BETRAYAL

He stumbled onto Harbinger's current headquarters by pure, dumb luck. He happened to pass over one of the smaller warehouses in the southern warehouse district at the very moment the Super Villain along with handful of his lackeys arrived. Even from nearly a thousand feet up and in the dark, he easily recognized the flamboyantly dressed villain instantly. As much as he wanted to bust in and demand his father's release, he knew that wasn't the wisest course of action.

Hard as it was, he patiently staked out the warehouse for fully three days, never getting too close, always hidden and wary and watching for patterns of movement. His hearing was good enough to pick up some of the conversations from Harbinger's men when they went outside to smoke. From what he could piece together, the weapons they were waiting on from Opecorp were specialized firearms that fired a special round that held a serum that they would be acquiring from a pharmaceutical company based in the coastal city of Stohess, south and east of Mitras.

The teenager's frustration mounted when no one ever said what the serum was supposed to do. Needless to say, with Harbinger involved, it wouldn't be good. He did, however, learn that most of the men would be out of the warehouse one afternoon. The grating on the windows made entry through even an open one impossible, so as soon as he saw most of the gang leave the area, he slipped in through one of the vents on top of the three-story building. At least there's one advantage to being only 5 foot two, Levi thought ruefully.

He slipped carefully onto the third floor, easily avoiding detection by the remaining men. There were still more people in the warehouse than he cared to deal with, but at least the worst of them were away. It took him nearly a half hour to work is way down to the ground floor where his father was located. Boxes were stacked high everywhere, and while they provide good cover, they also limited his visibility. He finally found his father pacing in an open area amid loaded shelves and stacks of boxes near the main entrance, mumbling over several papers in his hands.

As Kenny had said, the man had aged. He had a few wrinkles at the corners of his dark blue eyes and his brown hair was silver at the temples. He still had his moustache, but it had sprinkles of silver in it as well. Even after eleven years, Levi recognized the man instantly. As he stepped out of the shadows, the man, whose back was turned to him spoke. "You're back early." The man turned and his eyes widened in shock.

"I'm not Harbinger, Jerome," Levi retorted. "I'm getting you out of here."

The man's mouth fell open. "What? And how do you know my real name? Who are you?"

Levi looked around to be certain they were alone. He couldn't hear anyone else around, so he removed his mask. "I'm your son."

Now the man's eye widened even more. "Levi? But you're dead!"

The teen rolled his eyes before he could stop himself. "Obviously not. Listen, we don't have a lot of time. I'm getting you out of here. Just keep quiet and follow my lead."

"So, you're the one who's been watching the warehouse for the past few days," the man commented. "We knew it was Super, but I never in a million years would have guessed it was you."

Levi's heart was in his throat. Wait. They KNEW I was watching them? But how? I was so careful! "Then we have even less time than I thought. Come on, Dad, let's go."

"I think there's something you should know," his father said, not bothering to keep his voice down.

Oh my god! What is wrong with him? Is he trying to get us caught? "Shhh! You can tell me when we're far away from here."

"But I'm not leaving."

Levi spun to look his father in the eye. What he saw disturbed him. The man's eyes were calm and cold, but his mouth formed a sneering grin. "What? Why? I find it hard to believe you like being Harbinger's prisoner."

"Prisoner? Is that what you think I am?" The man burst out laughing as the teen's eyes widened with horror.

"Shhhh! For fuck's sake, keep it down!"

"You still don't get it, do you, Levi? I'll spell this out for you. I work for Harbinger. Have been for a little over four years now. My corporate espionage skills are invaluable to him. Never mind the lucrative pay."

"Dad. You can't be serious!"

The maniacal laugh that suddenly filled the room had his heart nearly stopping in fear. "I'm afraid he's quite serious, little boy." Harbinger himself stepped into view, while several of his men stepped out from various points around the room. Harbinger came up behind Levi's father and wrapped his arms around the smaller man's shoulders, resting his chin on the man's left shoulder. "I don't know what I'd do without him!"

Harbinger was notorious for his garishly flamboyant attire. His hair and eyebrows and lashes were pure white and his eyes were dark ruby red. His thin lipped, wide mouth was almost always turned up in an insincere smile. He currently wore a large pair of white pearl earrings and his coat was vibrant purple with gold scroll work and a thick, white fur collar. His pants were unadorned purple with white, high-heeled boots that went halfway up to his knees.

