In darkness, he sat holding the dead piece of his heart. With silver eyes he could see her face still staring at him. Blood trickled from the corners of her mouth. Glazed eyes stared at him stabbing his soul. His Jenny was really dead. He still couldn't believe it. Like a big sister she had been and now she was dead in his arms. He wept and tears ran down his chin dropping onto her face. He leaned down and rubbed his forehead against her's. She felt cold. The warmth of her being fading from her body as well as his heart.
He pressed his nose into her hair. Trying to savor the smell of his Jenny one last time, he took deep breaths. Her perfume and shampoo intoxicated his senses. He uttered not a sound. He knew that if he spoke the emptiness of the room would overcome him. For a few moments that felt like years he mourned her. He wanted to mourn her fully, but he couldn't. The ones who had killed his Jenny were now coming for him. He wouldn't disappoint them. They may have come for Joshua Thompson, but Mr. Handz was who they were going to deal with.
Putting a hand to her face he closed her eyes. Gently he laid her on the floor in a pool of her blood. It was not a fitting place for one such as her. For the moment it would have to do. They were coming. He stood up slowly. His body felt numb. He looked down at his Jenny one last time before walking over to the couch. Moonlight spilt in through cracks in the curtains. No more sniper shots for the time being. He reached down and picked up his trench coat. Sliding one arm in at a time, he forced himself to stop crying. Now was not the time for tears. He had work to do. People to kill.
After buttoning up the coat over his blood drenched shirt he reached into his coat pocket. He pulled out a long brown scarf. It was bare except for two pale hands with silver eyes in the palms sown into the cloth. He folded it long ways with the hands visible side by side. Around his face he wrapped and tied it tightly. The two hands sat where his eyes were and only they were covered leaving his mouth and nose scarf free. Now he was ready. Now Jenny's killers would face the most powerful psychic in the world. Now they would face Mr. Handz.
Mr. Handz summoned two dozen Helpful Handz. The brown and white handz floated around him. Some shook as if they felt his pain. They could. They were a part of him like Jenny had been. He concentrated and they stopped shaking then balled into fists. Psychic energy surged through him and out to the floating body parts. Each fist opened one at a time to reveal a small silver eye in the middle of each palm. Vision returned to Mr. Handz as he saw himself from two dozen different angles. Without eyes they were Helpful Handz. With eyes they had become his Watchful Handz. Handz that allowed him to see with them. The military had given him so much. They had trained him on how to see like an insect. Only because he was a psychic was he able to shift the different images in his mind and concentrate on all the handz at once. The Watchful Handz were his best tools for scouting. That was until he created the next set of handz he was to use.
Concentrating on the Watchful Handz even more they began to lose color. They kept their shape, but the pale and brown colors faded away until nothing was left but a thin outline. Mr. Handz could still see himself through the handz but they had become invisible to the naked eye. Using the glass substance of his Mirror Bubble, he made them semi-invisible and they appeared as distortions in the air. His Ghost Handz they were and like real ghosts they could barely be seen.
"Now," he said to the handz, "Let’s find the fuckers who killed Jenny." The handz began to move toward the apartment door.
He was not angry. He was very much calm. The calm of a killer about to do his wet work. The calm of a military trained assassin. Pain at Jenny's death was still there. He had just ignored it. He couldn't let anything disturb his mind set. There were people to kill. A feeling he had not felt in twenty years pushed at the edge of his calm. It pulsed and tried to edge its way into him. He let a little of the feeling trickle into himself. Murderous intent put a dangerous edge on his serenity. Mr. Handz was bloodthirsty now. It was time to begin.
As the Ghost handz reached the door, he imagined them becoming as thin as paper. They deflated and he slid them through the crack at the bottom of the door. Emerging into the hallway he re-inflated and looked around. He was greeted with a sight he had expected. The T-shaped hallway was dark and eerie. At one end was a large window in which light shone on the green colored walls. Apartment doors were spaced twenty feet apart in the sixty foot hallway. One across, diagonal and one sharing the same wall as his own door. An elevator and staircase was at the other end creating the T-shape. A laundry chute and fire extinguisher sat on the wall next to the apartment diagonal from him. Eight men in swat type suits were creeping out from the staircase. They carried M16's with lasers emitting from them. Mr. Handz smiled hard. Because they cut off the power the elevator was useless to them, but not to Mr. Handz.
