Chapter 5: Cults and Crazies Pt 1
Well how does it feel? The feeling of failure? Does it taste rotten? Sour? Is there an aftertaste of remorse? A taste of defeat mixed in as well perhaps? Those are all the things I had to deal with for years only mine were worse. Caused by an old man who's time was running out on him. They were the…the…I can't even say their names without me going on a rampage. You twisted our thoughts, used us for your own personal gain, you left us to die. And if you want to point out I'm wrong then good, I want revenge, you took the only thing that mattered to me, and I will see your crippled lifeless body lodged in a wall right before I let your corpse be blown to bits. That day is coming deceiver so mark your damn calendar. Sincerely the deceived, enraged, and vengeful, The Welder.
It was late at night but the lights of The Leaky Pipe illuminated the room with an unnatural yellow tinge. My eyes were closed, not that anybody could tell I mind you, just listening to all the deals being made, the young hunters who were being swindled by experienced dealers, and the opposite with experienced hunters cheating inexperienced people who had no idea with what they were doing. I had no interest in the shady side of deals, maybe that's why I survived so long, our life expectancy is quite short. I by no means the oldest when it comes to bounty hunting, but I am one of the oldest in Vale, Mistral is full guys with years of experience. Once in awhile we might see a huntsmen come in looking for work straying from their all righteous path to do a little dirty work. From what I've found and watched from the huntsmen who come in for a job one day is that they never go back to being a huntsmen, almost like a drug. The sound of footsteps came close to my table with the sound of an "ahem" opening my eyes to a sight of a bright pink cumberbund, bowtie, white tux shirt, and black slacks.
"Well, well, well if it isn't The Welder," he said like a smug asshole.
"Well if it isn't the flamengo reject that even the faunas didn't want to claim. What do you want pinkie?"
"How dare you, this is not pink you fool! It is a lightish red, only somebody with no sense of fashion would call this pink!" 'Pinkie' said.
I honestly don't know this guy's name, he thinks he's my big time rival when really I couldn't give a rat's furry ass. I stood up slowly and I looked in the face of the man as I cracked my knuckles giving a slight chuckle. I stepped behind my chair and I was about to punch his incredibly punchable face until I saw an elderly lady come from behind Pinkie. She cleared her throat to get his attention and he turned around.
"Get lost you old hag," he snarked, "we're in the middle of something."
So I have been fighting for years, I've seen a single Geist grimm take the form of an entire mountain, an entire facility cleared by a single faunus, and I've had first hand experience in killing huntsmen. I don't think I saw the woman move but Pinkie was flung across the other side of the bar and landed on a table breaking glass mugs and spilling a multitude of alcoholic beverages. The woman of oriental descent and tiny. Her face was sagged with a stern angry frown, the eyes were covered with purple tinted glasses. Her black hair was in a bun kept together by two sticks all with her purple coat with white fur lining the outside.
"Are you looking for something in particular ma'am?" I asked sitting back down.
"I am looking for you Welder," she said plainly, "I need you to rescue my daughter."
I gave a small chuckle propping my feet on the table. "You must have me confused with someone else. I'm a contract killer, a hitman, a hired gun."
"No," was all she said until reaching into her large handbag, "no I don't.
As she her hand began to lift I reached and grabbed her hand out of habit, occupational hazard was what I told her. "I guess I didn't think of that," she muttered quietly. Out of her purse came a large yellow envelope, and by the sounds of it hitting the table, it looked full. She didn't say anything else and just walked out the door. By no means is that normal for me usually most clients stay and decide they need to lay there whole life story and explain how the target ruined their life. Don't get me wrong I found it nice not having to listen to a sob story but a little more insight would have been nice, I found the ambiguity rather cryptic. I left shortly after with the file in my hand and socking Pinkie squarely in the jaw on my way out. The file sat in the passenger seat while I drove back to the warehouse that I called home. The file was tossed onto the worktable as I grabbed a cup of water. While I was filling the glass I caught a glance of something written on the other side of the envelope. I walked over to get a better look. The text was big and bold, how could've I missed that, a single word: Faith. Nearly right after I read the word blazen across my mind began to violently pound. The glass in my hand dropped and shattered into pieces, I ripped my hat, goggles, and scarf off as I had trouble breathing. My hands were trembling and sweat dripped down my face and my breathing grew heavy. Once I had recollected myself I decided to hit the hay and see if this would pass. It did not…
Usually dreams are non existent for me but I had a dream, an awful one at that too. I found myself in a large field of long dead dead waving in the wind. The sight seemed familiar but it didn't scream anything that jolted any memories. A village in the background appeared, charred and withered, I heard yelling and gunfire. The memory made itself known, yet I didn't want to move, I have seen it too many times and my chest began to hurt as I knew what was coming. I closed my eye expecting what usually comes but nothing happened. I opened them only to hear the screaming and the gunfire morph into a singular voice.
