Down a concrete hall, a man and a woman walked at a steady pace.

 

As their footsteps echoed and the caged lights above them flickered, the woman wearing a grey prison guard uniform asked the man in the black leather trench coat. “I-investigator Crane, you were the one who caught him right?”

 

Investigator Crane frowned, his unshaven face was narrow and pale.

 

He gave a glance to the female prison guard to his right.

 

The female prison guard looked young and vivacious with a look of naivete.

 

"Nervous with bright eyes...new to the job perhaps? Heh, won’t be long till she’s the same as the rest of the guards." He thought.

 

"Yes." Investigator Crane replied with a weary voice.

 

“I can’t believe it, you actually caught him after so long...” The female prison guard sighed with a thoughtful look.

 

“It took a long time...too long.” Investigator Crane muttered with a tired look in his eyes.

 

The female prison guard nodded in agreement. “Yes, if only we had caught him earlier, those bombings and mass suicides could have been prevented..”

 

As if recalling something, Investigator Crane rubbed his brow and sighed. “It couldn’t be helped, he was too slippery. We were lucky to have caught him at all, putting an end to his madness.”

 

The female prison guard nodded in agreement. "Many lost their lives to his schemes, they will see justice this day."

 

"It's the least we could do to ease their pains." Investigator Crane said empathetically.

 

“Well it's good that we have him now, he can’t hurt anyone anymore.” The female prison guard remarked as she turned a corner. “This way Investigator.”

 

Investigator Crane followed the female prison guard down a few more halls until they reached a steel door.

 

Taking a key from the keychain on her waist, she unlocked the door.

 

As soon as the door opened with a metallic creak, a wave of hushed voices hit their ears.

 

Walking in, the room was brightly lit. Around 20 seats were situated in the center, all facing towards a clear window.

 

Every seat apart from one was filled with with whispering people. Some had expressions of hate, others nervousness and anxiety.

 

Investigator Crane heard the shuffling of keys and a clank as the female prison guard locked the door again.

 

He turned back with a look of confusion.

 

The female prison guard scratched her head and chuckled. “There won’t be any more guests, we’re the last.”

 

“Oh.” Investigator Crane nodded absentmindedly.

 

He walked to the front row, closest to the clear window and took the only seat which was empty, while the prison guard stood beside the other two in the room near the door.

 

While he waited patiently, he observed the room beyond the window.

 

It was brightly lit with a large black chair in the middle, a sponge and bucket lay beside it. Behind the chair there was a lever switch on the back wall.

 

It had an ominous feeling to it with all the straps on it and the metallic cup just above it.

 

Suddenly the whispers in the room halted, with a few gulping sounds, a priest, a doctor, 4 prison guards and a freshly shaven bald man in a prisoners uniform entered the windowed room.

 

As soon as he saw the bald man, Investigator Crane’s eyes narrowed as he whispered. “Nero...”

 

The bald man spotted Investigator Crane and smiled. He was quite handsome with pale skin, sharp features and coal black eyes.

 

He had an air of serenity about him as if nothing could disturb his being.

 

The prison guards led the bald man over to the chair and strapped him in tightly.

 

One of the prison guards, a man with a thin beard went over to the sponge and picked it up, just as he was about to place it in the bucket he hesitated.

 

Clenching the sponge tightly, the prison guard’s expression became firm as he left the bucket with the dry sponge and walked over the strapped bald man.

 

The prison guard said something to the bald man with a venomous glare though the bald man merely chuckled at him.

 

Clearly frustrated, the prison guard put the dry sponge on his head. He then took the metallic cup and strapped it to the bad man’s head.

 

Seeing this, the priest began to argue with the prison guards, but his words fell on deaf ears. He let out a long sigh and made a cross on his chest. Opening his black book, he began to read from it.

 

None of this was heard by the audience as the room beyond the window was well insulated, allowing no sound out.

 

Only when the speakers on the walls were turned on, would they hear the prisoners last words.

 

After the priest finished, the guard near the switch pressed one of the buttons on the panel.

 

The speakers on the walls crackled with a burst of static before a voice was heard.

 

“Do you have any last words?” A prison guard asked to the bald man.

 

The bald man looked towards the prison guard who gave him a dry sponge and said in a raspy voice. “Suffering and death are merely the journey...”

 

He turned his head and looked directly at Investigator Crane and gave a toothy smile, a hint of madness in his eyes. “Silence is my destination...”

 

He laughed hoarsely as he shouted. “Such a grand entourage! Haha I will not be lonely at all!”

 

"Come! The great silence awaits-"

 

The frustrated guard scoffed as he shouted. “Hit it!”

 

The guard nearest to the switch pulled the lever down with a snap.

 

In the next moment, the screeching of a thousand birds filled their ears along with loud pained screaming.

 

Many of the audience covered their mouths in shock as they watched the horrific sight, some even closing their eyes.

 

The bald man screamed and shook as his body violently convulsed.

 

It wasn’t long before he started to smoke as his screams turned into a crazed laughter that resounded loudly.

