Inside Vega's hideout in Tondo district, located at Manila City, Phillippines
August 8th, 2021
10:31 PM 29° Celcius/84.2° Fahrenheit
The jungle heat of the Philippines wrapped around the hideout like a noose. The night was thick, the moonlight filtered through the curtains of the house that once served as a decadent hideout for one of the Matriarch's key lieutenants. Ray was wandering in a dimly lit room, his cold, darkened light-silver eyes scanning every corner of the room for possible informations, keys, files...
Then he stopped scanning as soon as his eyes fixated on something...
An opened laptop behind boxes...
He removed those boxes in a hurry, but what he didn't know, in that laptop, there were something horrifying...
Something he shouldn't see...
Something damning.....
On the screen....
It made Ray froze in this tracks..
A young girl...barely fifteen...was gagged, bruised, weeping, forced into submission by faceless monsters.
The next video autoplayed, another girl. Another scream, another body.
He clicked the next file..
Another. Younger, younger that 14...screaming.
Then, another video..
Another video...
Each one worse...
Dozens, then hundreds...
Then, a spreadsheet named 'inventory'. Age, weight, condition, price, buyer ID.
Ray's chest rose and fell. His hands trembled.
Then, the three Queenswomen entered the room with tied up Vega. They are beckoning Ray for something...
He couldn't hear their voices anymore. Only the cries from the speakers, the grainy, static-ridden torment that clawed at his soul.
A fire had begun to burn inside him, something...hellish.
Slow at first, then erupting like an inferno.
Then he suddenly heard the Queenswomen's voices.
"Shigeyoshi!" Izanami called him for the third time.
"Hey! Didn't hear us, new boy?" Dragoness shouted.
"Stop standing like a goddamn mannequin. We need to get moving." Dragoness added, her voice strong and impatient.
"Shigeyoshi!" Izanami called him for the fourth time.
"Jesus, this boy..." Izanami whispered under her breath.
"Deaf ass boy.." Karma coldly commented.
Ray didn't answer. His jaw was clenched, his gaze still fixed on the screen, ignoring the Queenswomen.
Then a laugh.
A manical wet, slithering laugh.
"You found my collection, didn't you?" Came from Vega.
Dragoness suddenly slapped him on his cheek. "Shut it, asshole."
But Vega still kept on going. Taunting Ray. "They cry, they scream, but deep down, they all beg for it." His nose is broken, his lip busted, but his voice still carried poison.
Ray slowly turned, eyes dark as shadow.
"I should've killed you the moment I saw you." Ray said, his voice cold but deadly.
"But you didn't...." Vega spat blood, grinning wider.
"Because you take orders. Like a good dog." Vega added more fuel to Ray's fire.
Ray's fingers twitched. His sidearm was still holstered, but not for long.
"Back off, new boy." Dragoness warned. She stepped forward, hand resting on her blade.
"This thing is....a fucking scum. He doesn't deserve to live." Ray's voice was sharp, restrained, trembling with fury.
Izanami stepped between them. "He's a scumbag, yes. But remember, Her Majesty gave us an order. She wants him alive."
"And you're fine with that? He's selling young girls...children." Ray argued with silent fury, he can still hear the screams of the poor young girls in his head.
Karma's face hardened. "We know, but it doesn't matter. What matters is the mission."
"I don't give a damn about this mission." Ray growled.
He then turned to Izanami, silent and dangerous. "You agree with this? You'd protect this filth?" He asked.
Izanami's expression was unreadable. Cold and silent.
"We follow the order." She said simply.
"Then, you're no better than that scum." Ray muttered.
Silence.....
Twenty seconds of silence, it shattered..
Ray suddenly lunged at Vega, aimed to kill the filth.
But Vega was swiftly blocked by the three Queenswomen. Three against one.
He swung fast at Karma, but she was faster. Her block deflected his fist, but he countered with a knee to her stomach, forcing her back.
Dragoness drew her blade, stepping in with power and grace of a veteran. Ray ducked under her strike and sent her flying with a well-timed shoulder tackle.
Izanami moved like a ghost - silent and deadly. She caught Ray's wrist mid-swing and twisted, flipping him over. He crashed into a chair, splinters flying.
"This is not the way!" Izanami shouted.
Ray ignored her. He rolled, drawing his combat knife.
"You're protecting a monster!" Ray furiously shouted back.
Karma returned with a kukri, aiming for his shoulder. He dodged, then tried to punch Karma in her jaw, but she blocked it. Karma staggered, Ray's punch was packed.
Dragoness slashed again, Ray couldn't dodge her speed and power, grazing his side.
Blood sprayed, but Ray didn't slow. He was wild, unchained, burning with fury.
"Look at you - fighting for me. This is rich!" Vega cackled.
"SHUT UP!" Ray screamed.
He went for the kill - blade in hand, charging past Karma and Dragoness.
But Izanami stepped between.
This time, she didn't hesitate.
She stabbed Ray's stomach. In the part where he would recover in days. Ray spatted blood.
She followed up with a precise kick to his knee, making him buckle. Before he could rise again, she pinned him.
"It's over." Izanami uttered, pinning Ray down.
He didn't fight back this time, no thanks to his wound on his stomach caused by Izanami. He lay there with Izanami, breathing heavily, trembling with raw, buried emotions. Rage, sorrow, guilt.
"We're not protecting him." Izanami said quietly, eyes locked at Ray's.
"We're preserving the bigger fight. Killing him now ends our path to Matriach." She added, her eyes softer now.
Ray suddenly turned his head to the side, looking at the flickering screen of the laptop. More cries, more suffering.
"Then who punishes him?" His voice cracked with emotions.
No one answered.
That night, Ray sat alone, bound, wounded but tended by Karma, in another small room. They await for their allied smugglers to their extraction. A plan changed, no thanks to Ray's fury.
Then his phone rang. He picked it up, the Queen is personally calling him.
Ray answered the call.
"You almost failed following my order." Queen Charlotte said, on the phone.
Ray said nothing.
"You really showed me what you are, Ray. I don't know whether to be happy about it...be anxious about it." The Queen said.
Still silence.
"We'll talk when you return."
The Queen then ended the call.
Ray closed his eyes.
This night was a testament for him that...the world didn't need heroes..
Devils...
The world needed devils..
Devils that needed to punish the scums and wicked, and he'd gladly wear the horns.