Thread: Finding Disaster and Vice [Hahvoc x VitaObscura]

The Topside, the world at large, the polished facade where the mundane was welcomed and often encouraged as the rat race took on an enviable persona. His past wasn't meant to come here, it had been buried in the darkness where it belonged, a courtesy from one professional to another to abide by the accord. It'd been years, a lifetime ago and yet the secrets he had garnered in his time in the Underworld had been until now what had kept him and his sister safe. He had buried his garments in a cast iron box, beneath the back slab steps that led to a small quiet garden. It was a place he hardly visited though his sister used the space to plant rose bushes, pruning them and placing her scarlet petaled bounty across their home. Since then the roses within had wilted and fallen, his rage and depression growing with the passing days. The heavy weather worn leather trench coat clung to him like a second skin as the slouch hat he wore cast a hard shadow upon his face. His leather gauntleted fists throbbed with the dull ache of use, the calluses that had once hardened his knuckles and palms had subsided beneath the white collar work he had so freely chosen, softening beneath the ministrations of lotions, detergents and inks. He had enjoyed working at the printing press, rearranging letters by hand, creating art through the use of a reversed lettering and steel etched images. He removed his boot from the man's throat, though would use his heel to strike him squarely upon the sternum as the man beneath him relearned how to breath again, Have you seen her? He held a lithograph in front of the gasping man. Do I need to repeat myself? He gestured to his former compatriots, their blood mixing with the cast off rain water that collected like small gurgling brooks between the cobbled stones of the road. He had killed the first one with contemptuous ease, though the strike could have been better as he readily admitted to himself that it had been messy and unrefined, lacking the finesse he had once held. The second had been neater and concise, a quick kill. The metallic taint of aged copper hung in the air, Three, two. . . One of the nine! The man barked, his remaining eye filled with terror. I don't know which one. Verily. He said, the glistening flash of tarnished silver came forth as the body beneath him fell silent, a head rolling away into the gutter. The gentle clip of boots upon cobbled streets fell beneath the gentle patter of falling rain, this district never spoke to the law, so these bodies would go unclaimed, becoming part of the forsaken bastards this city so readily made. Though Devlin knew better, they were the middle men, the money hustlers and taking them out sent a clear message that they should have known and respected. Don't fuck with family. Everything happens within a territory for a reason, nothing happened without a caller giving the go ahead, they in turn would often mitigate the fallout with a few silver tongued lies and gold coin placed in strategic dead drops. They knew about him, they had taken his sister. Cold blue eyes would peer out from beneath the brim, scanning his surroundings before he would remove a piece of chalk from an inner pocket to write the words Io sono qui upon a dry stretch of brick wall, eventually encasing the phrase in a giant 9. Devlin Hampton had once been an enforcer for the Underworld, though he had wanted out to protect his sister and while some of them had scoffed at the idea, they had respected his wishes. He was after all a man of his word, he had only wanted the best for his sister, his family. The white noise had returned, the killing silence as he looked up at the sky, gray clouds dancing beneath the illuminated glow of a full moon. Wide unflinching eyes would take in his surroundings before he disappeared from view, shifting into the shadows with practiced ease. Minutes later a loud whistle would break the silence, the law would come upon uniformed heavy footsteps and haggard breaths. They would see his handiwork, the chalk warning removed by whomever was upon their payroll and that would eventually lead back to them.