"Wells!" The voice shrieked.
The voice pierced my mind like a knife causing more pain than any man should endure. I begun to run towards yelling "No, no, no! Not again!" Then as it got silent I heard one final gunshot and I fell to my knees punching the dirt holding back tears. A voice, different from the previous, spoke from behind me, "What a worthless use of a human," followed by maniacal laughter. I felt a sharp pain in my saide and when I looked down I saw an axe blade lodged in my side spilling blood on the ground I wept on.
"Show your face," I demanded clutching my bloodied side and turning around.
When I turned around and saw nothing except for an abyss of darkness. I noticed that my side was no longer bloodied and it didn't hurt for as much as a dream's interpretation of pain. However, the laughter continued seemingly coming from all angles and it hurt my head. Grasping my face I shouted a final desperate plea: "What do you want!?".
From behind me I felt the axe strike my other side only it was much bigger, like a weapon used by a behemoth, and I was lifted still with the blade piercing my side. I couldn't be bothered by the lifting since I was in excruciating pain. I finally looked up when the sudden jerk of the axe stopping its momentum. It was a giant human the size of a skyscraper and with a face shrouded by shadows.
"What I want," it started before showing his face, "is my life back!" His face was the one thing that horrified me, which was odd because it was mine. The same scarf, the identical hat and goggles it was all me even the same voice. In a fit of rage the illusion grabbed me and began to squeeze before lunging his fist into the ground. Before I plummeted to the ground I jumped out in a cold sweat breathing heavily. I stared at the file from where I rested and gave an exasperated sigh. I threw the trench coat on and assembled the rest of my attire then I sat at the worktable. Carefully opening the envelope I found it was filled with pictures, police reports, security tapes, the whole nine yards plus a little more. The girl, named Faith I presumed, was your typical run-of-the-mill college age girl from Mistral. She enjoyed painting, playing the piano, and of all things tournament matches between huntsmen. At some point she got affiliated with the wrong people and the wrong crowd, a story all too familiar in this kind of scenario. To make a long and convoluted story short she ended up a member in a cult located here in Vale. The cult had been in the news lately for trying to forcefully indoctrinate, or brainwashing for those who have a broader vocabulary than a TV anchor. The night soon turned to morning as the warehouse was blazoned with photos, strings, and scribbled words that were almost incomprehensible. Sitting in the middle of it wall was me, leaning back in a chair with my feet propped up on the table, trying to make basic sense of where this girl could be. The mountains seemed like the only place they could be; it had natural barriers from the Grimm, it would prove to be difficult for a large scale military to barging in. The only thing that could infiltrate would be something like a huntsmen, or a bounty hunter.
Well then it looks like I'm going on hiking trip.
