"Ugh..."

The dizziness overwhelmed George as he struggled to gather his bearings.

The man known as the young master approached him casually, a devious smile painting his expression.

"To dispose of you... or to use you... that is the question. And the answer... is to make use of you."

With a sneer, the man grabbed the collar of George, lifting him to his feet as he struggled to catch his breath.

"Do you know the difference between a thug and a gangster?"

George merely looked at the man with a tired expression.

He was not scared, nor was he even concerned.

Even faced with this man who should have been terrifying by all means, George only felt a single thing.

Apathy.

"What's the difference?", he asked as he spit blood to the side.

This gesture which was filled with disrespect was met with a smile by the man who held George by the neck.

"The difference is that a thug throws people aside because he's too stupid to know how to properly use them."

Letting go of the neck of the man, George soon felt the collar of his coat being fixed as the man walked around him.

"You're a cop. You probably have some sort of influence that I can use. You can go places that nobody else can and do things that nobody else can. Join me. If you do... I promise that you'll benefit just as much as we do."

The man pushed up his sunglasses with a single finger as he made this proposal, confidently awaiting a response.

Wiping the blood off his mouth, George let out a bitter laugh as he looked at the man.

"And what if I refuse?"

"If you refuse? That's concerning, Officer. After all..."

Snap.

With the single snap of his fingers, dozens of men gathered behind the man, all of them grinning with pleasure.

They looked upon the man as if he were prey before predators, unable to do anything when faced with such strength in numbers.

"Why would you refuse?"

"So you're going to beat me to death if I say no?"

"I never said anything like that, officer. But these guys... Well, they have minds of their own. And I don't necessarily have any control over... their actions."

It was as he said this that the man pointed to the ground.

And as soon as he did this, each of the men fell to one knee in reverence.

"It's not as if they're my dogs... who would follow my every order."

Flicking his hand up, each and every one of the men stood at attention, watching every move of the man who stood in front of them.

"Therefore if they were to all of a sudden go wild on you... what would I be able to do about it?"

"So you're saying that you won't get involved yourself?", George commented in a sarcastic manner.

Ever so slightly, George noticed the bulges of veins begin to form on the forehead of the man.

"You... haha... what an interesting response. Nobody has ever said something like that before. Are you implying that if I don't join in that you'll be able to make it out of this place alive?"

"I never said anything like that."

With a grin, George looked the man in the eyes as he repeated the very phrase which he had been told just moments before.

"Oh, but your cocky attitude says everything. Very well."

Turning around, the man waved his arm as he disappeared into the dark hallways.

"If you can get out of this alive then I'll ask you again. Become my dog. My door remains open... until your death."

A few of the more dignified criminals quickly followed the gangster, walking off into the distance and leaving the majority of the less sophisticated criminals slobbering as they approached the Officer.

"Hahaha!! You've really done it now, shithead! You pissed off the boss, and now we can't just let you go free after that. Isn't that right, boys?"

A man who had the appearance of a gremlin shouted out as he whipped out a shiv which had been filed down from a toothbrush.

"That's right. Haha... did this idiot really think he could do this? Does he even understand this situation? I don't know why, but all the bars rotted to hell. Hey puny! Do you even have any idea what's going on here? Eh? This place is ours now."

A man covered from head to toe in tattoos approached George, holding out a meaty fist to grab the man's head.

However as he did so, he was met with the hand of the prison guard - and the brute found his own wrist in an inescapable grip.

"Is that so?"

And in the next moment the man felt a hand behind his shoulder, gripping him intensely as he fell to his knees.

"Wha- what did you just..."

Slam!

His head was thrusted to the concrete in that instant, met with a kick.

"Since when did this place become yours?"

Holding up his fists, the officer grinned as he looked around him, met with the rage of dozens.

"The last time I checked... you guys were all left in here with me. Not the other way around."

"Get him!"

"He's a cheeky one alright!"

"Gang up on him!!"

Three, four, five.

A total of seven people surrounded the man while the remaining men watched with anxiety.

Each and every one of them were well built, as was to be expected of prisoners.

"Of course, I never said that this place was mine. Only that it wasn't yours."

Swing after swing, the man found himself dodging punches like an acrobat.

One after another the hits flew, and one after another he dodged them.

"Hey hey, don't tell me you can't even hit a single target? I'm one guy, remember? Is seven not enough?"

Smashing his fist into a man who had approached him from behind, the criminal was sent flying as George began to grin with an even grander expression.

"Come on already. Why don't the rest of you join in?"

"He's mocking us! Let's go boys!"

At the taunt, the remaining criminals flew into the battle.

However this only created chaos.

Tripping over one another, the men found themselves completely uncoordinated as they attempted to control the lone man in their center.

"What are you idiots doing? Get out of my way!!"

The man continued to dodge, countering many of the attacks and sending people flying with both kicks and punches.

However it was then that he felt his hand gripped by the large balding man with a scar on his eye.

"Enough of your games."

The man squeezed hard enough to break the wrist of the officer, whose expression quickly went dull.

"Ah. I guess it's over."

