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“The Chiseltooth Pack…”
Anaxagoras flipped the pages of the file, engrossed in the paragraphs of information on his next espionage mission.
Cerydra, his boss and leader of the Chrysos Syndicate, nodded in confirmation from her seat, her loyal bodyguard Hysilens standing beside her in silence.
“They seemed to have planted their branch in our territory. I need you to infiltrate their ranks and figure out their system for me. I’ll provide you with weaponry and disguise.”
Espionage. Sure, Anaxagoras had dealt with such missions in the past. Be it sneaking into a heavily guarded office, participating as a guest at a ball, or simply hacking into their enemies’ computers. Of course, if he’s tasked with the first two, he wouldn’t mind, but… He would rather stay in and toy around with his research.
“... Can't I just grab the data from their cybersecurity? Why do you need me to go there and knock on their door?”
Cerydra frowned, disapproving of his considerable lazy nature. Despite being so diligent with alchemy, Anaxagoras can get sloppy if he’s faced with things that do not interest him. “It’s good for you to go out and get some field experience once in a while. Stretching your legs now and then isn’t so bad.”
The young man clicked his tongue. As if he’ll believe her concerns over such a thing. She wants to polish him into a better worker that isn’t just him fiddling with tools all day, despite that literally being his job description.
“The Chiseltooth Pack has been sniffing around too deep in our territory lately, and considering the Borisin, it’s never something good. They’ve been receiving hefty amounts of crates with who knows what in them. Your job is to fit in and figure out what it is before we obliterate them.”
Anaxagoras closed the file, tossing them over onto the table after memorizing the contents with a confused frown. “You are aware that the Borisin has very distinct animalistic features, no?”
Her smile became condescending, as if to question whether he really thinks she has no clue of that obvious fact. “Of course, but the Chiseltooth Pack is different. They deal with heavy drugs and appearance altering potions. Many in their ranks have disguised themselves as humans in order to hide away from our notice.”
“...appearance altering potions, you say…”
Damn. The boss really hit a double score with this task. Anaxagoras specializes in alchemy work and digital security, as well as some intel gathering here and there. Besides, he himself couldn’t say that he isn’t intrigued. From the little whispers of that Pack’s alchemical wonders, he might have wanted to try to infiltrate and grab just ten potions. Agh, this was right up in his alley and he could barely refuse…
Not that he had a choice from the beginning anyways. Cerydra would find another way to rope him into whatever outdoor agenda she has against him. She didn’t need his approval on a mission anyways, she’s quite literally the boss of his life now.
“I’ll have Aglaea deliver your disguise for the mission.” Cerydra’s words finalized the ultimate decision of his fate. She waved her hand to dismiss him, a gesture that Anaxagoras has been waiting for every time he stepped into this court-like office.
“I trust that you won’t disappoint me, young man.”
He strides over to the door with wide steps. “Tch.”
‘‘Young man’ my ass. You look like a middle schooler compared to me, hag.’
“Did you say something?”
Anaxagoras saves his own neck by leaving the room as quickly as he can.
▄︻╦芫≡══–
The mission to retrieve those documents was as easy as patting a Dromas. It barely took him ten minutes to sneak into the branch head’s office and take whatever he wanted. The security around here is really too lacking. Were they too arrogant, or are they just too dumb?
With his platinum silver wig and gray eye contact on, he adjusted his dark blue cloak to hide the hidden weaponry on his person, making sure to fasten his hidden daggers and slingbag full of confidential documents.
Such a meticulously prepared disguise wouldn't have been possible if it were not for Cerydra asking for Aglaea's involvement in this. As much as the young man loathes to admit it, that snobby woman got skills. To think that his mint green hair would have stood out amongst the Borisin's monotonous shades was something only a stylist like her would have noticed.
Thanks to that, he can freely walk around their base like he owns it. No one in this place realized that he isn’t even one of theirs.
Casually walking towards the meeting room whilst giving a nonchalant greeting towards a nearby disguised Borisin, he kept his mind on the few high ranked members he needed to gather information on.
‘Bahad, the chief of transport, and Modu, the coordinator of this Pack’s branch.’
The file has attached the pictures of those two people who are said to be really close to the main branch’s head, but there has been rumors that someone else had stolen their identity and assumed a high ranking position. If they really were the prized high ranked members placed in charge of a lower branch, then the Chrysos Syndicate can’t afford to attack recklessly, as the main branch of the Borisin Pack would surely retaliate. Anaxagoras needs to see if this lower branch is disposable trash from the main branch if they were to be destroyed.
