Poison City

“Outta my way!” The man struck his right palm forward from several arms away. A sudden gust of wind shot at Kevin. Even though Kevin was prepared, he was still thrown into the air and tumbled on the ground.

This brief moment of delay was just enough for Marcus to turn back and lunge at the middle aged man. His left hand fingers pierced through the back of the man’s trench coat and pulled him sideways. The sudden added momentum threw the man onto the ground. Marcus’ claw swung from high to low, aiming at the space right by the middle aged man’s ear.

Marcus’ fingers dug three holes on the ground, the bursting pebbles from the ground left a few scratch marks on the man’s ears. This was but a warning attack, he did not want to actually hurt the man, just wanted him to stop resisting. Yet the middle aged man did not stop or take the hint. The man thrust his two palms upward, striking Marcus in the chest and collar bones.

Half the air in Marcus’ lungs was squeezed out by this strike. It was a heavy strike, enough to collapse the hood of a car or dent a metal door. But Marcus only coughed, rode the impact and floated upwards. His two arms thrust at the middle aged man in rapid succession, each time with his middle and index fingers sticking out. Sharp and concentrated streams of Qi shot from his finger attacks, piercing the middle aged man’s trench coat, leaving thin cuts and slices on the man’s body without causing him to lose too much blood.

The middle aged man did not show any appreciation for yet another show of mercy. Instead, he rushed towards Kevin, with his hands extending forward ready to grab the civilian without much ability to fight back.

“Disgraceful!” Marcus roared. This time, he stopped holding back. His right hand fingers wrapped around the middle aged man’s shoulder and swung him to the side with almost full force. The middle aged man was thrown into a wall, but not before throwing a sharp dart right at Marcus.

The dart made a metallic clunk and bounced off on Marcus’ shoulder. It did not even pierce through his inner shirt.

“Time out. Time - time out.” The middle aged man almost coughed his lungs out and raised his hand. He had to do so because Marcus crushed his gun on the ground with a heavy stomp, while ready to point his own police gun at him. “Please. I give up.”

“You’re - you’re Br - Brooklyn Payne!” Kevin stuttered.

“What? I don’t even know - ” The middle aged man shook his head, still trying to deny.

“Don’t even - ” Kevin cut the middle aged man off with a stern voice: “Following an officer on investigative duty, intention to interfere with official investigation. Those are pretty hefty violations. Do you wanna pay fines or do you wanna go to jail for a few weeks?”

“Bullshit. Bull-fucking-shit!” The middle aged man scoffed, but this made him cough harder. “There’s no such thing - and interfering with active police investigation needs official paperwork from your precinct to stick.”

“So you do know the process.” Kevin chuckled: “You’re a former detective, right? You were kicked out of the police for bribery. But I guess you still know the police procedures, since you’ve been a PI ever since.”

“That’s a cool story and all, but you’re mistaken.” The middle aged man struggled trying to get up, but he seemed to be having a bit of trouble with his shoulders and his waist. “I am just a regular guy. I’m sorry for disturbing your investigation - ”

“You’re a user of Qi. Flowing Cloud Style, I assume?” Marcus narrowed his eyes, and decided to take a good look at this middle aged man. It was not just because of his suspicious behavior, but also because he noticed a strange scent from him - the kind that smelled like paranormal infestation, but also suppressed.

The sight he gazed upon when he activated his vision stunned him for a brief moment. Wrapped around the middle aged man’s body were thick ribbons and chains of almost completely solid dark energy. As a result his two shoulders were almost completely covered up, and the top of his head was almost half covered.

“Whatever happened to you, what you did to suppress it is clearly not working.” Marcus narrowed his eyes: “You’re cursed, how?”

“None of your fucking business!” The middle aged man coughed once again, blood was mixed into his spit and phlegm.

“Why didn’t you look for some talismans? Or seek help from an exorcist?” Marcus asked.

“You think I’d never tried?” The middle aged man raised his voice while leaning on the wall he was thrown into earlier.

“But whatever the situation with you - Mr. Payne. I think it’s high time you tell us the truth.”

“Like I told you - you are mistaken. I’m not whoever you claim I am.” The middle aged man coughed again. He tried a few times, but still could not walk away. Apparently, being thrown into the wall was indeed quite devastating for him. 

“How are you doing, Brooklyn?” A familiar voice resounded, it was Captain Ko.

It was Kevin, holding his phone up, camera pointing at the middle aged man.