I packed enough fuel canisters in the fuel pack and loaded my belt with augmented grenades with my handy-dandy remote detonator and made my way to the mountains. The terrain proved to unstable for the car so I had to walk my way there so it would be a long day. Luckily I wasn't too far from the range, about two days worth of walking. Since I left at what was two in the morning I would get to rest for tonight, a much needed rest after what happened the previous night. The thought of what I saw in the dream perplexed me and horrified me all at the same time. That axe seemed all too familiar but it didn't ring any bells as of right now. Ever since I met that faunus girl from the village many things have been happening to me. It jarred something loose that hasn't been touched in a long time. It was the dark of night when I sat down as the sky was filled with clouds making it impossible to see. I know before the sun went down the mountain was prominent in the landscape beyond the plains. I pitched a small fire, a relatively simple task with my weapons, and leaned myself up against a tree. The light of the fire was dimmed by my blue tinted goggles and all my mind could focus on was the nightmare. I was almost scared to go back to sleep and deal with that horror. For the first time in many years I, The Welder, was in fear. It was kind of pathetic, a killer with no remorse shaken by the memories he once paid no regard to, the one thing I realised about myself is that I'm getting more melodramatic. I fell asleep just as the fire began to dwindle into charred remains. Half asleep the sounds of something bustling through the woods. When you travel alone you must be on a hair trigger for anything, even if it's your friend coming back. However I didn't have a friend with me which made me think I should have gotten Takeda over here, he's a good tracker and his helmet's night vision would have let us walk in the night. Growling soon ensued, a growling I was far too acquainted with.
Grimm. And Ursas by the sound of it.
A black blob lunged with several other scurrying around my little makeshift camp. By second nature Reason 2 and A flared to life giving light to the once darkened night. I could see the grimm's red eyes and skull like face trying to bite towards me. With a simple backhand led by Reason 2 singed the side of its face sending it sprawling towards the ground. Two more Ursas ensued both swiping like children having a slapping contest. I grabbed one of the black fur coated arms and swung it to the side catching it off guard. The other Ursa was stopped by a sucker punch into the sternum where I continued the punch till Reason A began to cut through the chest of the furry beast. It wasn't like butter but more like a chewy steak where you had to go back over it multiple times. Meanwhile the monstrous bear was trying to reach me as I held one of his arms and used it as a shield. Eventually it stopped altogether and the amr I was holding went limp. I did a roundhouse kick and the top half of the bear slid off before dissolving like most grimm do. Going back to the Ursa that I threw back I grabbed the top of its head and made it swallow one of the grenades like a pill and kicked that sorry ass back into the woods. I pulled out the remote and let the fireworks illuminate the night sending the once peaceful forest into chaos with birds chirping as they flew away. A fourth bear leaped from behind and roared, 'cause of course they do, and charged like many idiotic grim. Ducking below the massive lunge it threw I swept the legs and let it fall to the ground with a meaty 'thud'. I stood on top of the creature and swung Reason A like an axe head smashing the bone-like structure into pieces. An Ursa Major came thundering through. White spikes shot out of its back like a demonic sea urchin. In a fit of rage it roared and ran towards me on all fours. Doing a quick and simple turn it got to the side of me and I brought the fiery saw Reason 2 down on its arm. I only appeared to make it more enraged as it let out a louder,more ferocious, roar that could topple a tree if it were close enough. It got on two legs and swiped its claws like mad daggers. It continued to do this till we were in arms lengths of each other. We got into an arm lock struggling to move either of us. The dirt grew more compact s our respective feet were digging into it. I tried to angle my arms so the torches would begin to burn away at the Ursa's arms. Instead the burning threw the beast in a fit of rage so might it was able to pick me up, swing me like a ragdoll, and chuck me into a nearby tree. The tree behind me nearly toppled with the force the Ursa threw me. Getting back up I stopped Reason A from spinning and grabbed a second grenade from my belt putting it in that hand. Staring at the Ursa you could see traces of smoke in the darkness now even more dim with Reason A being turned off. We both charged one another at the same time, seeming to want this fight to end. Jumping above his head I grabbed the bone-like snout by its teeth and shoved the grenade while riding him like a bull. It took a bit more concentration since the thing was mobile. When I knew it had swallowed its new prescription it finally decided to buck me off. I did a flip back onto the ground and ran behind a tree and pushed the 'Fun Button'. Spikes, limbs, and fur went everywhere littering the ground like trash, only more disgusting. I got out from behind the tree and saw no more Ursas left and with that I sat and took a long sigh. It was still dark so I could get some winks of sleep in which came a lot easier now that I had fought a small pack of demon bears. The mountain was all I could think about and lied ahead of me, but that would just have to wait till the morning…