‘Gang politics sure are complicated, unnecessarily so.’
Although he would love to just go ahead and investigate the fruits of the Chiseltooth’s main perk, their shapeshifting elixirs, he actually needs to do his job in gathering intel first and foremost. After the main targets have been confirmed to be here, only then will he indulge in his curiosities.
“Oi! You there, newbie!” An over friendly disguised Borisin beckoned him over, gesturing him to enter the doors of the meeting room. His name was… Orhan, probably. A Borisin who is way too chipper in the underworld. “Hurry boy, you’ll miss out on the briefing!”
As Cerydra said, infiltrating the base of these musclebrained Pack is an easy feat. He couldn’t even pat himself on the back just from how much of a walk this is. It could be thanks to his boss’ preparation beforehand, but even an underling of their own organization knows not to trust the underdogs with barely enough clearance too much.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming…”
Orhan patted him on the back, yet it felt more like a slap more than anything. “Next time, don’t be late. Boss doesn’t like shitty newbies, yeah? Don’t get yerself killed!”
‘Thanks for the warning, but you’re all sooner to die than I am.’
The Chiseltooth Pack, though clever enough to concoct their own elixirs, apparently does not have the capacity to suspect that someone could just be waltzing in and parade around as one of them even with barely enough knowledge.
‘It's almost too easy compared to my last field trips. Is there some sort of catch waiting for me?’ Anaxagoras blends himself in with the crowd of disguised Borisin within the crowd, sticking himself close to Orhan whilst paying close attention to the Pack’s higher up on instructions on the newly arrived crates.
“We just received more supplies for the potions.” ‘Bahad’ enters the room with clipped papers in his hand. “Your job is to carry those crates into the lab, nothing more. Make sure you do it carefully or I’ll chop your head off!”
‘Modu’ interjects with a raised hand to grab the Borisins’ attention. “You’ll be carrying millions of credits worth of supplies, something you’ll never afford in your worthless lives, so make sure to treat it with great care.”
Anaxagoras smirked. ‘Bahad’ and ‘Modu’ standing in this room are nothing more than imposters who borrowed the name just to deter enemies. He decided at that very moment that the Borisin weren't just stupid, but total idiots. Dumbasses.
Now that he confirmed that the two high ranked members were nothing more than disposable puppets, the Chrysos Syndicate is free to destroy these pugs leaving dirt trails on their turf. Cerydra will surely be happy to hear of this.
This is great. He just needs get his hands on those sweet, sweet potions—
Orhan’s head bursts right in front of his eye.
The room went still, with the only sound that reverberated in the room was the sound of flesh being pierced. Blood sprayed out to those unexpecting, the crimson red sticking to Anaxagoras’ cloak.
The people around him immediately became alert, with some yelling and panicking over the sudden turn of events.
But then another body fell down, this one gushing blood from his neck.
The person standing beside the body turned around in shock, immediately sweeping his gaze around the room in search of the culprit, yet all he found was an axe lodged right into his brain.
All hell broke loose.
Anaxagoras used the tall statures of the Borisins as a shield, weaving between the panicked men to hide around the corner. Judging from the direction of the blood, the assailant was most likely to the west of the building.
‘Cerydra, did you plan this…?!’ Anaxagoras gritted his teeth, trying to think of a way to escape now that the situation has gone awry.
Everyone sprang into action a little too late. It took six bodies to fall before they finally decided to have any sort of coherent plan. ‘Modu’ instructed everyone to take cover, but ‘Bahad’ ordered everyone to scatter. The Borisins became confused at whose orders they should follow, and ended up getting themselves killed in spending those precious seconds standing around like a deer during hunting season. As a result, the remaining Borisin were the ones who crouched behind simple furniture.
A resounding crash echoed in the room, as a bundle of black cloak stood up to their full height.
The figure is clad in all black, a cloak as dark as the night covering most of their figure, and an ominous black half-mask in the shape of feathers. They carried themselves in a stiff posture, yet poised with grace unbecoming of a simple underdog assassin. One detail that stood out, however, was the gold eye shaped pin and winged halo motives on their cloak.
‘...!’
‘Modu’ rose to his feet, taking the charge now that ‘Bahad’ is dead just a few feet away. “Men! Get ready to atta—”
The swipe of a blade cuts his throat faster than his sentence finished itself, the culprit wiping the blood off as soon as ‘Modu’ dropped to his knees.
