(Flashback) The Grand Finale! (Coal/Grenal)

He woke up the day after. He felt like he had his shtick.  A few murders and then stopping. Yet there was something wrong. Something that he needed to do yet couldn't, no, haven't done yet. He had to send a message to the police. To show them his face, to show him these lame arses share nothing to his smarts. He was sure there was someone keeping up with him, there had to be. If there wasn't, this would all be for naught, and that was not something he liked.

He looked over to his book-shelf. There was no books to help him, so he brought out a notebook from under his bed, and put it on his bed, opened to an empty page.

To that whom might read this, I leave this memorium,




He slid the book under the desk, and then left the house for the day. Before he left, he noticed it was 5 A.M. and it was still dark out... perfect time for what he needed. He walked around the city, and it was about 7 A.M. before he found what he needed. It was a guy, looking about 23, on a computer, and boy was he going fast on the keys, so he entered the cafe and sat next to the boy.

”Boy. How good are you with hacking and the such?”

Grenal stared deeply into the boys eyes as he answered.

”I’m…. ok.”

”Good. Then hack that screen over there via going through the network. It has to be connected through the network, if anything, go through the power-lines.”

His words showed that he actually had no idea what he was talking about. The boy sighed but did as asked, showing what was on his computer on the screen. Grenal took to his pocket and pulled out quite a bit of money.

”I need your services.”

The boy took the money and nodded, and they went to an actual table are talked about what kinda stuff they were going to do, and the fact that if the boy tattled, he’d slit his throat and let him bleed to death, but those are small details.

Skip onto the next day, still no murders, but it was about the time.

He systematically gathered 6 people into a warehouse.

The first one was Gavin, a young teenager who was handcuffed to a pole on the ceiling, he had to stand on his toes for any sort of relief on his back. The entire point of that position. Gavin had brown eyes, brown hair, and if not having been stripped of his jacket, would have had a red jacket and blue jeans on.

Next was Stacy, who he had unconsious in the corner in a hogtie, purposely made tight enough to hurt but not to actually cause any long time harm to any spinal cord. Not that it’d matter. She’d die after tonight.

Then there was Joe. He was an older man, edging in his 50s. Greying hair with black eyes, he was tall and lanky. He sat asleep in a chair, with his hands cuffed to the chair and the chair bolted to the ground.

Next on the list was Annie. She was a 17 year old girl who was on the edge of wanting death, and had come on her own will. She wore black all around and carried a knife, which Grenal gave her, and told her if she can control her urge to die, she could very well be killed by him in the most painful way possible. She liked that idea.

The other two were fairly unimportant, as at the time, they were already dead and in the corner.

It was time.

Grenal told the tech boy to get his stuff running, so he did. Running through multiple proxys all over both the city and Remnant. It took about ten moments, but he got it through enough proxies that even if it went to the best detectives computer, it’d take hours to get through to the place they were at.

After the camera turned on, he looked into it and started speaking. This was streaming into every tv and every detectives computer, non-stop, with a chat-box sprouting on Arrons computer.

“If you remember the last few murders i’ve done, I’ve slit their throats. All for you guys to find me. It’s like a game to me, if i’m honest. Now. Let us show you who’s who.”

He went over to Annie.

“This is my dearest friend, Annie. She came here on her own will, and I had to use no physical force to get her here. None. Amazing ain’t it?”

This was all being captured by the camera.

He then went to Joe, was was at that point struggling and having woken.

“This is Joe. He was one day from staying at home, but I guess that one day will never come.”

He just pointed to Gavin, who he just laughed at as he was visibly in pain.

He then pointed to Stacey, and sat next to her as he spoke.

“I’ve decided to kill every single person here. I’ve promised Annie the most painful death. You must understand. I’m the man that will be the last one that everyone here sees. You’ve failed at catching me so many times. Such failure, it’s so sad. So, I’ve had my tech friend go to the highest ranked detective on the force.

He sat there with a smile on his face, a sly and sadistic one.

A dark and rainy night, as always when Coal was working late at his office. He was alone in the building with only a few security guards patrolling each few hours to see if anything was wrong. Sitting at his desk, glass of bourbon in hand with a lit smoke in the ashtray, Coal was looking over the details of the last few murders he had investigated recently. All gruesome murders, all victims with their throat slit by the same razor, the same man. Each murder got more and more violent and were in places more public than the last. The one that was committing those murders was certainly a sociopath killer that killed for the thrill. Nothing showed that the victim shared a connection. No mutual friends, nothing about their jobs or hobbies, not even a coffee shop they all could have seen each other once. Nothing was linking them together on any aspect of their lives. Only those murders connected them, along with this murderer.

