DICK across his forehead, admiring his surprisingly neat handwriting before giving the asshole a salute.
"Sayonara Shitbird." he grinned, giving him a little wave as he slammed the pin into his chest and he vanished with a soft crackle like paper crumpling.
221's breathing slowed as the cavernous room fell into silence. Sticky and relieved for the respite he looked up to the ceiling. "Oh, you better help me here." he prayed as pain jolted in his stomach. He looked down, finally seeing what the Supreme had stuck him with when he charged.
He grunted, "Shit."
Gently his fingers touched at the matte black spike that protruded from his stomach. The cheeky fucker. Those were supposed to be all vaulted centuries ago. Were he a normal employee it may just have killed him. They essentially disintegrated an employee from the inside out. Not a pleasant device and left over from when the man upstairs thought the concept of hell would be an interesting endeavor to try for the naughty amoung them. A disaster to say the least.
He pulled it out, letting out a disgruntled cry as it finally pulled free and clattered to the ground, his head immediately beginning to swim as his arm reached out to balance against the nearby desk.
Whoa, that was no ordinary spike. Slumping to the floor he tried to breathe through the searing sting as he felt it begin to spread. He tore off his jacket, pulling up his shirt as he inspected his wound more closedly, grimacing when he noticed it was turning black. He feared his previous assumption may have been false.
He let out a frustrated growl. How was he supposed to fix this now? Incapacitated while on vacation and leaving those he had compromised in danger. He slammed his fist angrily into the ground, cracks forming on the pristine concrete. No one would find him in time, he was in the sealed Supreme's office and that asshole would never be coming back.
Shame, he thought sadly. He had been hoping to give 404 the opportunity to be everything she dreamed of being, now he would cease to be without her ever knowing.

YOU ARE READING
Bureau of Collections || ONC2021
ParanormalAt the Bureau of Collections, Death Collector 404's world is shaken when she discovers an unaccounted soul, forcing her to break protocol and challenge the system. Alongside her unruly partner 221, she seeks the truth, but the deeper she goes, the m...