Few hours ago...
After Neil left the restaurant where he'd had to control his temper and irritation to stay in place even though the girl was annoying the crap out him, his phone rang in his pocket.
He picked up the call and growled at the other person on the other side, "If you are calling to also annoy the fuck out of me, Liam, then you picked the wrong time to call."
"Woah, woah, relax man. Who's the lucky person who got on your good side today?" Liam laughed trying to humor his friend,"Was it the beauty you're assigned to supervise? You_"
"I'm hanging up the damn call if you don't start explaining why you called me when you know you aren't supposed to when I am still being Leo Bennett." He cut in sharply. But Liam wasn't a bit offended as he was already used to his friend's temper, instead he went straight to the point of why he'd called.
"Alright, come down to the red house, we've caught one of the rats." Said Liam. Understanding what he meant, Neil hung up the call, slipped the phone into his pocket and left in the car he used when he was posing to be Leo Bennett.
In five minutes, Neill had sped the black Ferrari into a desserted building in downtown of Zen city. He exited the car and slammed the door behind him before walking into the building in long strides. His expression was devoid of any emotions, his gray eyes were as fierce and sharp as a blade.
He walked down the dark narrowed corridors that led to an underground dungeon. Despite the darkness, Neil navigated his way through the corridors until he arrived down in a damp gloomy dungeon that smelled of dried blood and tortured flesh. If a normal person walked into such place, they'd have passed out just from the unforgiving stench of tormented flesh, however, Neil Wayner walked deeper into it like he was walking into a fast food restaurant.
Even before he arrived to the inner part of the dungeon, he could already hear the loud cries of the tormented criminal. When he arrived there, he was greeted by five soldiers, who were disguised as normal everyday men.
"General Wayner!" They saluted him to show their respect for their senior. Neil acknowledged their greetings with a curt nod and walked past them. He stepped into the cell room where Liam was torturing a man and causing him to cry like an animal being slaughtered.
Seeing Neil, Liam grinned as if he hadn't just been using a hot iron to decorate the tortured man's body.
"You arrived quicker than I've expected, Neil." Liam remarked with a side-lope smirk, "Look who we've caught, the bastard supplying the bombs to the terrorists in Lumoria. I have been trying to get a confession from him about their boss in charge of the shipments, but it seems my pretty decoration on his body isn't enough for him to start talking."
Neil glanced at the man tied to the electric iron chair. Decoration was an understatement of what was done to the his body. However, this was just the beginning if he wouldn't confess. Because whenever Neil Wayner got involved, things got messier.
"When you caught him, was there any signs he is one of da Kroll lackeys?" Neil questioned calmly as he began to fold his shirt sleeve to his elbow, revealing his toned, veined inked forearms.
"Not a traces. And now it's making me doubt if da Kroll is really involved with supplying the weapons to the terrorists in Lumoria." Liam replied as he stepped back to give Neil access to the tortured man.
Neil picked up a knife out of the many weapons laying on the table and looked at the frightened man. "I will make your death less painful if you tell me who you work for." He negotiated calmly as if his words would encourage the man to speak.
Neil had dealt with many people like this, if they didn't speak even after the torture had gone as far as to losing their limbs, then nothing would ever make them speak. However, he always had his way of getting the truth out of them somehow. Even though not the entire truth.
The man in question just continued to stare at Neil with one of his good eyes, as his other eye was so swollen it looked as if a boiled egg had been forced into the socket.
"Go fuck yourself !" He spat angrily at Neil's clean shinny shoe.
Neil lost his temper and slammed his fist into the man's jaw, a cracking sound was heard from the impact of the punch. The man fell backwards along with the electric chair. But Neil grabbed him by his hair and lifted him back up with the chair. Through gritted teeth, he said, "I will fuck you up first," saying that, he used the knife to cut off the man's lips.
The cell room was filled with his loud animalistic cries as his lips ozzed out blood.
Neil knelt down before him, he made sure his eyes were locked with the man as he clamly questioned, "Are you working for yourself or do you have a boss?"
The man's eyes looked frighteningly at Neil without replying.
Neil asked another question, "What is da Kroll's connection with Ivy Grove institute? What do you ship from the school?" He raised his knife and positioned it close to the man's eyes, "Don't waste my time, speak."
