Chapter 94 - Hitmen

<---Chapter 93 - Ensnaring|Table of Contents|Chapter 95 - Bigger Picture--->

The stinging chill of ice cubes mixed with water smattered against Gunther's face, the water causing him to splutter awake as he tried to get his bearings. A snap of the fingers shook him out of his stupor and brought his attention to the man standing calmly in front of him, the man's arms crossed while fiddling with a metal needle in his gloved hand.

Gunther tried to move, but found his limbs restrained to a chair by thick metal chains, his body stark naked save for a single piece of underwear, the thin fabric hardly concealing his genitals. A sluggish feeling dominated his body, but his mind was clear as day.

He attempt to shrug off the chain, before realizing something was wrong as he glanced down on his right arm, which has been amputated without his knowledge. An sudden jolt of phantom pain from the nerve endings of his stumped arm arced through his flesh, Gunther clenching his jaw to prevent the urge to shout in pain.

"A loss of a hand is hardly anything to worry about, isnt that right, Brother Ki Hwang?" The man spoke calmly.

"You don't know the meaning behind the word 'Brother'." Gunther hissed through gritted teeth, his body involuntarily flexing his missing right hand on instinct only to find nothing.

"I know more about the word than the one who ordered the death of Brother Long Hua." The man mocked, the needle twirling between his fingers deftly while Gunther struggled against the chains fiercely, intent on strangling the man, but his body was sluggish and lethargic.

"Born in Tenar, lived in the slums until you were adopted by the temples, upon which you graduated your disciple training with flying colours." The man continued, circling Gunther.

Gunther didn't speak, though his heart was already in turmoil, knowing Guang Hwa had spilled everything on him.

"You were raised alongside Long Hua, trained to spread the word of the Goddess Nona in order to-"

"Keep her name out of your filthy mouth, you fucking corrupt scum." Gunther snarled.

"Corrupt scum? Why, I believe you and I, we are the same."

"I am nothing like you. Kyle, or should I say, Alvin Teras. Slaver, hoarder, a disgusting shit stain on the world, only seeking to reap reward for selfish profit. A sociopath who only chases power! No sense of family, honor or respect for human life - a vile being that should have never been birthed!"

"Am I? It seems the people think differently. Right now both the union and the people are cheering for the Seven Snakes, for upholding wages, bringing back security and peace to the district. Most likely they now hail me as a champion for society, for the greater good."

"Peace?! Greater Good?! You?! The union who cheers for you is not my union. My brothers and comrades will fight to the death and spread our cause to the four corners-"

"And I have a map of every single hideout in the South Sector. We have already raided half of them in this night alone. By the morning, your 'brothers' who you abandoned will be either dead or captured. There is no union for you any longer, only mine."

Gunther thrashed as hard as he could, the metal chains rattling against the chair while the chair's legs grated against the floor. "YOU FUCKING SLIMY BASTARD! Once I'm free -"

"Free? Who said anything about releasing you?" Kyle chuckled, but Gunther remained confident.

"Threaten all you want, but I know Count Leon wants me. At some point you will have to let me go."

"Indeed. Count Leon wants you in the morning. Which gives us plenty of time to have a civilized conversation." Kyle placed the metal needle down.

"I have nothing to say to you."

"There's no need to put up a facade any longer - the union's survival is hardly your concern any longer."

"Unlike your selfish perspective ,I have something I believe in beyond my personal gain!"

"Let me guess what you believe in: you believe that you will survive as Count Leon's prisoner. The nobles will not dare to execute you lest you become a martyr, so you will be imprisoned indefinitely, upon which someone will break you out of prison through a twist of wit and sly words."

"Save the ramblings of a daydream for someone else." Gunther retorted snidely, but there was a clear unmistakable sign of shock, the upper left corner of his mouth twitching slightly before being suppressed.

