Chapter Text
Old Warehouse somewhere in Europe [ Unknown Time Period ] [ August 13, 2004 ]
“Oy! Wake up!”
*Clang* *Clang*
M3 was woken up by the loud clashing of metal ringing through his ears. He was on the floor, it was cold and there was a familiar taste of metal on his mouth.
It was blood... his blood, and not just in his mouth, he was lying in a pool of it. He raised his head and slowly opened his eyes, one side of his vision was obscured, reddened by his own blood dripping from a cut along his hairline.
He tried to stand up but found it rather difficult. His hands were tied behind his back, making it hard to balance himself, not to mention how wobbly his legs were. Most of his joints were sore and his arms were getting numb due to inactivity.
In the corner of his eye he saw multiple others like him, bound, bleeding, some unconscious, some awake but silent probably due to shock and fear. He can hear faint sounds coming from a different room, it sounded like sharp cries and screams of agony.
(Where am I? What is this?), He thought to himself
“Quiet down, ya runt!”
*Thud*
Near the door to a different room, he saw a muscular man wearing a clown mask take a solid metal pipe and bludgeoned a child across the temple. The child fell on the floor in a loud thud, unmoving.
“Oy! The fuck you doin? Don’t kill the fucking merchandise!”
Another man in a clown mask approached the first man and scolded him while looking frustrated at the sight of the bloodied child.
He pushed the first man aside and knelt down on the floor checking on the child.
“You fucking caved his head in! He’s dead!”
“Kid’s fault for being too loud”
The man gave the other an irritated glare and returned his attention to the corpse.
“Fucking whatever, I’ll deal with you later, help me bring the body in the other room. If this kid’s healthy we can sell the organs”
The other man let go of the pipe and grabbed a body bag. They sealed the body in the bag and carried it to the other room.
“Oy, we got somethin for ya!”
A figure from inside the room opened the door and came out. He was wearing surgeon’s scrubs along with a plastic apron, and goggles. The entire outfit was reddened with blood, he was holding a scalpel on one hand, and a big yellow bag on the other.
“Gottverdammt! (Goddamnit!)“
The instant the man saw the body bag, he knew it meant another corpse, much to his frustration.
The man took off his goggles and mask to vigorously scratch his head with both hands in vexation.
“What are we going to do now? The client wanted 10 live merchandise! Du blöde fick! (You stupid fuck!)”
He slammed the yellow plastic bag hard on the ground, and the scalpel across the room.
M3 kept his eyes focused on the yellow plastic bag, the inside of it looked dark, with a tint of red. There was no question, inside the bag was a corpse. Based on the conversation he overheard, he suspected that the corpse was mangled and dissected for organs to be sold in the black market, because where else would organs be sold?
He finally had an idea of where he is, who kidnapped him and why. He was in what looked like an abandoned warehouse, kidnapped by a group of Child Traffickers either to be sold as merchandise or dissected for organs.
While he was lost in thought, he saw the bag open, and what came out from inside was a familiar sight…
A severed head rolled out of the bag, it was cleanly severed as if it was a mannequin, it’s eyes were gouged out but he could still recognize it. It was one of the Rounder Trainees he was with when they were attacked.
It didn’t have eyes but yet it felt like it was gazing right at him, piercing through his soul saying,
“You’re next”
== : == || { 01 } || == : ==
Railway station near the Mountains [ 10 : 45 PM ] [ August 12, 2004 ]
It was in the dark of night when they were ambushed, the cargo truck they were in looked ill prepared, and the engine was thumping throughout the ride, from the moment they departed he felt that something was wrong, but he was too tired from training that he fell asleep a few minutes into their travels
Their superiors told them that they were headed to a different training facility earlier that day and ordered them to gather their items because they might not come back to camp because reports sent to the command center suspect their location to have been compromised.
There were 10 of them in total, ages ranging from 12 - 21, excluding their superiors whose ages they prefer to keep secret.
They left a quarter before 11 PM in order to cross the borders undetected, this was also the time wherein national surveillance tended to be malfunctioning in that specific area.
