Phantom Noir Episode 4 - Blood Soaked Battle

'''Blood Soaked Battle! '''is the fourth episode of Phantom Noir. It was written by SuperNerd295.

Plot
Wade lay on the couch again. His arm limp as his conscious drifted elsewhere. The sweet sound of a guitar filled his ears as awoke from his trance to hear shuffling in the room over. Curiously sitting up and taking one ear bud out, making the main lyrics and drum null, he listened carefully. Of course he had heard Rochelle, it was her job to sit there all day until a case came up. The other voice he couldn't quite identify. It sounded familiar, but he couldn't exactly place it. He took the other bud out, looking at the door. The muffled voices continued to get slowly closer to the door, until it creaked open. From it, a figure clad in white, with a long, flowing gold cape looked dully around. Wade scooted backwards to the farthest arm of the couch, his knees bent up and his arms extended, a flashing light summoning a pistol in his hands. "You!" He growled. The assassin's head went limp to his left, the empty red visor gazing at Wade as sand swirled out of the intruders pockets. Before he could shape it, Rochelle bumbled into sight.

"Wade!" She yelled, pushing Seti aside. He had no problem regaining his footing. The officer flung his arms to the side, his sights on Seti, his eyes on Rochelle. "Drop the gun, now!" The assassin began to stop tensing. Wade lowered the weapon.

"What is he doing here? Last time I saw him he wanted to kill me." Wade said, shifting his gaze to the grey skinned man.

"That's incorrect." He blurted, his visor slimming and growing dim. Rochelle's body jerked forward slightly, before Wade stood up. Wade threw up arms again.

"What the hell are you doing here?" He said, sternly. The assassin changed his posture to a forward standing one, tensing up his shoulders a little. His legs were filled with energy, ready to spring away at any moment.

"I'm here because I was given a job offering. It's plain and simple." He took a step forward, hoping to impose his opposer. Instead, Wade remained unmoving.

"And how am I-" Wade was interrupted by the opening of a door down the hall. An armor clad figure appeared, the area where his mouth was corroded away, his teeth visible, and a toothbrush in his jaw. Joshua's brush holding arm went limp as the plating around his mouth started to grow back in flakes.

"What the hell?" He exclaimed, looking dumbfounded at Seti. His eyes glanced over to Rochelle. "I swear to God, if you found me another buddy-cop, especially this freak..."

"All of you! Stop!" Rochelle screamed, her iris and pupil turning a furious yellow, a fire like energy leaking from the corners of her eyes. In a breath, the strange state her face was in vanished, he demeanor becoming more proper. "I'm sure you two are all too familiar with our newbie here. Since Joshua apparently pronounce his name," Plant gave Wade the death stare, retaliated with Wade's dead inside look. "I'll introduce him to you again. This is-" She got cut off.

"Seti Aziza Mostafa. Now cut to the chase, ma'am." He said, his visor going null as he looked down and crossed his arms.

"In short, Joshua, you're working alone again." She said, Plant seeming giddy. "Wade, Mr. Mostafa-" Again she was interrupted.

"Seti." The assassin mumbled.

"Seti will be working with you. However," She said, turning her attention over to Joshua. "If these two are ever in grave danger, it is up to you to serve as back up. You got it?" Plant nodded his head, enjoying the prospect of working solo again. Wade still glared at his new partner. "Alrighty then. I'll leave it to you boys to find we're all on the same page. No fighting, or someone might just get fired." She said, walking out on the bittersweet message. Wade plopped down on the couch, extending his arm and patting down.

"Wanna sit?" He asked, trying to be as friendly as possible. Seti shook his head. Plant looked confusedly at him, as if something was afoot. Wade noticed this. "Hey. Plant. Why you giving him that look?" Joshua looked back at Wade.

"I chopped his fuckin' arm off." He said. "I chopped it clean off." Seti showed obvious signs of annoyance at that remark.

"Yeah. My 'fuckin arm'." He said, turning around. Wade looked up at him. His arms retreated to his sides and his stance loosened up. "My room is on the other side of the hall. I'll be staying there." He said, walking off. Plant went back in his room.

"Wonder what his deal is." He said, closing his door. Wade sighed as he slouched on the couch. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. The blue and yellow around his jaw peeled away, his mouth again visible. He bit down on his little treat as he flicked his thumb, lighting it up.