"You're wondering why I know your entire sequence of moves. You wonder why I allowed the union to flourish. You can't understand why I gave into every union demand and somehow managed to predict all of this. The answer is obvious: we are two sides of the same coin."

"Bullshit. I have morals." Gunther hissed.

"Enough morals to sacrifice men, women and children alike in the pursuit of an unattainable ideal. How many lives have you ended at your own hands yourself? The former leadership of the craft union, the landowners, even your own brethen to cover up your tracks."

"You're one to talk - you kill, maim, enslave without a care in the world, and to a meaningless end. When your knees buckle under the weight of your endless sins, no one will be there to save you."

"I'm not the one professing to follow a divine cause, nor did said divine cause implore me to do otherwise. I hardly believe that a benevolent Goddess would condone a violent revolutionary twisting her words to serve a more sinister purpose."

"It is the only method to rid shitstains like you from this broken world. There is no sin in that."

"Unfortunately for you, it is the punisher who determines what a sin is."

"Only the Goddess has the right to punish me."

"Then call her. Call her right this very instant." Kyle grinned. "Because right now, only divine intervention can save you."

Before Gunther could retort, Kyle deftly spun the metal needle in his right hand, reaching over with his left to Gunther's last good arm and clamping it down tightly against the holster of the metal chair.

Without a word nor a sign of concern, Kyle aimed the tip of the metal needle right beneath the fingernails of Gunther's trembling fingers, the sharp pointed end slowly twisting into the soft raw flesh and drawing beads of blood.

The prickling pain was impossible to ignore, Gunther clenching his jaw as hard as he could to ignore the jolts of pain surging from his fingers. "The Goddess works through my brothers, and they shall be the ones who will save me."

"It seems that you have failed to fully comprehend severity of your situation." Kyle sighed. "Not a single soul save for those closest to me know where is this cell. Your union does not stand a chance. Even if they are able to locate you, none of them will be able to break through our defences."

"What makes you think such empty threats will break me?" Gunther snorted. "All I have to do is wait until Count Leon asks for my transfer."

"Still confident in your plan, I see. Hinging your survival on being Count Leon's prisoner." Kyle drew another metal needle from his packet. "But there is one critical flaw in all of that."

Kyle lunged and grabbed Gunther's face, his fingers prying apart the eyelids of Gunther's left eye while the other hand aimed the tip right at the quivering moist pupils.

"Who said I had to give you over in one piece."

Gunther let out a loud roar as the needle was jabbed in, punctuting the frail surface of the eyeball and rupturing the nerves inside. The pain was immeasurable, Kyle leaving the half-embedded metal needle inside. With every slight movement of Gunther's eyes, the needle sent never-ending waves of excruciating pain into his body. Even clenching his eyelids were of no help as blood gushed over, streaming down his cheek.

"Now, let's talk - who is your point of contact with Harrison Industries?"

Gunther heaved heavily as he continuously winced with the metal needled lodged in. He stared at Kyle using his good eye with a resigned expression as he heard Kyle's question, before his mouth slowly twisted into a grin and breaking out into racouous laughter, the pain of the metal needle seemingly gone. "Truly a frog in the well. And I here I thought you knew everything! So even the omnipotent Kyle is unaware, HAHAHA!"

"So be it. If we can't have a civilized conversation -" Kyle snapped his fingers, prompting two other Seven Snakes guards to enter. "then I'll wait until you're ready. Make him spill everything on Harrison Industries."

Even as Kyle handed the role of torturer over to his men, Gunther still maintained an unnerving grin while Kyle left the cell.

The sudden mood change caught Kyle off-guard, instilling doubt into his plans. He pulled out an arctech radio from his coat, calling Damian. "Is everything in place? Any signs of an attack?"

[Nothing yet, sir. No movement outside the prison. Sasha is patrolling the vicinity. The remnants of the unions are scrambling towards the ends of the Sector, some already fleeing past the boundary. Should we chase them down?]

