After I ran off I dug out the money I'd stolen and now had an issue. I knew some contacts from the time in the gang, but I barely had a reputation. So if I wanted to continue on my dream of being akin to a mercenary or hired assasin I needed both better weapons, and people I could contact for work.
I knew the contact my "boss" had gotten their weapons from as he met up with them a couple times while I was trying to figure out where their stash was. There also appeared to be an information broker that they met up with so I planned to go to the warhouse during what I believed to be their scheduled times.
This however brought me time to kill so I decided to do some searching. You would think that a city known for being the most violent would have publicly known fighting rings, information brokers and the such. Those existed of course, but they were of the lower quality. One of the best ways to avoid getting killed is to have no one know you ever existed.
So venturing into the even darker sections of the city was a must. In the bad part of Detroit there were always people swuaring you up, deciding if they should try your luck. However the deeper you went the more eerie the atmosphere, even the crowd refused to make any noise, the people staring grewfurther as I felt the eyes peering out at me.
It was only a matter of time before somone decided to make a fool out of themselves.
I wasn't surprised when one of the figures slinked from the shadows towards me. I ducked and stabbed a knife upwards through their crotch area. Noticing the knife held in their grasp going to where my neck used to be be I felt nothing as I pulled out my pistol and shot them in the head. They barely had any time to scream before the bullet reached their skull.
With that display over with most of those watching kept back into the shadows. Waiting for those weaker to walk into their domain. A stark few however kept watchibg, and I was sure there were those I couldn't notice. I kept walking until I saw a building run down, but that didn't fool me. The area around it was well travelled as the people who would come and go went in all directions.
What made it more suspicious however was the fact that no one dared set up ambush in this position. Those watching had with lightning speed averted their eyes and pretend like I didn't exist when I made my way towards the building. Before I could make it 5 feet however I heard a Click and a gruff voice say.
"Where do you think you're going kid?" A man who was holding a gun to my head asked. Although somehat irratated as I was in my early 20s I analyzed the situation at hand. The man held his firearm far enough away to prevent me from grabbing it, or ducking away from the gun to make my own move. He smiled after noticing me scanning my souroundings. Which set off my senses like nobodys buisness.
Knowing that I was in a bad position, and that telling the truth wasn't problematic I answered. "Looking for some work." Short, sweet, open ended and tells I mean buisness. The man sized me up farther before saying. "Come in we need some new blood anyway." Before opening the door to the building.
Upon walking in I was met with the site of a lobby area of sorts with cheap scratched couches as tobacco permeated the room. I of course was on guard the entire time as was everyone else within the establishment. No one was one quick movement away from taking up arms against one another.
Noting the lack of trust within the bar area me and the man who once held me at gunpoint walked us through some back doors. Walking into a kitchen like area, paying little attention to the grime, I spotted everyone inside tensed up as their hands moved to some hidden area. This however ceased upon seeing the man with me while eyeing me up as they mumbled something to each other.
Reaching the end the man opened a hatch while I wondered if I was being kidnapped. What I did not expect however was to them be meeted by an alcove of people in an area that looked like a established, respectable bar. Quality wooden tables arranged neatly with customers engaging in revelry, men and women alike engaging in gambling. However the bar, although seemingly proper, didn't have the best customers.
Most surprising of all however was what seemed to be an unregulated fighting arena. Upon our entry I could see one contestant was slashing at the other with a knife while the other wrapped their extended arm in a chain, pulled them forward and directed said knife wielding arm into their eyeball. A bell of sorts was rung as the winner of the exchange dug through their shorts and pulled out a wallet.
Averting my gaze we walked towards what seemed to be the bar I now noticed people were waving weapons around making me dread a misfire. On our way to the bar a very rotund man who seemed to have drunk a little much fainted and fell blocking our path.After a swift kick to the head from the man the previously unconscious person promptly looked up. They seemed to want to pick a fight, if the look in their eyes said anything.
But after spotting the, to me, barely visible pistol pointed at them from the coat of the man they made way. Upon reaching the bar the man signaled the barman and said "Jonas give the soon to be newbie here their mark."