 

One of the guards in the windowed room gagged as the sickly sweet smell of burnt flesh reached his nose, the doctor covered his mouth and puked.

 

The bald man continued laughing as his leg caught fire and his eyeballs melted like wax.

 

Next to catch fire was his head, a crown of flames adorning his charred scalp.

 

Though this seem to faze him little, not even when skin peeled off his face revealing his bloody bone-like visage beneath or when fire began to sprout from his eyes.

 

He kept laughing through his burnt throat until even that became impossible with a fiery hole opening up in his neck.

 

Investigator Crane shuddered, the bald man had never turned his gaze away from him the entire time.

 

It was as if a fiery demon was looking at him from the depths of hell.

 

Finally after 16 minutes of lightning pouring through the bald man’s body, his head slumped to the side, fire burning from his various orifices.

 

Many of the audience had fainted, some still covering their eyes and shivering.

 

Silence had descended upon the room.

 

Investigator Crane was one of the few who still had his eyes open. His hands were drenched in sweat as a guard went over with a fire extinguisher and smothered the flames.

 

Hesitantly, the doctor went up to the bald man and put his finger on his burnt neck.

 

As he pulled back his gloved finger, a bit of flesh sticking to it, he stuttered. “D-dead! H-he’s dead! Time of death, 4:47pm.”

 

Investigator Crane sighed in relief as he leaned back into his chair. He half expected the bald man to jump up again full of life.

 

Just as he was about to stand, he heard something. A familiar female voice.

 

“May the silence forever embrace your greatness as you enter total oblivion...Amen.”

 

Investigator Crane’s heartbeat shook as his hands gripped the rests of his chair.

 

“W-wait! Put the gun down!”

 

“STOP!”

 

In the next second, Investigator Crane heard a cacophony of panicked shouts before 3 gunshots boomed in the room like thunder.

 

He dived under his seat before hearing more screams and gunshots.

 

“No!”

 

“Help!! Help!”

 

Navigating the seats, some of which were knocked down, Investigator Crane crawled his way towards the exit while people were gunned down around him.

 

“Ahh!”

 

“Please stop!”

 

Finally he reached the steel door, gripping the handle tightly he turned it halfway until he heard a clank.

 

"Locked!? Fuck!!!" He screamed internally.

 

As he was about to try again in desperation, he noticed something.

 

The room was silent, there were no more screams or shouts, no shuffling of feet or the overturning of chairs.

 

He gulped nervously as he turned around. His gaze passed the window in which he saw several guards banging on it, some had even attempted shooting it but it only left small cracks on the bulletproof glass.

 

The speakers in the room had all been destroyed, the people who had been sitting in the chairs previously all laid dead with blood spilling from their wounds.

 

Finally his gaze fell upon the familiar female guard who lead him here.

 

Blood splattered her uniform like paint. Her eyes were still bright with an aura of cheerfulness emanating from her, it was if this occasion was a grand ball and not a merciless slaughter.

 

Her naivete was gone, it had been replaced by a crazed fanaticism.

 

The female prison guard casually put a new clip in her pistol and aimed it at Investigator Crane, her supple red lips curved into a large smile.

 

Investigator Crane chuckled nervously as he put his hands up.

 

“Your smile is similar to his...it makes me sick.” He said with a tremble in his voice.

 

The female guard shivered as her eyes turned into crescents. “You really think so?! I'm glad.”

 

She stroked her body sensually with a dreamy look in her eyes. “Just the same as the great pope...what an honor.”

 

Investigator Crane cleared his throat and asked. “Isn’t it enough now? He’s dead, everything is over. Just put gun down..”

 

Snapping back to reality, the female prison guard smiled. “Nothing is over, the silence cannot be stopped. It will endure with our faithful leading the charge."

 

Investigator Crane's eyes narrowed as he said. "So it is as I thought, we merely cut the head off a hydra."

 

The female prison guard eyes lit up. "Yes it is as you say, they will continue the mission until everything is ash and the world a barren lifeless rock once again, as it rightfully should be.”

 

Investigator Crane growled. “You're insane! Why are you doing this? This attack is far smaller than the havoc you lunatics usually cause!”

 

“You heard him didn’t you? What the great pope said?” The female prison guard answered.

 

Investigator Crane frowned in thought before remembering. He repeated. “I will not be lonely at all...”

 

The female prison guard chuckled gleefully. “That’s right, we shall all accompany him to the eternal silence. Such an escort is only necessary for a son of silence.”

 

Before Investigator Crane could say anything else, there was a loud bang, his brain matter splattering on the steel door behind him.

 

As Investigator Crane’s body fell to the floor lifelessly, the female prison guard let out a blissful sigh.

 

"It's truly a shame that there couldn't have been more blessed souls who could join us.." The female prison guard said with a melancholic shimmer in her eyes as she watched Investigator Crane's blood pool at her feet.

 

Closing her eyes, she muttered. "No matter, I will be there at his side."

 

Putting the gun to her chin, she whispered. “I’m coming Nero...wait for me.”

 

One last gunshot echoed in the blood stained room.