[CHUCK MCCOY]

✧ RIP ✧

hi, I'm Chuck!!

“HEY IT’S THE ZOMBAE-!!”

You prolly know me for how much I love my wife. Nothing compares to it, not even the love I have for my upcoming two children who I love so deeply it hurts. Still, NOPE, I love my girl more than those demon snotspawns!! Always and forever, I could spill for a thousand pages n’ infinite more how much I feel ‘bout her, make you go uwu where can I get a passenger princess angel succubus of my own!! That much, surely, you know ‘bout me by now. It’s in every post. (Yup, this one too! See what I mean?). What you don’t know ‘bout me is -

I’m a killer.

A blue arm clutches the gun, pulls this guy - screaming his damn lungs out he’s so loud!! - right up to my face. My arms twist him ‘round me, a saw toothed knife held up to his carotid. “WHERE’S HIDEO?”

(Side note, that’s not actually Hideo, the low-level politician of some prefecture I know ■■■■ all ‘bout. That’s ruthless leather of the Aka Oni Syndicate’s right arm, vicious crime n’ drug lord. It’s the same guy. Like, in a suit. I’m so articulate.)

“You’ll never take him ali-!!”

A staccato shlick punctuates the air as my knife guts open his neck. He withers to the ground, fast as the other two start firing at me. The luxury yacht we’re hoisted weaves back n’ forth, undulating sending my punch flying into one goon. I get a few shots to the ribs then, hiss as blood soaks my vest. He’s gotta gun but ain’t batshit crazy with gumption, ain’t on the kinda high where he can tank me running straight towards him and headbutting him so hard his skull cracks. By the time I’m done with the second person, the first guy’s flailing still like a fish outta water, gulps getting heavier as he idly stares up to the stars.

“■■■■ man, you coulda just told me where he was…” I shook my head, reaching down to shut his eyes.

It’s a big speech night for this Hideo guy, who’s cruising into his home neighborhood. The public loves him. Big guy, talks great, does the parallel thing of kissing babies like there’s no tomorrow! The underground hates him. He’s a filthy embezzler, corruption written all over the gang wars he starts. I couldn’t give less of a fuck either way. Lowkey, I ain’t even kill anyone since last season. Only doin’ it cause I made a deal with the devil. Eradicate this Syndicate, Hideo above all else, n’ get the bag we need to get me and my girl’s house.

My right knee was twitchin’. This was gonna be a helluva night, ain’t it? I sprinted further in.

tag: Ghouligan

[Ghouligan]

There was something fishy in the water.

Fish, primarily. But there was an uptick of exotic creatures entering the bay. And where there was food, there were predators. Much like the opportunistic monsters of the sea, Bernard sought these resources. Who wouldn’t want a limited-edition seafood menu? The biggest problem would have been the legality of the expedition. Fortunately, he came prepared with the best alibi Japan had to offer… a yacht.

Atop this yacht were a plethora of fishermen. At a later date, they’d be dispatched as a special operations team meant to retrieve swaths of ingredients for Bernie’s Burgers. But for today, they were simply spectators enjoying a casual sail amongst the bay.

There’s another yacht. And Berniard, as competitive as ever, seeks to set out a friendly challenge — a race home. It was the way rich people socialized or something. Antoine wasn’t sure how this built a bond between them, but that wasn’t his problem. He was here as security. And as security, he couldn’t help but notice something off.

“Bernard,” Antoine said. “Feelin’ seasick. We got a cabin?”

“C’mon, let’s puke your brains out!” Bernard slowed the yacht to a crawl. He was all about making his employees comfortable. When they moved into a private space, he’d continue the conversation. “What’s the real problem?”

“That ship’s dangerous,” Antoine said. “Someone’s… doing something.”

“A shame you’re seasick. Get some rest.” Bernard heads for the door. “Your stuff is in the closet.”

---

CHUCK MCCOY

[CHUCK MCCOY]

✧ RIP ✧

A whole helluva lotta somethin’!!

