I*Burp*
*Burp!*
Four boys sat around the table, with bellies as round as a woman in labor. A feeling of satisfaction washed over them, discouraging their bodies from moving.
"There's still some food left, who's wants sum?" Atlas scrapped the pots.
He was enthusiastic about the situation, a stark contrast to the people around him.
"Unscientific, how can your stomach still consume more food." Four eyes exclaimed.
This walking skeleton, already eat half the food, while we couldn't finish the other half, yet he still isn't satisfied! No doubt, he needs to be experimented on.
Originally seeing the other party eating alot of food, their pride didn't allow them to give up easily, so they went back for second and thirds.
"Yeah no, I'm good." Asher shook his head, similar to the others he had eaten alot, he didn't want to ask later, but even he had his limits. He felt his stomach stretched out.
"Me too." Abel shook his head.
"Your loss!" Atlas didn't waste time, he emptied the meat into the rice pot, and began devouring.
"Very peculiar, are you some sort of animal?" Four-eyes exclaimed, pointing his finger at him.
"Then ditto, If I jog your memory, you earlier said, 'How barbaric, what breed of animal eats in a pot?'." Atlas imitated Four-eyes. He swallowed his food, "and I said, the hungry breed with no plates."
Neither of them had brought any plates, so they ate in the pots, luckily enough though, Abel had brought spoons, or they might have to lick each others hands.
The shadows on the ground continuously grew on the ground.
*Ding dingding ding ding. *
Suddenly, Asher's alarm rang.
He flipped his wrist and turned it off. The time was 15:30. Cooking had taken longer then espected and now the meeting was near.
"I have somewhere to be, I can't help with the cleaning." Asher stated while preparing to leave.
"Don't sweat it, we got it, we'll pick up girls later." Atlas saluted with a spoon.
After biding his farwell, Asher cleaned himself up a bit, before making his way towards the school gate.
With it being the afternoon. The 'Sun' had slowly started to set in the distance, painting the sky a red hue, while drawing lines.
The atmosphere in the school had changed accordingly. The lights had tuned on, to accommodate the darkness, and there was less and less students walking about.
After a few minutes of walking, Asher stopped at the gate.
For their safety, students weren't allowed, to come and go as they please, but school officially started in 2 days.
Asher was checked and questioned, after mentioning his sponsor, the group finally let him pass.
On the outside, there was already four others waiting.
The wind sliced Asher's nose and ears. The sky was covered in dark clouds as the rain poured heavily, a stark contrast to the acedemy's interior.
He took shelter with the others and waited a few minutes. Time slowly passed and the others came.
Moments later, a limo stopped in front of them.
The car drove off smoothly into the city, not to fast or to slow.
'Hmm' Asher suddenly frowned when he noticed that the windows in the limo were tinted and they couldn't see the outside. Normally you can't see inside but can see outside.
The car continued smoothly, passing various tall buildings.
*Bang*
Suddenly the car was T-boned, driving it off a bridge, and slamming down hard.
Before the students inside could come too, a can off smoke shot through the window, filling the car. Clamping sounds came from the doors, but remained shut.
Moments later, the car was dragged away, still upside down.
"Hey brats! Wake up!" After an unknown amount of time, Asher and the others heard a shout, followed by a bucket of ice-cold water.
Waking up, they found themselves in a dimly-lit small room. On the other end of the room we're a plethora of monitors/ computer screen.
Their hands were chained up to the fence-like floor, with diamond shape patterns. The chains seemed inter-connected to each other, when someone moved their hands, another person felt a tug.
"Now, I want you kids to answer me truthfully, do that and I'll spare you." Standing in front of them, on a raised platform, was a person wearing a balaclava. He lloked like a thief and the voices sounded like a male, all hoars and rough.
"Now, who's father is this." the man pointed behind him.
A scrawny figure, covered in blood was tied up to a chair, his face was a bit unrecognizable, but not too much. The students frowned, and looked at each other for answers.
From the corner of his eye, Asher suddenly notice an extra person in their group. Aiden, the supposed son of the company's owner. Passed out on the floor, and he instantly understood the situation.
It seemed like a kidnapping, and I'm guessing the person up there is the 'sponsor', Mr. Magnus. Ash calmed down.
Naturally he wasn't the only one who noticed him, but the others hadn't connected the dots, yet.