They massacred the people left and right, indiscriminating everyone with acquaintance to their blade.Their movements were quick and snappy, each body that fell had died instantly. None of the low level Borisin could even survive from just standing there as the cloaked assassin launched themselves to reap their lives.
Anaxagoras need to make haste and escape. If the assassin is here to murder everyone in this damned organization, then he’ll be mashed meat caught up in the crossfire. He used the commotion to rise up from the floor and slip into the hallway—
The cloaked assassin killed the last of the Borisin kicked off the ground, immediately pouncing on Anaxagoras with unveiled bloodlust.
The both of them tumbled to the ground, with Anaxagoras barely managing to avoid a dagger straight to his throat. He aimed for a right hook towards the assailant, trying to knock them off of their position on top of him, but his fist was easily caught in a gloved hand, which drove Anaxagoras to headbutt his enemy straight on the head instead.
The assassin backed away only for a moment, but it was all Anaxagoras needed to deliver an uppercut and push them off of him. His attacks only managed to stagger the cloaked assassin by a few steps, yet it’s enough seconds for Anaxagoras to dash off.
The assailant lunged forwards with his arms wrapped around Anaxagoras’ torso, slamming the disguised boy down and pinned him down to the floor. Anaxagoras twisted his body to get a better mobility and view on his enemy’s movements, yet before he could retort with any self defense, a blade had already made its way down straight onto Anaxagoras’ throat and—
“...!”
The blade stopped, frozen in the air right above his throat.
Both of their eyes meet. Fiery molten gold that seemed to burn in the night, staring into Anaxagoras’ soul with trembling hands.
The cloaked assassin seemed taken aback, his blade dropping to the side as their lips parted.
“You… You’re not in the list. Who are you?” The assassin murmured, his eyes wide with shock. “You look and act like them, but… Your scent is different. So is your…”
Taking advantage of his surprise, Anaxagoras knocked the assassin off of him with a mean left hook, only for the other guy to immediately stand back up with barely any reaction. The assassin grabbed the hem of Anaxagoras’ cloak, dragging the other boy down until he couldn’t stand anymore.
“This is bad… You’re not on the list, but you’ve seen it all, haven’t you? Are you really not a part of them? What should I do…”
‘What the hell is his problem?!’
Anaxagoras immediately grabbed the dagger that almost stabbed him and slashed forwards, pushing the assassin to dodge and evade the attack. Anaxagoras took this chance to slice off the bit of cloak that the assassin is holding, successfully freeing himself from the assassin’s hold.
“Shouldn’t I be the one asking that?! Who the hell are you?! Can’t you wait a little bit after I’m done to kill all these lowlives?!”
Anaxagoras has been exposed as an undercover agent by this unknown third party. Whether that’s a good thing or not, it’s up to Cerydra to tell him later when he gets out of this alive. This mysterious assassin is most likely a threat to him, but hesitated for some reason. For now, he should do what he came here to do: collect intel.
“I— H-how was I supposed to know…”
Anaxagoras inspected the assassin carefully. Even though the cloak and mask concealed the person’s identity, there were subtle identification marks on his clothing. Numerous eye symbols, thorns, and wing patterns were embedded into his attire– the back of the cloak even more specifically. He can only conclude that this assassin is sent from another organization and is less likely a hired agent from infighting or Chrysos Syndicate’s affiliates.
‘Ugh, keeping track of other organizations are such a pain…’ Cerydra had drilled into him the identity traits of other organizations just in case that he came across them, but he had only learned of the ones that are affiliated with their syndicate.
‘Cerydra will certainly pile up more lessons for me later…’
Seemingly reminded of something, the assassin checked the time on his watch, before suddenly taking hold of Anaxagoras’ wrist.
“Um—! P-please come with me, it’s- it’s urgent!”
“What the– Let go of me! No way am I going to just follow you!”
However, the assassin seemed to panic even more at his refusal, his grip becoming tighter around Anaxagoras’ wrist. “No, that’s- listen, please! I’ve planted bombs in the building!”
‘What?!’
His head whipped around so fast that he swore he could’ve snapped it off. He stared at the assassin in disbelief, and the guy actually had the gall to look abashed. Anaxagoras had only met this guy like five minutes ago, yet he already felt as exasperated as Cerydra is whenever he exploded the laboratory by accident.
Taking advantage of Anaxagoras’ shock, the assassin tugged him towards the window.
