Chapitre 11: Full Blooded
The plan for the night essentially consisted of this; Wait for the merchants to arrive and destroy them... The lack of any strategy only made me more nervous, and while Oni Lee's presence reassured some, I'd heard the guy was a complete psychopath, even willing to blow up his own men if they got in the way.
Worse, I'd only just noticed the fact that I wasn't the only kid present. Most fearfully standing in groups of other ABB members who flanked them on either sides, maybe to prevent them from running or to show unity or some other bollocks?
Before I could get a reason why they'd brought children to a soon-to-be warzone, the sound of engines announced the Merchants arrival. We could see them drive past the alleyway we were hiding in, parking on the waterfront with three cars, they weren't expecting a fight, apparently?
The Merchants gangsters looked exactly how you imagine a disorganized group of junkies and low lives would. Patchy, dirty, and torn clothing mixed with random bits of jewelry as if to compensate for their unhealthy-looking skin, missing or rotten teeth, and messy uncared for hair.
"Boss!? Thought you said the guy would be waitin' for us!?" a short man with full arm-tattoos asks as he steps out and looks around the area for their would-be-dealer.
Another steps out, this one someone actually recognize One of the Merchant's capes; Mush. He was a short guy with a rat-like face, skinny limbs and bulging pot-belly. He didn't even wear a mask, presumably because his freakish-looking body would give him away in an instant.
"Dunno, asshole should be here by now... Gimme a sec, I'll call him, let's see him try to stand us up." Mush reaches for his cell, only to drop it as Oni Lee gives the signal, prompting the ABB gangsters to stream out of the alley with a war cry.
"SHIT! WE'VE BEEN HAD!" Mush shouts as he runs to the edge of the waterfront and throws himself into the water, abandoning his fellows to face the enemy. The rest of the Merchants grab their own weapons, all lacking firearms thankfully, then charging the approaching ABB.
I feel someone shove me forwards, forcing me into the middle of the skirmish, unskilled men and women randomly swinging their weapons around, proving just as dangerous for their allies as their enemies.
My short stature aids me in avoiding the worst of it, allowing the men at my sides of me to take the brunt of the attacks. That doesn't stop me receiving a boot to my stomach however, sending me tumbling backwards and onto the legs of Daewon.
"Get up and fight!"
"Are you crazy!?" I spit back, the ABB was winning but I wasn't about to enter the meat-grinder that was the front line. The Merchants didn't hold back, even for the few kids present, which was readily available given the couple that'd already hit the floor with large gashes on their heads, or their broken bones.
Daewon's expression doesn't change as he lifts me and pushes me forwards, forcing me to duck a metal pipe, I react by frantically swinging my own pipe wrench at him, clocking the guy in the ribs with an audible crack.
*CRASH!*
Just as I think the frenzied, likely drug-addled Merchant numbers were thinning, something large appears from the water, a huge lumbering thing made of trash and debris, barnacled metal plates and ruined boat propellers.
It was Mush, I'd read he had the ability to control trash and form armour with it... Probably why he jumped into the water given that this was one of the cleaner areas in the territory. The surprise at his sudden appearance doesn't last long as a figure pops into existence directly on top of it...
Mush tries to swat Oni Lee out of the air with a large fist and does actually hit, only for the target to disappear, revealing itself as a clone. Two more appear at his sides, their grenades already primed...
"S-SHI-"
*BOOOM!*
Four or five grenades go off simultaneously, blowing apart the hastily constructed garbage golem. The larger fight lulls for a moment as everyone looks to see if Mush survived... When the smoke clears, Mush is absent, with only a scorched pile of trash left in his wake.
"Kuso escaped!" Takata growls from somewhere in the crowd as the Merchants drop their shit and start fleeing in all directions.
The ABB gangsters chase some, but mostly let them run, instead turning their attention to the injured. They went for their allies first before stabilizing the downed Merchants... I checked on the kids first though, finding most were alright. Some had broken bones and concussions, but I did find myself having to give CPR to one young boy of eleven who'd stopped breathing entirely.
I saved him, but that wouldn't matter if the ABB kept forcing him to fight like this. Even child soldiers get given proper weapons and training to fight with, these kids? They were like me, getting thrown into the deep end and told the swim.
Soon, despite my protestations, I was pulled away from the kids and forced to stand over a bloody and broken Merchant woman, her jaw shattered, teeth missing, and legs mangled enough that she'd likely never walk again.
I thought they wanted me to try give her first aid, but that idea vanished when I felt a pistol shoved between my fingers, courtesy of Daewon...
"What...?" my voice leaks out, stricken.
"Don't 'what' us, brat." Takata snorts, his face heavily bruised from the fight, he points at the woman, "Finish it."
...
I slowly blink at him, they wanted me to kill this woman...? My breathing hitches worse than when the fighting first started, my heart pounding in my ears. I look down at the gun, some version of a glock, the square casing a dead give away...
I'd been hunting before, killed my fair share of animals... But this was different, I'd never even contemplated doing the same to a person, not even my worst enemies. It was always just a beatdown to teach them a lesson...