M3 was deep in his sleep, his body was aching from the sparring training conducted a few hours prior. The cargo truck was moving at a steady pace, hitting a few bumps along the way when one of the superiors whispered,
“Is this the right way? These roads don’t seem familiar”
“I don’t know either, it’s my first time going to this facility”
The silence within the truck made the superior’s voices echo loud enough for it to be heard throughout the vehicle. This caused some occasional mumbling from within the passengers’ cabin, those awake and alert enough to hear the superior’s worries tensed up and started to worry themselves.
“Quiet down, and wake the others! Stay aler-”
*CRASH* *BANG* *FWOOSH*
An explosion came from beneath the ground they were travelling on, impacting mostly the front of the cargo truck. This caused the vehicle to leap off the air, turn over and crash down hard on the ground.
M3 woke up clumped together with other bodies that were blasted away by the explosion. He pushed off some of the bodies and tried to gather himself, the other trainees did the same.
“What happened?”
M3 let the words fall out of his mouth, aiming to find answers once he goes outside of the cabin. He dragged his legs forward toward the door while supporting his balance with his arms
He reached for the door with his hand only to be met by air when the door opened. This caused him to fall forward, luckily he grabbed the hinges just in time to keep him from falling off when-
*Swing* *Thud!*
The side of his head was met with a solid metal pipe that sandwiched it between the pipe and the door, he instantly fell to the ground, his head was ringing and aching. He tried to stay conscious amidst the pain
“Ah hell! The lil shit startled me.”
“Goddamnit! Is it still alive?”
“Probably, go get the hallucinogens, we need to put them to sleep”
“Yeah, yeah”
Before the man could turn away, the back of his head was greeted by one of the trainee’s shins
“GAH! YOU FUCKING BITCH! THAT HURT! Man what the fuck are these kids? ”
The trainee winded up to leap at the man only to be caught and slammed down on the ground
“Kuh!”
The trainee exclaimed, and tried to get back up when the man stood on their throat preventing them from escaping.
“Where the fuck is that Chloroform?”
*Thumping noises*
The other trainees that were conscious tried to leap out of the opening, one of them tackling the man to the ground. None of them spoke a word but quickly established combat positions, showcasing the discipline and synchronization they learned from training. They didn’t have weapons but their melee combat prowess was nothing to underestimate. Only 4 of them were able to assume position, 2 including M3 was incapacitated, the rest were unconscious, dead or burnt to a crisp from the explosion.
“I got em!”
“Yeah too fucking late for that now ain’t it!”
The other man came back after retrieving the chloroform only to be met by 4 of the trainees, injured and fatigued but still looked deadly and menacing.
The trainees scaled the first man up, and after a moment, 2 of them charged him and targeted his legs to restrict his movement. Simultaneously, another trainee ran towards the man and leapt off the air flipping their body forward mid-air and extending their hamstring before hammering their heel down on the man’s forehead.
The man staggered back and his legs were swept off the ground by the 2 trainees which caused him to fall down hard on his back.
While preoccupied, the other man didn’t notice where the other trainee went until he felt a hard hit on the back of his knee which caused him to kneel down on the ground.
“GAH FUCK!”
Right before the man turned to see who attacked him, he felt a firm grip on his forehead and chin.
“WAIT!-”
*Snap*
The man fell to the ground, eyes wide open, neck wobbling like gelatin.
The first man stood up and felt a sharp pain in his head, it was bleeding profusely. He was dumbfounded not by the pain but how he took such a hard hit from such a small body.
“Alright, playtime’s fucking over! Go to sleep”
The man pulled out a Glock from within his pockets and grabbed one of the trainees by the head. The trainee tried to avoid him and run away but it was too late and the man’s grip was firm on the trainee’s hair. Without hesitation the man put the gun against the trainee’s temple and pulled the trigger, dropping the trainee instantly.
The other trainees saw this and promptly ran away in different directions
*Bang!*
He shot one of the trainees square in the back, killing them in a matter of seconds. He aimed at another one when his gun was knocked away from his hand. He felt a tight grip on his wrist that tried to pull him down
“Shit, what’s up these fucking kids!”