Like, a lotta killing. I’m peppered with bullet holes now, blood gushing out of my chest and slodging my every drenched step. I’m hiding behind a mast then, doing my best to suck in the heavin’ breaths that painfully showed off how outta practice I was!! Killing’s not in anyone’s blood, it’s a habit that needs to be trained like everything else!! My 2101 #KillCount goal would be 50!!

I’m just kidding.

I’ll have kids!

So, 30. It ain’t me just bein’ outta practice, tho, hella slow, taking for more hits than my regen could sustainably take. It was that I felt off. like I felt the need to pull my punches at the very last millisecond cause somethin’ evil was lurkin’ in the periphery, obsessing over me somewhere I ain’t able to see. My and this feelin’ ain’t get along like this since Paris. Tentacle-kun, ■■■■-ass psychopath!! I think of him, dwelling in the part of the ocean with no light, insane pressure, thriving down there and realize he’d unlocked a whole new level of fear for me. Safe to say, I ain’t like this boat thing all that much. Choked back my breaths as I stare up at the night sky, willing my body to calm down so my quirk could work faster. As if.

Then it came. A PLOP. blop plop blop, like a dead body, reanimated, dragging itself over the wet wooden floors. ■■■■, I thought, turning my head the slightest as insidious dread shot through my spine. At just the right time, because a purple jagged spike came sailing towards me, lobbed off the mast just like that.

“Jesus Christ.” I land sloppily, earlier wounds hella not recovered, face-to-face with whatever the hell this is. Looks cute, less cute when it’s the size of a car.

“I take it that’s Hideo’s room you’re guarding?” I gesture vaguely to the studded metal door behind it. “I mean, that looks like the bad guy’s room. Not tryna typecast you, but look you hella look like the bad guy’s fatal summoning.” The door opens just a pinch, another guy in a skimask runnin’ out for me - and this thing catches him in one bite, the visceral crunch of bone and hip deafeningly loud. Somehow the guy’s scream makes it through, the splay of his blood arcing across the ship.

“A’ight mb you’re your own agent!!” I shout, getting behind a pillar to try to figure out my next move!!

tag: Ghouligan

[Ghouligan]

It wasn’t difficult to find the source of the ruckus. If the ship wasn’t busy dealing with their problem, then they would have seen Ghouligan running atop the water. And if his ship wasn’t distracted by Bernard’s showmanship, then they would’ve seen him running there, too.

Fortunately for him, whatever lurked beneath stayed beneath. Instead, he’d be the monster surfacing from the waters as he reached the side of the ship and promptly scaled up the side of it. If the commotion had given him any sense of direction, then they’d be within this area. Next was pointing their exact location.

A plop.

A startled reaction.

A conversation that implied some kind of racism?

Yeah, that’s where I’m needed.

By the time Ghoul arrives, he sees a blue devil and his lapdog — whatever cursed creature that was, er, the both of them — and decides to play into the scene. After all, he overheard everything.

“Speaking of independent agents,” Somehow, he’s hiding behind the pillar next to Chuck. “What did these guys do to you anyway?”

---

CHUCK MCCOY

[CHUCK MCCOY]

✧ RIP ✧

“WAH!!!” My ass turns around SO quick, soul damn near sent from my body! “Jesus Christ,” I say again, heavin’ out!! Then time slows. The killer-cute axolotl is still there but the real threat is right here besides me, dwells like death in the crepuscular hours of the solstice. This is Ghouligan. I’ve seen him on the news. My tone sinks. I slip back into the quiet indifference that made up the height of my killing years. Any answer is fighting words. Think, somethin’ I ain’t too good at, I intuit. “Somethin’ or the other.” Gang shit, killing shit, drug shit. It’s one big mess under your shoe. Stinks just the same. “You after Hideo too?”

tag: Ghouligan

[Ghouligan]

“After Hideo?”

Antoine’s heard the name in passing. Bernie likes to catch him up on what’s happening in Japan and has recently had a dinner date with the politician. There were a few more involved, too. He wasn’t privy to the details — Bernie didn’t focus on what they were doing, just the people he was meeting with — but he knew that if Hideo was a target, then the others likely were, too. Or worse, one of them might have been targeting the rest. Less competition and all that jazz.

