"Psychwatch Ignores Brutal Murders of 4 Teenagers. Arrests Drug Addict Instead," Doug laughed as he skimmed through the article on his holo-computer. "Can't believe that's what you decided to go with in the end."

"We needed a story and I got us one," Arthur replied with a prideful smirk. "Twelve thousand reads in just the first three hours of its publication! We're back in the business, buddy."

"But isn't your article kinda bullshit?"

Arthur raised his brow. "What do you mean? I was there at the crime scene. They were interviewing a man for a firsthand account of the crime but immediately lost trust in him once they found an empty Blue Caterpillar in his pocket."

"Speaking of which," Doug said as he pulled out his own Blue Caterpillar and took a puff of Wonderland Mist from it, "want a whiff?"

"Were you high on that this whole time?" Arthur grimaced.

"Hell yeah, I was!" Doug laughed. "This whole time, you were suddenly more handsome and muscular and kinda turning me on. And I'm not even gay!"

"So they weren't lying? That drug really does turn people pansexual?"

"Nah, I wouldn't go that far. But I shared some with Lily earlier and we started making out like crazy and—"

"No, no, no," Arthur impeded. "Spare me the details please."

"Shit, I got way off-topic," Doug added before clearing his throat. "What I meant earlier about calling your article bullshit is that...didn't the doctor-cops end up catching the killers anyway? You told me that Mr. DeShawn saw some masked men out in the distance run off into the abandoned zoo. Didn't Psychwatch end up catching them?"

Arthur shrugged. "Yes and no. They caught a few suspects, but they didn't catch the real killers."

"The hell do you mean?"

Arthur awkwardly paused for a moment, nervously twirling his fingers around. "Well...I may or may not have some associations with the guys directly responsible for the killings."

"Why didn't you tell anyone?!"

"Because they threatened me if I did," Arthur replied casually. "But I'm pretty sure it won't matter if I told just one person. It's mainly this one particular trio. Two males, one female. The main guy wears a mask like the ones worn by the strangers at the zoo, except his looks more sleek and plastic. The other two are these mentally unstable albino twins still in their teens."

Doug had the most dumbfounded look on his face. He exchanged glances between his tube of Wonderland Mist and his possibly insane coworker. "You sure you never took any of this?" he asked.

"Doug, I couldn't make this up even if I wanted to," Arthur replied.

"Alright." Doug paused once again, still secretly questioning his colleague's imagination. "Have a goodnight, Cohen."

"And don't tell anyone! I highly doubt they'll find out anytime soon, but play it safe and keep quiet about what I just said."

Doug didn't say another word. He simply exited the room and closed the door behind him

"What have you done?" whispered a teenage girl's voice in Arthur's ear.

The lights in the room blacked out. A hand quickly clamped over Arthur's mouth and a dagger pressed against his throat. He started sweating bullets as the frightening sounds of heavy breathing filled the room, and the rough edge of the dagger continued to prick his neck. He wanted to scream, but he knew nothing good would come of it, especially not now.

Then he heard Doug outside. "Who the hell—"

His sentence was cut short by his own screams. What disturbed Cohen even more was how his screams suddenly grew inhumanly shrill in just a matter of seconds before cutting off entirely. The last things Cohen heard beyond the door were gurgling noises and a loud thud as Doug's corpse made contact with the floor.

The door blew open with a bang, and the Multi Man appeared at the entrance of the room, just a silhouette standing out in the dark. Something was dripping down his gloves, and two stringlike objects hung from his right hand while a knife was positioned in the other.

"Guess what, Cohen?" he said in his recognizable, raspy voice. "I found out."

Arthur tried to yell, but his screams were muffled by his captor's hand. He glanced at both sides, with Crimson positioned to his right with her hand over his mouth while Whitey stood on his left, tasked with holding the knife against his throat. "I heard Doug scream," he uttered slowly as Crimson moved her hand away. "What did you do to him?"

"He can't scream. I'm holding his vocal cords."

The emergency lights flashed on, revealing the substance drenching the Multi Man's hands to be blood. Specifically Doug's. The Man dropped the dismembered vocal cords to the floor as if they were nothing more than confetti. Arthur had to fight the urge to vomit.

"That's fucking disgusting," he gagged.

"What's with the sudden regard for other people's lives?" the Multi Man asked as he handed Crimson the knife. With a giggle, she took the knife and carefully placed its tip against Arthur's neck.

"What do you mean?" Arthur croaked.

"The other night, you told me I'd have to do so much to stand out. Like if you were challenging me to hurt so many people." The Multi Man leaned in closer. "Well, thanks to you, I've accepted the challenge. You're lucky only a few of your colleagues knew about us. If you mentioned anything resembling us in your article, I would've had to resort to more...widespread methods of eliminating witnesses."

