Author's Note:
This chapter contains scenes some readers may find disturbing. Reader discretion is strongly advised.
Also for those of you who need another hint for the contest, check my profile.
The whole of the previous day was spent in a library where Sil had gone over his proposal with Ren, offering the north side of Vale as 'his territory' and a guarantee that he'd be well protected from other gangs. Today, Sil was taking him to a place he called the 'dog pound'.
Ren exited the much nicer hotel, somewhat disappointed that he could only spend one night there, but he was due to leave at sometime around two that morning. Ren had played his part well, his brother did not expect anything. And if it wasn't for Sil insulting the faunus every other sentence and occasionally forcing them to act as the animals he saw them as, Ren would almost feel unsure of his mission. Almost.
"So this is it!" Sil announced, pushing open the door to a warehouse on the edge of a forest. "Feel free to explore. When you're done, my office is in the back on the third floor."
"Sure." Ren answered, allowing his eyes to adjust to the dim interior before he started walking again.
Ren walked through the hallway until he came to a doorway. Looking through it, he found piles upon piles of steel bars reaching for the ceiling. A dreadful stench emanated from the room and Ren found out why as he paid closer attention to the cages.
People were curled up in the cages, groaning as they lay suspended on the cold steel bars. In some cases as high up as the second floor. Ren ignored the stench and entered the room looking into the cages. All the people here seemed to have a faunus heritage and most seemed to be missing at least one body part.
Ren felt his stomach roll unpleasantly as he looked at the people in pity. At the far end, there was a power switch that had a large piece of cardboard posted over it.
Do Not Pull, Opens All Cages. It read in black ink that could easily be read from half the room away.
Ren turned around, and headed back to the main hall. I'll get them after I settle things with him.
Ren passed two more rooms that were much the same as the first, noticing for the first time that the stench was coming from the feces that clung to the bars in cages it fell through. Luckily, each room had an identical switch for the doors, making Ren's job much easier as he almost lost it and added his breakfast to the mess in the last room.
Ren crossed the hall to the last doorway, expecting to find yet another room like the previous three, but was instead faced with slim upright cages that forced the occupant to stand. Every one was occupied by an almost naked faunus that appeared severely beaten and in most cases starved. The sunken gaze of the skeletons watched him, or rather passed through him as he passed, noting each of the cages had its own release latch.
Ren rounded the corner of cages and supply boxes to find what appeared to be a family on its knees in front of an equal number of tough looking men. "FIRE!" A shout rang out and before Ren could react, the head of the father exploded before his body fell forward lifelessly.
Loud laughter rang out as the mother and two children wept quietly in sorrow and fear of what was to come.
"Next!" The same voice yelled and the second shot rang out.
Ren watched the mother fall this time. He quickly approached the group. I need to stop this, now! He thought as he considered all his options.
A third shot rang out without warning and the little girl cried out in terror, having witnessed the murder of her entire family. Ren arrived and ignored the shouts from the people around him as he moved in front of the last gunman and his target.
"She's mine." Ren shouted at the large man with authority he was unsure he had.
"Who da fuck are you?" The man shouted back dumbly.
"Sil's brother. Now give me that gun." He held out his hand. He didn't know if he understood the gang his brother led yet, but he couldn't let events progress the way they were.
"Fine." He handed the weapon over. It was a simple, standard issue projectile weapon. Probably a nine millimeter.
Ren turned his back to the man and checked the clip. It was fully loaded with thirteen rounds. A quick scan of the room told him there were thirty six people but only those four appeared armed. He could do this.
He shot the chains that held the girl's arms and legs to a ring on the floor, shattering them. He spun to find the three other gunmen hadn't yet reacted and he fired two rounds into the back of two skulls before he screamed for the girl to run.
Thankfully, she did as she was told and headed straight for the door he'd entered through. He emptied the last rounds of his clip into the mob that had started to jump into action and the lone gunman who had been left standing dropped from a round to the chest as he hesitated to shoot his leader's brother.
The fight after the guns were eliminated got constantly bloodier. There were simply too many people to avoid in such a tight space and Ren found himself taking hit after heavy hit while he knocked out person after person.
Somehow, he managed to take the whole of the thirty six to the ground with him and stood as he assessed his damage. He'd managed to avoid any broken bones, but he'd have one hell of a bruise within the next couple hours.
He carefully walked up the back stairwell, thankful that the second floor seemed to be nothing more than a balcony and finally the third floor where his brother was waiting.
He opened the door without knocking and found the room empty. A single monitor at the back showed video from a room with several dead and many more knocked out men. In a moment, Ren realized his mistake.
A hard punch hit the back of his head and he felt darkness rush up at him as he hit the floor.