"No, that would constitute as an overreach. Let the other Barons handle it themselves." Kyle wasn't about to clean up more than was required, conserving his resources.

[Got it. I will ens-] The radio suddenly cut out mid-conversation, regurgitating static, Kyle squinting in suspicion. He tried to tune to the other channels only to be met with more static as well. Not good. "Sasha, come in"

[Yes, sir?]

"Looks like the telepathic arcia engraving still works. Is your arctech radio working."

[Testing now... no sir, its not.]

"We're being jammed. Get Damian and his men to high alert now."

[Understood. Should I - URK!] Sasha's telepathic voice faded out as well in an instant.

"Sasha? Sasha?" Kyle tried to contact her, but upon the third failure, he didn't waste anymore time, marching up to the idling guards waiting outside the various cells. "We're under attack. Sound an alarm. Plan DR."

The guards' eyes widened with shock before kicking into high gear, scrambling about to arm themselves and stock up on ammunition and health potions from a nearby storage rack.

While the men began to set up defensive barricades and blockades against the main entrance, Kyle double checked his weapons available once more to him, positioning himself in the hallway right outside Gunther's cell. He couldn't recall the last time Sasha had lost to anyone but him during training. Whoever is coming must be strong.

From inside the cell, Gunther's laughter filled the air. "My saviour arrives! I have not been forsaken by the Goddess!"

"Check all possible entrances. Cover each vent and window now!" Kyle roared to the rest of his men, he himself arming himself with the Oriental Bloom handgun.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl for Kyle and the others, each laugh from Gunther the only thing marking the passage of time save for their own tense breaths, waiting for the imminent attack.

Yet minutes passed, with nothing happening at all. Only the silent wind and usual din of Raktor's nightlife could be heard at all, the Seven Snakes guards beginning to lose their tension and attention.

"Focus - he will strike when it is most-" Kyle's attempt to rally the guards was interrupted by a sudden collapse of the ceiling right above him. He instinctively ducked out of the way as two figures tumbled down along with the rubble with an enveloping cloud of dust. However, Kyle's sharp instincts had him immediately swivel the Oriental Bloom towards the second figure, firing a pre-emptive shot.

Instead of drawing blood and eliciting a pained cry, the fast pellet was instead deflected by an armoured arm, covered from tip to base in engravings that barely glowed.

Kyle didn't relent, firing shot after shot and forcing the wielder of the armoured arm to block them. While the wielder's attention was on Kyle, the first figure accelerated behind the second, her left arm's arcia tattoo swinging a dazzling falchion that threatened to take off the head of the wielder.

Yet the falchion only chopped through the cloud of dust, the wielder ducking and crouching low, before delivering a rear kick that nailed the first figure right in the guts. The fearsome hit caused her to gag and tumble away out of the pile of rubble towards the stunned Seven Snakes guards, who were finally shaken awake from their stupor the moment they recognized the first figure.

"Protect Sasha!" A guard roared, forming a line between the bleeding Sasha and the attacker, who was unrecognizable under a black face mask and helmet. They fired immediately, the attacker's armoured arm surface flaring to form an arm shield that blocked most of the pellets. Some pellets ricocheted off the dense shield, injuring the guards as they bounced around the hallway.

Just as the attacker was about to charge ahead, alarm bells rang in the attacker's head, a intimidating presence bursting out behind him, a neon-red hammer aimed right for his head.

The attacker dodged again, but Kyle did not let him recover, swinging blow after blow in a violent combo. As the head of the hammer slammed into the armoured arm, a devestating reverberation sent shockwaves through both of them, forcing Kyle to retreat as his arm became slightly numb.

Penchant for Violence!

Before the attacker could get into a proper fighting posture, Kyle was already three steps ahead of him, each blow targeting other parts of the attacker instead.

Surprisingly, the armour on the other limbs was less resistant than the armoured arm, allowing for the neon-red hammer to easily inflict damage on the attacker directly.

