ACT ONE - GENESIS

1st Scene: Awakening

He had killed many times before.

The sensation was all too familiar to him - the sickening crunch of bone as he crushed it under his fist, the soft feeling of a knife cutting through sweet, smooth flesh, and the horrid screams of his prey, echoing through his ears before fading into the silence.

He was looking down upon the face of a dying man. A familiar face, which contorted itself as it spasmed, retching blood as death throes overtook it. It was a familiar scene, for he had seen the man die many times before, felt the still-warm blood scald his own skin. And yet it never seemed to be enough.

A euphoric feeling was flowing through Mercury's body as he stood there, gazing upon his father's visage.

The memories were flooding his mind now. His father's fist flying toward his face, the screams, and the pain. The feverish, excruciating sensation of his legs as they were twisted and bent into the shape desired by his tormentor. The morbid violation he had endured, defiled by the very thing that had granted him his life. And how he had fought back. How he had driven the face of the man he hated into the ground, beating him to death as his lifeblood flowed out of him. How wonderful it had felt. But still it was not enough.

That was the lesson he had learned long ago. It was something that no man or woman had taught him, as it was something that he had had to understand for himself. Yet Mercury Black considered it to the first, most important rule of his profession. Of his life as a killer.

It really was never enough.

He brought down his fists once more, watching in fascination as his father's face burst open, his bloody brains staining his hands as the crevices of his skin were abruptly forced apart. This was what he lived for - this was all there was, and all he needed. Mercury gave a sigh of content.

"Are you ready to wake up now?" A voice from somewhere nearby caught his attention.

Confusion filled his body. This was not supposed to happen. He had repeated this scenario countless times, and nothing had ever changed.

As he blinked, still bewildered, he found himself in an old, dilapidated apartment. He wrinkled his nose in discomfort, as the stench of rotting wood entered his nostrils. There was the irritating buzz of flies circling around a dimly lit ceiling lamp. Three empty sofa chairs, covered in cobwebs, took up the centre of the room. The windows were broken, and outside Mercury could hear the rain going pitter-patter against the wall, as a humid atmosphere enveloped the room.

Mercury looked down at his legs. His father was gone. The floor was covered in layers of dust and mold, and a pair of cockroaches scurried by his feet.

"So here you are," said the voice.

Mercury looked up. Where there had been emptiness a second ago, three figures now sat on the chairs in front of him. On the left was thin, white-haired man wearing a formal green suit, his face covered by a strange mask in the shape of a phoenix. On the right was a beautiful blonde woman with the mask of a cat. And occupying the centre chair was a dark-haired man wearing the likeness of a pitch-black bird - a crow. The three of them sat there, their masked faces fixated on him, as if judging.

"...Who are you?" Mercury asked angrily. He coughed as he spoke, realizing that his throat was dry as a desert. "Where is this? What the fuck am I doing here?!"

"You must calm yourself," the man on the left said in a kindly tone. "We will not be able to answer your questions if you are so enraged."

"Maybe there's no answer," said the crow in a gravelly voice. "Things don't always happen for a reason, after all."

"You're just a waste of time!" the woman on the right said sternly. "If you won't listen, then you should just leave."

"..." Mercury glared at the three figures in confusion The hell's going on…? "...It's just a dream," he muttered to himself out loud. "Ha, I get it. I got way too fucking high and now I'm passed out in some shithole of a nightclub somewhere in Vale. I'll wake up soon enough and forget about all this."

"A dream, you say?" asked the kindly man. "Well, I suppose you can see it that way."

"You certainly love your excuses, don't you?" said the stern woman. "It softens the blow of the despicable things you've done, and lets you hide from your actions like a coward!"

"You're hiding, alright," the crow agreed. "But it's something else you're hiding from, isn't it? Something in your life, something you can't stand, and can't run from...and the only way to escape all of it is this."

Mercury was hit with a jarring sensation in the back of his head. He found himself facing the floor again, and this time his father was there. He glanced up at his son with those eyes full of malice and hatred, his bloodshot eyes twitching as crimson tears flowed down his face.

With a start, Mercury realized he was holding a pistol in his hands. Without hesitation, he aimed the weapon at his father's face and fired, watching as his head burst open into a sea of red chunks, like a watermelon past expiration date. The euphoric sensation filled his body again, and he smiled to himself.

He blinked, and once again his father was gone, and he was facing the three masked figures staring at him from their chairs.

"You've done this before, haven't you?" said the kindly man. "Many, many times."

"Does it never get tiresome? Is this really all there is to you?" the stern woman asked furiously.

"..Hmm. You know, I think I get you," the crow said, fascinated. "No matter how many times you repeat the cycle, no matter how many chances you get to break free, you'll always end up right back where you started. Because this? This is who you are. You're...trapped."

Trapped. Trapped? Him? That didn't make any sense. He wasn't trapped in anything, not even close. There was nothing he needed to break free of - nothing holding him back!