He decided to only keep two Ghost Handz on his floor. The other twenty-two handz floated above and past the intruders to the closed elevator. As an expert of long range combat, Mr. Handz knew he needed to get Ghost Handz to each floor. His one weakness was that he could only materialize near himself and where he could see. Hence the need for handz with eyes in them. Looking at the elevator he saw a thin crack in the door made by a wedge. Long ago he put that there for emergencies. The military had trained him well. He deflated the handz and sent them into the elevator.
Ghost Handz re-inflated as they made their way down the pitch-black shaft. The elevator itself was on the bottom floor where the parking garage was. At each floor two handz would pause while the others continued their descent. He would attack all the floors at the same time to keep each unit from helping the other. Mr. Handz knew each floor would be occupied. It was the standard way to attack and the men approaching his door had soldier written all over them. After each floor had two Ghost Handz, that left him with eight handz left. He sent them down to the elevator and hovered them above the elevator's top hatch. He would have to go through the elevator out to the parking garage. Those eight handz would be enough to sweep it clean of Jenny's killers. Mr. Handz smiled again. Time for the killing to begin.
He sent Ghost Handz in for a closer look at the walking corpses. That’s how he thought of them. He would kill them all, but he wanted to know who they were. They wore all black combat garb. Small black helmets with goggles and a gas mask over their faces. Their belts carried grenades and a pistol in it's holster. Their shined up military issue boots reflected moonlight. Mr. Handz stared in shock at the American flag patch on their shoulders. The markings of their unit patch was one he didn't recognize. These were American soldiers sent to kill him. Anger infused itself into Mr. Handz calm. His own comrades were here to kill him. He would show them their mistake. They should have killed him first instead of Jenny.
Above the heads of the men eight shapes began to form. They became grotesque shaped man sized hands. They looked skeletal in nature. Skin stretched so then they belonged on corpses. The fingernails of the hands stretched out until they protruded a foot away. The Deadly Handz they were called. Best for close combat and enclosed areas where the Kombat Handz were useless. The leader of the unit held up a hand stopping the approach to his door. Veterans they had to be because instincts told them danger was coming.
The Deadly Handz swooped down and using the long fingernails they sliced the soldiers M16's in two. The men pulled out their pistols and tried to shoot at the handz. Weaving to the left and right the handz avoided bullets and closed in on the soldiers. The unit leader was stabbed repeatedly in the chest by two handz. Three others died the same way quickly. The last four were trying to retreat back to the staircase. Mr. Handz saw the staircase door slam shut revealing more soldiers with in before closing. A second unit was waiting to join the fray.
Stabbing two more soldiers in the back while they retreated, put a bitter taste in Mr. Handz mouth. These weak pathetic soldiers is what they sent to kill him? He was the Death God! How dare they offend him like this! The last two soldiers saw they weren't going to make it to the staircase and using shoulders they rammed
themselves into one of the empty apartments. A Ghost Hand followed them and the other floated near the staircase with the Deadly Hand swarm. He saw the two men run across the apartment toward the patio door. Disgust filled Mr. Handz. They were trying to retreat again! Not only had the crusade vet been insulted with weaklings, but cowards as well. Being a member of the AWC meant being a true warrior. Honor until death and mission above life. These men were chicken shits who disgraced the American flag on their arms. He decided to give them deaths deserving of their cowardice.
Two Helpful Handz formed behind the running men and each man was grabbed by the scruff of his neck then thrown back deeper into the apartment. Those handz began to stretch and grow larger until they resembled Kombat Handz. With a surge of energy the handz closed their fists. When they reopened there were two large black lips in the middle of each palm. The two men were back on their feet and seemed frozen to the spot they were standing. He didn't need to see them shaking to know they were afraid. More disgust filled The Beast With A Thousand Hands. Did they not know who they were facing? The two large handz moved closer to the scared stiff soldiers. The lips began to part and reveal a mouth with rows and rows of triangle shaped teeth. The mouths started to open and close snapping as they approached the men. The Greedy Handz were hungry and it was feeding time.
