Survival is Crucial

The Balrog

In the span of a day, gangs, bounty hunters, hitmen, all of them within the city of Los Angeles were suddenly found dead within their own homes. Anyone remotely related to Nixon or Tyche, all of them were found dead, women or man, child or otherwise. Every time the police would arrive at the location of the crime, they would find nothing in regards to evidence, or any sort of signs that another person was in the room other than the bullet wound on their heads, the bullets already dug out beforehand. When security camera's recorded the culprit, the footage would turn out a blur - witnesses either couldn't recognize the culprit, giving completely inconsistent stories or were found dead the next day at the date and time in where they were supposed to report what they had seen. The total amount of deaths ranged in the hundreds.

Though, the death toll did not stop there. Police officers in league with either bounty hunters, or even the Escravos themselves were dealt with in secret, their bodies placed in places that would take days to find, and nobody was none the wiser, all who knew these police ignorantly believing that they were still at work, staying at a friend's place, et cetera. After a day of absence, he returned to the hospital, sitting himself down within the room Yua was in, waiting for Balrog's return as Justin followed from behind.

Yua furrowed her brow as he entered, "Are you finally going to tell me what's going on?"

The Balrog looked her in the eyes, "All I know is, your boyfriend is being hunted due to a bounty on his head, that's all."

"Where is he?"

Balrog remained silent.

"Who are you...?"

"I am known as the Balrog."

"That barely answers my question."

"I'm your guard, hunter, hitman, whatever you want to call me, I don't care."

"Where is Nixon?"

The Balrog remained silent again, running his tongue across his teeth, rubbing the gunpowder from his hands with a white cloth.

"Just..." Yua curled up, tears welling up in her eyes, "Tell me where he is!" She screamed, throwing her chair to the side.

"Why?"

"Because I love him, damnit!"

"Love..." His eyes squint in contemplation, "Why do you love him?"

"Because I do!? What are you...?"

"Is it worth it?"

"Of course it is! If you love someone you should do everything to protect them, help them!"

"Is it worth risking your life?"

"What are you getting at!?"

"The one whose life should be paramount should be your own, you should leave others second to yo-"

"I don't give a s**t about that! I don't want to know that my boyfriend is out there risking his own god damn life when I can be there with him! I... just f*****g tell me"

"Brazil, they're going to Brazil."

Justin turned to Balrog, "Why Brazil?"

Yua stopped to think, looking over to the wall before looking back over to Balrog, "It doesn't matter, take me to him."

"You go, I follow, that's all. Your search is unrelated to my mission."

"Fine!" Yua paused for a second, "Where were you?"

"I was eliminating any threats in the area."

Yua scowled, "And what does that mean, Balrog?"

"I have murdered anyone that could be a threat to you and your lover's life."

Yua's expression turned into one of pure disgust before turning away, "No..." She mumbled to herself, "Alright, no, that's fine." As if telling herself that, she moved back onto the bed, "Hey, Justin... from what you've seen from my injuries, how long do you think it'll take me to go there myself, to be released from the hospital."

Justin considered for a moment, "Normally it'd take a week since you were shot right above your appendix, but, you should be fine to go and move about by tomorrow."

Yua took in a deep gulp of saliva, "Hey, Justin."

"Hm?"

"You can leave... I'd-"

"No, I refuse."

Yua's face became redder with rage, "Why?"

"I'm way too interested now, plus, you'd need someone to take care of you on your journey right? Not like that bullet wound will sew itself."

Yua took a deep breath, "Alright, fine."

The Balrog stood up from his seat, dragging Justin out from the room with one hand on his shoulder, closing the door behind him. Justin, with an eyebrow raised, asked, "Why'd you pull me out?"

"Give her some privacy."

Justin looked to the door, "Alright... but," Justin looked back over to Balrog, "I've never thought you could be considerate for someone else."

"It's moments like these wherein a clear mental state will be imperative for our survival, especially her's."

The Balrog placed himself on a wall as Justin watched, "Hey... can I call you something other than Balrog?"

Balrog doesn't respond, crossing his arms as he's sat on the wall with his head down.

"I'll call you Bal then," Justin leaned against the wall next to Balrog, staring out at the disoriented nurses and doctors inside the hospital. "You said earlier that one's life should be above everyone else and all but... you don't seem to follow that rule."

The Balrog licked his lips, his eyes shifting to look over to Justin, "I follow it."

"But..." Justin sighed, "I saw some of the commotions downstairs, and after I heard about what you said in the room... I can inference that you were the cause of it. Isn't this murdering of people also risking your life, especially since some of these people are also professionals like you?" Balrog responded with silence, "To be honest, I don't even know how I got away with what I've done..."

"We are exempt from police interference, but that doesn't stop them from allying with bounty hunters."

"Sound corrupt."

The Balrog doesn't respond, just closing his eyes before shifting his arms further up his chest, bringing his neck into his shoulders as he slid down the wall ever so slightly. Justin made an uncomfortable expression.

"Does that mean that everyone here would just ignore it as well?" Justin's hands shook as he said that, his eyes completely focused on one of them, still slightly stained with blood, "Is that why there wasn't anybody up here when that happened?"

"Yes."

"Is this what your world is like the whole time?"

The Balrog doesn't respond, just glances.

"Sometimes you're talkative, and sometimes you aren't... why is that?"

"I only say what I find necessary."

"And you did then?"

The Balrog nodded before Justin chuckled to himself before falling on the floor.

"I f*****g hate this, yet this morbid curiosity curses me... what to do..."