"Widespread?" Arthur repeated.

"Trust me, Cohen. If I didn't want witnesses, I would make sure I don't have witnesses."

"If you don't want witnesses, then why do you commit your actions so conspicuously?"

The Multi Man glanced over at Whitey. "When I let my followers carry out my orders, I don't want them to just get their jobs done," he explained. "Everything they do is a form of catharsis. Their troubles should be melting away with every life they take. And we all know that when someone is enjoying the moment, they care little for the mess they're making."

Arthur looked at Crimson, who flashed a sinister grin at him. When he shifted his sight toward Whitey instead, the view wasn't any better. The boy didn't make eye contact with him. His gaze was set on the knife he held against Arthur's throat, and he had a look in his eyes that evoked only fear and regret.

"Whitey understands fully what I'm talking about," the Multi Man continued. "Not only does he get a job done, he makes sure it's done. Not only did he get rid of those boys, he did it with such precision and brutality to ensure they'd never pose a threat to him ever again."

"Did you enjoy doing that?" Arthur asked Whitey.

Whitey didn't say a word. He continued to maintain his unflinching glare.

"Of course he enjoyed it," the Multi Man asserted. He slowly turned toward Whitey and added in a chilling, nearly demonic voice, "Didn't you, Whitey?"

"Yes," Whitey whispered.

"Are you having second thoughts, Whitey? Do we need to send you to a doctor?"

Whitey gulped. The speed of his breathing increased significantly. His grip on his knife tightened even more, and Arthur winced as he could feel the rigid blade prick his neck again.

"Please don't, sir," Crimson told the Man. "You're making him feel discomforted."

"No," Whitey urged in a low voice.

"You can step away from Mr. Cohen now," the Multi Man said.

Whitey quickly jumped away from Arthur. A small cut remained on his neck, and he patted small beads of blood away from it with his right hand, dotting his fingers red. He moved ever so carefully as Crimson still had her knives directed at his vitals.

"Another thing," Arthur said. "If you didn't want to get caught, why'd you send your lackeys over to the crime scene?"

"They were ordered to kill any potential witnesses. In fact, as we speak, Dawson and a few other of my men have slaughtered James DeShawn and the survivor from the zoo in their cells. And if anyone else has been caught getting a glimpse of our work in progress, they'll be dead by sunrise."

"You don't want to be one of them, do you?" Crimson chimed in, leaning toward Arthur.

"How many people work here with you?" the Multi Man asked.

"How many have you killed?" Arthur retorted.

"Just tell me the total number of people who work with you. Then I'll give you the final result."

Arthur took a quick glance at Crimson, who slowly rotated the knife so the tip left another cut on his neck. "Fifty-three," he replied.

The Multi Man took a few steps until he was directly in front of Arthur. If he even tried to escape, there would've been an innumerable amount of knives lodged in his torso. "This was strike one," the Man said. "I'm letting you off easy since I didn't warn you of the backup I sent to the zoo."

"So you actually do have morals, huh?" Arthur deadpanned.

"I don't have morals. I have standards. And if these men and women around you don't stick to them, our plans will not reach their full potential."

"What's strike two?"

"We'll let you know when the time comes. But if Crimson does well with her next meeting, it may be very soon, especially considering how prepared we need to be for step three."

"Don't you mean strike three?"

The Multi Man paused for a few seconds to crack his knuckles. "If you fail, yes."

Arthur gulped back the fear. "Aren't you afraid of getting caught by Psychwatch? You guys just murdered two prisoners they barely incarcerated today."

"I already told you, Cohen. We're ghosts to the System. Everyone you see in this room is nonexistent, according to the Scans. Besides, Psychwatch is hardly a threat against me. They're still human. They can still be swayed against each other."

"We've got connections," Crimson added.

Arthur nodded his head. He finally learned not to underestimate these guys. He just hoped, for their sake, that Psychwatch would take them seriously.

"You have a goodnight, Cohen," the Multi Man concluded as he and his followers made their way toward the door. "Now if you excuse me, I have to retrieve my knife. I left it impaled in your secretary's throat."

As Crimson moved away from him, Arthur nearly took advantage of the moment to scream. He hardly cared at all for anyone, yet he had a soft spot for Doug and Lily. He was usually good at obfuscating apathy, but the Man saw threw his facade as if it were nothing more than glass.

"Don't scream," the Multi Man hissed, not even bothering to turn back at Arthur. "You scream, you join Doug."

Arthur gulped back the fear once more, his heartbeat refusing to slow down.

"You'll get your time to scream. Just have to wait like everyone else. Because by the time I'm done and everyone in this city is crying out for their fallen heroes, it'll all sound like a symphony."