Levi took a couple of steps back and assessed the situation. Shit! Shitshitshitshitshit! This is bad. I'm unmasked and surrounded. I can handle these men easily, but I'm not so sure about Harbinger. Worse still, the fucker knows this is my Dad, and he won't hesitate to use that against me! Fuck! Now what do I do? "What did you do to him? You brainwashed him, didn't you?"

Everyone in the room, including his father, burst out laughing. Levi felt his heart sinking. Please tell me this is just nightmare! I need to wake up!

"How little you know of your own father!" the Super Villain laughed. "He's the top industrial spy in the world. I met him four years ago in prison. He was going by the alias Jack Frost back then if I recall. I immediately saw his potential, and dreamed up a bazillion ways to put those beautiful talents of his to good use. When I broke out, I just had to take him with me! Now he goes by the name Dagger." He then kissed the man, whom he was still holding, on the cheek. "It was a match made in villainy heaven! Come! Come! This is a joyous reunion between father and son! Let's give Jerome's little boy a proper welcome, shall we, boys?"

Levi instantly took up a fighting stance. His posture and expression exuded confidence even though he was quaking inside. His eyes darkened as they dilated and sneer pulled back his lip. "Bring it."

Nearly twenty men charged in all at once. Bad idea. Levi was very well trained and accustomed to taking on multiple targets at once. In a flurry of feet, fists and wings, all twenty were repelled. He relied mostly on his legs in a fight. Being small lent itself well to the art of kickboxing, which used the strongest muscles in the body. He could also use his wings as weapons. Unlike a bird's wing, the bones were quite tough and hard to break. In fact, everything about Levi's body was tough, compact but surprisingly lightweight. He only weighed about 150 pounds, wings and all, but he was still many times stronger than regular humans.

Many of the men were already charging right back in. A raised gun had the teen dropping into a crouch and bringing his wings around and over him like a large rounded shield under which he hid. Three bullets bounced harmlessly off the barrier. Another perk of being a Super. Bulletproof was a rare trait, and strictly speaking, Levi was not bulletproof, but his wings were. Nothing like a bird's feathers, his feathers were tougher than Kevlar and the barbs and barbules locked together so strongly that even high-power bullets could not penetrate.

Snapping his wings open as he jumped back up sent three men flying back into a couple of stacks of boxes, toppling them into a mess. As five more approached, Levi hopped up in the air a few inches and snapped his wings forward with tremendous force, giving a quick twist at the end of the stroke. The resulting thunderous shockwave knocked the five men unconscious as well as knocking over several more boxes.

"Better look behind youuuu~" sang Harbinger's smooth but obnoxious voice.

Levi turned and in an instant his entire world was yanked out from under him. On their knees and tied up in white cord, were eight high school students. Most of them looked terrified, but two of them just looked shocked. Isabel and Farlan could scarcely believe their eyes. There stood their best friend, with a pair of wings on his back and wearing what was obviously the costume of a Super Hero. Izzy broke out in a big smile and made the biggest mistake of her life.

"You creeps are in big trouble now!" she shouted defiantly. "Big Brother's gonna rip all of you apart!"

Levi had no doubt that what little color he possessed drained from his face as his whole being went cold with horror. Harbinger just started laughing hysterically. "Oh my god! This is TOO good! I couldn't have planned this better if I'd tried! So, you know Jerome's little boy over there, do you? HA!"

Izzy's smile vanished as she realized her mistake and Farlan's face collapsed into pure terror.

"Wow! Small world! I just grabbed some random students off the street. I knew we had a Super watching the warehouse, and decided to lure them into this lovely little trap by dragging these obnoxious teens in, but this just keeps getting better. First, the Super turns out to be Jerome's little boy whom was thought dead but wants to 'save' his daddy, and then, the one of the kids I grab to use as bait against that Super turns out to be his close friend!" More maniacal laughing followed. "This is just too brilliant! What do you think we should do about this, Jerome?"

Levi looked desperately at his father, hoping for some hint to help him figure a way out of this. "Back when I found out what he and his mother were from Titan, I was shocked. They wanted to use their genes for some kind of experiment or something like that. Kinda surprised the boy made it out alive. Guess his mother had something to do with that. No matter to me. Frankly, the kid was supposed to be out of my life long ago, so I couldn't care less what you do to him."