Yet still the memories were returning. A perfectly ordinary, boring day. A call on his phone. A delivery had arrived for him, it said. A copy of the latest book in Arthur Watts' violent action series The Hound. A special lottery ticket had also come with it, and he was advised to read over it to ensure he was eligible to enter.

But he hadn't ordered anything, and there was no book or ticket in the package he'd received. Only a mask in the visage of the crow, much like the one worn by the man staring at him right now, a loaded gun, and a note.

Package pickup is at 89 Crescent Avenue. Deposit in the mailbox by From Dusk Till Dawn. Discretion is of utmost importance. Don't disappoint us.

And he hadn't disappointed them. Who had sent the package? Well, it didn't matter to him. After he'd done what he'd been asked to do, another call had arrived. And another. And then another. And then another. And then another. And then another. And suddenly, everything had changed for him. Suddenly, his life felt like it had meaning.

Trapped. You're trapped.

Despite himself, Mercury found himself laughing. "...Trapped? Who, me?" he chuckled hoarsely. "No. You don't get me, do you? I, I chose this. All of this. It's what gets my blood pumping every goddamn day. It's the only thing that gets me crawling out my shit-stained bed in the morning. It's my life - and I fucking love it. I'm not trapped - I'm free!"

None of the figures said anything. Mercury's head began to spin, as the vision of the dim room began to waver, causing him to lose his balance. "Wha...what's happening…?" he gasped.

"We'll never meet again," the crow assured him, as he and his two companions began to flicker out of existence. "Just know this. You're not going to do anything of any consequence...and you'll never see the truth."

Suddenly, the lamp fizzled out, and the whole room went dark. As Mercury glanced around the room in a panic, reaching out his hands desperately to find something to hold onto, he felt the floor gave way beneath his feet. With a loud crunch, the floorboards he was standing on snapped, and he fell, screaming in fright, into the endless abyss...

...and with a gasp, his eyes flew open. For a few moments, he lay where he was, feeling his heart pounding out of his chest. Eventually, feeling began returning to his body. It was a dream, just a really fucked-up dream, Mercury told himself. What a fucking pussy you are, getting scared by dumb shit like that. Groaning, he shifted his body sideways, grabbing his bedsheets as he groggily took in his surroundings.

He was in his apartment, also known as the dingiest, shittiest, most primitive living space ever put on the planet. It was little than a single bed, a desk, a worn-down stove, and something that could barely qualify as a bathroom. This shithole had been his home for the past two years, and slowly he'd become grudgingly fond of the place. He supposed he could move into a more civilized home if he had more money, but where was he supposed to get it? He didn't have the qualifications to get any normal job in this cesspool of a country. No, in the end, this was all he had.

He'd overslept. Judging from the clock by his bedside, it was already past noon. Just my luck, he thought dejectedly.

A soft groan from beside him caught his ear. Reaching out, Mercury grasped the bare shoulder of the woman lying next to him. She turned over slowly onto her side, flashing him a sultry smile. "Well, good morning. Did you sleep well?"

"Fine enough," Mercury grinned, forcing the memory of his dream back into the corners of his mind. "No thanks to you, obviously." He ran his fingers through her silky black hair.

The woman's name was Cinder, and Mercury considered her to be his prize for today - a well-deserved reward for all the hard work he'd been doing. He'd run into her at the nightclub the previous day, and had paid her a hefty sum of money - more than he could afford to give away. While the vixen had initially turned him down in favour of some other douchebag, eventually she had been his. It had taken some seriously heavy bargaining, though. As Mercury sat up in his bed, he winced as the sharp pain came rushing back into his ribs. "Fucking hell," he muttered, rubbing it gingerly.

It didn't matter how much it hurt, he could damn well live with it. He'd gotten what we wanted, and the girl was all his. Well...sort of. He flashed an irritated glance at the other end of his bed, where a scrawny, dark-skinned girl lay, asleep. Turned out Cinder had a girlfriend, some bitch named Emerald. As far as Mercury knew, she was just some alley-raised whore who hung out with those pot-headed dipshits that were always dying in hilarious freak accidents. It disgusted him that he had to 'share' with her. As if his apartment wasn't crowded enough.

A buzzing sound from his desk made him realize what had woken him up. Another call. He smiled to himself, casually shoving Emerald onto her back as he got out of bed. He walked over to where he'd left his cell phone and turned it on. Sure enough, there was a voicemail.

You have 1 unread message.

…

Hello? Yes, this is Reese. We've got an opening for a janitor at 57 Tenor St,and there's a lot of messes we'd like you to clean up. Please be efficient and thorough! Hope to see you there!

Beep

…

"Heh...awesome," Mercury chuckled. "Two lucky days in a row for me."

"Oh? Is this something to do with your work?" Cinder murmured.