“C-come on, there’s a tree and many bushes outside, it can soften our fall!” The assassin practically dragged him over before pushing him insistently to jump out.
‘No, wait, why is he helping me? He was literally pointing a weapon to my throat less than a minute ago—’
Deciding to mull over it later, Anaxagoras chose his own survival over the logic of the situation. He jumped out the non-broken window and successfully landed on some leaves before rushing to get some distance, followed closely by the assassin on his trail.
The building exploded into a blast of yellow, before being consumed by orange.
The assassin wasn’t lying. He really did plant bombs in that old shady building. There would certainly be no survivors left in that thing, and he’ll need to reaffirm later whether the Chiseltooth Pack branch really got wiped out in one single sweep.
But more importantly…
Brandishing his pistol, Anaxagoras aimed the nuzzle onto the back of the assassin’s head, who seemed to flinch as he felt the pressure of the metal.. “Which organization are you from and what business do you have in this territory?”
The guy said nothing, slowly turning his head around only to see Anaxagoras scowl. “... how old are you? Are you as young as I am?”
Anaxagoras was thrown off by the question.
“Were you… forced into this whole mess, too? Are you scared? Or, um, were you scouted?”
‘What nonsense is this guy saying?’
“That’s none of your business. Answer my questions.”
“...I’ll answer yours after you answer mine.”
How cheeky. Anaxagoras hates it.
He pressed the gun deeper onto the assassin, worsening his scowl as his eye blared bright.
“Listen here, brat. Do you see this gun I’m holding and pressing onto your head? I’m going to give you exactly ten seconds to answer my question.”
“...sorry, I don’t think I can…”
Suddenly, Anaxagoras’ mind grew hazy. A burst of pink, yellow, and blue crowded the edges of his vision.
‘W-what’s… happening..?!’
He felt himself growing weaker by the second, and soon his knees became unable to hold up his body weight. He fell to the floor, his body’s nerves feeling like it had been muffled by the otherworldly sensation. He feels like he’s floating in air and chained onto earth at the same time.
“I will not kill you. I will not even lay any harm. Please let me escape safely.”
Even if Anaxagoras were to refuse, he couldn’t. All that fell from his lips were pained groans and sharp inhales.
“... I pray for your safety. Please stay alive.”
And with that, the assassin escapes.
As the pain of the confusing mental attack drifted away along with the assassin’s departure, Anaxagoras was left on the ground near a burning building. A sore loser who let an enemy get away. A thought popped into his head as he recounted the mission’s goal, before realizing with a sharp inhale that he had forgotten something.
“... my shapeshifting elixirs…” Anaxagoras lamented, mourning his unachieved goals that are now going up into smoke. This is just great. The only thing he was looking forward to, and it all became toast thanks to a wing cloaked freak.
Still, he pushed himself up on wobbly legs as the nearby residents seemed to have been stirred by the explosion. He covers the tracks of his absence on the location before retreating towards headquarters.
▄︻╦芫≡══–
“I see. So that’s what happened.”
Cerydra merely remarked with a sip of her bitter coffee, seemingly not at all affected by the outcome of Anaxagoras’ mission or the young man’s disheveled appearance.
Still clad in his disguise, Anaxagoras had knocked on her door with the wig barely holding on his scalp with dear life. There was some dirt and burnt off edges on the used to be pristine wig. Aglaea will have his head for this, but that’s a problem for later.
“Fret not. This result was well within my calculations.”
“...You knew this would happen?”
“Not exactly sure that this would be the definite happenstance, but a possibility that another variable had come to liven things up a little. That gang was very much reckless with their dealings; it’s not far-fetched that another party had gotten fed up with them and executed their order faster.”
“And yet you still delegate me, the young, still inexperienced member… to deal with it despite such high risks?”
“Said risks can happen anytime in this industry.” Cerydra grinned. “I have full faith that you will overcome death, anyways.”
‘Crazy woman.’ Anaxagoras grimly thought with a shudder. Cerydra really took this chance to toughen him up and get rid of him if he wasn’t up to standards.
His boss lowered her cup, the now empty mug clinked against the surface of the mahogany table. “This assassin, you mentioned them having wings and some sort of telepathical powers?”
Cerydra tapped her finger upon the desk.
“Then they must be someone from The Family.”
“... Family?”
The Family? That organization that’s famous for their bunch of nonsense about world peace despite being involved in deep underworld business? Those two-faced hypocrites?
“Heh… Hah! Hahahah! So he was some underdog of those zealots?!”
