Chapter 28 Factory Discussion

A lot of emergency vehicles came to the demolished scene to placate the burning aftermath. The fire brigade was showering the blaze with water, medics were tending to the injured officer, and news reporters were taking stock of the latest information.

When the fire which plagued the safe house had completely been killed by water, the emergency workers went inside to retrieve the burnt bodies of Bio-Ace Pharmaceuticals’ workers. So far they have only brought out the corpse of Wade Blackwood, Kate Phillips and Monika Simpson. They were barely identifiable due to the excessive burnt marks.

Detective Kim was sitting on a stretcher, getting treated for the injuries that he suffered when he secured his landing in the Elij-Plum tree. He wasn’t badly hurt, only some minor bruises here and there.

[Vrm!] Later on, a red vehicle pulled over outside the demolished compound. It belonged to Inspector Lee who barged through the blockade in search of someone specific. “Excuse me, do you know where Detective Kim is?” She asked an officer for the whereabouts of the person she was searching for.

“He’s getting medical treatment over there.”

“Thank you for your help.” On her way to Oolong Kim’s position, Inspector Lee noticed the emergency workers who went inside the safe house carrying out the last corpse. “Hmm.”

Inspector Lee finally located Detective Kim sitting by a stretcher. “Mr Kim, what happened here? This place is in complete ruins.”

“We failed. That’s what happened. Excuse me Inspector Lee but I need to go check on something.” Detective Kim eased off the table. He began teetering towards the corpse which the men had just brought out.

“I’ll help you.” Inspector Lee came along and helped Detective Kim kept his balance. Together they went over to inspect the corpse which had a golden hilt blade sticking out of it. “This person’s feature is completely unrecognizable. Mr Kim is this one of the Bio-Ace Pharmaceuticals workers?”

“Yes.” Deceive Kim replied in a gruff tone. “He was that feisty scientist who despised cops. He was right about us being useless. We couldn’t do anything to prevent him and his colleagues from dying.”

“Was he killed by this strange sword?” Inspector Lee reached out an arm to interact with the golden hilt poking out of the corpse’s roast chest.

“Don’t touch it!” Detective Kim quickly pulled back Inspector Lee’s inquisitive hand. “I believe this blade might be poisoned. Until we can validate the truth of this, no one is allowed to touch it without proper equipment. This weapon might also give us a clue to the whereabouts of his killer.”

“Are you perhaps referring to that infamous assassin of the underground detective?”

“Yes. Tainted Scorpion and all her allies, I will make sure those assassins pay for what they did tonight.” A sinister tint was skipping around in Detective Kim’s pernicious eyes. He intended to ransack the underground of Arak Gold until his tainted prey was captured.

“Huh?” Inspector Lee noticed his frightened gaze which sent a chill down her well-adjusted spine.

…….

Elsewhere in an abandoned factory. A young man was tied to a chair with a cloth covering his head. Shortly after, a purple figure approached him with a bucket of water in hand. Amethyst doused the young man with the pale of water.

[Splash! Cough! Cough!] Hearing that the captive was now awake, the purple figure tossed away the empty bucket then rid the covering from his head. [Whoosh!]

“Huh? W-where, where am I? How did I get here?”

“Glad to see you finally woke up. Though I admit, it was a bit forced on our part.” A golden silhouette walked inside and joined her purple minion. Their presence startled the captive whose arms was bound behind the chair.

“It’s you! The golden assassin who stabbed me in the chest! You tricked me in believing that you were there to rescue me and then you… wait, how am I still…?” Deleon realized that something was off with his body and immediately shifted his vision to his chest. “Huh? Where is the wound? Shouldn’t there be a gaping hole in my chest from where you stabbed me? And my right arm is...?”

“Surprise are yah?” Amethyst Scorpion came up close, invading Deleon's personal space. She poked his chest saying: “My golden friend exhausted all of her efforts just to save your life. Shouldn’t you be worshipping her?”

[Flashback of what happened at the safe house:]

The poisonous blade which penetrated Deleon’s chest didn’t actually impale him. What Tainted Scorpion stabbed was a generated shade created by a variation of her Shadow Crawler ability which she secretly activated on Deleon’s chest. This was a technique that she developed on the spot known as Dimensional Dark.

What caused him to bleed from his mouth that time was a punctured wound to his pressure point to make his death seemed more believable. After Tainted Scorpion stamped him through the roof, Amethyst Scorpion was inconspicuously waiting underneath. Ember used her Psionic Scorpion’s ability that she acquired recently to transport Deleon to safety.

It was a technique called Crystal Embodiment. Ember used it to transform herself and Deleon into a shrunken crystal the size of a hand. Afterwards, she teleported to the most recent spot which was marked with her blood prior to the technique’s application. This was how they fooled the Assassin League of Black Scorpions along with the AGPD in believing that Deleon had been killed by Tainted Scorpion.

“Hm? She saved me?”

“Well, technically both of us did but it was mostly her idea.”