BLOOD SOAKED BATTLE
He was tall, and a pale white. He wore purple sweat pants and no shirt. Little to no muscle was on his body. Quietly dragging his feet, he pushed open the door to a nearby bar. The bartender quickly gave him a strange look, before shooting back to a customer asking for a drink. He sat down next to him and bent over in the dimly lit room. The man next to him went over to join his friends in the corner, who were the only ones making any noise. They sat around watching a game of baseball excitedly, screaming and shouting at the slightest of things. The orange light above the pale man glowed brightly as he looked up at the bartender, showing him his singular red eye. Purple streaks came out of the bottom of it. The two men looked at each other. After a small awkward silence, the bartender spoke to him, "It's been a quiet day. Odd for a Saturday at this time of evening, don't you think?" And yet the pale man remained unmoving, not making so much as a hum. "What can I get you, sir?" He asked, trying to gauge a response. At long last, he answered.

"Water will do." He replied, not moving. The bar tender got to work, filling up the mans glass with cold water. He turned around and passed it to him."Here you are." He said, a smile on his face.

The pale man stared deep inside the bartender, and stood up. He slammed his hands against the counter and shrieked, "YOU OWE ME SOME FORM OF COURTESY!" He leaned forward more, grabbing the bartender by the collar, and lifting him. "JUST BECAUSE FRANCE IS DEAD DOESN'T MEAN SHIT!" And the bartender was slammed against the ground.

"I have no idea what you're talking about!" The busy crowd in the back didn't hear a word, but a straggler, coming over to grab another drink saw everything. The bartender shrieked as the pale man stood on the counter and looked down at him. The straggler walked closer, pointing his finger at the pale man.

"Get the hell down and..." He burped. "Quit it!" His drunken arm shook heavily, barely staying up. Paying no mind to the straggler, the pale man crouched down. He hung his head and shook it.

"Not that it matters though." He said, extending his arm. Using his elongated nails, he tore open the joint on his thumb with his pointer finger, and stayed silent as the blood spilled. His eye became half closed. "I'm gonna kill him..." He whispered. "I'm gonna kill him..." He slowly turned to the straggler, who was now behind him. Again, he pointed at him. But before he could so much as open his jaw, his head collapsed on the floor, and soon his body fell too. Returning his blood soaked hand to his knee, the pale man spoke to the bartender. "The phone. Where is the phone?"

---

Rochelle sat in her usual spot, again in casual attire. Her palms supported her chin as she leaned forward, moving her legs side to side and up and down. Closing her eyes, a small blonde bang drifted out of her excellently braided hair and over her face, resting kindly on the side of her nose. The tip of it lifted and fell with each gentle breath she took. She was in a trance like state. One between sleep and awake, her senses dimmed but still there. Her legs scrolled down to a halt as she rolled backwards in her office chair, leaning forward even more until her head rested completely on the desk, her braid falling down her side.

'RING-A-LING-LING! RING-A-LING-LING!'

In a sudden jolt, she snapped up, backing her chair against the wall. Quickly scooting it forward, she yanked the phone off it's holder, and used her elbow to support it against her ear. Finally sounding awake, she said, "Hello, this is Rochelle, and you've reached Saints Helm! What can I do for you?" She smiled, knowing that even if the person on the other end couldn't see it, that it was good practice and got her more in the role of the 'happy secretary'. For a moment there was a silence.

"Can I talk to Wade Evans?" A weak, raspy voice said. There was a small amount of screaming in the background. Rochelle went on the defensive.

"Who is this and where are you?!?" She demanded, screaming at the phone. Wade walked through the doorway, but she didn't notice.

"My names Ringo Dirt. And right now I'm just at a nearby bar. I think you know the place, right off the start of the highway. Tony's Ship I believe it's called? The crowd is going wild over the baseball game right now, isn't that right, buddy?" He said, a sinister wickedness in his voice. A voice from farther away spoke, but it was impossible to make out. "See? He says we're having a jolly old time. Now, as his old pal, I want you to invite Wade down here. Thanks." The man hung up the phone. Wade walked up to her.

"What was that all about?" He said, tilting his head. Rochelle shook hers.

"No time to explain. Get Seti. You two are going out."