Mercury gave an enthusiastic nod. "Hell yeah, it is. Sorry, babe, but I'm gonna have to go out for a bit while I get this job done. Oh, and don't worry about staying in this hellhole all day - I've got a much better idea for you." He scribbled down an address on a piece of paper and handed it to her. "Ol' Tukson's having some big farewell party over at his place tonight, and I'm invited. It'll probably be shit, but at least his house is nice. Tell the asshole you know me and he'll let you in. Then when I get back we can really have some fun." He turned and walked over to the door.

"I'm looking forward to it," she purred. Beside her, Emerald was waking up. "Ughh…" she yawned, rubbing her eyes sleepily. "Hmm? Where are you going…?" Ignoring her, Mercury hastily packed his belongings and left the apartment room, slamming the door shut behind him.

Once he was outside, he took a deep, relieved breath, and brought out something from his backpack. It was the mask - the one that had started it all. Quietly, Mercury glanced into the crow's blank eyes, taking in the avian's dark, foreboding image. Despite himself, a chill ran down his spine as he put it over his face. He swallowed his fear as he focused on the task ahead of it.

"Alright then," he said to himself. "Let's go hurt some people."

2nd Scene: Euphoria

Hailing a taxi, Mercury soon found himself at the location the phone call had indicated. It was a rather boring-looking building, located right in the middle of nowhere. From a distance, it didn't look like anyone had lived there for years. Though he looked it over for a few moments, Mercury decided there weren't any parts of the place that were worth describing in detail. He just wanted to get to the fun part.

A lone man dressed in a black suit and red sunglasses was standing guard. He held a crude-looking baseball bat in his hands - probably still heavy enough to bash someone's brains open. Mercury walked up to him wordlessly. "Hey assface, it's not fucking Halloween, y'know," he growled as the masked young man approached. "Oy, the hell are you-"

Mercury kicked him, savagely, in the gut. He grabbed the man's mouth before he could cry out for help, and made his way inside the building. As he entered, closing the door behind him, he glanced around. Okay, no other thugs in sight. Grunting, he threw the man's head against the wall several times, until his forehead burst and the shattered fragments of his skull were scattered on the rug. Mercury retrieved the bat and looked around the corner. Two more men were facing away from him as they walked down a hallway, discussing something. They were both carrying guns.

Perfect. Mercury ran at them, wielding his bat. Before either of the men could react, Mercury bashed both their heads in. As they fell lifelessly to the floor, he looked over their weapons. After a moment's decision, he grabbed a shotgun.

Making sure the thing was fully loaded, he opened the door closest to him - the bathroom. The door creaked open to reveal a thug seated harmlessly on his throne, reading a newspaper. "Hmm?" He looked up in surprise. "The fu-"

Mercury pulled the trigger, blasting the man's stomach open. His body entered its death spasms as his bowels emptied themselves. "Yeah, yeah, finish your shit in hell," Mercury chuckled, before frowning as the yells from around the corner alerted him. "Fuck," he muttered, ducking inside the room as several thugs ran down the hallway, shooting at him.

The shitting thug had graciously left his silencer pistol on the side of the sink. Mercury grabbed it and leapt back outside, firing off three bullets and grinning as they all met their mark. He casually walked over the corpses, their bloodied intestines hanging loosely out of their abdomens. He saw, through a window, a couple thugs looking for snacks in what looked like a kitchen. Mercury killed them both with shots from his gun.

He made his way around the first floor, checking through the rooms, but it seemed like there was no one else alive. Floor cleared, he thought to himself. Grabbing himself a chocolate bar from the grasp of one of the corpses in the kitchen, Mercury made his way up the stairs to the second floor.

Immediately, he saw a clueless thug smoking a cigarette by the door, not paying attention to his surroundings, his machine gun hanging lazily from his free hand. Hell yes. Without hesitation, Mercury shot him, grabbing his gun as he fell to the floor. A horde of thugs armed with clubs and bats came rushing, yelling profanities, out of the nearby room. Mercury blindly fired a full magazine into the crowd, mowing them down like ants during a house fire. Within seconds, the walls were decorated red with blood and guts.

"Put your hands up, fuckface!" A yell came from his side. He turned around to see an armed thug come around from the corner. Moments later, another thug came rushing around the adjacent side, boxing him in. Ah shit. Thinking fast, Mercury leapt to his left, knocking down the thug, before rolling around the corner to dodge the gunfire. Too late, he realized he'd dropped his gun.

Panic rose in him as he heard the other thug's footsteps approaching. A glass vase sitting neatly on a desk by the wall caught his eye. Hmmm… He reached out and grabbed it, before hiding back on the corner, waiting for his enemy to get closer. "Hahhh!" he yelled, turning the corner and bashing the vase over the thug's head. The vase shattered, and shards of glass embedded themselves deep in the thug's head. He screamed as shrapnel pierced through his right eye, sending blood gushing out of its socket. As his cries faded, the thug crumpled onto the floor, dead.

A pained groan from behind caused Mercury to turn around, seeing the thug he'd knocked out earlier. He walked over to him and thrust his foot up his face, snapping the man's neck with a sharp, satisfying crack.