Ren grunted as the wind was knocked out of him yet again. He coughed, getting his breath back slowly. Two of his ribs had barely survived that punch. If it continued in the same spot, he had no doubt that he'd be forced to heal himself with his aura.
A sharp stabbing pain carved through his arm and then his chest. He felt the warmth of his blood as it fell from the cuts before they were cauterized by what he thought was a barbecue lighter.
The blindfold on his eyes kept him from witnessing what was happening and preparing himself for the torture. He'd been quietly holding out as his body was torn apart in the hopes that someone might explain something to him.
He felt a sharp impact on his left elbow and couldn't help but grunt as his arm bent in the wrong direction and snapped loudly as the joint dislocated itself. The sharp impact repeated three more times, each bending his arm farther and farther from where it was supposed to be until Ren felt a vibration and crunch as his bone shattered. Still, he remained silent.
"I can keep going all day." A whisper in his ear along with a slight breeze of stale breath told him his assailant was more than happy to keep going.
Ren felt the sharp piercing knife cut into his back and run around in a seemingly random pattern, the blood that seeped out quickly matting his uniform to his skin. The knife trailed its way closer and closer to his heart when he felt the blade suddenly thrust deep into his chest.
"Ah!" Ren gasped in surprise as the cold metal burned against the hot interior of his body. He knew from the pain that the stab was not lethal, but couldn't help feeling that he wouldn't last much longer.
"Finally, he speaks." The same voice whispered. Ren finally realized who it belonged to as it got louder. "Tell me, why did you save the filthy animal?"
Ren felt his rage building, but continued to keep it in check. The man torturing him had killed his parents without blinking. Killing his brother would no doubt be as easy as a flick of the wrist. Ren remained silent, he did not want to agitate the man further than he already was.
"I guess I should tell you what the situation is." Ren suddenly felt a tug at his head before his vision exploded in stars. When he finally recovered from the blow, he saw the little girl he'd tried to save strung up by chains on a wall opposite him. His brother was spinning a knife between his fingers as he slowly approached the girl. She didn't react, her eyes half closed in defeat.
"Leave her alone." Ren ordered, his voice gravelly from lack of use and the threat he was trying to convey.
"You see, we have a problem with that." Sil responded with a smile one could only call evil. "This girl's father seemed to think it was a good idea to disobey when I ordered him to beg. As punishment, I've decided their bloodline should be eliminated for its disobedient nature."
Before Ren could respond, Sil took the girls hand and swung his knife, embedding it into the wall. The girl let loose a blood curdling scream as her small finger dropped to the ground, trailing a stream of blood. Ren watched as Sil took a long lighter out of his pocket and placed the flame on her hand, quickly cauterizing the wound. The girl continued screaming as he continued to let the flame lick her skin, turning the fingers black until blisters formed.
He turned back to Ren and circled around him. Ren was suspended in a frame in the middle of the room that seemed to be made specially for the purpose of keeping people exposed from all angles.
"But now that you've ruined her clean execution, I have no choice but to do things the hard way." Sil almost laughed as he whispered into Ren's ear, taking a powder of sorts and throwing it at his back where it stung in the cuts that were exposed. "That is, unless you help her."
Sil pressed a small remote into Ren's good hand and walked over to the girl, trailing a hand over the small dog ears she had exiting her skull. He turned back to his brother, his smile widening.
"You see, her chains are hooked up to a gigavolt generator. That button will turn it on, and she'll be instantly killed by about a million volts of electricity frying her brain and stopping her heart. It takes less than a second." Sil walked out of sight and came back pulling a cart full of metal tools and bottles of who knows what. "On the other hand, this could last a long time seeing as these tools aren't very efficient at killing."
"If you do anything to her, I swear I'll end you!" Ren shouted, his fingers clutching the device in his hand, the corner biting into his palm enough to keep him focused.
"No offense, it's a bit difficult to take you seriously when you're chained up like that." Sil laughed, selecting a spiky looking rod from the table. "I won't stop, and there's nothing you can do about it except to kill her out of mercy."
Sil replaced the rod on the table and instead took up a small hacksaw. It's blade was a rusty red and glinted horribly in the light of the room. The girl seemed to know what was going to happen because she started whimpering. Sil raised the saw to the girl's head and placed it against the base of her right faunus ear.
"Your a coward." Ren gambled, hoping his insult would turn the attention back to him. It paid off as Sil turned away, replacing the saw on his tool bench.
"What did you say?" Sil asked before he plunged his knife into Ren's side, the metal once again burning at Ren's insides.
