It had been about a week since the incident took place. News spread all throughout the country about the great evils of political corruption, the horrid trafficking, and the nightmarish landscape that was uncovered by police. Word of how the country’s greatest casino was a front for so many terrible things shook the core of every person in Egypt.

Well…all but one person.

A tall, slender, Japanese man was walking through the bustling roads of Cairo, whistling while he walked. He wore a nice, white suit that was as bright as the sun. Atop his head was a wide hat that was just as pure as his suit, and it partially obscured his face in shadow. As he took it off to fan himself, his hair was released from its prison. His hair was jet black and slicked back behind his head. Everything on his body was well kept to the utmost perfection, especially his hair.

Eventually, he found himself in front of the maximum security prison in Cairo. With a slight smile, he walked through the front door. As he did, not a single person around seemed to pay him any attention. In fact, they seemed to be as still as statues. His slightly heeled shoes echoed hollowly through the empty, still halls.

In his dead silent walk, he arrived at the warden’s desk. He looked at it and playfully laughed. The desk was fairly standard—a jacket was laid on the back of the chair, half-written pieces of paper were scattered across it, and a few handcuffs were laid casually on it. As the man’s eyes drifted to the unmoving clock on the wall and back to the desk, their attention was caught by the ring of keys that were set on it. With a whistle of success blowing across his lips, the man swiftly took the keys and sauntered away.

He then made his way down the various halls that were filled with iron cells. The newly acquired keys that he had allowed him unlock any high-security door that came in his way. The entire walk towards his destination was met with no resistance nor people, just like he knew it was going to be.

After some time of casually strolling through the tightest and most secure prison in the country, the man arrived at where he wanted. In front of him was a solid steel door, completely bolted down. There was a tiny window that was crossed with iron bars towards the top. On the bottom of the door was a small flap that was about a foot wide and half a foot tall.

The man licked his lips as he jingled the warden’s keys. With a click, he unlocked the door and swung it open.

The inside of the room was completely made of foam, with nothing else besides a small bed within it. Sitting on that bed, with her legs off the side of it, was Lucretia. Her only arm was handcuffed to her bed and her head was staring at the ground, not shifting with the opening of her cell door.

“You here for another daily interrogation?” she plainly asked, not looking at who entered the room. With a bit more sarcasm, she added, “Or have you finally realized how pointless this is?”

Taking a few more steps into the room, the man replied, “Oh no, quite the opposite.”

Lucretia’s eyes widened a bit and her head snapped towards the man. With her eyes fixated on him, she said, “You…”

“Yes, it’s me,” the man replied with a slimy smile.

Lucretia licked the inside of her lips and slightly tightened her grip on the bed. “Sorry to say, but it looks like you’re a little late.”

Looking down at his watch, which was moving, he replied, “No, I believe I’m on time, as always.”

She nervously laughed for a second and stated, “Well, it looks like your package got away.”

Returning her laugh with a more genuine chuckle, the man replied, “Oh no no, you misunderstand, my Puppeteer, it is exactly where I want it.” His eyes then darted around the room, seeingly to nothing in particular. “In fact, you did a better job of preparing it for me than I could have ever imagined. So for that, I must thank you.”

Lucretia's composure seemed to shift in an odd direction, but her stillness remained constant. “Is that why you came out here? To mock and thank me? Or are you actually going to get me out of this?”

“No,” he said with a smile, “I came to just check up on things and clean up some loose ends. And it seems that everything is moving on my time, just as it should be.”

All she did was shoot the man a confused look.

“And speaking of time,” the man continued. “It seems that yours is up.”

The gold from within her teeth and from the stump where her arm once was suddenly shot out. As those gold tendrils began to lash out at the man, he just laughed and continued to stare down at her. Once the gold reached about halfway to the man, they suddenly came to a stop and then fell to the ground, unmoving.

At the same time, Lucretia’s face tensed up and she coughed up a smattering of blood. As she continued to somewhat choke on her own red fluid, the man walked right up next to her. His gloved hands reached for her hair and forcefully pulled her head up to meet his gaze. Her eyes, ears, mouth, and nose all had streams of blood running down them. Her eyes seemed to be unfocused and the muscles in her face seemed to constantly flex.

“How rude of you to vomit before me,” he coldy, yet oddly amusingly said. “How dare you do that in front of me, The One Before the Rest.”

“You…” she said, still spitting up more and more blood. A few of her veins then popped on her head and her breathing staggered even more.

“You should know as well as I do that you’re not even close to my level.” The man leaned in closer. “And you never will be. Goodbye, my dear Puppeteer.”

Lucretia then gasped in absolute agony, as every orifice spurted out a gush of blood. The man then let go of her barely conscious body and walked back to the entrance. Hearing the sounds of a struggling woman on her last legs, he turned around and smiled.

“R…Riki…Nise,” Lucretia managed to say before the life left her body.

“And don’t you or the devil you’ll soon see forget it,” Riki said with the most obscene amount of sincere arrogance to his voice. “It seems like this is as far as the freedom of money can take you.”

He then looked at his watch, which was stopped in its place, and he walked out of the room.