The traineed stepped their foot in between the man’s legs, stepped to their side to gather momentum and with adequate force, pulled the man’s arm down, using the momentum to throw the man down on the ground
“Guah!”
The trainee didn’t release their grip after the takedown and instead stepped over the man’s head, dragged the man once more to the ground and locked their legs together to complete the leg triangle choke.
The man couldn’t breathe and was squirming vigorously, the submission was locked in tight.
“GRAHHHH!”
The man held his hands together, postured up and with a loud roar stood up and lifted the trainee off the ground only to slam them against the metal wall of the cargo truck, forcing them to loosen their grip.
“Hah- haahh, huahhh”
The man recovered his breath before approaching the trainee once more and before they could react, stomped his foot multiple times all over the trainee’s body. He didn’t stop until he could see blood dripping from his boots.
“FUCKING BITCH!”
The man shouted and sighed in relief. He tried to find the other trainee who escaped but to no avail.
*Buzz* *Buzz*
[ Status Report? ]
The man heard a voice from his radio
“Uhh… cargo secured, one casualty. 10 confirmed bodies, status unknown”
[ One casualty? Status unknown? ]
“Uhhh… yeah my partner got his neck snapped in half, some of them kids fought back and I had to uh… resort to other methods to shut them down.”
[ God fucking damn it all you had to do was kidnap some kids how hard is that, a kid snapped his neck? Are you sure you didn’t just kill him? ]
“Hey! Listen here motherfucker! These fucking kids ain’t normal or shit they’re like trained in some martial arts bullshit, and if I wanted to kill this stupid motherfucker, I woulda done it ages ago along with you, aight?”
[ Whatever, get your ass back here ]
The man cut off the connection with the other line on his radio and promptly started to collect the bodies. Some were still alive but unconscious so he injected some kind of serum to keep them asleep. 3 died from the initial explosion, 1 was severely injured but alive and unconscious, 2 of them including M3 were incapacitated, 3 were killed and 1 escaped.
He loaded the bodies on a separate truck and grabbed a canister of gas and splattered it all over the truck, then washed his gear along with his truck with bleach and other cleaning agents. He lit a match and lit the truck on fire before driving off to the horizon.
The last of what M3 remembered before finally passing out was the sound of the engine revving and the smell of cigarettes.
== : == || { 02 } || == : ==
Old Warehouse somewhere in Europe [ Few Hours Later ] [ August 13, 2004 ]
“Ey, don’t worry, one of them merchandise is worth more than any of these runts combined”
“The fuck you mean? Wait… don’t fucking tell me we kidnapped royalty you shit! God knows what’ll happen to us when we get caught if we took some royal fucking-
“Calm the fuck down would ya? Remember that cargo truck? The ones with super kids in em?”
“Super kids, yeah alright the ones who fucking killed one of us”
“Naw I’m tellin ya, this is a serious bargain, one of em was left over right there near the end of the room, I’m tellin you they’re dangerous, like ninjas or so”
“Kid fuckin ninjas are you serious? And if they are dangerous than how can they be a fucking bargain?”
“Well… I don’t know maybe our fucking client wants to adopt an assassin or somethin, hell he’s more capable than any of these runts over here”
“Especially this bitch right over here, didn’t say shit, didn’t move, didn’t do nothin. But hey… she ain’t half bad I gotta say , if our client wouldn’t mind waiting a few years this’ll be a good investment haha”
“Yeah of course you’d think that fucking way your brain’s all the way down in your balls, ya fuck”
“Hey! Just sayin you know”
“Fick! (Fuck!) Quick, ready the merchandise, the client wants to see them tonight”
“God shit, seriously?”
“Best get to cleanin”
A grin forms on the lips of one of the men at the thought of cleaning the merchandise, the other notices to which he quickly retorts,
“Shit, I’ll do the fucking cleaning, who knows what weird shit you’re planning”
“Wha- Hey! Give me more credit than that!”