The thug had a fully-loaded revolver on his person, and Mercury retrieved it. He walked through the hallways, kicking opening rooms to check for more goons. He killed some thugs who were getting high and watching some shitty sitcom on television.

Eventually, he happened upon a room surrounded by glass walls, with at least six more goons sitting at a table inside. It seemed this was the base of operations, and these were the last thugs left in the building. As Mercury approached, one of them happened to turn around and spot him. He shouted something to his friends, and several of them turned and began shooting, bullets crashing through the glass, forcing Mercury to retreat.

When one of the thugs turned around the corner, Mercury quickly shot him down. He leapt out from behind his cover, seeing that two of the goons were still in the room. He fired a single shot through the glass window, penetrating both of them.

Three down, three to go. Mercury ran down the hallway, seeing the remaining goons standing in close proximity as they were searching for him near the staircase. With lightning-fast reflexes, Mercury aimed the revolver and fired the last three bullets in the chamber one by one, each shot bursting the head of a goon. He grinned as the soft pink chunks of their brains spilled out from their heads onto the floor. This is the life! He tossed away the revolver and wandered over to the room where the thugs had been gathering.

Disappointingly, there wasn't much to pillage from them - half of the goons didn't even have their wallets on them. Mercury let out a sigh as he removed his mask, the adrenaline of his rampage slowly fading away into irritation. That had been fun, but it had all been over far too quickly. He hoped that the next job those phone callers gave him would be much longer and more challenging. What was the point of enjoying something if it was over so soon?

As he glanced dispassionately around the room, a bag sitting on the counter nearby caught his attention. He walked over to it and tried picking it up. Damn, it's heavy. What were they keeping in this thing, solid gold? He opened it up and took a peek. His eyes widened as he took in what he was seeing.

Inside the bag was packet upon packet of powder, in a myriad of different colours. Some of it was red, some blue, some green, and various others. It didn't look particularly remarkable, but Mercury immediately knew what it was.

Dust. This highly reactive and psychedelic drug was a rare -and very valuable - product these days. Being more addictive than any other similar recreational drug, it had long been banned from public markets for being too dangerous. Even on the black market it was hard to find any.

But this? This bag right in front of him was now the equivalent of finding the city of gold - a treasure trove in every sense of the word. Mercury couldn't even begin to imagine how much all of this was worth.

In a daze, he grabbed one of the packets and opened it, snorting the gray-colored powder into his nostrils. Almost immediately, he began to feel a dizzying feeling in his head, followed by a sharp increase in his heart rate. An extraordinary strength was building up in his arm and leg muscles. He felt like he could run for hundreds of miles without being tired, could leap high into the sky like a bullet. Hehheheh...this is the real shit, alright! Ecstatic, he grabbed the bag and hurriedly made his way out of the corpse-filled building, still feeling the effects of the Dust.

The next hour or so was a blur to him. He supposed he must have taken a taxi or something, because somehow or other he found himself inside the pizzeria that was near Tukson's place. "Oh. Well if it isn't Mercury," the owner, a tanned, muscular giant of a man, greeted him gruffly. "I have the two pizzas you ordered right here."

"Thanks, Hazel," Mercury grinned, grabbing the two warm, flat rectangular boxes and balancing them on his right hand, while clutching the bag of Dust in the other. "How's business going these days, huh?"

Hazel sighed deeply. "Not many people going out to this part of the city these days," he muttered quietly, as if talking to himself. "With crime in Vale at an all-time high, it's difficult to attract customers. I might have to close shop if the situation gets much worse." On that bright note, he turned and walked over to the oven, where another pizza was currently being baked.

As Mercury approached the door with pizzas in hand, he was stopped by Hazel saying, "Now wait a moment. You understand you still need to pay for those, don't you?"

"Oh come on, just give me this," Mercury groaned. "I'm your friend, aren't I? Sure, I get you need the money, but just let me have this one on the house, man."

"Rules are rules," Hazel said bluntly.

"Fucking asshole," Mercury grumbled, forking over a wad of cash into Hazel's enormous hands. Flipping him off, he promptly exited the pizzeria and headed toward Tukson's mansion.

As he walked through the garden, approaching the door, the dizziness in his head started to fade. It seemed the effects of the Dust were wearing off. Mercury took several deep breaths, wanting to savour the last few moments of it.

He smiled to himself. Today had gone far better than he could have ever imagined. Not only had he killed a bunch of people, but now he held the key to his life in his hands. With this much Dust, there was no telling how rich he would get. He estimated it was worth millions - no, hundreds of millions! He'd never want for anything again.

Should he sell the entire load at once, or take his time? He supposed that if he put too much of the stuff on sale, its value would start to drop. And that just wouldn't do. As much as he hated it, maybe it was best for him to be patient and sell in small doses, slowly making his fortune over time. Talk about boring...but whatever.

