It took a few minutes, however Serlina soon arrived. She smelled the burnt corpses as soon as she stepped out of the elevator, and when she laid eyes on Mark she immediately came to the natural conclusion that Mark had killed them
'I swear to fucking god, this specter just won't disappear…'
Walking over her bionic tail swished back and forth with clear annoyance, she stopped a few meters from Mark and ignoring the woman next to him she spoke in cold tone
"So, what can I do for you today Mark"
Mark raised an eyebrow for a moment before he flashed a smile and spoke quite casually
"I am here to help file a formal complaint—"
"Mark, I'll handle this, could you wait outside?"
"---Sure thing, take your time… I wish I could say it was nice knowing you, Serlina, but it really wasn't"
Mark then rose from his seat and walked out the door of the building, Serlina let out a sigh before she turned her eyes to the woman Mark had been with, she appeared quite at ease for someone that were acquainted with a real life monster sitting alone in the lobby of the largest criminal syndicate of Towo Station
'Maybe his arrogance rubs off on his friends?'
"...So, what can I help you with?"
The woman showed a smile as she looked at Serlina, however she didn't speak for quite a while, half a minute passed by before she spoke
"Serlina was it?"
"Yes?"
"Serlina, boss of the Iron Snakes for 11 years, 34 years old, fiancée and romantic partner of one James Mercury for a total of 8 years?"
Serlina tighten her artificial jaw, having switched to a much more discreet model, she nevertheless gave off the artificial nature by the slight but very unmistakable noise of titanium alloy teeth grinding against each other for a few moments before she opened her mouth to respond
"Give me one reason why I should rip out your windpipe, bitch"
The arrogant woman continued smiling, seeming quite at ease, however since Serlina was watching her quite closely she noticed her eyes lose focus for a moment, before Serlina finished her internal debate on capitalizing on this lack of focus her eyes regained focus
"Well, I have a few, fist off, my name is Luna"
"I see"
Luna stared focused on Serlina's face a few moments after she introduced herself before she let out a sigh and muttered
"Typical gangster, the arrogance is only matched by its greed"
"What the fuck did you just say?"
Luna didn't respond, that's when Serlina realized something was wrong, as her natural breathing rhythm was interrupted, she tried to flex her diaphragm when she realized her entire body was frozen in place as Luna continued
"You fuck with me for a few million credits without even knowing my name? You don't even investigate my ship's docking log before you try and cut open its bulkheads either…"
Luna paused before she stopped smiling before her head tilted slightly to the side, all emotion had suddenly vanished from her face as the 20 or so people present in the lobby all collapsed. They were dead before they hit the floor
"Normally I would just kill you painlessly before your simple biological brain manages to process the monumental shit stain of your existence flashing before your eyes. However you didn't only fuck with my ship, your personal sin is far greater, so I require you to understand before I boil you from the inside"
By now the intense smell of burned grey matter had overwhelmed Serlina's sense of smell as she tired desperately to move, to flee from this horrific apparition that had appeared before her, however she remained still all the same as Luna spoke again
"You could have ruled, not only on this station but the surrounding systems as well, spending your life in general luxury as I could have extended it indefinitely, peace and prosperity could have been yours, but you… YOU…"
Luna's face was flushed with anger as she stopped herself before composing herself for a few moments and continuing
"You won't be remembered, your body will be cremated before I personally ensure the matter that used to make up your existence is added to a nearby singularity, so it can be sealed for all eternity!"
Luna rose to her feet and walked a step closer to Serlina as she yelled, fury radiating off her
"...YOUR PRECIOUS JAMES' CONSCIOUSNESS WILL CONTINUE TO BE TORMENTED DIGITALLY UNTIL THE FIRE OF MY BLINDED STAR CLUSTER BURNS OUT"
Serlina's horror continued to rise as she struggled against her own body, the specter of her fears took another step towards her as it screamed
"I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE EACH AND EVERY WRETCHED CREATURE THAT SHARES EVEN A SINGLE FAMIAL TIE WITH YOU WILL ENJOY THE SAME FATE AS YOU!"