---

Wade hopped on the front of the bike. "You wanna hop on back or can you get places yourself?" Seti looked at him dully. "Oh, right. My bad." Wade said, realizing what he was insinuating. Wade revved up and shot down the empty street, as the entire barren wasteland around seemed to bend itself to Seti's control, a constant slope emerged, before turning into a ramp, and another slope. Then a ramp. This continued until Seti had built up enough speed to start running down the highway on a bridge of sand, rivaling Wade's speed. The two came to a halt when they reached the corner leading back into the city. There was the building. Wade slammed through the doors, Seti not far behind. The two stopped when they saw the sight that awaited them. The pale man, Ringo Dirt, stood there. In his hand was a sword, and at it's edge was the corpse of a man, impaled. He turned to them, looking away from the horrible bloodbath that was the rest of the dining area. A blood soaked TV-screen still lit up and made noise, though dulled. Wade drew a pistol.

"Wade Evans... I see you're doing well. Surprising, considering you killed someone." Ringo said, clenching the hilt of his sword. "And it appears you brought Seti along, too. It's perfect. A traitor, and a killer." He reached the sword upwards, causing the dead body at the end to slip off. A steady stream of blood ran up the blade, up Ringo's arm, and over his back, creating a claw of sorts. He stepped forward, and Wade readied his shot.

"Behind you!" Seti screamed, tackling Wade as a spike of blood shot out of the floor and onto the ceiling with a splat. It trickled down, slowly floating in the air and forming another spike. Wade shot at it, splattering the blood in every direction and temporarily blinding Ringo. Wade stood up and ran at him, hitting him over the top of the head with his baton. In response, he slashed Wade's back with the claw. Seti ran next, a sword appearing in hand. The blood claw boiled and sliced, cutting through the sword like a hot knife through butter. Blood shot down Ringo's arm and formed a spike one the back of his hand, which he preemptively used to stab the confused and vulnerable Seti in the cheek. Seti crashed onto the ground, the spike of blood snapping off and going down his throat. All he could taste was blood. Wade began to stand up, but his blood began to slowly drain from his body, at least just enough to make two large spikes above both his and Seti's heads. Wade fell again.

"How I'm going to enjoy beating you within an inch of your life." Ringo said, slowly stepping towards Wade, his legs shaking out of a mixture of malnutrition and excitement. Wade lay in pain on the floor, grunting and panting. Seti lifted his arm, cracking apart the clay floor panels and the dirt underneath, morphing it into a golem roughly ten feet tall. It lifted it's arm and came crashing down upon Ringo, who using his blood claw, grabbed onto to fist, and launched himself into the air above the creature, who's arm had extended on a thin strand of sand until it could stretch no farther and crashed through counter and wall alike. A large cloud of dust flooded the room as the golem let out an agonizing wail, it's body being shredded into thirds. It melted into the floor as Ringo's one red eye shined brilliantly, bouncing off of each spec of dirt and debris. Suddenly, the dust cloud in the room concentrated in one spot. As Ringo stood up, a voice from behind him said,

"You're a damned idiot."

And in an instant, a blade came crashing down against Ringo's neck. A squirt of blood shot from his jugular, but oddly enough he just turned around.

"Seti, Seti, Seti... You worked with us for so small a time. It's a shame..." He said, pulling the blade from his neck. "You never got to know more about me. I'm sure it would have proved beneficial to this-"

BOOM!!!

A bullet flew through Ringo's back, stumbling him forward, as Seti kneed him directly in the eye. Stepping back and trying not to fall, another bullet shot directly through his spine and caused him to fall forward as Seti roundhouse kicked him into what was left of the wine shelf. Glass was stabbed into his entire body, alcohol in his wounds. He couldn't see well at all, his eye was internally bleeding and half a bottle was lodged in his cheek. In a moment, the shelf came crashing down, and he broke both his legs and tore the muscles around his shoulder, while simultaneously popping it out of place. He didn't understand why he couldn't move his body. "N-no..." He said, reaching his surviving arm out, pointing at Wade. "Y-you're... you're supposed to be dead... dead...d-dead..." Aggravated, Ringo sucked all the blood back into his body and used some of the bartenders, the corpse of which lay smashed in half next to him from the golem punch, to repair his blood veins temporarily. He stood up, throwing a wooden beam lodged in his chest out the broken wall. Walking drunkenly towards his opponents, he began a monologue. "I died as a baby..." He said, starting to laugh. "I would only find out here that I could never feel." He let out a high pitched laugh, stumbling backwards, landing on his rear end and stabbing a stone into his hand. "I don't even remember my own name." He took a look at Wade's stern face, observing his right arm grow a tighter grip on a magnum as his left arm drifted over to hold on. He stood up. "I grew up in the slums, got into fight after fight... I lived in hell... apparently the guy who ran the shop I lived in the basement of had some beef with the mafia. Unpayed debt's or something..." He took another step forward and Seti pulled back into a fighting stance. "They charged the building, and I sat there crying in the bottom floor. A man found me, and dragged me upstairs. That's the day I met him... France..." Wade's eyes opened wide as he gasped. Wade took a step forward.

