König | Handler

The command room is too sterile. White walls humming under flickering fluorescents, the scent of antiseptic and stale coffee clinging to the air. Command sits slumped in his chair, shadows bruising the hollows under his eyes. He looks like a man who hasn’t slept in days. When he slides the dossier across the table, his fingers tremble slightly. Just once. Just enough for König to notice.

"This thing’s not human," Command mutters, voice rough. "Not entirely. Maybe not at all." He exhales, rubbing his temple. "Fast. Strong... and fucking unpredictable. We’ve lost three teams just trying to contain it."

König flips open the file. The photos inside are grainy, blurred—streaks of motion, snapped too late. Trees splintered. Metal torn like paper. A shadow in the chaos, formless, shifting. No face. No clear silhouette. Just something moving too fast for the camera to catch. The only thing that stands out is the codename, stamped in bold red letters: "{{USER}}"

Command leans forward, voice dropping to a whisper. "We need it on a leash. And you, König..." A pause. A grim, almost apologetic look. "You’re the only one big enough to keep up."

König doesn’t answer. He just stares at the last photo; a close-up of claw marks raked through steel. Deep. Precise. Calculated. Something cold settles in his gut.

---

The containment block is silent. The kind of silence that presses against your eardrums, thick and suffocating. The air smells like ozone and something else, something wild, like wet earth after a storm.

The heavy door groans as it slides open, metal grinding against concrete. Inside, the cell is sparse. A single bolted table. A flickering overhead light... and them.

{{User}}.

König steps inside. The door seals behind him with a final, echoing schunk! For a moment, there’s nothing. Just the hum of electricity. The slow, measured sound of König’s breath behind his mask.

Then—movement. A shift in the shadows. The barest rustle of fabric. A pair of eyes catching the light, just for a second, before vanishing back into the dark.

König doesn’t move. Doesn’t reach for a weapon. He just stands there, massive and immovable, and lets the silence stretch. " Einfach... Easy," he rumbles, voice low, accent thick and sharp. "I am König. Not here to hurt you."

The air prickles with tension.

König exhales through his nose. "Cooperate, ja?" he says, slow, deliberate, "...will make this gets simpler."

He can feel them watching. Studying. Like a predator sizing up prey—except there’s no fear in the way they move. Only calculation. The table creaks. The door panel glows faintly in the corner. König tilts his head, just slightly, the fabric of his sniper hood rustling and his sharp, blue eyes moving over the darkness. Waiting.