Abiss looked the boy up and down. And he was a boy, couldn’t have been older than 16. Dark skin, short blonde dreads, cocky smile. His clothes were expensive looking, flashy, but filthy and worn down. He wore gloves that were infused with Shards of unknown effects.
Abiss returned the boy’s cocky smile with one of his own, “better than you.”
The boy’s face twitched a bit, “you sure about that?”
Abiss rolled his neck to crack it then held out an arm, curling in his fingers to beckon the boy. “Positive.”
The boy launched himself forward, moving faster than Abiss expected... but not faster than he could handle.
Abiss’ foot slid over the dirt as he lowered and widened his stance and caught the boy’s fist.
The boy’s dark brown eyes widened and he tried to pull his fist away. Grinning madly, Abiss held onto the boy’s fist, even dragging him closer. Abiss got a few solid punches in on the boy’s face before he was able to wrest himself free.
Behind him, Abiss heard Minima shout out, “Abiss! There’s a-AH!” when her shout turned into a scream, he spun around to face her.
His client had been nicked to the ground and was clutching her head, her hair in disarray as her hair clip had been stolen off her head by a small, pale boy who looked scrawny beneath his oversized clothes and was crouching a little bit further away than he’d expected. With his messy black hair in his face and the Shard-infused hair clip between his teeth, he looked more like a feral animal than a child.
Minima put her hands on the ground, slowly getting into position to stand up. Her head vaguely turned in the direction of the boy, she raised her voice, “what is that thing? It’s shaped like a human, moves like an animal, but it’s...”
“An automaton powered by a rare complete Crystal,” the teen boy answered, “you’ve got a keen eye.” Abiss almost snorted but held himself back. “Lark!” the teen boy pointed up in the air, “that Shard will feed us good for a month!”
Abiss followed the boy’s finger with his eyes and saw Minima’s moth, Mimi. His eyes widened and he started running for the automaton.
The automaton threw its head back, tossing the hair clip in the air, catching, and... swallowing it... and jumping impossibly high before Abiss could close the distance.
Minima shrieked, “Mimi!”
Knowing the value of the moth, monetarily, functionally, and emotionally, Abiss made a split second decision to use that. He pulled it out of the holster under his open jacket, pointed it at the automaton, and fired.
There was a loud bang; Minima screamed, covering her ears. The automaton crumpled to the ground before it could catch the moth.
For a long moment there was utter silence, stillness, and a smoking weapon.
When the automaton didn’t get up the teen boy called out in a shaky voice, “... Lark...?” He stumbled forward a step. Abyss turned the weapon on him, ready to fire again if he made a move towards Minima. But he didn’t. He dropped to his knees and reached for it with shaking hands, gently scooping it up in his arms. As the boy picked it up, Abiss could see its face. A hole in its temple, leaking black, blood-like liquid that glittered with miniscule Shards. Nearly black eyes, wide open. All too human looking...
Abiss put the weapon away.
The boy cradled the automaton against his chest, its black blood staining his white jacket along with the boy’s own red blood dripping from his nose. Staring blankly down at the dirt, he turned and slowly walked away.