The teen couldn't believe what he was hearing. "It's not possible," he breathed. "Why? How could you? I . . . I know you loved us. We were so happy together."

Jerome walked up right in front of his boy. "I wouldn't expect a five-year-old to see things as they really were. You and Kuchel were nothing more than a cover. Think about it; who would ever expect a happy, loving, middle-class family man to be the most successful industrial spy on the planet? Not exactly what you were expecting to hear when you broke in here to 'save' me, was it?" The man laughed as he walked away again. "Do what you want with him, Harbin. Your imagination is so much better than mine. I'll just sit back and enjoy the show."

Levi couldn't move. It was as if he were paralyzed. It was too much to take in.

"Well then," Harbinger began. "We're gonna play a little game. Listen carefully, little boy, cuz I'm only gonna explain the rules once. You are going to let me do anything I want to you and do everything I tell you to without question or resistance. If you resist or disobey, even once, one of these eight will pay the price. Are we clear?"

The teen started trembling, but remained scowling and answered as bravely as he could, "Yes. Do what you want with me, but leave them alone."

"Excellent," the villain responded. "Now, on your knees."

Glaring furiously at the lunatic, Levi complied with the order. The villain walked up and stepped behind the teenager. He then grabbed the boy's left arm, one hand on the forearm and the other with a crushing grip between the neck and shoulder. Levi let out a pained gasp as Harbinger began to twist his arm. The pain intensified with every passing second until after what seemed an eternity, with a dull, sickening pop, the shoulder joint dislocated. The faint yelp that escaped Levi's lips barely hinted at the excruciating pain he was experiencing as he immediately began breathing heavily and his vision narrowed with distress.

"Well done!" Harbinger mocked. Levi let out a pained grunt has the villain gave a firm yank on the arm to set the joint back in place. "What a good little boy!"

Levi growled softly, but otherwise did nothing as the villain continued to hold his arm. He didn't look up at the man; just tried to focus on his breathing.

"Hey, Barker, get me a pair of pliers . . . and the nail kit . . . and bottle of water!" Harbinger ordered.

"Right, Boss!"

"Tell me something, little boy, what made you actually think that you could 'save' your daddy? Presuming he actually needed saving, for the sake of argument, what made you think you had what it took to fight me?"

"Given that I broke in here while you were away, it should be obvious that I had no intention of facing you," Levi growled.

"Hmmmm. Good point. Good thing I came back when I did, or you might have made off with my precious spy!"

"Here you go, Boss."

"Ah! Thank you!" Harbinger reached behind his victim to take the items he had demanded. "See? I'm not all bad! I have good manners," he boasted before he chugged down the entire bottle of water in one go. "AHHHHHH! That hit the spot! Now. Back to work! I think I'll do your nails first."

Levi's stomach turned itself in knots as the madman again grabbed his arm and took a hold of his left thumb. "Ever have your fingernails removed? No? Well, first time for everything!" Levi felt something inserted just under his thumbnail, then inhaled sharply then shuddered and winced when said object penetrated deep under the nail. Seconds later, the nail was pulled back and removed completely. Levi's breath came in short, tearing gasps and sweat beaded on his forehead. He whimpered involuntarily as the whole excruciating process was repeated on the left index finger.

"Hmmm. This is going a little too smoothly. Guess I've had a little too much practice doing this! Ahahahahahaha! Hey, Jerome. You've never done this before. C'mere and give it a whirl!"

Levi's stomach twisted at his father's response. "Sure."

Now it was his own father that was driving the wedge awkwardly under the nail of his middle finger while Harbinger held his arm and shoulder in his brutal grip. Jerome plunged the wedge a little too deep into the flesh and basically made a mangled mess out of the finger before finally getting the nail, along with a good amount of flesh, off the finger, actually exposing some of the bone beneath.

"You got the gist of it, Jerome. Now do the same to the rest of his fingers while I hold him!"

Tears began to run down Levi's pain contorted face, because let's face it, it hurt like hell - on both the physical and emotional level. His father's prowess at fingernail removal did not improve with practice. By the time the man was finally done, the boy's fingertips were all a bloody, mangled mess, and his short, ragged breaths were punctuated by yelps and whimpers.

Harbinger admired the results. "Oh, that's just beautiful! A perfectly botched fingernail removal job! I'm so proud of you, Jerome!"

