"The Baron requests to see you sir."

"Alright."

Torn removed himself from his reading and started for the Barons chamber, he wore the Krimzon guard uniform not as proudly as he once had. Stepping into attendance to the place he was called into Torn nodded.

"Torn, I want you and Erol to go into the slums and pump people for information." The Baron spoke calmly as he glances out his window to the city below him.

"Yes sir. Information on what?"

"There is rumor of an uprising starting there. I want you to go down there and get all the information you can from those people. Kill all who do not cooperate."

Torn was quiet for a moment. "Kill them sir? Isn't that a little… extreme?"

"Are you questioning my orders Torn?"

"I am sir. I do not think…"

"I did not hire you to think Torn. I hired you to follow my orders and do as I say. If I was hiring for brains, lord knows you wouldn't be on this team. You're dismissed."

Torn's lip curled, he argued no further however, turned and left. This was just another installment of the Baron's growing paranoia and Torn's growing hate for Praxis and the Guard. None the less, he pushed on to Erol's chamber and knocked. No answer. He knocked again.

"Erol, it's me. Get up we've got an assignment from Praxis." Still there was no answer. With a slightly frustrated growl, torn pushed the door open only to fine it empty. "The mechanic girl." Torn headed immediately for the stadium section of the city.

"Hey." Erol's slick voice purred into Keira's ear. "You're new in the city; let me show you the works baby."

Keria squirmed away from him. "I'd love to, really, but I really need to finish this for the practice run later today."

"Come now. Whoever owns this hunk-a-junk couldn't beat the city champion."

"And who is this champion?" Keira asked with slight interest.

"Me."

"EROL!" Torn growled, walking into the girls shop. He nodded to Keira. "Excuse me ma'am. C'mon. We've got an assignment from the Baron."

"What? Can't you handle it?" Erol snapped.

"No, let's go." Torn retorted and attempted to drag Erol from Keira's side. Torn found himself shoved to the floor.

"Get off me. Look you do it. I'm busy."

"I'm sure the Baron would love to hear this, you're too busy flirting to follow orders."

"And I'm sure he'd love to hear about you sleeping with Ashelin!"

"I've never…"

"He'll believe e over you and have your head on a silver platter. Now back off!"

Torn's eye's narrowed at Erol. "Fine." He hissed as walked away.

Later that night, after a very long day of interrogation and very little to show for it, Torn flopped onto his bed. He was too tired to even continue reading where he left off. He drifted in and out of consciousness, able to sleep only because he had not killed anyone as instructed. There was no uprising against the Baron and the complete bewilderment on the faces of those in the slums told him so. At 4am however, he changed his mind.

Sitting straight up in his bed he began to pack his things away in a bag. If there wasn't an uprising yet, there would be now. He would not take this another day. The constant fighting and orders to kill everyone who even looked at the Baron wrong was not what he signed up for. He signed up with the guard to protect the people of Haven city, not have them fear him.

Belongings packed together, torn left the palace without even a second thought or glimpse behind him. It was time to make the Barons paranoia into a reality.

Two hours later, Torn finds himself at a bar in the slums. Talking to a man who seemed to love nature a little too much.

"So I left. I wasn' gonna to deal wit that no more. So I up an' left." Torn finished, spilling his guts in a drunken ramble.

"Well it seems like you're just the man I'm looking for. My name is Samos, also know under an alias of "The Shadow" welcome to the Underground."

Suddenly the place picked up commotion again. It had been very quiet since his entrance. Looking around, Torn noticed many faces of those he had interrogated today. He smiled.

"'Ow do ya' know you can trust meh?" he slurred.

"In my many years I've come to notice that drunk men never lie." Samos said with a smile.

"Okay then." Torn nodded then offered his hand to the Shadow. "I'm in."