Deleon directed his gaze towards Tainted Scorpion who was standing behind Amethyst Scorpion with her arms crossed underneath her bulging chest. “Are you that infamous Tainted Scorpion?”

“Hmm, you’ve heard about me?”

“The detective I was with informed me of some things.” Deleon continued. “Aren’t you an assassin? I thought assassins only kill people for profit. Why did you save me?”

“Because I felt like it.” Tainted Scorpion replied flatly. “Don’t ask any more unnecessary questions.” She came over to him and untied his bound arms. “The person who issued a contract for you and your companions’ death now think that you are dead. From now I suggest you disguise yourself and leave Arak Gold as soon as possible if you want to keep your life. Amethyst let’s go.”

“Hai.” Ember smacked Deleon on his shoulder playfully then chased after her mentor who was walking to the factory’s exit.

“Wait! What about my companions? Did any of them survive?”

Tainted Scorpion glanced back at him when she heard his foolish enquiry. “What do you think?”

“No! No!” Deleon understood what Tainted Scorpion meant and began shedding sorrowful tears. [Sob! Sob!]

“Boss look, he’s crying. Should we just leave him like this, he looks like a mess?”

Anna considered what Ember told her but refused to get too entangled with this man who made her defied the assassin’s ethics that had been imprinted into her from an early bone-age. Another thought came to her mind which prompted her legs to venture closer to Deleon’s location.

“Stop you’re crying. Tears won’t bring back your fallen comrades.”

“Then what do you expect me to do? You murdered my comrades and saved my life! What’s wrong with you people? You should have let me die with them!”

“That can easily be arranged.” Tainted Scorpion flicked out the chained-blade from her vambrace, pressing it firmly against Deleon’s neck. “If you want to die so badly then I’ll grant you that wish but first tell me the reason why someone would hire an assassin to kill you and your colleagues?”

“What?” Deleon started reflecting on the cause of why his co-workers were brutally massacred. “It must be related to what we were developing in our lab.”

“And what might that be?” Ember positioned her ear closer to the range of Deleon’s lips.

“We were…” Deleon hesitated for a moment, wondering what difference it would make if he told these colourful assassins about his secret. His life was already ruined. “We were developing an all-purpose medicine that could cure also prevent a variety of curable as well as incurable infections such as; Cancer, HIV AIDs, M4 Influenza, Flu, MVP (Multifarious Venomous Poisoning) and 100 other ailments. The clinical trials of the beta formula showed promising results. We were so close to the finished product but then our lab was targeted.”

“I see…” Anna remembered about Deleon’s illness. ‘That must have been the thing he was working on to cure his arms. Why do I feel so sorry for him? My emotional heart must be malfunctioning. Geez.’

“And so you must have leaked some vital information somewhere right?” Ember rested her arms on Deleon’s thighs while staring directly into his eyes. “Probably a rival pharmaceutical company wanted to claim your research data from themselves and get rid of the original creators.”

“I’ve considered that possibility.” Deleon shifted his head away from staring into Amethyst deadly eyes because he felt uncomfortable. “A day before the explosion occurred, Bio-Ace pharmaceuticals was paid a visit by an unknown elder who was demanding impossible medicine. His figure was so bony I thought that he was seeking medicine to help revitalize his corrupt structure. But what he demanded was a remedy that could regrow his severed tongue.”

“Say what?” Tainted Scorpion seemed to have recognized the elder Deleon was describing. “That old man did he have a cut across his face?”

“He had a weird scar on his wrinkly face which looked recent. He seemed like an influential figure in society due to the number of bodyguards that was following him.”

“It’s that damn perverted geezer.”

“Huh? You know him, boss?” Ember asked.

“He’s with the Demon Triad. I first met him at that abandoned warehouse by the docks.”

“Did you just say Demon Triad?” Deleon’s eyes shot wide open in shock. “So it was that criminal organisation who trashed my lab and hire you murders to assassinate my co-workers?”

Ember glanced back at Anna. “Why have the Demon Triads gained so much popularity recently? Their name has become the trending topic in the underground. Just the other day I heard that they expanded their territory again. They are skyrocketing in popularity.”

“It must be thanks to their mysterious leader. Amethyst haven’t you heard anything about his identity?”

“Why do you ask? Are you planning to go after him?”

“If the price is right.” Anna gave her focus to Deleon. “What do you say, mister? Do you want to avenge your colleagues and be free or do you want to live every day looking over your shoulders?”

“I ah…” Deleon took some time to curate his thoughts before he gave a reply. “I won’t stoop as low as to hire dirty assassins to kill people for me. I won’t become an indirect murder nor a criminal.”

Deleon’s reply infuriated Ember. “Who are you calling dirty? Don’t forget that it was these dirty bitches who save your miserable life. Boss, I don’t know what you see in this guy. Let’s leave him here to rot. I hope those Demon Triad guys figure out that you are still alive and come back to finish the job.” Ember grabbed Anna’s arm and dragged her out of the abandoned factory, leaving poor weak Deleon to fend for himself.