"Our sources say, Mr. Magnus, your sponsor, recently found his son and is among you guys. So unless you want to end up like them, I suggest you tell me who he is." The man pointed towards a pile of bodies on the side, then aimed a gun at them. In From the pile, Asher's group recognize the armed bodyguards and the receptionist, all covered in blood.
It suddenly clicked to everyone, who the other person was talking about, the person covered in wounds and blood, was Mr. Magnus, and his son wasn't here but they had meet him before.
Conflict suddenly appeared on their faces as they exchanged looks.
*Sigh*
'hmm, that must be it.' Asher's eyes suddenly lit up with determination.
"I know who it is." Asher voices grabbed everyone's attention.
"Speak!" the man rough voice became chilly as he pointed his gun at Asher.
"That person is in this room, but you have to promise me not to kill me." Asher pleaded lifting his hands.
"I've already said I won't hurt anyone else."
"Can you remove the chains?"
"Don't push it kid! Speak before I lose my patience!" the man removed the safety off the gun.
"*Sigh*." Asher whispered something, and suddenly...
His figure dashed forward, curving slightly before dashing to the man. His abrupt movement caught everyone offguard.
*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*
In a panic, the man peeled off a few caps, sending continues crackles in the room. The bullets followed after Asher and landed on his shadow. He was agile.
The distance wasn't t that long to begin with.
The man frantically turned around, and Asher was suspended in mid-air, inches away from his face. The man took aim, a crackling sound followed.
In the moment, Asher dodged at point blank range, landed three kicks, followed by a spinning kick to the face.
*Bang*
The man was sent flying and crashed on the ground, before the man could stand properly, he felt multiple stinging pain all over his body.
A punch to the face, a kick to the back, another kick to the ribs, a punch to the gut, multiple attacks landed on the man's body and for a brief moment, his body was ragged-dolled back and forth.
'Perhaps kicking him forward wasn't ideal.' Asher relocated his wrists, looking at the scenes. The students were efficient, not giving this man a chance to retaliate.
*Clap clap clapclap clapclap clapclapclapclap*
Suddenly, slow clapping that gradually quickened filled the room.
"Magnificent, truely magnificent." a voice filled the room, as a figure slowly emerged.
The students finally stopped their onslaughter, but one kid, bishop, only stopped after he'd wrapped his restraints on the man's neck.
A skinny man with spiked reddish-brown hair, with frackles on his face appeared not far from Asher.
"I'm Magnus, and might I say, that was truely a magnificent scene, truely a beautiful scene right there." The man's voice was thich with Scottish lineage, and somewhat difficult to keep up with.
'I figured. I wonder why though? Showing us who's boss perhaps?' Asher speculated, while looking at the man. On the side, he noticed the receptionist and bodyguards getting up and standing in a uniform manner.
"You see, in this day and age anyone can say any bloody thing about any bloody thing, but not everyone can act." Magnus monologued as he walked towards the kids.
He continued, passing on a key, "It's only when a person is tested that he shows his true self, and you lads and lasses have shown me a beautiful scene."
"And you, I thought I told you, not to fire at anyone." Magnus suddenly pulled out a gun, and aimed it at the man.
Before the man could beg for his life, a crackling sound, filled everyone's ears and his body slumped down.
"Clean this mess up."
The guards quickly came and took the body away, while others cleaned the spot. They were efficient but they also looked fearful.
"Follow me." Magnus said, walking towards the back of the room. Asher and the others followed.
Passed the door, they came to large hall with security on either side, passed that and arriving at a large extravagant office, with an area of four hundred square meters.
"Aiden, why don't you take Missy and head on to freshen up." Magnus came and sat behind a large desk.
On the couch, Aiden, who the others had seen, was sitting with a voluptuous woman wearing skimpy clothing. The other one must have been a fake.
"Yes father." Aiden got up and left with the woman.
His expression a little embarrassed and his looks were quite similar to his father.
"Please, have a seat." Mr. Magnus gestured towards the couch.
The group sat down and were almost swallowed by the soft cushions.
"I'll start this of by congratulating all of you. When I got news of your success, I was excited but seeing your performance earlier I felt yaldi. You see I like making investments that payout, and with the increase in saints, I saw an opportunity." Mr. Magnus got up and poured some alcohol into a few glasses, before individually handing it to the group, while saying," You see, loyalty is a scarce commodity, in my line of business."
"Now I'm sure your all aware of the agreement between us, and what the dynamics are." Mr Magnus went back to seat down.