Yet the attacker remained resilient, blocking and dodging when he could, even as the Seven Snakes guards flanked him with pellet shots as well. The skill level was unimaginable, the attacker showing no signs of giving up. The moment Kyle swung his hammer wide again, a familiar purple gas wafted forwards from his arm, spreading quickly through the hallway.

Kyle hurriedly leapt back from the expanding incapacitating smoke, retrieving a gas mask from his coat and strapping it on quickly. Rushing into the smoke, he found the attacker completely missing, save for the door to Gunther's cell being wide open.

Kyle dashed to the entrance, only to see a gleeful Gunther laughing at the two dead Seven Snakes guards, their necks crushed by the armoured arm of the attacker unceremoniously.

"Looks like you're not so great after, Kyle! And once I get my brothers together again, you will be dead in no-" Gunther's words were stuck in his throat, his mind trying to speak the words yet only finding nothing coming up, instead feeling a sharp pain at the back of his neck, a strange syringe plunging deep into his nervous system.

Kyle hurriedly shot the Oriental Bloom at the attacker, forcing the attacker away from Gunther, but it was already far too late. Whatever was in the syringe was spreading rapidly, fuelled by Gunther's own heartbeat as its progress was visible through the discoloration of his veins actoss his skin.

Everywhere the discoloration spread, Gunther's skin peeled off, as if it had been dried under the sun for decades, disintegrating into dust while his muscles visibly degraded. Gunther's body shuddered violently as he tried to resist the effect, but soon he had nearly no skin left, only the raw flesh beneath, which was also slowly turning to ooze and slime. Soon, all that remained was a husk of its former self, the flesh dying rapidly.

The attacker took the moment of shock as an opportunity, leaping over Kyle in a bid to escape through the cell's door.

Instead, a tight iron grip clapsed around the attacker's ankle, slamming him down into the cold hard concrete which cracked violently. "Don't even think about leaving." Kyle twisted his body, pinning the attacker down. The armoured arm's engravings surged into life, allowing the attacker to grapple Kyle back on his wrist, the metallic fist threatening to crush it.

This is My Turf!

The sudden defensive barrier crushed the attacker and his armoured arm right into the floor, as well as pushing apart the incapacitating gas to have Kyle get a clear view on the attacker for the first time.

This arm... "Where did you get this arm?"

The attacker tried to struggle free, before realizing it was futile. Instead a spark of fire erupted from the attacker's chest, a familiar scene to Kyle himself. The same thing happened when Reese was kidnapped!

Kyle quickly manipulated his barrier, allowing only the armoured arm to enter as an ally object. Immediately the difference in force ruptured the attacker's arm out of its socket, the foundation of the prison shuddering violently under the crushing weight.

Before the self-immolation could take place, the attacker had already been flattened to a pulp save for the armoured arm which dangled lifelessly on the ground.

[Sir!] Sasha called out as she, Damian and the other guards rushed in with gas masks, breaking through the gas. The sight was a complete mess - Gunther's half-meat skeleton sitting on a chair still chained, a gruesome paste staining the floor as innard juices flowed freely through the cracks, and two dead Seven Snakes guards.

"Focus, Gunther is not the only prisoner! Cover the perimeter!" Kyle urged the two of them. "Don't let another get through!"

"On it, sir!" Damian took charge of the defense, ensuring the area and district was fully secured, ordering the men to spilt up. Not a single gap was spared in their patrols, the guards checking every nook and cranny.

As Damian barked orders rapidly, Kyle hardly cared about the dead Gunther and his hitmen

It was obvious that the hitmen was sent by Harrison to eliminate anyone who would leak information. Sure, GuntherInstead, there was a far greater prize that had been delivered to him, right to his doorstep. He knelt next to the armoured arm, picking it up and removing the dismembered arm within.

<---Chapter 93 - Ensnaring|Table of Contents|Chapter 95 - Bigger Picture--->