His father stepped into view, casually wiping the blood from his hands on a cloth.

"HOW CAN YOU DO THIS, YOU SICK FUCK?" It was Isabel yelling. "YOU'RE HIS FATHER! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO PROTECT HIM! HOW CAN YOU EVEN CALL YOURSELF A FATHER?!"

A loud smack echoed through the room. "HEY! LEAVE HER ALONE!" Farlan barked, out of habit. Jerome responded by slapping him too. Both kids glared at him with hatred in their eyes.

Harbinger, seemingly oblivious to the outcry behind him, stood looking at his victim like a painter looks at a blank canvas, wondering what to paint. "Now, what next? Ah, yes! You kind of spoiled my lovely little trap that I worked so hard to set up. I slaved for hours trying to come up with the perfect, fun trap. I drag in the brats, you come charging in to save them and I spring my trap. Granted, it's not much of a surprise anymore, but I'd still love to show everyone how it works. Let me see now . . . stand up and take ten steps back."

Levi slowly stood, injured hands cradled carefully against his chest, and took exactly ten steps backwards. "Beautiful!" Harbinger praised. "Now, when I say 'go', you charge at me with everything you've got."

Levi raised a skeptical eyebrow, but nodded in compliance. I'll make him regret that order. He wants me to come at him with everything, then that's what he's gonna get. Time to play one of my trump cards.

"NOW!"

With one powerful stroke of his wings for extra push, he charged the villain with shocking speed. He extended the retractable claws from within his mangled fingertips and prepared to strike. By the time he noticed what looked like wiring falling haphazardly around him, it was too late. Just as he was about to rip his claws through Harbinger's grinning face, the tangled mess of wire pulled tight around him and stopped him just short of his target with a painful jerk, eliciting a sharp cry of pain and surprise.

Some of the wire was tight around his arms, which in turn were then pinned tight to his sides by even more wire. It also entangled and tightly pinned his legs together. He hit the cement floor hard as he was stopped short, knocking the wind audibly from his lungs. The searing pain that followed was like hundreds of nails being thrust into his flesh. As his wits slowly came back to him, the first thing he noticed was the hysterical laughter of his enemy. The second was that the wire that now held him tight was barbed.

"HA! It worked perfectly! That was beautiful!" Harbinger cried as he clapped his hands. "Alright boys, let's pull it tight!"

Pull it tight?! It's already too tight! He uttered a sharp cry of pain, in spite of himself, as Harbinger's men pulled the wire mess in opposite directions resulting in the barbs digging even deeper into his punctured skin. They then used what looked like staples to secure the wires together and held tight before cutting away all of the excess.

Unable to move and scarcely able to breathe, Levi waited for the next phase of this torture. How do I get out of this? I can't fight back without Izzy, Farlan and the others being killed. Thing is, even though I'm cooperating, we're all going to die in the end if I can't get us all out of here! But how?

Though impervious to bullets, his Kevlar/polymer suit was susceptible to puncture and cuts by blades and other sharp instruments. He winced in pain as Harbinger pressed a foot between his shoulder blades and pulled his wrists behind his back, the barbs tearing viciously through his flesh as the madman did so. His wrists were then bound together much too tight using much too much wire. A hook that had been tossed over the rafters was forced under where two of the wires crossed between his shoulder blades and then he was pulled up by the line attached to the hook, which in turn pulled the wire even tighter. The line was tied off and he was left hanging with his feet a couple of inches above the floor, in terrible pain and unable to take in a full breath.

Harbinger picked up a heavy crowbar as if it weighed nothing and strode purposefully over to the restrained teenager. "Now to see just how much abuse you can really take." With those words, he swung the crowbar to collide with the left side of Levi's head, just above the ear. In that moment, Levi knew where the term 'seeing stars' came from. His vision filled with little points of light and his ears were left ringing loudly. A second blow, following on the heels of the first landed against the crown of his skull, followed immediately by a third to the left ear. His head was swimming and he could barely hear Izzy's cry of, "Big Brother!" over the near deafening ringing in his ears.

He felt the bar knock lightly on the top of his head a few times. "Guess you really are built as tough as they say you are. Never really expected the unbreakable Blackwing to be so small or young, though. Even so, you bring a whole new meaning to the term 'hard headed'," Harbinger mused with a chuckle. "That first blow alone would have caved in a normal human's skull. Hell, even most Super's couldn't handle that blow, so color me impressed! Means I don't hafta hold back. I can have some real fun for once! Let's see just what it takes to break the unbreakable."