"You see, my new son here is also a student like you guys, and the case be, that he's still a little green for my liking. He was raised by his late mother you see, she' was an angel I'll tell you." Mr. Magnus explained while looking at the ceiling, he appeared to dip in and out of a distant memory.
He continued, "He's one of my three children, so I want the best for him. The world is an unfair place and I'm sure your all aware of that, that be it said, I require you to look after him at the acedemy."
"Not only that, In a months time, if he hasn't formed a pack on his own, you'll all be required to join him."
Most saints weren't allowed to venture into territories or behind the front lines on their own, to minimize the risks, they were required to form a pact.
A group of six or more individuals, who's strength equals or passes the danger.
Pacts were usually formed early on, among a trusted group of individuals, and they usually stayed that way for a very long time.
"That's what I wanted to discuss, and I hope there won't be any problems with that!" Mr. Magnus's intense eyes landed on all of them.
They all shook their heads in disagreement.
Obviously none of them would disagree, they already had their feet in the mud, might as walk forward.
[Ding]
The kid's bracelets, suddenly vibrated with a notification. Checking, they discovered that money has been sent to their accounts.
"Good, as per our agreement, I look forward to more good news, especially you three, Asher, Bishop and Madison. You three had the best grades, so you'll notice I put in a little extra, and also for the beautiful performances earlier. " Mr. Magnus smiled.
[Congratulations, you have been credited with 2 000 credits.]
[1 000 Credits have benn credited into you account.]
Asher briefly glanced at his screen.
'We didn't even get to see our results, does that mean he can get access to acedemy information.' Asher frowned, while he gulped the alcohol down.
He didn't care about most things but he didn't want to stand out.
In a months time, there is gonna be a festival, where the crème de la crème, would be selected for baptism.
The baptism was his goal, so he would obviously do his best, but Asher didn't want to be picked by this Magnus to babysit his son afterwards.
'By his words, it looks like the three of us are already on board for his sons pact.' Asher glenced at the other boy and girl. 'Not unless...'
"Good that we came to an agreement, I won't be keeping you for long, you can be on your way now." Mr. Magnus leaned back in his chair.
The youths got up to leave but we're stopped.
"Halt! That's a ten thousand year old bottle of scotch that I personally poured for you." His demeanor suddenly grew grim, "You don't expect me to pour it back in the bottle now, do you?"
The youths who hadn't drunk the alcohol look hesitant but ultimately downed it, their chests momentarily burned with a warm bitter taste.
"Go on now." Mr. Magnus gestured, while a woman massaged his shoulders
The group left and swiftly returned to the road.
Not much was gained from this meeting, besides an understanding of where their places were.
Asher frowned looking at the through the tinted window.This matter of being grouped up disrupted some of his plans.
Being tied to the kid means that Mr. Magnus also had eyes on him, potentially more so then he would have had prior.
'Plans never keep up with change.' Asher sighed, shaking his head. He had a few things in mind he wanted to try but if he failed there was little he'd do.
"Che! Like hell I'd leave my future to chance and some kid. If he thinks I'll be a babysitter for his kid just because he's got a bit of money then he's got another thing coming." while traveling back, suddenly bishop, exploded, anger written on his face.
Seemed like this matter didn't trouble Asher alone. It's always better to suffer with others.
"I've worked to hard to get here, and I'll be damn if I let him ruin my future just cause of his son." Bishop continued.
He realized from the words spoken earlier and the extra money in his account that he was already signed up to the kid, while the others were merely candidates.
"What options do you have? If you had any, you wouldn't be here." A female students, with a slightly chunky build, interjected.
Average in hight, she had black hair, with a chubby face. She was Maddison, one of the two girls in the group.
"Besides it's not wise to speak like that, we should be grateful." Maddison calmly stated while glencing forward.
Bishop followed her gaze, and looked at the chauffer.
With the rapid improvement of technology, it was getting easier for people to keep surveillance on others.
Bishops expressions relaxed, his anger visibly dropped. He looked at the girl.
Besides her appearance, her calm voice had poured some reasoning into his head.
"Thanks I guess." he said while looking outside the car.
The car remain silent, and smoothly drove towards the academy.
"We have arrived at our destination! Thank you for picking Mac Transportation for your services, Mac Transportation appreciates you." The chauffeur responded, styling his usual robotic smile.
(Robots are entirely metel, with no skin whatsoever. Ps that would be creepy.)