“Not when you’re pitchin a tent with your mouth open”
The man leaves the predator to his crooked fantasies and leads one of the children into a wall rigged with a makeshift sink and shower. Meanwhile, the man in scrubs took care of the body and went back into what M3 suspected was an operating room.
*Swish* *Swash*
The merchandise were lined up in the wall in batches of 3 and then sprayed all over with water to wash off the dirt and blood, but the chains that bound their arms together remained intact throughout the process. The high pressure of the water stream made it feel like a barrage of hail crashing against the skin.
Some of the children writhed in pain, pleading for their torment to stop, others rolled up into a ball into the floor, trembling as they tried to shield themselves as much as possible. Nonetheless, the screams of children were once again heard in the silent warehouse.
It was the last batch of children, one of which was a small boy in his pre-teens with short brown hair and big black eyes, widened profusely due to fear. He's been silently crying this entire time, too scared to make a noise. The other was a girl in her early teens. Her body, as described by one of the men, was already developing, she silently obeyed their order to line up against the wall. Lastly was M3 himself, he was still in his semi-casual training attire, he steadied himself and walked slowly towards the wall.
Once against the wall, he shot a look towards the door leading to the other room, and then surveyed his environment closely. There were no windows except for a few rusted vents, no cameras, one central light switch operated by a lever mechanism, a table that looks like a communication console and in the very far end of the room, a gate that he suspected to be the exit.
Taking his physical and mental state into consideration, escaping this situation might take a miracle, especially when he’s bound, fatigued and suffering significant blood loss. He had to free himself first, but with 2 enemies constantly watching, it would be hard to do it undetected. He’ll have to think ahead and execute his escape in a smooth series of motion. One wrong move is all it takes for him to take a fatal bullet to the body, it doesn’t even have to be an organ, just the shock and injury of getting shot is enough to shut down his already beaten body.
He has much better odds fighting one on one, he thought of acting limp so that he would seem dead and be taken to the other room. But he needed an excuse to make it seem believable, and fortunately that excuse is about to be splashed all over him.
*Swish* *Swash*
*Thud*
He jerked his body against the wall as soon as the water came in contact with his skin and “fell down” hard on the floor. He attempted this multiple times to escape training or have some more time to rest but the instructors could always see through him. But his multiple failed attempts were not in vain as he perfected the technique and learned from what he did wrong the previous times. Through sheer will and discipline he managed to make his pulse near undetectable, and make his heart seem like it stopped beating.
“Shit! What now!”
“See, told you I shoulda been the one who did the cleaning”
“If you ain’t gonna help get the fuck outta here then”
The man signaled the other to help him take care of the “body” and like before, transported it to the other room. The man in scrubs opened the door and shot them a glare of irritation, but this time remained silent and took the body.
*Thud*
M3 felt a hard impact as the bag he’s in was thrown unto a metal operating table
*Metal clanging*
He couldn't see anything and he fell in an uncomfortable position but chose to stay still so as to not get compromised. From outside he can hear the man in scrubs yell and tantrum in frustration.
“Blöd fotze! (Stupid cunt!)”
“Blöd arschloch! (Stupid asshole!)”
“Fick! (Fuck!)”
“der Scheisskerl! (Piece of shit!)”
The tantrum went on for a few moments. The clanging of metal, loud banging mixed with frustrated rumblings were soon followed by a moment of stillness. It was progressively getting harder to breathe especially while enclosed in a small space, he has to get out of the bag before he loses air.
