KILLJOY

Chapter 25: Cold Steel

Reinald sat within his main office as he moved his hand over to pick up the white telephone on his desk, picking up the bulky thing as he dialed up a number. After a moment, he moved it to his ear again as he heard an uninterested voice speak from the other end.

"Ah, one of our regulars. Got more people for us to collect?" He merely let out a chuckle at the almost bored response from the other end.

"Oh, is that how you speak to a friend? Lighten up a bit, Gerard! But, since you're so keen on the details, I've collected a couple rookies from Killjoy to ship off." The man's tone didn't change much as he gave his simple response.

"Good. We'll have an escort prepared for them in a few minutes." The phone hung up with that as Reinald let out a sigh, with an exasperated expression under his mask.

"How boring— he needs to liven up a bit..." He got up from his chair and began to walk out of the room. Can't have any upstarts ruining his plans, after all. And there was still one of those runts left to capture.

— — —

Max, along with his newfound comrades continued making their way through the halls, eventually stumbling upon a door. It's been a while since they'd seen one of those... He quickly formed another needle to pick the lock open  when—

Clap. Clap. Clap.

"Oho, well I must say you've made quite the mess around my establishment! And made my collection take a hit, well that simply won't do!" Max glared at the masked man with an angered expression. This guy was probably their boss— whoever he was. If they just dealt with him—

Before he could even summon a dagger in defense, Reinald had blazed past him in a burst of speed, holding his hands out to touch both Clint and Kenda on the shoulders. Clint quickly pointed his gun at him while Kenda prepared to chuck a projectile at him. But he merely tapped his hand to the wall, as a ring binded them around where he touched them, before a chain quickly stretched to the wall. They were quickly pulled to it, slamming into the wall as they slumped down, their aura trickling down into the steel. Max stood there speechless as he kept his eyes firmly on Reinald, summoning a sword into his hands as he stood defensively.

"You gonna tell me where they are, or do I have to beat it out of you?" Reinald chuckled sinisterly under his mask, twirling his finger around as a small chain formed in it, a sharpened spike at its end as it spun around his finger.

"Oh, are you really in the position to make threats when you're alone? Powerless? Wea—"

"SHUT UP!" Max's aura flared in his anger as he rushed towards Reinald, swinging his blade towards his chest. Reinald raised his finger in response to intercept it with the tip of his chain, aura flaring in it as it deflected the strike. Max leapt backwards to keep his distance, as Reinald flicked his wrist as the chain lengthened, rapidly approaching him. Max raised his blade to intercept as the tip of the chain bounced off of it, raising his hand to conjure a few daggers, floating in the air beside him. He waved his hand as they shot out towards Reinald, forcing him to quickly dash out the way, leaving an opening for him to approach, getting into his space with a cold focus in his eyes. He managed to get a decent cut into Reinald's arm before he could back off, blood beginning to stain his fancy suit as he scoffed at him, his hand held down as the chain dangled from it.

"You're a damn pest, do you know how much that damn suit cost me? How many of you I had to round up for it!?" Max just glared at him with a cold expression, not focusing on his hand as his aura flared out from his blade like a cold, silver flame, keeping his weapon raised for any upcoming attack.

"I don't care about that shitty suit, now tell me where they ar—!" He felt something cold wrap around his ankle as he looked down, seeing the chain wrapped around it, extended from the chain that dangled from Reinald's hand as he merely laughed.

"Oh, you really think I'd collect a useless ability that could only dangle a stupid chain around?" He yanked his hand back as Max came hurtling towards him, unable to stop the advance as he was pulled off his feet. Aura surged from his fist, pale purple as it flowed off of it like water, before slamming it directly into Max's chest. The chain quickly broke from the impact, as Max's own blade crumbled from his aura getting blown off from the force. Reinald merely tapped the wall as a ring bound around Max's torso, quickly pulling him back into the wall, slamming him hard as he slumped down, barely holding onto consciousness. Reinald slowly approached him, moving to stand right in front of him, expression covered by the false smile covering his face.

"So, what did all that get you, hmm? Your ability is rather interesting— adding it to my collection would be rather nice... so while we're here..."

He held a hand to Max's face, aura flaring within it as he looked on in horror, powerless to stop him. He weakly raised a hand to form one last dagger behind Reinald, bringing it towards him to try and stab him. The man simply sighed as he turned to grab it by its handle before it hit him, smashing it against the wall.

"Oh, that's your last effort? Rather pitiful for Killjoy, thought you'd be at least somewhat challenging." He moves his hand back to Max's face, ignoring the quiet sobs he could hear as the man simply gave up. But right before the aura flared to take in what was rightfully his, he sensed something at the end of the hallway. There a man stood, eyes locked on him with a cold fury to them as he could sense a peculiar aura from him.

— — —

And there the imitator stood. Where Liam stood.