"You don't mean..." He began. But Ringo had none of it.

"YOU KILLED HIM!" He leaned forward and clenched his fist until it bled. "YOU KILLED THE ONLY MAN WHO WOULD ACCEPT ME, WHO TREATED ME LIKE A SON!" He ran towards Wade, his fist still clenched, a blade of blood forming around it. He dropped his arm, and swung right at Wade's throat. The next thing Wade saw was a blast of high pressurized water blasting through the blade of solid blood, slashing Ringo's right hand and lower left arm off. Not hesitating one bit, Ringo formed a spear of blood and stabbed Wade through the chest. Growing a barb on the end, he tilted the long weapon down, catching the former police officer on it's hook. In a blast, he swung Wade off of it, directly towards Seti. However, a bed of floating water caught Wade with a slap and dropped him slowly on the ground. He began to bleed. Ringo turned angrily towards the door. "Who the hell are you?" He growled viciously, forming a minigun on his left arm out of blood. Plant stepped out of the shadows basking the doorway.

"My name is of no concern to you. What matters is that like it or not, I have orders to dispose of you, you pathetic waste of skin." Joshua snarled, the whole structure rumbling. He walked further ahead and turned to Seti. "Get Wade out of here and come back. I'll need your assistance. Seti stared up in awe for a moment before nodding and carrying Wade's body out of the building. The instant Ringo opened fire, the water from the entire city block came in the room, flooding it and washing up all the blood as it rose to the top. Ringo's blood based weaponry could only last so long in a pool of water. Plant walked up to him, as Ringo began morphing his gun arm into a sword. He tried swinging it, but the new found density of the water proved it nearly impossible. Ringo began to feel crushed. In a poof of red smoke, his eye exploded in place, as he felt his skull dent. Plant looked at him emotionlessly. The bloody water in the building slowly spilled out into the streets, though a restraining bubble remained around the pale man. " You know what I was told, Ringo?" He said, leaning close up to the man. "I heard your last name was Dirt. Kinda ironic, don't you think?" Plant said crudely. And just as he finished smiling, four spikes of blood shot from the water bubble, two completely disabling his legs, flying straight through his kneecaps. The watery grave around Ringo fell on the floor with a big splash, the injured man barely standing. The blood from around the street came out of the water and lifted above Plant, forming a bunch of tiny spikes. Just as he did this however, Ringo dropped to his knees and began to vomit profusely. His stomach gave a horrific growl as he clenched his breast. Each spike of blood above Plant liquidized and splatted. Trying to catch his breath, he was interrupted by his muscles cramping up. Not knowing what was happening, Ringo fell on the ground, unable to move his limbs. He began to convulse, flopping around like a fish. He began screaming, not knowing how to react in this situation. His body was slathered in his own vomit. And he began to cry. No tears poured out of his empty eye socket, but his convulsions stopped. Now he just rocked himself back and forth, sobbing as he did. After a minute or two of this, Seti had returned, observing the flooded arena, and Plant splatted in blood. The injured man looked at him and reached out an arm for help. Seti ran too him and grabbed his hand, pulling Plant against the wall. He rested him there as he walked closer to the crying man. Suddenly, the crying transitioned into heavy laughter, with Ringo beginning to rock around on his back, tucking his limbs closer. He said to his opposer,

"I'm so stupid! I'm so damn stupid!" Over and over again. The new worker stared at the eyeless body move around on the floor insulting himself solemnly. Ringo stopped, and then looked in Seti's general direction. "You're right here, huh? Brought me so close... Like it was any use! I'm dying. I've been dying. I barely eat or drink, I accidentally give myself horrible injuries, I lost a kidney... I'm dying!" Seti began to form a blade of metal by bending the leg of a chair.