The boy's eyes widened in horror. "Oh, god," he gasped, barely audible.

"I wouldn't count on His help, little boy. He's never done nothin' to stop me before." He twirled the bar like a sword and the proceeded to land blow to Levi's partially restrained right wing with all of his strength. There was a resounding crack as the radius and ulna bones snapped under the force of the strike. "WOOHOOHOOOOO! Broke something already!"

Levi managed to refrain from crying out as pain radiated across his wing, but was unable to restrain an obvious grunt followed by a pained wince. The next blow came down on the wrist of his left wing, eliciting a short, gasping yelp as the bones buckled and snapped. A long series of blows landed around his body as Harbinger circled him, striking everywhere from his head to his ribs to his back to his legs as he went. The occasional snap of a rib or a wing bone was met with cackling delight. Each hit drove and painfully shifted the barbs sticking into his flesh, leaving him bleeding everywhere. It finally ended with a head on punch to his face. Though his nose didn't break, it immediately began to bleed. It was only then that he finally noticed the burning pain and the feeling of blood flowing from scratches on his throat from where the wire wrapped around it, though no where near as tightly as around the rest of his body.

His head was swimming, and he felt as though he were suffocating due to the wire holding him so tight that he couldn't get anywhere near enough air into his lungs. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't even get out a proper scream of pain.

"You know, I couldn't help but notice that when you attacked me earlier, that you had some claws. You might accidently hurt someone with those. Perhaps it would be wise to fully disarm you, yes?"

A squeak of pain escaped Levi's throat as Harbinger gripped his already mangled right thumb and squeezed the bloodied tip to force the claw to extend out. The squeak turned into a pained whine as the villain used the pliers he had to grip the claw and pull. A short, sharp cry signaled the victim's agony, but the claw wouldn't budge. The villain resorted to twisting, and he kept twisting until the claw finally broke loose and came out entirely.

Tears ran unchecked down his face as each claw was twisted out, one at a time. His thumb, ring and pinky finger on the left hand broke under the pressure of twisting, and the middle, ring and pinky fingers broke on the right. Between the intense pain, the inability to breathe properly, the betrayal of his father and the humiliation of being tortured in front of his best friends, Levi was in was in absolute, indescribable agony. Just to make things worse, Harbinger brought a tray containing the bloodied nails and claws to show the boy. "Sorry about the mess," he told Levi in a mocking tone. "But this was your father's first time, after all, and I've never removed claws before either."

Levi wretched at the sight, vomiting up everything he'd eaten earlier that day. It just added to his physical distress. Vomiting was bad enough. Vomiting with broken bones, punctured skin and unable to breathe was a thousand times worse.

"What next? This has been so much fun, I don't want it to end just yet. Let me seeeeee…I KNOW! How about I cut off your wings!"

Levi felt a stab of renewed panic at those words. Reflexively, he mentally activated the device in his collarbone, which made his wings instantly vanish, which had the secondary effect of loosening the wire's grip just a tiny bit. "Oooh! Now, now! Remember what I said about defiance? Let me refresh your memory." The madman began walking towards the hostages, going straight for Isabel. Levi's eyes widened in horror.

He activated the device again, and his wings came back into view, now free of the wire, but hanging limp and broken. "NO! WAIT! YOU CAN . . . CUT OFF MY WINGS! . . . JUST PLEASE . . . DON'T HURT HER!"

"Too late, little boy~" Harbinger sang. "You should have thought of that before you hid your wings from me!" With that, he drew a long dagger from his belt and slashed across Isabel's stomach with so much force that the blade went in almost up to its hilt and her insides spilled out onto the floor through the long gash.

"NOOO!" Levi screamed with what little breath he had. Oh my god! This is all my fault! If only I had been more careful! I should have listened to Kenny. I should have never come here to save Dad. How was I supposed to know Dad worked FOR this madman? Now I've lost one of my best friends!

"ISABEL!" Farlan screamed at the same time, tears spilling from his eyes.