The man jolted in fright as the knife was now posed against his manhood, he started to cry again. But this time he spoke, "I...I swear to the Lord, i...I don't know anything about the person I am working for, I have never met him before, but...but I know that someone in the University is the second in command to my boss."
"Do you know his name?" Neil asked, but the man quickly shook his head, "I...I don't know who he is, I just know he is there. Please, let me go, I will repent my sins and be a good citizen to my country." He pleaded desperately.
"I have already promised to make your death less painful if you speak," saying that, Neil finished the man up without giving him the chance to even feel the pain of his death.
"Wow, that was a clean cut." Liam remarked from the side as he looked down at the bloody body on the ground. "I guess we are still back to level one with no clues of where Da Kroll is hiding and who the helper is in Ivy Grove institution." Said Liam.
Liam's remarks only irked Neil's mood as it reminded him of his lack of progress in his mission. He was seething with anger as he stormed out of the dungeon and into the chilly night with Liam trailing behind him.
Neil leaned against his car and took out a cigarette from his pocket, his fingers moving with a controlled intensity as the match flared to life, casting a fleeting glow on his stern features. He inhaled deeply, the cigarette light casted a crimson glow on his face as he exhaled a stream of smoke into the night air.
Liam, sensing the storm brewing within Neil, cautiously approached. Attempting to break the tension, he cracked a joke, "Don't be bitter, man, you will soon find another prey to lead you to the bottom of this."
Neil's frigid stare silenced Liam's any attempt at levity. The smoke curled around Neil like a shroud as he spoke, his voice cold and emotionless.
"You have no idea how much this damn mission means to me, Liam" Neil murmured, his gray eyes reflecting a steely determination. The night breeze seemed to carry away any warmth from his words. "You have no idea how much I've been waiting for the day I would get to have the leader of Da Kroll in custody, I want him so bad I'll turn Zen city upside down to find him."
The silence that followed hung heavy, disturbed only by the distant howl of the wind. Neil's demeanor remained as cold as the night that surrounded them. Fifteen years ago, he had sworn to avenge the man responsible for his parents' death. And now, fifteen years later, that man was also responsible for millions of lives across the world.
"I need some fresh air, notify General David about the event. Give me the key to your bike." Said Neil to his friend as he threw away the half cigarette.
Liam didn't joke about anything again knowing any topic about da Kroll was something sensitive to his friend. He fished out the motorcycle key's from his pocket and threw it towards Neil. Neil swiftly caught the key in his hand and headed towards the black motorcycle parked at the side of the building. He wanted to get away from everything, he wanted to forget his mission and drown himself in cups until he could no longer think of those hunting memories that resurfaced everytime Da Kroll's name was mentioned.
He didn't bother to even put on his helmet as he kicked the motorcycle to life and rode off in full speed that left a dent mark on the ground of the place where the bike had been parked. Despite the harsh night breeze blowing over his face, Neil didn't not slow down until he reached the bar where he planned to drown himself until he could no longer think of anything else tonight.
Fuck his mission and to hell with the protocols of not drinking when in disguise. Neil thought as he approached the entrance of the bar, however before he could even reach the threshold, he heard a familiar soothing melody he hadn't heard in fifteen years. But when he saw the person singing and playing the song, he froze for a moment.
What the hell was she doing in such a place?
There on the bar performance stage, sat Mi-whatever her name was- singing the only song he'd ever liked in his entire life. Instead of turning on his heels and leaving the bar so he wouldn't blow off his disguise as a gentlemanly professor, he found himself walking into the bar and looking at her sing on the stage. She looked towards him and their eyes locked for a moment before she looked away.
Neil felt himself being drowned to the melody and the familiar lyrics.
"-you can't miss what you never had, I never knew the touch of love, I will never miss the caresses of it, but I always long for it."
'Look, look, Xavier, I can sing the song as you taught me!' said a small voice from his distant memories, the memories he so much wanted to bury away and forget they ever took place, were suddenly coming back to him as he listened to that familiar song.
As Neil was lost in the soothing melody of her voice and the guitar, he heard the man beside him laugh, "Oh, I will certainly make her feel the touch and creases of my dick tonight!"
Neil suddenly felt disgusted by the man who dared misinterprete the meaning of his favorite song. And without hesitation, he swirled around and caught the man by his collar, "How about I make you shove your fat dick down your throat!" Neil repeatedly slammed his fists onto the man's face until his nose cracked and he fell limp to the ground.