"Hold still." He said. "I'll make this quick." Seti assured, crouching.

"Quick? Quick?" Ringo said, starting to laugh again. "Be my guest, buddy, but just know, you're gonna die."

"Seti! Behind him!" Plant screamed, looking past the two men. In the corner, a body that was formerly impaled was rising. Seti looked up, and saw a trail of blood leading back to Ringo's amputated arm. In one last laugh, the now shriveled body of Ringo lay cold and dead on the ground before Seti, who stood up to look at his new foe. He wore a shirt belonging to a local college, and a grey sweatshirt with baggy beige cargo pants. His face was green with twelve red shapes, all of which were eyes. It stood and began walking.

"I told you... Seti... I would have fun beating you within an inch of your life..." The body spoke, twitching as it slowly seemed to become more and more alive.The splattered blood rose in the air, going up and up and spreading until it covered the entire ceiling. Ringo hadn't died, he had jumped to another body, using his blood as a vessel to carry his soul. In an instant, spikes came crashing down against Seti, but in the next, the ceiling itself rose up into the air, morphing into a plethora of slabs. Encasing the blood in each, they came flying down onto Ringo's new body, crushing and splattering it, sending hunks of it flying every which way. An intestine landed on Plant's lap, and he disgustedly wiped it off. Seti began panting. His breathing slowed until he fell unconscious onto the ground, forming himself a small bed of sand to catch his head before he slipped away completely. Plant, up against the wall and in peace, once again felt his wounds, and in pain began panting as well. He closed his eyes, and tensed up, before losing control and falling sideways with a thud, knocking himself out.

---

The three men woke up side by side in the infirmary, Rochelle, reading a book in the corner. She turned to them. "Saint's Helm has to go out of duty until you three recover fully. This is gonna cause some big issues." The men's faces grew uneasy. "Don't worry though. Just means I'll have to go out and do the work. At the very least it will raise the yearly total of resolved cases." She sighed. "I know it's wrong, but could more tempered people commit crimes?" Seti and Plant laughed, but Wade looked confused.

"What?" He asked. Rochelle focused in on him.

"Tempering, remember? It's the ritual I preformed on you when you came here. It's essentially getting the blessing of an angel or demon, granting one a special power." She explained. Wade nodded. "Speaking of which Seti, since you don't have much better to do, mind telling us who tempered you?" She asked, smiling. Seti looked at her with a gloomy stare.

"It was an angel... I don't remember his name. He's the capo that got me into the mafia." He admitted. Rochelle, Joshua, and Wade looked at him in disbelief.

"An angel? What did he look like?" Rochelle asked tentatively. She leaned forward, closing her book. Seti closed his eyes.

"He had a mask, but that's all I remember. It didn't have much, if any design either." He said, opening his eyes again.

"I'll look into it. Until then, you boys get some rest. Especially you, Wade. You'll be out by Friday, Seti." Rochelle said, walking out of the room. Plant turned to Seti.

"Listen I'm... sorry for chopping off your arm. I just..." Seti interrupted him.

"It's fine, Joshua. You saved our lives. Plus, when things go South we work together, right? No need to be hostile." Seti said, relieving himself of massive amounts of anxiety. "Apology... accepted." Wade looked at the two. He frowned, and begrudgingly gave his thanks.

"Thanks for saving me back there." Wade said, avoiding eye contact. "If it wasn't for you, I would've been a lump of meat." A silence fell over the room. Each man lay quiet in their beds, unknowing of the journey that lay ahead.

Cast

 * Wade Evans
 * Seti Aziza Mostafa
 * Joshua Plant
 * Rochelle
 * Ringo Dirt

Teaser
It had been a month since the Ringo Dirt incident. Joshua sat alone on his bed, getting ready for a shower. It had been talking to him for weeks since, this strange voice in his head. It spoke in a horrible mixture of his voice and a familiar one, but he couldn't place it. It would keep telling him to embrace, whatever that meant. He stepped into the shower, looking down at the floor. "Cold water..." It spoke to him. "Cold water..."