"I called you a weak little coward." Ren smiled as his brother punched him hard, knocking the wind out of him. It took a moment for Ren to regain his breath before he continued. "I bet you're only able to act tough when you have thirty guys behind you as reinforcements. You get them to chain up already defenseless little girls. And you know you'd lose in a fight with me, so you sucker-punch me and string me up so I can't defend-"
Another blow ended his sentence, but it had the effect he was aiming for. Sil was seething and his hand drew another knife from his pocket. Ren felt the painful stab and slice of the knife as it plunged into his leg and carved downward, dragging across the bone. Ren felt the knife hit his knee and then his brother thrust it the rest of the way in, separating his knee cap from the joint and keeping the metal in place.
"You dare speak to me like that?" Sil screamed, masking Ren's unsteady breath as he felt his aura draining to stop the bleeding that would eventually kill him if left untended. "You dare to side with this disgusting runt? The faunus are a useless blight on our world and they will be eradicated!"
Ren couldn't help it. He started laughing at the pure absurdity of his brother's view. "You really have no idea what they're capable of."
Ren watched as the knife in his knee was pulled free, cutting an even longer gash as Sil spun and threw the blade at the faunus. The knife missed by a hair, landing in the wall pressed against her neck but not cutting it.
"I guarantee you wouldn't last one minute in a ring with my friend." Ren pictured Blake's never serious sparring face and knew if she put her mind to it, she'd be much more formidable than any of the others could even begin to speculate about.
Sil stopped, breathing heavily in the silence. The terrified girl in front of Ren was looking even more afraid than she was before. Eventually, Sil stood up straight and turned back to Ren with a dark smile.
"I'll take that as a bet. But I assure you that your classmate will beg for me to kill him." Sil left the room, the door clicking shut shortly after him.
Ren looked around at the room, now intent on his escape. He had only meant to get Sil's attention off of the girl, not set his attention on his friends. And worse yet was if he found the wrong people when he arrived at his destination. Things could get ugly quick.
"Hey, can you get your hands out?" He asked the girl, noticing her shackles looked far too big. "If you can get me out I'll get us both out of here and I'll take you to Vale where you'll be safe."
The girl seemed to consider the offer through her still flowing tears. He couldn't blame her if she was too afraid to do anything, but he hoped she wasn't. He'd created a threat to his school and nobody but him knew about it. He had the responsibility to stop it.
"Promise?" The girl's fragile voice betrayed her hope that Ren's words were true.
"Promise." Ren echoed seriously.
The girl carefully pulled her injured hand through the shackle with the help of her other hand, pulling the long pins out of the ones around her ankles shortly after. She quickly scurried over to Ren's contraption and pulled a lever on the side that let the taught chains go slack.
Ren collapsed to the ground face down. He still felt the knife in his back painfully trying to cut deeper every time he shifted his muscles. The girl watched as he slowly reached back and drew the blade out, sealing the wound with his aura.
"Are you okay?" She asked in disbelief as he pushed himself up to a sitting position and started fixing the dislocation in his leg. Once it was set, his aura made short work of the majority of the fix. He stopped before he expended too much aura on the injury.
"It hurts, but I'll live." Ren slowly forced his arm back into the proper sockets and felt the countless bits of bone from his elbow shift and grind together. He held his breath the whole while, finally succeeding as a small tingling sensation radiated up his arm beside the constant painful grind of bone. Ren got up and walked unsteadily over to the girl's finger that was lying on the ground.
He picked it up and examined it carefully. The cut was so clean he could see the blood vessels and layers of muscle that the finger had. In other words, this was ideal for his medical training that he'd been taking in Beacon.
"Come here." Ren crouched on his knees and the girl cautiously approached him. "I need your injured hand for a moment."
Ren carefully took her hand by the wrist and held the hand steady while he looked over the bad burn she had. He wouldn't be able to do anything about the burn and it would undoubtedly be very painful if he tried to fix her finger now, but there was nowhere to help her nearby and the finger would be a loss by the time they arrived at a hospital.
"I have to ask you a very important question. If I try to put your finger back on now, it'll be extremely painful for the next few hours. If I don't you'll have to live with no finger. Do you want me to fix it?" The girl seemed to debate the matter quickly and nodded her head. Her other small hand wrapped around his sleeve as she braced herself. "Okay. I'll do this as quick as I can."
Ren slid his fingernail under the crust of burnt blood and quickly ripped the wound open, the scab taking more than half of her burnt skin with it to reveal the damage beneath the blackened layer.
To the girl's merit, she didn't scream. Ren quickly aligned her finger and projected his aura, focusing on connecting all the major veins as quickly as possible.
Five minutes later, he finished his rough job. The finger wasn't healed completely, but it was good enough to last till they got to a hospital.
"Let's go." Ren stood and drew his concealed weapon out of his sleeve on his good arm. His scroll was missing, but somehow his weapons had been overlooked. Ren walked out of the door of their prison to find himself in front of a set of stairs. He slowly let his aura heal the more uncomfortable wounds, feeling he should conserve his energy for later when he would inevitably participate in the fight he'd been training for all these years. "This ends today."