The Future Will Change

At the run-down motel building…

In a motel room, Keiji had been tied to a chair where Chati would routinely proceed to casually burn his skin with towels soaked in holy water. The vampboy tried his best to endure it, but was pushed to the point of tears as he sat there, defenseless.

“Rrrgh…why…why are you doing this, dammit?!” he gave a guttural roar through the pain he felt, “What the hell is the point of any of this? When you get your money, what are you even gonna do?!”

“It’s not just about the money…it’s about sending a message.” Chati hissed as she crawled over to him and put her paw at his throat, “Magic users, people with different physical attributes they can’t control…I’m sick of hiding in the shadows. If a few others have to die in the process, then tough shit!”

Chati roughly pushed him away, but Keiji started to think about what she had just said regarding lives.

“...wait…what--wait a second, if a few others have to--?”

She looked over her shoulder with a smug cat-grin on her face. “...yeah? Go on, put two and two together, ya ninny.”

“...No way. You mean to tell me that you were the one who--”

“Caused all of those disappearances and murders of your fellow college students and sold out other magic users to take the fall in my place, causing a fear-mongering feedback loop?”

“WHAT!?” Keiji nearly flipped himself backwards in the chair from how hard he shook himself, “Again, for the love of god why?!”

Chati turned away from him and grit her teeth. “...after being beaten and molested by so many weirdo assholes, I said ‘fuck it’. If this world wasn’t gonna respect me, they’d fear me instead.”

“Look, I’m sorry that happened to you,” Keiji replied, “Believe me, I know what it’s like to have things shoved in me against my will by people who had power over me. But this isn’t gonna solve anything. You aren’t making anything better by doing this.”

“Maybe not….but I’ll be damned if I let anymore rich bastards take advantage of people who look different. A few lives being sacrificed is nothing compared to satisfaction I’ll have once I get what I want.”

Keiji groaned at her inability to make sense and shouted, “What do you want?! Do you wanna stand up for mutants or fix the system or what?! None of what you’re saying sounds like you’re trying to do anything for anyone but yourself!”

Which was ultimately the truth. Chati knew deep down that this wasn’t a desire for altruism or to fix anything. It was just to satisfy her own ego and take revenge against society for how she had been wronged by the human world. And to do so, she would cause chaos and civil unrest until she was satisfied.

“...you’re not a hero--you’re not even a misunderstood anti-hero,” Keiji continued, “You’re a monster!”

“What took ye so long to figure it out ya dumbarse?!” with a hefty slap that left scratch marks across his face, Chati struck Keiji down, knocking him out of the chair. She then stomped her foot onto his back and snarled, “...ye know what? Fuck the money…I’ll just make an example out of you instead!”

Outside, about one mile away…

Coral Currents was driving through the city, speeding in what looked like a run-down, rusted green pickup truck. The dashboard had all of the information she needed locked onto a GPS system. With a focused, determined expression on her face, she swerved through traffic and side streets as fast as she could.

“Hrrk!” Rumble held tightly onto his seatbelt as he was jostled about in what was essentially a rollercoaster of a truck ride through the city. “Is this how you approach most of your missions?”

“Yeah. It’s basically our thing,” she replied as she shifted gears, “Listen up. The police radio is giving me a signal…”

With her radio tuned, Coral was able to pick up a signal from nearby…

“Release your hostage immediately!”

“Not until my demands are met! A million dollars for his life or else!”

“Dammit,” Coral muttered, “Looks like they’re already in the forceful negotiation phase. This is Keiji, right? You think he’ll be okay?”

“I’m not sure,” Rumble answered hesitantly, “We don’t really know what they’re capable of here, so anything can happen--”

“Shit…” Coral muttered as she pulled over all of a sudden and looked down the street to see a horde of police officers gathered outside of the motel building. “Well, this just got way hotter than I expected.” She pulled into an alley and reached behind the driver’s seat where she retrieved a box-shaped, automatic shotgun and shell ammo.

“Uhhh…” Rumble glanced at the sheer amount of firepower she was packing with a concerned expression. “...is that really necessary, Coral?”

Coral got out of her truck and shut the door. “Gotta be prepared for anything, Rumble. If there’s this many cops, there has to be a small army inside holding this place up.”

Rumble would follow her out. “...damn…hang on, Keiji.”