And once he'd made his money, he could buy a fancy car, or an expensive, opulent mansion. He'd get a whole shitload of guns and knives and go on some killing sprees of his own, without anyone telling him what to do. And then, when he'd gotten tired of it all, he could just move to some far out tropical island and live like a goddamn king, relaxing on the beaches and fucking all the beautiful women he could want. He doubted Cinder would last long for him - if anything he was getting bored of her already. And there were always plenty of fish in the sea.

Mercury couldn't help but laugh out loud. Just this morning he was wondering how the hell he was supposed to pay his rent for the month. But now? Things were looking up...

"What the fuck are you looking at?" A rasping voice came from somewhere nearby. Looking up in surprise, Mercury saw a bloody corpse lying by the wall. The corpse was dressed in black, and a pair of red sunglasses lay broken next to him. It was twitching, coughing up spurts of blood, its undying eyes fixated solely on him. "Away...get the hell away…" it gargled. "You don't know...what you've gotten yourself into…"

Mercury froze. All of a sudden, he felt like his entire body had gone completely rigid. Darting his gaze around the garden, he saw that it was littered with bodies, their blood seeping through the grass and into the soil. His father was among them, his disgusting visage little more than a mush of blood and meat. Some of them had their stomachs disemboweled, others had been bisected from the waist down...but all of them were staring, lifelessly, at him, as though judging.

Then, in unison, they all opened their mouths, and whispered: "Trapped. Trapped. You're trapped…" They were all speaking in the voice of the old crow. No. No, shut the fuck up! Mercury dropped what he was carrying, and desperately plugged his ears. This isn't real, he thought to himself. The Dust is still fucking you up. Taking a deep breath, he blinked heavily, and when he opened his eyes again the corpses were all gone.

His heart still racing, Mercury walked up to the door and rang the doorbell. After a minute's wait, Tukson, a burly, amicable man with a short beard, opened it. "You finally came, huh?" he said, smiling as he saw Mercury. "Come on in then, you're right on time."

Stepping into the mansion, Mercury wrinkled his nose at how stuffy and formal the whole affair looked. A fancy chandelier hanging from the ceiling, people dressed in suits and wearing masks walking in and out of rooms, long tables lined up neatly against the wall...it was all so damn boring. A real party needed blinding neon lights, ear-shattering rock music pounding through large speakers, hundreds of people drunk or high on ecstasy dancing to the beat, and that one couple camping out in the corner giving each other handjobs. Now that was exciting.

Still, whatever. The hospitality was always good, and any night he didn't have to spend in his dingy apartment was a plus in his eyes. Even if he was inevitably going to be bored out of his damn mind.

"You sure have a lot on your hands, huh?" Tukson asked, noticing the large bag Mercury was carrying. "Busy day?"

Mercury chuckled. "You might say that."

"Well, at any rate, it's good to see you one more time before I move out of this damn city. About time, too. Your friends are up in the guest bedroom on the upper floor, by the way." Tukson pointed in the direction of the stairs. "Make yourselves at home, alright? I'll call you down at around nine for dinner."

"Sounds good," Mercury replied.

Clutching the pizza boxes and the bag of Dust, he made his way up the stairs to the second floor, where he found the room Tukson had pointed out to him. Swearing, he placed the bag gently onto the floor, before wrenching the door open and walking inside.

"Oh. Hey, Mercury," said Emerald unenthusiastically as he entered. She was sitting cross-legged on the bed, clad in a green bra and a pair of white jean shorts, scrolling through her cell phone. Reclining beside her, Cinder looked up at him with a sultry smile on her pale face. She was wearing a thin red cocktail dress that left her long, shapely legs bare. "It appears your job went well," she said casually, flipping back her long, dark bangs.

"You're damn right it did!" Mercury exclaimed, setting the pizzas on the table nearby, before placing the bag on the luxurious couch beside it. Emerald and Cinder walked over to it in curiosity, as he opened it to reveal the packets of Dust. "Take a look - I'm fucking rich now!"

"Where did you get all of that?" Emerald demanded, but Mercury ignored her. "All I gotta do is sell a bunch of this shit online, and I'll be set for life. And there's enough than I can afford to waste some of it." He retrieved a packet from the bag and opened it.

Cinder reached out and daintily picked out a packet of red Dust. Tearing it open, she grabbed a handful of the powder and ingested it. "Oh, this feels wonderful," she purred, reaching out to grab another. Hesitating for a moment, Emerald proceeded to do the same. "This feels weird," she muttered after swallowing, "...but it feels pretty good."

Snorting a packet of blue Dust, Mercury felt the extraordinary feeling from before returning to his body. Instinctively, he reached for another. As he inhaled the powder, he felt like his heart rushing so fast he was sure it would burst out of his chest. He reached for another, and then another.

In what felt like a heartbeat, more than half of their supply had been depleted. Mercury should have been enraged that he'd just cheated himself out of a potential fortune. But the sensation was just too damn good; right now he didn't care at all.