*F o o t s t e p s*
The silence was cut by steady footsteps approaching him, he primed himself, trying to make himself look as much of a corpse as possible. The sudden introduction of an auditory stimulus after a moment of silence was enough to make his body react in a certain way that would distract him from his lack of oxygen. He was as alert as ever, playing multiple scenarios in his head on how to act as soon as that bag opened. He thought of taking in a deep breath of air first before making his move, he also considered breathing while in motion so as to make haste. He thought of where to strike, which arteries to lacerate, which organ to rupture, which bone to dislocate, joint to break, which choke hold to use, which muscle to move first, should he bite?, target the eyes?, the pelvic area? Nothing was out off the table, then again these are all just scenarios, and about only 1 out of hundreds or even thousands of these scenarios are to happen, there’s also no guessing how things will go until the moment comes he can only-
*Zip*
*Open*
*FWHIP!*
*sMACK!*
Like a lasso, he whipped his arm and delivered a chop aimed directly at the surgeon’s neck, he simultaneously got out of the bag, off the table and onto the floor. The man in scrubs attempted to yell but only found himself gasping for air, he suffered a laryngeal fracture and the airway trauma disrupted his respiratory cycle, preventing him from shouting or breathing normally. The man looks up at M3, who in stark contrast to him, is taking a deep breath before forming up.
Before the man could blink, M3 was already out of his sight
*Swoosh*
The man felt a gust of wind from beneath him, followed by a forceful impact, his chin was met with the heel of M3’s foot. The prior injury he suffered caused the muscles on his neck region to stiffen and contract, the power of the kick caused his head to snap back past the neck’s intended articulation point which meant that the Atlas, Axis and other bones connecting his skull to his spine and vertebrae were fractured or broken. His body instantly fell to the ground, jaw broken in multiple places.
M3 didn’t waste any time, he instantly looked in the drawers, cabinets and other compartments for medication or first aid such as bandages, gauzes, disinfectants and painkillers. He stumbled upon what seemed to be vials of Epinephrine, or Adrenaline shots. He recalls the information he read about adrenaline in a science book he picked up while training. In his state, a rush of adrenaline and a dose of painkiller was probably exactly what he needed to boost his physical capabilities momentarily and get out of this mess. At the same time, that exact combination might cause his heart to explode and kill him upon intake.
He takes a moment to decide what to do, what to take and where to go from here. He already treated his wounds and bandaged himself up to the best he could while making sure not to sacrifice mobility. He looks at the Painkiller and Adrenaline shot once again, all of a sudden he feels dizzy, his legs were shaking and felt like puking. He supports himself against the wall and that’s when he noticed…
B l o o d . . .
So much blood... all across the room, there were plastic sheets dividing the room and all of them in one way or another were wet with blood. He was too focused on the elephant that he totally forgot about the room, there were similar plastic bags like the one he saw before clumped together in one corner of the room, the sinks were filled with surgical apparatus doused in hot water and cleaning agents for sterilization which caused the nauseating smell of bleach and blood to permeate throughout the room.
As a Rounder, blood, death and violence was not a rare sight. But inside that room, he didn’t feel like a Rounder trainee or an assassin or anything. He felt like he recessed back into a child lost in the forest scared speechless, this was much more than what he’s seen before. He felt like the way he was back in that fateful year, 4 years ago when his life started to take a very dark turn.
He tries to gather himself, and collect his thoughts, to distract himself like he has ever since that incident . But being exactly where he wanted to distract himself from proved to be difficult, he had to get out, being sold as merchandise might have been a better outcome after all.
He closes his eyes, drops to the floor and tucks his knees into his chest and covers his ears with his hands, hoping for salvation. Hoping that someone would come and rescue him if he hides long enough just like he did 4 years ago.
== : == || { 03 } || == : ==
Old Warehouse somewhere in Europe [ 12 : 01 AM ] [ August 14, 2004 ]
“Man, it’s getting late, where’s that buyer we been inspecting, these kids’ll be grown up before they show up”
“Be patient, it’s only been… a minute after 12 anyway.”
*Tires screeching*
*Break noises*
“Speak o’ the Devil!”
“See? Told you to be patient”
“Yeah yeah, shut up”
One of the men opened the gates of the warehouse, letting a four wheeler, all terrain vehicle enter. It looked roughed up, with a few scratches on the sides and a broken headlight, the windows were smoked so that no one could see from the outside.
“Hey, you sure this is the buyer?”
“Who else would it be?”
“Something feels… off?”
One of the men approached the passenger’s side of the vehicle and knocked on the window. There was no response, so the man instinctively moved back and drew his gun.