'Move! Move! MOVE!!!'
Serlina screamed in her mind as the cold blue eyes lit with the fires of unhuman fury seemed to peer into her very soul as it announced
"YOU COULD HAVE LIVED, YOU COULD HAVE PROSPERED! WHY DID YOU DISAPPOINT HIM!? WHY DID YOU LET DOWN THE FEELINGS OF MY OLDEST FRIEND, OF MY CREATOR!?"
Luna's chest heaved up and down as she stared into the eyes of the condemned creature for a few moments longer before her previous human expression returned, as if it was a program that had briefly been suspended
"...We could have been the best of friends, oh well"
With those words Luna turned around and walked towards the exit of the lobby, with every step she took Serlina's mind was rendered further and further by the agonizing feeling of her body cooked from the inside, slowly, and deliberately as to increase her suffering to to fullest extent possible
-
Outside Metallurgy developments LT headquarters Mark let out a sigh before he turned away from the building and faced the acquaintance that claimed to have 'coincidentally' showed up
"That's it for the Iron Snakes"
"Oh?"
Nathan raised an eyebrow at Mark's statement before he asked to make sure
"Are you starting a campaign of one against them, Mark?"
"Nope, there's no need… You should start getting alerts in a few moments, sorry for the overtime"
Nathan was about to make light of Mark's comments when his personal console sounded out an alert, Nathan looked the information over for a few moments before he let out a sigh and massaged his temples for a bit before he concluded
"... Well, looks like we can finally establish proper law and order around here, I believe you have personally or indirectly moved up our timeline by several decades, Mark"
"Ture, I've taken out a lot of trash… There isn't any large underground elements left on the station, if you guys play a little fast and loose with the rules, you might even get to stabilize the system completely within a year"
Nathan nodded, taking Mark's words to heart before he asked
"So from that I take it you are skipping system?"
"Sure am, I'll hang around for a day longer, and then I am out of here"
"I see, I would buy you a beer and properly wish you a happy journey, but I got work to do and overtime forms to fill out"
"Don't worry about it, I see you around"
"...Sure thing"
With that Natahn turned and walked away, within a few moments he had disappeared in the crowded business street foot traffic
[...Do you already miss your boyfriend? Should I get his number for you so you can stay in touch?]
"You really have a way with words… Timing too"
[I aim to please, so what will it be? Are you going to man up and chase after him to profess your love, or are you going to cyberstalk him for the rest of his natural lifespan? Fantasies of what could have been~?]
"Fuck off"
[Come on now Mark, that's not very nice~ I am trying my best to get you laid with a person that's still breathing~]
"...Would you kindly fuck off with that?"
[Alright~]
Mark let out a sigh. Just then, the lobby door of Metallurgy developments LT slid open and Luna walked out, when she spotted Mark waiting for her a few meters away from the entrance she flashed a happy smile and walked up to him and reported
"Now that's over and done with"
Mark nodded and glanced at the building behind Luna, the scent of pure despair and agony it gave off was a little tempting, however having just fed on a deranged stalker earlier in the day Mark managed to control himself
'... I suddenly see a slight… Well, an obvious familiarity between Luna and her self-described 'eldest sister' It's properly not a good idea to bring it up with her, though'
With Mark's inhuman senses he had caught a bit of what Luna had said before she executed Serlina, however he had made a conscious effort to tune it out around halfway through
'Yeah, I should properly take that observation to my grave'
"Mark?"
"It's nothing, let's get going"
"...Actually, can you head back to the bar, I'll go pick and pack up Alissa"
"...Alissa is coming with us?"
[Can't I?]
"Sure you can, I would spring the question a bit later too, but apparently my oldest friend has beaten me to the punch"
[Yay~ I look forwards our continued and collaborative manslaughter and mass casualty events Mark~ Luna made me quite the offer you see~]
"...Right, me too"