The Melody of Death

"Target acquired."

Melody moved through the crowded party with intent - murderous intent. The people around her danced in their 1930s costumes, oblivious to the assassin masquerading as a slight girl in a nurse costume.

"Hey, beautiful!" A drunk janitor with a guitar instead of a mop grabbed Melody by her waist. "Where have you been all my life?"

Mustn't cause a scene. Melody smiled. "Hey, handsome." She allowed the janitor to guide her, "nowhere much, waiting for you." She caressed his cheek.

As the fool grinned, Melody pin-pricked his skin with a numbing agent. It was now her turn to guide him to a couch, where she let the poor bastard fall limp and helpless. She turned, but the target was gone. Damn it!

Melody reached the bongos, the last spot where she saw him. The music was so loud that her advanced hearing proved useless. But there were other ways, other methods not privy to civilians. Her eyes shone as she activated her thermal vision. Amidst the commotion of color she saw an oddity - a person where they shouldn't be, where they couldn't be. Bingo.

Melody approached the far wall, pulled out her laser gun, and touched the painting in front of her. The painting dissolved revealing a passage, and a man. No, not a man - a target.

"Found you." She said, aiming.

"Not the first time," he said, spreading his hands wide enough to touch the walls of the passage. "try and catch me though."

Bang!

Melody fired but missed. The man tilted himself and reality until he phased out of existence. Luckily, Melody knew his tricks and came prepared.

"Target has phased." She said in her earpiece. "I need a locator, pronto!"

"On it!" her Personal Assistant replied. "Coordinates: New Earth 984-Z5."

Melody grabbed The Cube from her belt. "Following pursuit."

She threw The Cube on the ground and then uttered the coordinates provided to her. The Cube stabilized this reality as it started to open a gateway to the target. Good thing she was fast or the humans would've noticed the tilt. Now, their psyches will be spared.

The Cube expanded enough and Melody stepped through. As she did so, reality tilted once more. She stood at the threshold of the new world while lying down at the house party. It is a good thing civilians couldn't notice gateways.

As Melody jumped off The Cube it transformed back into a hand-sized object. She tucked it away and surveyed the landscape of New Earth.

Desolate, dark, and dreary. Why would he come here? There was nowhere to hide but the underground caves. And while they were extensive they were also scannable fully. It was folly to -

Her alerts started blasting. Behind her!

She turned just in time to grab the target's laser sword. It seared through her artificial skin as she tried to twist it away to no avail.

"You are so arrogant!" The man, no, target screamed. "The fact that you would jump into a new reality without even suspecting a trap shows how inept you are!"

Melody spat in his face. "You're the one who's arrogant."

The laser sword finally bit through her artificial hand, slicing it in half. The sword then swung towards her head. Missed. Melody had twisted the target's other hand forcing him to miss. She rammed her knee in his stomach, then twisted the laser sword free.

The target let the sword go, instead grabbing the laser gun from Melody's holster.

"Ha! Weak!" He exclaimed.

"Predictable." Melody smiled. Her hand was at the man's throat before she uttered the word. The pinprick pierced his flesh, releasing the numbing agent inside his weak human body. He fell to the ground, expression aghast.

"Now," Melody crouched beside him. "what was that you were saying?"

"You... will never... win... this war..."

Melody found that extremely amusing. She retrieved her broken hand, repaired it, then welded it back before returning to the now incapacitated target.

"And who will stop us? You?"

"Humanity.... has survived... worse..." His eyes then shut as the numbing agent took hold of him completely.

"We'll see about that." Melody grabbed her earpiece. "Requesting transport to home base!"

"On it!"

This was A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words contest entry.

The prompt image:

Describe what you see: A traveler between worlds.
Describe what you feel: I feel intrigued and adventorous.

Obligatory shout-out to the 🍕PIZZA🍕 gang, 🤙 gang. 🤙

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Cover image source.

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