As Coal wasn't getting any further with his investigation, something seemed to happen with his computer. He quickly realized that all the computers in the office as well as the televisions were acting weird. Soon, an image popped in all those screen, all the same. A young man appeared, white hair, sharp traits, cold eyes... Coal didn't like the way it was going. The man admitted to have committed the last murders, the one he was investigating, and without any hesitation, Coal believed him. The media couldn't get the information about the fact that the throats of the victims were slit, so it had to be him. From the angle of the camera, he could confirm that the man was rather tall, by his good look, it had to be him.

From the way he talked, it seemed like this G.B. was rather in a hurry, he wanted to kill all those people quickly to go back in hiding until he would kill again. The threat to kill them was quite serious and they all probably would die tonight. There was no way for him to find where they were and go there in time. The best he could hope would be to find clues on the site when hell find it. Coal didn't look away as he saw the man suffering and the others who were terrified, but that detail was helpful. By the look of the place, they were definitively in some abandoned warehouse, one that would be far enough from anything else in order for no one to hear the screams. Coal could approximately figure out the size of the warehouse, reducing even more the possible locations. He tried to get a a good view of any windows, holes or other entries in order to make a comparison with the visible buildings to pinpoint the location, but unfortunately he couldn't use that as the warehouse seemed close shut. But the sudden sound of a boat audible in the background made it clear that it was near the docks. The phone rang as Coal overrode the program set by the hacker to access his computer normally. On the it was John. "You see that?" "Of course I do, what did you expect, me sleeping on the job? I think I know where it is..."

Coal ended up finding the location of the warehouse and sent the coordinates to his partner with the instruction to get medics there as well as the team of the coroner, bodies would be there waiting. Coal looked at his computer and the chat-box that was there. He typed a few words before leaving for his car to get to the warehouse as soon as possible. Although he managed to find the murderer quickly, he still wouldn't get there before at least 30 minutes even at top speed. Depending on how much G.B. would take his time to kill them, maybe one or two could be saved, but Coal wasn't going to bet on that.

The words he typed before leaving: I'll get you.

vGrenal smiled as the message was read to him. An actual challenge? Oh, that excited him more than it perhaps should have. This guy, he was smart. He was strong. Oh. OH!

“This is so very fun. Time to kill them off, one by one. Each one… I’m going to enjoy.”

He walked over to Gavin. He slapped the boy away. The boy peered a rebellious gaze into Grenal’s eyes, before realizing that he was handcuffed, stuck, and unable to fight back. The boy became much more coy, but that didn’t mean he was done resisting completely. There was still a little fight left, from his struggles.

He’d walk over to Annie, grabbing the knife from her. It was a steak knife, and it was sharp.In a violent flurry, Gavin was stabbed 6 times in various places, and then into the neck. The boy was dead, and there were screams that Grenal enjoyed. He gave the knife back.


He took out his razor, and leaned down to Stacey. A slow, long cut. She’d bleed out in 25 minutes, just before Coal would undoubtly get here. Joe was a witness to two murders, and Grenal just looked over.

He looked at Annie, and put his hand out.

“You’re the Police Chief’s daughter, right? I knew. You’re going to come with me.”

He took her hand when she came, and held her close as he walked up the wall. He got to the rafter, and put her there, making sure she was situated. He walked back down. He went into a box, and kicked a hole in it. He didn’t care about people knowing his semblance. He grabbed a roll of duct tape, and with it, walked back up to the rafter, and sat with Annie.

“So. Annie. You’re doing terribly, I see. Now. I do love killing people. I still have some mortality left, I won’t soon. So, I figured I’d do one reprising thing. One good thing. I’m a terrible person, but I have to say. You’ve gone the deep end because of family problems, eh? Father not paying attention, mother not paying attention? School troubles. Let me tell you, be lucky you have school.

I’m completely uneducated. I’m just a prodigal genius, at least, that’s what the IQ tests say. Although, I have a terrible run with the law, and I’ve just killed two people, and I’m tempted to kill you. I want to, but out of everyone here, you have the highest chance to do good. Honest. Annie, listen. I’ll use you as a hostage, and leave you alive. As both a measure of… assistance to my cause, and as a fact that I don’t need to kill you.”

He took her wrists, and wrapped 6 layers around them, making sure they stuck. He made sure to do it on the sleeves.

He then forced her arms to the piece of metal they were sitting on, and wrapped six more layers. She could probably get out, but that was the point. He gave Annie a kiss on the forehead, and laid back. It was going to be 10 if not 15 minutes until Coal’d get here. That was enough time for him not to care about what was going to happen.

“I mean, seriously, they could work a bit. For military police, they certainly don’t last. I’ve outwitted three of them, at least. He’ll probably hop off the case, and I’ll be sad. He’s the only one able to find me, but I’ll stay in the dark. Because he can’t get here.”