With Bernie’s ship in the bay, too, it was lookin’ like a twofer. A noble effort, but you would think people accounted for security. Then again, this guy didn’t look like a pushover. Seemed the insane type.

“I’m after people who are after Hideo.” Antoine moved away from the pillar. Anyone touching it would realize they couldn’t strip themselves from it. They were stuck. He pulled out his cue stick, tossed a few, now floating pool balls into the air, and aimed at the man’s skull.

“But everyone deserves a second chance,” Antoine said. “Walk away. Give up your life of crime. And you get to live.”

---

CHUCK MCCOY

[CHUCK MCCOY]

✧ RIP ✧

I made a fatal mistake. Realized too late I was touching the pillar, deeply cemented in his trap. Shit. Territory quirk? Poison? Miasma? My bicep struggles against it, something strong enough to crush a tree trunk rendered damn useless. So it ensnared at least all my contact against it. Would prolly spread. Just my luck. “Tch, what a pain in the ass.” Lifeless eyes vacillate between the cue stick and the floating pool balls. Then my eyes under the opera mask perk up and I laugh, real loud, belly deep at what he says. Was he serious? “Thanks for giving me that whole new lease on life, asshole. Christ must be real proud of you, ain’t he? You and your goody-good ■■■■ crusade.” An extra arm bursts over my right shoulder blade, cocks my gun in his direction. But not at him. My tone’s weirdly level, genuine!!

“I already did.”

To giving up crime or living, really, truly -

It was both. But to live is to die, and anyone worth their salt knows crime ain’t ever really done with you even if you’re done with it. I like his unexpected valiancy, tho.

At that moment, I shoot.

In the next fraction of a second, so much could have happened. He could have cleaved a few good holes right through my skull, knocked me senseless and utterly braindead onto my knees. If my shot made it through somehow before then, it’d land square in the hide of that killer car-sized axolotl. If luck was on my side, the not-so-lil alien fish would bulldoze over both of us in mindless rage, knocking me at least away from the pillar. Maybe he’d try to eat Ghouligan too!! After all, who wants to eat my rotting flesh?!

If I was alive, and not heavin’ on the floor in a puddle of brains, I’d yell out, “Just between you and me I think your work’s kinda tight!!” Slipping and sliding along the uneven floor - “We ain’t gotta have a problem!”

tag: Ghouligan

[Ghouligan]

An arm burst out from behind his shoulder blades. Secret arms? Flesh manipulation? Regardless, there was a bullet headed straight for…

The.. ax…. Axoolaw… the pokemon?

The slug is supposed to be translating for me. Why the hell can it not say axololu— whatever. His frustration slowed his reactions. Had he acted instantly, he would have intercepted the bullet. Had he acted a moment after that, he could have increased the friction until it was immobile. And a moment after that, he would have stepped in the way himself. But he was too slow.

The creature shreiks and lashes out in response. Antoine doesn’t have the time to think about the man’s response — something brought him back to the life of crime. This meant he took his chance and squandered. He left behind a life worth living for this. Antoine’s rage melted away.

He was disappointed.

He was disappointed in how little the man valued the world around. And he was disappointed in what he had to do.

Chuck is free.

For now.

Antoine doesn’t have time to manage both him and a rampaging monster. Instead, he focuses his onslaught of pool balls on it. Unfortunately, he feels the wear on his weaponry. He’s been holding back his strength. The cue stick isn’t strong enough, the pool balls either. It takes more hits than he’d like for the monster to get subdued. A squish here, a splat there… eventually, it unravels. Viscera and entrails litter the floor. And Hideo’s door is left ajar.

Chuck’s words meant nothing.

As long as he walked the path he did, then Ghouligan would cut it short.