Harbinger looked at the dirty blond with malice in his eyes. "Oh. So, you're a friend of hers too, eh?" He said as Isabel fell over sideways, green eyes wide with shock and breathing hard as her life slowly bled out with her intestines on the filthy warehouse floor. "That must mean you're also a friend of our little Super Hero over there." He turned to look back at Levi. "I'll tell you what, little boy. Since you don't want me cutting off your wings, I'll cut off your friend's arms instead!"

"NO! PLEASE!" Levi's shouts came out as nothing but a breathless gasp as Harbinger cut the bonds restraining Farlan, grabbed his right arm, and with the same long bladed dagger he'd gutted Isabel with, struck the arm off in one swift blow. Farlan's scream didn't faze the madman as he repeated the action with the left arm. The limbs were tossed carelessly onto the floor amid the horrified screams and tears of the other students. Even over the commotion, Levi heard the most horrible gurgle from Isabel. The light left her eyes and her body went completely still.

Levi let out a gut-wrenching sob, then took in every last molecule of air he could. "IZZY! NOOOOO!" A spray of tears burst from his eyes, along with 5 strange, perfectly round, black crystal beads that bounced noisily across the floor.

"What have we here?" Harbinger asked as he picked up the five black beads, ignoring the now sobbing, choking Super. "They're almost like obsidian. Did you know he could do this, Jerome?"

"Nope. Not much of a super power, though, is it?"

Harbinger laughed his normal maniacal laugh. "No. But they sure are interesting! Kinda pretty, actually. I think I'll make a pair of earrings out of two of them. A little memento of the most fun day of my life!"

"They'd go perfect with all of your outfits."

"Indeed. Now. To keep the fun going. I've already cut off limbs, so now I don't feel like cutting off the wings anymore. Already know they're bulletproof, but I wonder how well they stack up to a blade?"

Harbinger soon learned that the feathers could repel sharp instruments as well as bullets. However, the limbs could be cut and stabbed if he lifted and went under the feathers, and said feathers were pulled out easily with the villain's insane strength, a pair of pliers and a merciless twist. He lost interest quickly though. Levi was no longer responsive. Something inside the boy broke when Isabel died. Farlan had since died a well, due to rapid blood loss. Levi now just hung there, scarcely breathing, whimpering in pain once in a while, but otherwise numb to the world around him.

"Well, it is getting late, and we do have a plane to catch. I suppose now is the time to end this." Though he saw Harbinger walk over to the remaining six students and slowly slit each of their throats, he felt nothing. His soul was so torn and raw from the past few hours, that he had gone completely numb to everything. This is all my fault, he thought, trying to feel something, anything. Eight lives ended. Lives I was supposed to protect. How many parents, siblings, grandparents, family and friends will be mourning the lives that are never coming home? How many people are about to go through the worst day of their lives when they find out about these deaths? All because I thought I could save my father from a madman.

"What? No tears for these six? Guess they weren't friends of yours." Harbinger cut the cord holding Levi up, and the boy fell to the cold, unforgiving cement floor. Barbs dug and tore harshly at his flesh as he landed on his back, head falling to the side, not wanting to look at his tormentor. Blood pooled on the floor behind him and his wings were splayed out in a broken and bloody mess of feathers around him. "Such a mess," the villain tutted. He used a white handkerchief to wipe the blood away from Levi's face, though fresh blood trickled again from his ear, and some blood still stained around his nostrils and in his sweat soaked hair. "There. That's better! Now you're all set for a picture!"

Without turning his head, his silver eyes shifted to look up at Harbinger as the villain snapped a photo of him with a phone. His eyes were dead. No emotion showed in them. He was ready to die and it showed. He had nothing left to live for. "Perfect!" the lunatic exclaimed. "Now I can look at this lovely photo and always remember this day! This is the most fun I've ever had and I never wanna forget it! Alright, boys, time to pack up and blow this joint . . . literally! Bahahahahahahaha!"

Levi had no idea how much time had passed, with people moving boxes and equipment out of the building. "Jerome! Make sure you set the explosives before you leave! Oh! And if your little boy is still breathing, kill him. I don't trust the explosion to do the job. A bullet through the eye should do the trick."

"Right."

Harbinger left the warehouse, but several of the men and Levi's father were still grabbing stuff. Finally, Jerome stood over his dying son. "Alright, men, the timer's running. We've got three minutes!" He looked down at Levi, with no remorse showing on his face. Without a word, he aimed a gun at the boy's left eye as Levi looked emotionlessly up at him. The gunshot echoed through the warehouse.