One of the men reached for a grenade and a summoned Deadly Hand darted in to severe the arm. Blood sprayed everywhere as the man ran for the apartment door. A Greedy Hand cut him off and in one fluid motion it bit off his head. Before the body could hit the floor, the Greedy Hand started snapping and biting at the rest of the body. At the stump of the Greedy Hand an anus appeared. Flesh and blood with bits of black cloth began oozing out from it. Suddenly the hand expanded and burst in a silver spray with bits of blood and flesh. It seemed it had bitten into a grenade. No matter. He only needed one to finish the job.
Upon seeing what happened to his comrade, the other soldier took off sprinting toward a window. Jumping through it he had decided a fall from eight stories would be better than being eaten. The last Greedy Hand flew over to the window as the man began to fall. The hand snapped its mouth and bit the man in two. Waist and legs fell eight stories to land on the pavement below. The Greedy Hand finished its meal and released the remains onto the floor. It dissolved into a silver mist a few moments after.
With the first threat on his level finished he launched attacks on all floors. Using Helpful Handz to open elevator doors, Ghost Handz slipped into hallways filled with soldiers. Using Greedy and Deadly Handz he attacked them without mercy. Abruptly the Ghost Hand watching his staircase door saw it open. In one quick motion, a soldier garbed like the first unit, used a pistol to shoot the Ghost Hand. Mr. Handz froze up in shock. That soldier knew about his Ghost Hand and took it out before the Deadly Handz. The Deadly Handz dissolved and vanished before Handz could get the other Ghost Hand out of the apartment with the two soldiers. Did that soldier know his weakness? Without a Watchful or Ghost Hand watching and sustaining the materialized handz, all other handz would vanish. He summoned another Ghost Hand as he returned to the hallway.
Five men in the same garb as the first eight were squatting and ransacking the dead bodies. They took pistols and clips. Grenades were added to their empty waists. The Ghost Handz floated closer and saw that these men carried no M16's. One of the men released a pin on a grenade and squatted there holding it. Mr. Handz moved the Ghost Handz back thinking these soldiers suicidal. A cloud of smoke covered the hallway and Handz cursed himself. It was just a diversion to keep the Ghost Handz from seeing them. He sent one hand into the cloud and it was immediately shot. Ghost Handz were fragile compared to the other handz, but these men were shooting into the weak spot of the eyes. These men made a cloud of smoke to hide their movements. These men were good.
Out of the smoke they came with pistols blazing shooting into the air. They were trying to hit the last Ghost Hand. Summoning four Deadly Handz he tried to stab the man in front. The man ducked and the others took up positions behind him. Their pistols fired turning the handz into silver mists. Mr. Handz watched as the men darted into the door of the apartment next to his. The door burst open from the impact. Disgust filled Jesus's Monster thinking these men cowards as well. He sent more Deadly Handz after them only to have them shot in the doorway. They weren't retreating! They were strategizing. By using the only entrance they could watch it and shoot anything coming into the apartment. Although he didn't see the point. They had trapped themselves.
Moving the Ghost Hand to the wall next to the door frame, he made it walk along the wall on fingertips. It crawled like a spider to the frame. He slowly started to peek in and summoned a Helpful Hand to distract them. As they fired on the Helpful Hand, he peeked in. Two men were lying on the ground facing the doorway with pistols pointed at it. The others were across the room taking up positions in front of a wall. He saw them load up clips and point their guns at the wall. They began to fire at the wall. The wall gave way to their bullets and punched through. The wall Mr. Handz shared with the apartment next door.