"Well?" Takata prompts, "Do it so we can go home already."
I find my eyes darting around, spotting similar scenes, children standing above helpless people surrounded by gangsters... It hits me, just what the goal for this whole operation was. The ABB baited the Merchants here, set up an ambush for no perceivable gain aside from 'culling the chaff'.
They wanted to blood the kids, put the final nail in the coffin where their loyalty is concerned. Afterwards they'd ply the kids with drinks, celebrations, and food, put them firmly in the mindset of 'us against them'...
And here I was, in the exact same situation, aware of what was occurring but with no way out of it. Nishihara planned this, that lying piece of shit!
A hand drops onto my shoulder, forcing me to lean forwards over the Merchant woman, "Do it." Daewon growls.
"I-I don't want to." I rasp out, "I won't." the hissed growl leaves my lips as time seems to slow down around me.
"That ain't an option." Takata states, nodding his head forwards at Oni Lee who was now watching the whole fucking thing.
The psycho-cape tilts his head slightly in my direction, as if to ask 'Why hasn't this brat done it yet?'... The hairs on the back of my neck were all standing firmly to attention, goosebumps appearing up and down my arms as I struggle to regulate my breathing.
"What are you waiting for? DO IT!" Takata exclaims. "Do you think you have a choice? Do it or you'll get what she's getting!" he kicks the woman in the side, causing her to groan painfully, "This cunt is dead either way!"
I close my eyes to center myself, but the urging from the gangsters just gets louder and louder, the group around me growing more raucous seemingly to no end, shouting at me to do it, to toss away my ideals to save myself. To finish it.
"Do it!"
"DO IT!"
"DO IT ALREADY!"
My left hand trails up to my temple as a migraine hits me, I can't breath, I can't feel my chest, I can't force air into me. I straighten my legs to lock them in order to prevent me from falling from the sudden onset of vertigo.
"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!?"
"SHE'S DEAD ANYWAY!"
"OR MAYBE AFTER YOU BITE A BULLET, THAT BITCH TIEU'LL BE NEXT-"
*BANG!*
The gun goes off, the discharge deafening and leaving me stunned for some time.
I blink, the gunshot having dispersing all the voices around me... The pistol in my hands was smoking, the woman below me gurgling from the fresh bullet wound in her chest. I wasn't surrounded either, if that was ever the case or just a hallucination from stress... The area around me was clear, the ABB men giving me a wide berth with satisfied expressions on their faces.
It's then that I see it, the fucking guy holding a camera, recording the whole thing.
The gun drops from my grasp as I lean and spew my guts onto the concrete. I'd just murdered someone, and they recorded it! I was fucked! FUCKED! EVERYTHING WAS FUCKED!
*Bang!*
My head jolts up at the familiar sound, and I spot the other kids, as if encouraged by my act of murder, to pull the trigger themselves. I vomit again, dropping to my knees to retch and gag after I empty everything in my stomach, still not feeling clean despite my unwilling cleanse.
"Good job, brat." Takata remarks, taking the gun from the ground, "You're one of us now."
He was right, I didn't have a choice in the matter.
-------------------------
Time felt like a blur as the ABB dropped me back home. I stumbled into the apartment and barely even noticed Tieu standing at the end of the hallway, only registering her existence as I tried to enter my room.
"Kieu..." she whispers in response to my state. She doesn't say anything more as she wraps me in a hug, my walls quickly crumbling as I slump in her grasp, tears falling to my cheeks despite my best attempts to keep my composure.
I'd killed someone, a woman that probably didn't have a choice to join the Merchants.
"I-I'm sorry." I rasp out, burying my face in her shoulder, feeling like a pathetic child. She rubs circles on my back, humming the light tune of a folksong. I barely even notice as my eyes falls shut.
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POV : Nishihara Toshio
Nishihara snuffs out his cigarette in an ashtray as I focusses on Takata standing before him, "How did things proceed?"
"Great! We smashed the Merchants, Oni Lee had Mush running..."
Nishihara squints distastefully him, "You know that is not what I meant."
"The brats did as they were told." Takata replies, shoving aside his personal biases towards the practice.
"Even young Kieu?"
...
"Even him. It took some convincing though, brat had a panic attack afterwards."
"Hm." the man hums thoughtfully, "What was his reaction?"
"He didn't want to do it, but realized he had no choice. He's smart enough to know what happened." Takata shrugs, "He won't be like the others."
Nishihara releases a sigh and rubs his face, "Resorting to blackmail, da yo ne? A shame, we could have used one as intelligent as him. Like this we cannot risk exposing secrets to him..."
"What do you want to do with him then, boss?"
"Loosen his leash some, let him recover from his ordeal. I am sure we can still make use of him... Publicity perhaps? He has acquired quite a following for his music, add his renown for the situation with Leet. Hm, yes, we can make use of this."
"So, what? We just ignore him then? What if he tries to run?" Takata questions, unhappy that Kieu was receiving such 'gentle' treatment. Compared to what he'd gotten the kid was lucky.
Nishihara shakes his head, "He's smart, he knows he can't run. He's mine now. Whether he likes it or not."
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