Anaxagoras grits his teeth. ‘Just the perfect type of person to ruin my mission. How disgusting.’
“Yes. They are a group consisting of many more branches, more so focusing on the ‘entertainment industry’. Do you see any sort of pin or symbol on this person perhaps?”
Thinking back towards the assailant, that guy had a lot of eye symbols and patterns on his person, and there were halo designs as well as thorns on their cloak.
“There were many eye symbols pasted onto the cloak design, but there was also a pin of four wings and an eye attached to the front of his clothes.”
She hummed with interest, sharing a glance with Hysilens that Anaxagoras couldn’t be bothered to decipher. “Then that person belongs to the Oak Family. Each Family branch has their own identification symbol.”
‘Oak Family, huh…’ Anaxagoras thought grimly with a smirk. ‘I’ll have to give them a look later.’
Cerydra observed his reaction with a casual smile. “Are you going to hold a grudge against him?”
“Of course.”
“I don’t recall ever giving you permission to act as you like.” Cerydra crossed her arms. If he were ever to execute his plan to get back at a member of another organization, it might have sparked a whole war between gangs.
But Anaxagoras counters easily. “Aren’t you already planning to get back at them for ruining your plan and making another mess in your territory?”
Cerydra paused for a fraction of a moment, before a cruel sadistic grin spread across her youthful face.
“You know me very well. Perhaps I should keep a closer eye on you and your brilliant mind.”
Knowing Cerydra, she is a very territorial leader. No matter who or what it is, she wants to have absolute control over the happenings in her area. The Chiseltooth Pack landing in Amphoreous meant that they were her problem to deal with, not The Family, no matter if they had their own problems with them.
Cerydra settled in her seat with a sigh. “But judging from what you’ve reported to me, that person could pin you down easily, or even kill you in under a second if they really wished to. What’s more, they basically saved you from the explosions by taking you away. Anyone would’ve assumed that they’ve become allies from that situation, but it seems that you’re different.”
Anaxagoras’ mouth shut, his jaw tightening as the fact that the stranger might have been stronger than him dawns.
“... I’ll get stronger.” He swore. “I’ll sharpen myself so I can look out for things like these in the future. And I’ll train so that I don’t need the enemy’s pity to survive.”
The fact that he had been spared due to unknown circumstances, that the enemy had simply refused to kill him despite Anaxagoras putting in his all to simply evade the assassin’s attacks… It all irked him, hurt his pride that he couldn’t be proud of himself after surviving yet another unexpected mission.
Cerydra smiled at this oath.
“Oh my. Don’t tell me the little kitten who caged himself in his laboratory had grown some sharp claws…”
“Those elixirs could have been a valuable boost to our alchemical advantage.”
“I’m sure that’s not the only reason you’re all fired up, but sure. You’re excused, so go wash up. I’ll tell Aglaea not to go too hard on you and that the reimbursement for the damages will be on me.”
With a fiery declaration of his now cemented goal, Anaxagoras turns away with burning determination.
As the door shut with a click, Cerydra chuckled, leaning back into her seat as she relaxed her posture even more. “Oh, to be young and full of passion.”
Hysilens piped up from beside her, seemingly curious about her plans for the boy who was previously standing across her table. “Do you still plan to make him the branch leader?”
“Who else if not him?”
Cerydra huffed with a smile. “Anaxagoras may be a mere 18 year old brat, but he’s more skilled than most novice crooks that spent their entire life committing crimes. And who knows, now that he has another goal that can help him move forward…”
She glanced out the window, watching the shadows of the night sky grow darker despite the moonlight’s attention.
It’s as if the words of a bloodied boy had echoed in her mind, haunting the very edges of her peace with the harrowing noise of broken little sobs. She had counted how many times his small frame had trembled, how many tears dropped onto the usually pristine ceramic floor.
“I don’t care what it takes, whether you want me to be your slave or whether I’ll die afterwards–!”
The mismatched eye of a boy who had lost his family, full of vengeance and bitter conviction.
“Help me kill those bastards!”
Cerydra turned towards Hysilens, a rare soft smile pasted on her face as her gaze softened.
“I think some alcohol would be nice right now. My Queen, won’t you join me?”
Hysilens paused at the sudden offer, but she immediately accepted the invitation. It’s as if their minds were replaying the same scene in their heads, of the same bloodied green haired boy who had grown up to dedicate himself to a life of vengeance.
“I’ll be right back with our glass, my lady.”
That night, only the moon seemed to have soothed their sorrows.