One of the guards on duty that night had an unusually large nose with nostrils so wide that many had teased him back in grade school that they could shove an entire cucumber up them. Despite those taunts, the now fully grown adult grew fond then subsequently proud of his sniffer. For, on some occasions it allowed him to smell a scent near no one else could sense.
On this night, he was overcome by a feeling of nausea. An overabundance of gasoline poured into his nostrils tossing him to his feet in an upright manner. Yet, it was not the scent of gasoline that awakened him, but the sound of crackling accompanying the scent. A burning fume punched at him warping his attention to its disastrous quality. Only then, with his head whipped toward his backside did he see the single cloud expand into an exaggerated vapor that eclipsed the sky. Soon to notice the raging flame beneath that produced such pollution.
The man raced in the direction of the newly ignited flame to see it originating from a stack of their cars. Somehow gasoline had leaked from their tanks, spilled everywhere and then lit ablaze. From that single sight he was still dumbfounded at the excess of smoke until he sought a bit farther at the underground garage where the most smoke billowed out from.
"Shit." was all he could verbalize in his stupor.
But beyond the enclosing scent of burning gasoline, another wound its way into the man's burly mustache. The stinge of tobacco recently ignited and spewed from its torturer's mouth.
As the fire grew larger, destroying more in its path along the edge of the complex, the number of members increased in their attempts to subdue its snarl. Therefore, leaving a maintained structure, nearly barren of life except for the few cautiously awaiting news of how devastating the damage truly became. In their haste, the men did not consider a motive behind the attack on their prized vehicles. Instead rushing, with moronic morality, to preserve their possessions while swept into the worry of punishment bestowed by their boss if a report was ever drawn up on this incident.
Furthermore, the internet signal around the complex was mistakenly gone, thus leaving communication minimal among those fighting back the flames to those stuck indoors without a scrap of knowledge. They had been cut off in a subsequent move resulting in confusion rather than compound thought. Despite their vast array of experience having dealt with other gangs and committing genocide against their enemies, the closest one could muster was an attack had taken place. Befallen with the gesture, while the boss lay basking in his chambers, the second in charge decreed for the men to equip themselves from the armory to maintain a defensive ring on the bounds where the fire originated.
The grunts, expecting no less than a horde of onslaught to wash over them, took no notice at the figure calmly marching through their ranks. Only three people bore the forethought to take a glance at this peculiar figure. The figure walked with unusual tranquility, it seemed to them like he was merely taking a stroll on his Saturday morning reprieve. If they wished to gander a second look, they were met by nothing except for a blank canvas. The figure may have never even been there to begin with…
Eventually he came to the solitary light swaying back and forth at the front to the containment unit where the trafficked people were being held. Out front a woman clutching her assault rifle jittered at her hands. She glanced around the several passing by questioning her own order to maintain post. To her the sky resembled the hair atop her head and its flickers of red grew longer than her own. Hell had come over this facility with her wishing to be anywhere but there.
This was not the person Kage expected. The one usually outside the building was a burly African American man painted by a dual set of scars brushed diagonally across his face. It was a formidable foe who Kage was prepared to battle yet what he got was this. He didn't know whether he should count himself lucky or be disappointed.
He ensured the black balaclava was pulled tight over his face and that his hands had no space for his skin to be exposed. Trusted with such facts he approached the girl head on with little thought on her possibility for retaliation. Only once he was a throwing pace away did she catch sight of the masked person, eyes tainted by the pressure of a beast hunting its prey.
Before she had the chance to turn the gun on him, Kage tackled the woman against the steel door, crushing the air out from her lungs. Sidestepping to the left, just out of her cone of vision, Kage delivered a sweeping right hook blasting her skull to the steel once more. Effectively rattling whatever was left inside that brain of hers. Kage judged from the crack he heard, the woman sustained a broken cheekbone along with some bruising to her ribs and diaphragm.
A relatively small price to pay.
In his wake, Kage made sure to spit on the woman's face as he wrestled the keys to the door from her pocket.
They deserved no better.
The key belonged to a series of additional ones, all looped together accompanied by a dog tag that surely didn't belong to the woman. But what did was the locket chained to the piece of wire. Curiosity besting his higher functions, Kage peeled the locket open witnessing a photograph of archaic quality. Rimmed by mold as well as creased edges, the photo served as a remnant of some past the woman coddled. Herself, much cleaner with less dark circles and jittery paws, bespoke by a man a foot or more her height grasping to a newborn child.
"Even then, you consider this." Without warning Kage pulled back his foot, rocketing the tip of his boot into the woman's jaw, smashing more than moments ago.
'Taken with child and this woman dared to commit such crimes. She looked on allowing for such filth to molest these people while she baked in the greed. These were not humans; these things cannot even be considered distant cousins. They were born for nothing then decided to do worse.'
Withdrawing the blade from his pocket, Kage rashly insisted on a slice. A quite beautiful one across her throat, then maybe she would learn. Not in this life, but if God gave her a second chance at redemption, then she would carry with her that lesson. But he realized the horror such a sight would give the children inside the building if they were to see the woman in such a state.
Tightly gripping the handle, Kage unwillingly thrusted the weapon into its home to relax, waiting for its next moment of use.
'That's right. There are still others who need help.'