"Aha..hehahahaheha…" he chuckled, feeling dizzy. His body felt light as a feather. If he jumped up right now, he knew he would burst right through the roof and soar far up, flying into the atmosphere and beyond. All around him, the room was dissolving in and out of existence like a liquid. He turned to Cinder. "How is it, huh?" he asked.

Cinder turned, and Mercury saw that bright, beautiful flames were now surrounding her eyes. She smiled at him. "It's incredible. I've never felt quite so...powerful." He voice placed great emphasis on that last word. She held out her hand and opened her palm, staring in awe as fire spread across her arm. When she snapped her fingers, there was a small explosion of flames in the air. Cinder observed the spectacle with fascination in her eyes. "Mmm-hmmm...I wonder what I can do with this."

Wordlessly, she undid the straps on her dress, letting her garments drop to the floor. Sensually, she ran her finger up her right thigh, slowly moving it across her slender, pale body. She gently fingered the jeweled piercing in her midriff, which was surrounded by the tattoo of a black rose. Continuing, she reached into her lacy black bra, pulling the undergarment down just low enough for the top of her nipples to be seen. Finally, she put her finger in her mouth and sucked on it provocatively, as she walked towards Mercury with her voluptuous hips swaying side to side. Her flaming eyes were fixated solely on him, as she reached out her arms to put her finger to his lips.

Mercury stared at Cinder, mesmerized at her beauty. Her skin seemed to flicker into pure fire as he watched, and he felt intense heat radiating from her body. Apprehensively, he reached out and laid his hands on her waist. Though he touched the flames surrounding her, rather than burning him, they merely filled him with warmth. His throat hoarse, he stared into her eyes. The Dust was burning in his system, and his heart was still racing. He couldn't take it anymore. Aggressively, he leaned in and kissed her full on the lips.

"Hey!" Emerald protested.

Smiling, Cinder grabbed Mercury by the shoulders and shoved him onto the bedsheets. As he lay there, gasping from the impact, the vixen threw her head back and unclipped her bra, throwing it casually to the side. When she leaned in close to his face, Mercury reached out and firmly grabbed her soft pink breasts, fondling her nipples as she smothered him with lustful kisses.

After a few moments, Mercury's hands found themselves on Cinder's hips, clumsily undoing the straps on her panties. Finally, as they fell gently onto the sheets, he felt Cinder's fingers on his pants, firmly pulling down his fly to reveal the warm, throbbing shape underneath.

As she lay herself upon him, Cinder leaned back and let out a shrieking moan, her body shaking from the pleasure. Encouraged, Mercury began thrusting as hard as he could. As he made love to her, his tongue began hanging out of his mouth like a dog. Cinder leaned in, and then her tongue was on his, and the two of them began devouring each other with lecherous passion. Behind them, a sticky, frenetic noise could be heard, accompanied by a pained gasp. It was Emerald, furiously masturbating as she watched the two of them with an envious fascination.

Grunting, Mercury forced Cinder onto her back, feeling as though his body were breaking into pieces. Now approaching the end of his endurance, he bared his teeth and bit into the soft, sweet flesh of her face. Her ecstatic screams from the pain just made things even worse. Mercury could sense her grasp getting weaker by the second.

Finally, he leaned in as roughly as he could, his mind going blank as he finished inside her. "Hahh...hahhhh…," he panted. He could feel a sharp, ringing sensation drilling into the back of his head. Glancing at Cinder, he saw that she was lying motionless on the bed, the flames still encapsulating her body. Heh. I guess I'm pretty damn good, huh?

And despite everything, he realized he still wasn't satisfied. He wanted - no, needed more. Another side effect of the Dust, he supposed.

Suddenly, he felt a pair of hands grabbing his shoulders from behind. Startled, he turned around to find Emerald staring intently at him. Her mouth was moving erratically, and Mercury realized she was trying to say something. "What?" he yelled at the top of his lungs. "What the fuck do you want?"

Emerald shook her head angrily and said something, but Mercury still couldn't hear her. He couldn't hear anything but the pounding in his ears. The room was spinning round and round, and he couldn't tell where it began and where it ended. Rather than wearing off, it seemed like the effects of the Dust were only strengthening as time went on.

Still lost in his stupor, Mercury looked at Emerald. Her green-dyed hair, normally in a ponytail, was hanging loosely down her shoulders. She was naked, and he found his eyes drawn to the slender curves of her chocolate-skinned figure. Mercury wondered how he had possibly found her unattractive. He reached out to touch her.

Emerald recoiled from him in disgust, yelling something he couldn't make out. Anger rose in Mercury's chest. Was she refusing him? I won't have that shit. Forcefully, he grabbed the girl by the hair, slamming her head violently into the desk. Emerald fell onto her back, her body fully exposed. Weakly, she muttered something.