The barman seemed flabbergasted at this remark and gave the man a pointed look before saying. "You sure? If their an initiate they can't pay for it, and you know what happens if you don't pay back your debt in time."
"We both know there's no way for me to pay it back might as well give the boy to my right here something better than prowling the streets. Give me my favourite while your at it, and put it on my tab." The bartender seemed to want to say something, but went to work on his drink further along the bar. He later came back with the drink as he sulked a little bit while slowly going at his drink.
"Okay Mr … Nobody, yeah sure let's go with that. So we don't got legal documents since it's not like we're filing tax returns." He laughed before getting more serious. "However since this fine fellow here decided to "pay" for everything I'll just need you to follow me."
He then got up and gestured for me to follow him to a side door. As we made our way inside however he closed the door and a deabolt lock cloncked into place as he looked at me. "Bit of warning since you came in with my good friend never and I mean never tell anyone your real name." He said with such seriousness that my bones chilled.
"You don't want to know what people will do to make your life hell, nor what they will do. You've unknowingly walked into a realm of possibilities you couldn't couldn't even imagine existing. Be hopeful you never piss off the wrong people. Your not in some street gang anymore." His speach was carried with a burdening weight and tinged with sorrow.
As we made our way further into a room that smelt of propane. There were shelves filled with various torture implements and a very solid looking steel chair in the middle of the room with straps attached to hold victims down. There were multiple dried rather large puddles of blood stains no doubt caused by the un-sterilized tools that still held their victims blood on them.
Weighing my chances of escape to none I wondered why the method of identification had to be so convoluted. What I was not expecting however was for the barman "Jonas" to guide me to sitting in the very obvious torture chair. Seeing my hesitation he sighed then forced me into the torture chair as he was surprisingly strong manhandling me despite what I regarded as fierce resistance.
Somehow using just his muscles he was able to strap my whole body in. Looking me dead in the eyes he pulled out a blowtorch and said, "Where do you want your mark?" I then redoubled my efforts of getting out of this situation and considered snapping my wrist just for a chance at escape. However me moving my hand to attempt escaping this chair was met with the bartender looking at me weird and saying, "To each their own."
What happened next was gruelling as I felt the top of my hands skin melt underneath the flames of the blowtorch. The pain unbearable as I could feel the blood vessels within my hands heat up and bubble. The skin transforming from a leathery surface to a sticky goop. The sweat sent out by my body to combat the heat instead making it worse as tiny droplets of superheated lava found themselves inhabiting the surface of my skin.
It continued on and on for what felt like hours the design being brought upon my flesh seemingly intricate as it seemed to never end. However despite the intensity of the flames I found solace within it. Knowing that what I was experiencing now was but a fragment of those I had burned alive in those ovens they call buildings.
Bringing myself to greater understanding I had begun to appreciate it more. It was mesmerizing a sheer destructive force being wrought upon my flesh as it bubbled and burned. I grew more accustomed to it no longer letting out the previous screams of torment. And with my decreased suffering to the eventual turn off of the blow torch I had recognized my hand didn't feel the same. The sensations that came when using it seemed to dull.
Flexing my hand I noticed how I barely felt anything from it except for a particular numbness. Wondering just how damaged it was I then looked at the symbol burned into it. Upon further inspection and clearing my watery eyes I saw a circle with seemingly random, but stringy lines intersecting all driven towards an arachnid.
The bartender sweet rolling off of his forhead like a river said. "Welcome to Yevrox as such you are now privy to multiple privleges." The Bartender said as he handed me a card. Still somewhat delerious, though overall content, my body still needed to play cat up with my senses. The Bartender with his job seemingly done handed me a glass of water before unlocking the deadbolt and presumably resuming his duties.
I however underestimated how taxed my body was and found myself swirling before I slumped back down into the chair, and brought to unconsciousness.
Author Note: Shits going down IRL which is why I haven't posted in a while so I crammed this chapter into my schedule. The shit show that is my current situation is still happening so don't expect any new chapters.
(God I hate my luck sometimes)