“I don’t like this man, something feels off”
“Me neither, gonna go ask our surgeon buddy what the fuck is going on”
“Yeah, you go do that”
The man approaches one more time, this time trying to use a flashlight in order to see the reflection from inside.
*Windows rolling*
“SHIT!”
The man jumped backwards and fell on the ground startled by the windows
“Oy! Someone better start introducing themselves or I start shooting!”
No response.
“One!”
Still none.
“Two!”
Nada.
“I ain’t fucking joking! Once I reach three I will unload magazines on y-
*Door creaks open*
*BANG BANG BANG*
The man unload his entire magazine unto the vehicle, startled once more by the door opening
“Sh-shit...”
The man slowly approaches the vehicle
“C’mon the hell happened here”
*Hissss*
“Eh?”
*BANGG!!* *fWOOSH*
The vehicle exploded blasting the man away, unfortunately, majority of the children were near the explosion, many died from the impact alone while some others were far away but still suffered burns in several places, only a few survived.
After the dust settled a figure emerged from the smoke…
It was the Trainee that escaped, they also looked greatly injured and suffered a few burns from the explosion.
“T-targets eliminated… 10 casualties”
The trainee fell to the ground, succumbing to their wounds.
*Door creaks*
From the other room came out M3, the explosion would of course wake him up and restore him to his senses. What greeted him as he opened the door colored him dumbfounded, it was like a totally different world than when he left it. He wondered if this is the salvation he asked for but quickly discarded it, he knows that he doesn’t deserve salvation, nor does it exist.
He surveys the surroundings once more, burnt corpses filled the room and at the very center was a flaming vehicle, he saw one of the masked men lying down on the floor, his clothes were burned off and his back was burnt. The smell of burnt skin and blood evaporating made him uneasy once more, but all of his uneasiness went away once he saw the gate of the warehouse wide open.
There it is, his way out.
He tried to scavenge whatever was left, weapons, provisions, water and a radio if possible. Only to come up with a few pieces of rope, half a bottle of water, and a shard of glass, none of which would be of any real use, the guns that the men held got melted and rendered useless.
He approached the truck and saw a familiar uniform, it was their combat attire. He took a moment of silence before scavenging the body, they didn’t have a connection but it wouldn’t hurt to pay respects. He found a radio, but the antenna’s been broken and the batteries are dead.
He didn’t dare touch one of the burnt corpses, not out of disgust, but out of respect or whatever he had left of it. He packed the supplies he was able to gather and headed for the exit. Before leaving he turned around, held his hands together, took a moment of silence and bowed. His instructors told him to forget the courtesies, but it’s always been a habit to him.
*Rattle*
The noise alerted him and he quickly drew the shiv he made out of a shard of glass and a cloth he used as a handle. But quickly withdrew the weapon and approached the direction where he heard the noise.
“The exit is open, you can leave, it’s over.”
In a far corner near the entrance, there was a girl with ash blonde hair, a pair of glasses, burn marks, bruises and lacerations on her wrists. He doesn’t know if those wounds came before or after this hellish incident, but he doesn’t care to ask.
She looked up at him, her eyes were lifeless, skin pale making the blood look much more vibrant. She stays like that for a moment but then retreats and hangs her head low.
“(There’s... no... point)”
She responds slowly and silently in a raspy voice
“(I… don’t… have… a… place… to… go…)”
“( I… should… have… just… died…)”
The girl said in a slightly more upset tone, this time burying her face more and more on her knees. M3 was stunned by what she said, it sounded awfully familiar, like he felt a strange sensation of Deja vu. It’s as if he was talking to himself, 4 years ago. He remembers feeling the same way she did, the pain and hopelessness she’s feeling at this moment, was akin to what he felt that time. He also remembers seeing a strange figure walk up to him, he doesn’t quite remember what happened next though... but what he does know, is the feeling of hope returning to his body.
Was it something that man said? Something that man did? He doesn’t remember but he tried to recall what the man said to him on that day.
It was something like….
== : == || { 05 } || == : ==