It was just over a year ago in May when it happened.
Back then, Razor Smirnov was standing in an office talking to a man by the name of Andrei Lebedev. Lebedev was a balding middle-aged man with a kind smile and a clean white button-up.
"So. you're the new intern that got the job from Tundrayansk?" Lebedev remarks, "That's pretty far out from here."
"Yeah, once I got the job I commuted over here as fast as I could," Razor admits, "Thank you for the job."
Hearing that, a grin spreads across Lebedev's lips as he says, "No no, thank you for your dedication to the job. It must be pretty scary being so far away from home but don't worry, here we're all like one huge family."
One huge family…
Those words begin to echo in Razor's mind, putting his worries at ease.
"Now we just need you to sign the contract before you can really start working," Lebedev insists.
"Alright," Razor smiles as he signs the contract, "I'm happy to be a part of the family!"
As Lebedev shows him around the office, Razor starts to get the feeling that he really did make the right choice in going here. He may be far away from everyone he's ever known but maybe, just maybe, this place can feel like a new home-
"HOW HAVE YOU STILL NOT FIGURED THIS OUT INTERN!"
It wasn't long until he realized how much of a lie that was.
"THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE WHO WANT YOUR JOB!"
Any small inconvenience he did, anytime he asked if he didn't have to work overtime, if he was just a second late, he'd get berated by Lebedev.
When he didn't follow Lebedev's instructions to a tea?
"YOU USELESS FUCK! JUST DO AS I SAY!"
When he did follow his instructions to a tea?
"WE'RE LOOKING FOR CREATIVITY! WHY CAN'T A TALENTLESS BASTARD LIKE YOURSELF FIGURE THAT OUT!"
Some days he'd get in early before the sun came up, only to leave far after the sun came down. The sound of other employees crying due to the pressure helped him stay awake, and the yells from Lebedev sure "helped" him stay in line.
Even when he had time off of work, he was too exhausted to even spend it doing anything else but dread the fact that he'd be heading back soon enough.
It didn't matter how many hours he worked…
"IF YOUR MOTHER SAW THE WORK HER SON DID HERE SHE'D DISOWN YOU!"
It didn't matter how many friends he lost contact with…
"YOU THINK ANY OTHER COMPANY WOULD GIVE A CHANCE TO SOMEONE AS USELESS AS YOU?!"
It didn't matter how many nosebleeds he had from overworking himself…
"STOP BEING A WUSS AND MAN UP, KIDS LIKE YOU ARE RUINING YOUR GENERATION!"
Whatever Razor did it wasn't good enough.
It was never good enough.
Eventually though, in the summer, a massive project that took months to work on was completed. With the company seeing record profits things started to look like they were improving.
The next day Razor got up bright and early for the day, put on the cleanest suit he had, and went to his office. Only to be greeted by the stuff in his office shoved into a box and a termination notice.
"Sorry kid," Andrei Lebedev remarks while taking a look at his latest bonus, "We can't have broken windows like you setting a bad example."
_____________________________
In the present day, those words echo throughout Razor's mind as he places his hand on the door handle to Lebedev's office. Though as he does so, he notices that in the reflection of the door is a huge hulking monster behind him. One that has '50/75' written on its forehead in ink.
Razor quickly activates his blast as the 50/75 monster swats his hand at him, the force of the attack being so powerful it sends Razor across the room and crashing into several desks.
Anastasia rushes over to help Razor, but before she can, the goliath of a monster moves across the room at breakneck speeds. Anastasia tries to swipe off one of the monster's limbs with her sword but her sword gets stuck in the monster's skin.
"That thing, it's as strong as 50 people!" Anastasia warns Razor.
"Thanks for the heads up," Razor groans.
The failed attack causes the monster's attention to turn to Anastasia, but before it can slam down its fists onto Anastasia, Razor steps into the way to take the attack, which once again sends him into a wall.
As Razor falls to the ground, he starts to feel his chest begin to burn while the ruby on his chest lightly glows.
The monster quickly tries to hit Anastasia but she manages to dodge each and every attack, all the while getting further away from the beast. However, seeing that, the monster lifts one of the desks in the air and sends it flying at Anastasia. Without her weapons, Razor ends up having to take the hit in his now metal body.
"Razor!-" Anastasia tries to scream before feeling the monster's presence directly behind her.
Anastasia just barely managed to dodge the fist from the monster, though she wasn't fast enough to not get lightly grazed by it and get her face scratched.
"This monster's a smart one!" Anastasia remarks as she quickly hops from desk to desk as the monster chases after her, "Razor! You get ready to hit it with everything you got!"
"YOU GOT IT!" Razor roars as he rushes after them, despite his blast making him slower than he'd normally be – the more his chest begins to burn and the brighter the ruby on him gets – the faster he gets.
As Anastasia gets closer to the wall, she pours the last of the sand out of her pouch and blows on it, creating a new weapon for her to use. As the monster with the power of 50 people chases her, Anastasia jumps up as she reaches the wall.
The monster goes to catch then slam her into the ground, but she doesn't come falling down from her jump. That's because the weapon she's chosen is a scythe, and she has it sticking into the ceiling with her holding onto it. Anastasia then kicks off the wall and lands on the monster's back before she takes her scythe out of the ceiling and places it against the monster's neck.