She wants me. That's what she's saying. A feral grin on his handsome face, Mercury got on his knees, and he slowly put his hands around Emerald's neck. She screamed, and this time he could hear exactly what she said.

"STOP! PLEASE!"

But he couldn't stop. And as he lowered himself into her, the girl's agonized screams were lost in the billowing darkness of the night.

3rd Scene: Siege

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Weiss asked.

"How many fancy mansions do you know in this shitfest of a neighborhood?" Yang retorted, as she dismounted her motorcycle. "Have some faith in my direction skills, alright?"

Weiss scowled at her friend. Clumsily, she loaded a round into her pistol. "Well, do you really think a house like this could be a base for criminal activity?"

"Nothing's ever what it looks like on the surface." Blake leapt out of their van, which was parked on the side of the street. "You should know something about that, 'Miss Rich Girl'."

"Why don't you shut your stupid slum mouth for once?" Weiss snapped furiously.

"Hey, come on guys, this isn't the time to fight," said Ruby cheerfully, nonchalantly revving up her chainsaw. Though she was the youngest of their group, she had fancied herself to be the leader of the team, though no one was really convinced. Still, it wasn't as if any of her friends cared for being in a position of leadership, so the honorary title had ultimately gone to her.

"Sis is right," said Yang. "So...tonight's the night, eh?"

"I'd say it's too late to turn back now," Blake replied.

Weiss shifted her feet on the ground, wrinkling her nose in disgust as mud got onto the soles of her shoes. "We're really doing this, huh?"

"You bet we are!" Ruby exclaimed. "Once we're done here, the White Fang'll have no more friends left in Vale. We'll all be heroes!"

The house they were about to raid belonged to a wealthy animal activist. Though well-respected in the community, there had recently been rumours that he was a contact of the infamous terrorist organization White Fang. Though there was no proof of his guilt, the four girls, invigorated by the reports of masked vigilantes killing criminals in recent weeks, had decided to carry out their own campaign of justice.

'Masks on, guys," said Yang, as she donned the likeness of a large grizzly bear. Beside her, Blake put on a tiger mask, which blended in well with the bow on her head, while Weiss wore the mask of a deer. Finally, Ruby pulled out a wolf mask from within the folds of her dress, and tucked it over her face.

"You can cover me, partner," Ruby offered Weiss helpfully. "We'll stay close to each other and all that. I mean, you're not as experienced with this as the rest of us…"

"Don't you dare patronize me! Father often took me on trips to his shooting range, so I know how to handle a gun." Still, Weiss reluctantly stepped closer to her friend.

Discreetly, the four girls ran up to the mansion, camping out beside the door. Blake leaned in closer, trying to listen for any sounds. "Sounds like quite the party," she remarked.

"The guy we're after is supposed to be having a goodbye party tonight - he's leaving town tomorrow," Yang explained. "For a business trip, the news said. What a bunch of bullshit! Probably heard that the press was onto his case and decided to run like a fucking pussy."

"..." Blake narrowed her eyes. "I think the noises are getting quieter. Are they all heading into another room?"

"Then this is our chance," said Ruby excitedly. "Okay Blake, you take the lead, and we'll be right behind you!"

Nodding, Blake kicked the door open with all her might. She retrieved two machine guns from her belt and aimed them directly in front of her. Inside the mansion, a small group of masked men holding wine glasses turned around in surprise. There was a momentary pause. Then one of the men opened his mouth to scream.

Blake opened fire, her bullets shredding the masked men to a bloody pulp. Suddenly, everything was mayhem, with people running for cover, screams of terror and pain, and the sounds of glass shattering . Some of the men brought out guns of their own and began returning fire. "Go!" Blake yelled to her friends. "I've got this."

"Alright! Remember guys - no survivors!" Yang ran toward a masked man brandishing a katana. The spiked rings on her knuckles dug deep into his skull as she rammed her fist into his head. Yelling excitedly, she ran around the corner and out of sight.

'Let's go," Ruby called to Weiss. Revving up her chainsaw, she made her way up the staircase with Weiss following closely behind her. The white-haired girl was glancing around uncertainly, her gun drawn.

As they reached the second floor, an obese man walked out of a room and, spotting the two girls, ran toward them. Ruby intercepted him with her chainsaw, ramming it right into his voluminous stomach. The fat man screamed in pain as his torn organs and intestines flew out of his body among a river of gore. Behind Ruby, Weiss fired her gun and shot down two thugs who were chasing after them.

With an effort, Ruby pulled her chainsaw out of the man's disemboweled corpse. "Nice shot!" she yelled to Weiss as they made their way across the floor. Spotting a group of the masked men wandering around, confused at all the noise, Weiss fired a couple shots of them, but missed. As they returned fire, the two girls took cover around the corner, and as the men approached, Ruby cut them down with her chainsaw. She bisected one man from the waist up, severing his spine with a sharp crack.

Ruby and Weiss cautiously walked among the piles of bodies they'd left in their wake. Eventually, Ruby noticed that the sounds of gunfire below had faded. Everything was dead quiet. It seemed that Blake and Yang had taken care of the masked men below.