Bullets came flying into his apartment and he threw himself onto the floor in front of the couch. Feathers from his couch filled the air as they tried to shoot him. He had underestimated these guys. He concentrated and the attacks on the other floors ceased. He saw dead bodies laying everywhere on some floors. It was then he noticed men concealing themselves on different floors. He would have to deal with them after these five. Ghost Handz on every floor balled into half fists and stopped moving. Lots of attention would be needed here. A pair of Ghost Handz formed inches above his head. At the same time four Helpful Handz appeared in the air above the firing galley wall. They reformed into Kombat Handz taking up most of the air above the wall. Using the peeking hand he watched and waited for them to reload.
Thinking them the same as the first eight had been a mistake. George always told him battle was like chess. You always sent your pawns in first. These men were definitely knights and bishops, not pawns. They had made a good plan to defeat him. Unluckily for them Mr. Handz was ever evolving. He could adapt to any situation. He was co-leader of the AWC once and his pride and honor were always ever present. His pride wouldn't let him be defeated like this and his honor demanded justice for Jenny's death. He gathered himself and readied his handz for the counter attack. Time to show them what he was made of.
The bullets stopped firing and he saw them reloading. The two guardsmen still hadn't noticed the hand peeking form the doorway. It was very hard to notice a Ghost Hand when it wasn't moving. He brought the Four Kombat Handz down from the ceiling. They began to punching the wall over and over again. The peeking hand saw the wall collapse into the room and the men retreated to the center of the apartment.
Summoning two dozen Deadly Handz above the destroyed wall, he sent them into the midst of the soldiers. Shots fired as he summoned five Greedy Handz above the two guardsmen. One noticed in time to roll out of the way of a biting mouth. The other wasn't so lucky as his legs and arms began getting chewed while he still laid on the floor. The other guard grabbed a grenade from his waist and tossed it at the Greedy Handz. He had to know he was too close, but mission above life was a soldier’s motto. The explosion destroyed not only the Greedy Handz and the soldiers, but the peeking hand got caught in the blast as well. The invisible handz above his head moved through the broken wall to survey the damage.
In the middle of the room the three soldiers left were getting to their feet. No Deadly Handz were left so they must have been shot before the explosion. He summoned more and the soldiers emptied clips into the murderous handz. It seemed that at least one soldier was out of ammo because he threw his pistol to the floor and drew a long combat knife from the waist of his back. Mr. Handz sent two Deadly Handz to make quick work of him. The soldier’s knife flashed in the air deflecting the long sharp fingernails.
He decided then that the knife wielder was unit leader as he saw the last two men take up position behin
d him firing over his shoulder. After a few seconds only the two handz being deflected were still flying about. He made a diving motion with them and the knife wielder did as expected. Trying to deflect them this time was a mistake as Mr. Handz made the handz dart to either side of the knife wielder and stab the other two men in their necks. Now it was just Mr. Handz and the unit leader. He would end this himself.
Standing in his apartment, he made his way to the broken wall. Using the Kombat Handz that broke the wall, he cleared a path so he could walk a few feet into the next room. He lined those Kombat Handz up side by side and created a wall with them between him and the windows. The knife wielder took one look at him and reached down to the body of a companion to draw another knife. Obviously he knew why he was coming in person. A duel was about to be fought and he knew it as he moved a little into a more clear spot and took a stance.
With each knife in his hands Mr. Handz knew this guy was a veteran of combat. His stance had no openings and he gave off a dangerous presence. A Ghost Hand floated closer to the man and he didn't move. Handz realized that he knew it was there but the man ignored it because it was inevitable. Not a single patch. Where the patches were supposed to be was torn cloth. The man had removed all identifying marks from his uniform.
"Who are you?" He shouted to the man across the room. "You fight well. I would know your name."
Silence greeted him as the knife wielder stayed in his stance. Two shapes formed in the air a few feet from the man. They formed two Deadly Handz but the color scheme was different. The handz were the color of pitch black, even the palms. While the fingernails were blood red and half a foot longer than normal. Mr. Handz raised his arms and felt his mind connect to these two new handz. Like Deadly Handz, these Remote Handz could cut objects but had to be controlled manually to work best. They were much stronger and could cut through objects the normal Deadly Handz couldn't. He wiggled his own fingers and saw the Remote Handz do the same. Now the duel could begin.
Anthology of Ichor III: Gears of Damnation Page 34