"I may not be able to cut through you completely," Anastasia begins to say before she uses the scythe to cut open the monster's neck, "BUT I CAN STILL MAKE YOU BLEED!"
Anastasia hops off the monster and uses her scythe to slash away at the monster, while it isn't killing it, her attacks are still giving the creature intense pain.
Having enough of Anastasia's scythe, the monster goes to grab Anastasia's head, however, Razor intercepts the attack by grabbing the monster's hands.
"Anastasia…" Razor begins to say as the monster starts to push down at him, "GET OUT OF THE WAY!!!"
The force of the monster's immense strength causes Razor to be pushed deeper into the ground and for the bones in his hands to snap like twigs, yet he still hangs on. Anastasia, doing one final scythe slice, steps out of the way of Razor.
"AIM FOR THE HEAD SMIRNOV!" Anastasia yells.
The ruby on Razor's chest is glowing so brightly it looks white as Razor screams out in agony, "YOU DON'T NEED TO TELL ME TWICE!"
The monster tries to get away but it's too late, the ruby on Razor's chest shoots out a giant red laser. Once the dust settles, the only thing left of the monster is just its legs which soon fall over. Razor returns to his human form as he tries to catch his breath.
As Razor does so, he looks over towards the office of Andrei Lebedev, and despite being exhausted he starts to make his way over to the door. Despite both of his arms being broken, he makes his way forward before going to grab onto the door handle.
He tries to open it, but the door is locked.
"Of course, he would," Razor grumbles as his legs start to give out and he collapses due to exhaustion.
__________________________
Razor awakens to find himself in a hospital bed once more, this time surrounded by his colleagues; Anastasia Petrova, Tire Bosch, Dmitri Morozov, & Katina Rotten.
"Did I faint again?" Razor asks.
"Yeah you did," Dmitri remarks, "Anastasia had to carry you out."
"Really?" Razor says.
"Yeah I got it on video," Dmitri says, "Wanna see it."
"I'm good, and sorry about all the trouble," Razor apologizes.
"It's fine, you were very light," Anastasia states.
"If anything your snoring probably drove Tire a bit mad," Katina says.
Embarrassed Razor changes the topic by asking, "What else happened while I was out?"
Katina sighs as she says, "There was only 1 person besides us who came out of it unscathed. One of the managers at the place; Andrei Lebedev."
Hearing that Razor can't help but feel sorrow from those words; all the people who suffered just like he did are no longer there, and for what? What was it that made work more important than their own safety?
"If it's any condolences," Tire adds, "This stuff always happens with every monster attack. There's always someone who doesn't make it."
Hearing those words, Razor can't help but agree. After all, he's known firsthand the effects of a monster attack for a long while, Though the somber tone starts to dissipate slightly as someone else enters the hospital room.
His sister; Nadia Smirnova.
"Nadia? How'd you get here?" Razor asks.
"Walker drove me over, and you really need to stop being in the hospital all the time!" Nadia yells out of anger and sadness.
Razor is stunned, not knowing what to say as a particular memory floods back into his mind.
It was a few days after he was let go from his job – with no place to go to work and stuck feeling completely burned out - he spent most of his time in his filthy apartment room. Nothing mattered to him then. If he just got another job again he would just get fired, if he went outside he'd have to see everyone going about their day with a purpose while he didn't.
So he kept to himself; not bothering to reach out to anyone he once held dear. Part of it was because he didn't have the energy to, but the other part was because he was too ashamed. Ashamed to admit that he was a failure, that he went all the way to Rising Heights for a job only to get fired after a few months.
Things only began to slowly change when he received a call from his parents, and before he knew it his sister moved into the apartment. According to them, it was because the education in the city was much better than what she would have gotten in her hometown, but he thought there was some other reason as to why it all happened.
Now with Nadia in the picture things slowly began to look up; the apartment went from being completely filthy to semi-cleaned, he finally started to try and apply to jobs again, and his apathy began to chip away.
And now he's here; stuck in a hospital room with two broken arms. Physically speaking? He isn't so great. But mentally? He was in a much better state than he was back then, because of her.
Razor begins to laugh, causing Nadia to get more upset.
"Why are you laughing?!" Nadia yells.
"It's just that I didn't expect you'd be so loud in front of others," Razor laughs.
"Others?" Nadia questions.
It's only then does she realize that Razor's colleagues are aslo in the room.
"Sup," Tire remarks.
"I-I'm sorry about m-my outburst," Nadia murmurs as her face flushes red from embarrassment and her anxiety takes over.
"It's okay, I would've said the same thing," Tire remarks, "Hospitals suck, they always smell funky."
"Funky?" Katina questions.
"What, you got a better word to describe 'em?" Tire pushes.
As the banter between the group starts to grow, Razor comes to a realization. Before he was the one who always needed help, but now with the position he's in now he can finally return that favor. He can finally help those who need it. Whether it's helping out a little bit in Nadia breaking out of her shell, or with his job and saving people from monsters, Razor knows that he'll be able to make a positive change for others…
Just as soon as his arms heal up.
See You Next Chapter!~