There was a series of loud shouts as a group of men holding clubs and crowbars rushed out from a nearby room. Behind Ruby, there was the sound of a gun going off. The two girls turned around, alarmed, to see a burly, bearded man holding a hunting rifle in his hands.

"Damn kids," Tukson grumbled. "Why couldn't you people just leave us alone, huh? Sorry about this - it's nothing personal." He reloaded his weapon.

Ruby revved up her chainsaw. "You can take him, alright?" she asked Weiss, as she charged forward. "H-hey, wait!" Weiss protested, flinching as a bullet barely missed her head. She turned back toward Tukson and began returning fire.

"Hraaaahhhhh!" Ruby yelled, running as she swung her chainsaw wildly, cutting the men into bloody pieces. One of them held his bat over his head to strike her, and she quickly kicked a nearby door, which slammed into him and knocked him down. Ruby walked over to him and swiftly decapitated him, turning his neck into red mush.

With all the men dead, she took a deep breath. Wew. That had been a lot of fun. She finally knew what it felt like to be an agent of justice, saving the innocent from the people who tried to wrong them. And being able to spend time with her friends just made it even better.

Suddenly, Ruby heard a high-pitched scream come from a room close to her. Surprised, she turned toward it. A moment later, she heard the scream again. What in the world? She approached the door cautiously, before abruptly kicking it down.

As she entered, she immediately wrinkled her nose at the smell of something burning. She was in what looked like an opulent bedroom. The body of a young woman lay on the large bed, smoking, her skin charred black and raw. Chunks of flesh had been torn out of her mangled, torn face.

Directly ahead of Ruby was a disturbing, primal scene. A man, his body also displaying severe, hideous burns, was lying atop another woman, thrusting himself into her repeatedly as she lay motionless. Her dark skin was heavily scarred, and her stomach had been skinned down to the bones. Blood was splattered all over the walls and the floor.

Suddenly, the man paused, and he turned around to face Ruby. His face was smeared with blood, and his mouth was full of raw, bloody flesh. His deranged eyes were open wide, twitching erratically as he stared at her. Finally, letting out a hoarse cry, he lunged at Ruby.

Ruby held out her chainsaw defensively, impaling the crazy man on its edge. His feral screams stopped immediately, and he went limp. Ruby flung his body away in disgust, watching it crumple lifelessly to the floor.

Looking around the room, she noticed a large bag sitting on the couch. "What's this?" she muttered to herself, picking it up. There seemed to be some packets of a strange powder in it, and similar-looking packets were strewn emptily across the floor. Ruby decided to take the bag with her.

On her way out, she noticed the two pizza boxes lying untouched on the table nearby, and picked them up with her free hand.

Downstairs, she found Yang, Blake and Weiss standing by the door waiting for her, their masks off. "Hey guys!" Ruby said cheerfully. "So did we clear out the whole house?"

"Yup. We got 'em all, alright," said Yang, brandishing her bloody knuckles with pride.

Weiss scowled. "Why did you make me take that stupid old man by myself? Didn't you say to stick together?" Near the staircase railings, Tukson lay dead with several bullet holes in his body, and his neck twisted at a grotesque angle.

"Wait." Blake pointed to the bag Ruby was holding. "Where did you get that?"

"Oh, this? I just found it lying in one of the rooms." Ruby handed the bag to Blake. She took off her mask with her now-free hand.

"This is Dust," Blake muttered as she ruffled through it. "I remember on the streets as a kid, all the gangs wanted this shit. Hard to find any of it nowadays, though."

"You should be thankful you got off the streets then," said Weiss coolly. "If you'd stayed with the Fang, maybe you'd be lying with the rest of them right now." Blake didn't answer.

Yang shrugged. "Past is the past, I guess. Well, we didn't all die tonight, so I think we should make this little team official! Anyone got a good name for us?"

"..." Blake said nothing, merely rolling her eyes in exasperation.

"How about 'Ruby and Friends'?" Ruby suggested playfully. Yang shook her head. "Aww, come on, I think it's pretty good."

"The 'Order of Justice'," Weiss proposed, to a reception of shaking heads and scoffs.

Ruby snapped her fingers. "I know. Why don't we call ourselves...Team RWBY? You know, by putting the first letters of all our names together?"

Yang just stared at her sister blankly. "Now that's fucking stupid." She turned towards the door. "Ah, forget it. We're all shit at names, so whatever. Come on, let's chill at my place for tonight. I've got some of our friends over, so we can celebrate!"

"I've got our dinner!" Ruby said happily, lifting the pizza boxes in the air with childish enthusiasm.

With that, the four girls made their way out of the mansion grounds. Yang mounted her motorcycle while Ruby, Weiss and Blake entered their van. The two vehicles started up and drove into the night, drifting through the quiet streets of Vale.

END OF ACT ONE