---

CHUCK MCCOY

[CHUCK MCCOY]

✧ RIP ✧

I felt bad for Ghouligan. Genuinely did, that ■■■■ of a sea monster looked scary as ■■■■!! Something told me he would handle it much better than I would, not that I’d ever want to kill it at all, as I stormed into Hideo’s room. I told you before I’m a killer… But that’s not the life I want. Not the me on the inside. It’s what I’m thinking as shadows shuffle through the dark, gunshots splay through the room and my fist finds the hilt of Hideo’s gun and arcs it through the air. One shot, in my lower thigh. Air whizzes through the exposed skin, muscle and bone heaving in on itself. Three seconds later find Hideo cratered into the floor, my foot pushed into his shoulder blade as my hand crushes his skull to the floor. There’s a rope to his neck.

“Who put you onto this?!”

“There’s many men who want you dead, aren’t there,” I hiss, narrowing my eyes under the mask. “Men you’ve slain, those who want their vengeance. The innocent neighborhoods who’ve been stained by all your shit, all your drugs pouring piss down on everyone.” My face contorts in disgust. “All that and you have the gall to show your face as a Councilman. Your greed knows no end, does it?”

“T-triple.” He’s choking under the rope, delicate hands reaching up towards me. So far away. And of course he ain’t got wrists!! Not like he’s the one doin’ the killing, it’s always someone else assholes like these use for their gain. “I’ll triple wha-whatever it is you’ve been offered.”

I pull tighter.

“S-Seiji? Otaru? Black Horse?”

Damn.

“The Tinkerer?”

Oh shit!!

That was his name! Me and my girl forgot! Anyway, in the last thread and the old site, the Tinkerer was this hella whack Faustian figure who offered me and my girl certain things in exchange for hella wild shit. Liquify my offshore assets if I carry out this hit for him, create an anti-death device for my girl in exchange for the UAU blueprints (or some other dudes dead). See what I mean? That ■■■■ don’t miss! He hella always catches us when we’re between a rock and a hard place, and when you have kids on the way, you’re willing to make certain compromises. I don’t actually like killing like this. Would give everything to go back and undo what I’ve done. But what if ain’t exactly do shit.

Anyway, Tink looks hella scary so I blocked his name from my memory!! Plus we hadn’t dealed with the devil in a long time before recently! A chill runs down my spine.

“It ain’t matter now. Any last words?”

Not like confessing his sins would save him at this point.

Guys like us are similar like that.

An extra arm whips out my knife, positioning it just under his carotid artery. I’d make it quick.

tag: Ghouligan

[Ghouligan]

Ghouligan didn’t hear Hideo’s last words.

All he saw was his warm, dead body lying on the ground. That’s all Chuck would see, too. Before he had the luxury of turning around, Ghouligan took Chuck’s fate into his own hands. In the same way that Chuck took Hideo’s: without a second thought.

Ghouligan didn’t understand Chuck. It was unfathomable, really. To leave behind your family and pursue a life of crime. There were better ways to chase fame, better ways to make money, and better ways to keep them safe. It reminded him of his own father and the same actions he took that got him strung up by the gangs he owed. Men like these chose the easy way out instead of the far more challenging, rewarding futures they could have tended by choosing their families.

Still, for all his mistakes, they’d miss him.

His wife would cry over the man she loved. His children would mourn a father they barely knew, if ever. And old friends would visit, damning themselves for not being there earlier.

Ghouligan slammed his cue stick against the pool balls that floated into the room. With Chuck’s ability to manipulate his body, Ghouligan sought to bludgeon every last inch of him until he was an unmoving, unrecognizable clump of cobalt flesh.

Death was bittersweet.

He wondered what the world would have looked like if Chuck had asked him for help. There wasn’t much Ghouligan could do, but there was always Bernie. And yet Chuck refused to surrender himself because, like so many, they were stuck in their ways.

That was behind him.

Everything was as he turned his back to the scene. He left the room and returned to Bernie’s yacht, delivering the news.

Hideo and the man who killed Hideo were dead.

---

CHUCK MCCOY

[Sol]

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[attr="class","likedotitle2"]Approved

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Rest in pieces Zombae, we hardly knew ye. It's a good thing he'll come back
Mission approved!

CHUCK MCCOY - 2,500 EXP + 7,500 = 10,000 EXP
Ghouligan - 13,000 EXP + 5,000 (monthly cap reached) = 18,000 EXP

PHARAOH LEAP.

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