It was at that moment that a number of men flew forward at the pinned man.

"Get him! Hold him down so we can beat on him!!"

"You got it."

The men rushed forward, laying their fists into the face of the man.

With a punch to the gut, George was brought to his knees as he threw up.

"Blergh!!"

However even as this happened, the beating did not cease.

The men began to furiously kick at him, creating bruises on every spot of skin which was exposed and not.

"This is for mocking the young master!!"

"This is for your impudence! He was even willing to accept you as one of his own!!"

"Do you know how much of an honor that is?"

"And he even said he would forgive you if you asked him!! Do you understand how privileged you are!? HAH!?"

The kicking increased as many of the men let out their anger on the officer - partially because they hated him for being accepted by the one they admired, and partially because of their hatred for the police.

"Hah!? What do you have to say for yourself, shithead!?", one shouted.

"Is that all you have to say?"

However even as he was pounded on, George looked up with a grin.

His face was painted black and blue, yet even in such dire straits not a single tear fell.

"I have nothing else to say to you either. Except for one thing. You all broke the law. And that's the only thing I can judge you for. Because every other form of morality... is all too gray."

"Hah!"

"Get a load of him!"

"He thinks he's some figure of justice! I hate your type!!"

"Was."

As a criminal shouted out to the man, he responded with a cold expression.

"I was a supporter of justice. Now I'm just trying to figure out what the hell justice even means."

"Well said, George."

It was at that moment that something happened.

The man who had the frame of a gremlin who had been shouting out stopped speaking, and replacing him was another voice.

Splash.

The squishing noise accompanied with a thud filled the ears of the men present, causing them to turn around with shock.

"H-hey..."

The men all seemed to back away, terror filling their eyes as they looked upon a horrible scene.

"What... how did he..."

Standing before them was a man.

A man whose limbs were too long for his jumpsuit, and whose red hair was rustled about in crazed fashion.

A man whose eyes were filled with madness.

And in his hand was a shiv.

A shiv which had been carved from a toothbrush.

Yet this shiv was now dripping with blood.

And in front of this man was a body.

A headless body.

"Hah.... hahaha... ah... that guy pissed me off."

It was at that moment that the man stepped forward, picking up the head of the gremlin-like man with his foot as if he was handling a soccer ball.

"Just look at how annoying he looks. Doesn't it piss you off just seeing him?"

The man asked this question, however somehow George felt that it was not addressed to him - nor anyone else present.

"You... I've always hated YOU. You think you're hot stuff, eh? You think you're-"

Swish.

A bald criminal stepped forward, enraged at the sudden death of his comrade, however as he stepped forward the head flew right by him, smashing into the wall with a splatter of flesh.

"I think I'm what?"

And as he looked before him, the bald man found himself faced with something which made him freeze in his steps.

“Some sort of… big shot?”

In that instant the bald man lost all anger, because the crazed one before him was no man.

"Here's a question for you."

'How did he-'

The man's fist slammed into his face, causing the bald man to fly towards the ground with immense speed.

His brain rattled on the impact, at which he spit up a volley of blood.

'When did he...'

"Who do you think you are?"

It was then that the bald man felt his head being picked up.

Slam!

And slammed right back onto the concrete.

"Because in my opinion..."

Slam! Slam! Slam!

The red haired man began to rattle the head of the balding one, slamming him furiously with a wicked smile on his face.

"You're nothing more than an idiot... who likes sucking up to someone above you."

Dropping the now unconscious thug to the ground, the red haired man wiped his bloodied hands on his jumpsuit, which had been stained due to the splatter.

"Ah... you see? It's all over, isn't it? Every time we do anything.... everything always becomes the same color."

Holding his hand to his face, George watched as he realized that the criminal before him was descending into madness.

"Red."

The man before him was a monster.

----

"Ahem... lets see here... what was it again? Ah. That's right."

The man seemed to casually walk about, flaunting his presence among the group of criminals despite the fact that he had just slaughtered one of them.

"Fuck off."

With the glare of a murderer, the man inspired fear in the hearts of all around him.

He walked through the thugs without fear of retribution as a malicious smile grew.

"You people really like to think you're something. You flaunt your strength on everyone around you just to show them that you're BETTER than them, and yet whenever you find someone above you..."

Flicking the shiv to his other hand, the man wrapped around a burly criminal like a snake.

"You cower and bow down like an animal."

The man froze stiff as he was threatened, the shiv pressed to his neck as a drop of blood was drawn.

"Ah... but that's just because you're following the ORDER of things... right? And it just so happens that you aren't on top. But if you were... then you'd kill him without a second thought. Isn't that right?"

Pulling his hand, the red haired man began to laugh to himself.

"Hahaha... ah... you all are so comical. Now I'm going to have some fun of my own. You were ordered to kill the cop, right? Ah, wait. I suppose he didn't exactly order you to do that. But I wonder what would happen to you if you don't? After all..."

Kicking a man to the ground, the crazed man placed his foot on the man's chest as he let out a grunt.

Leaning on one knee, the red haired man brushed aside his hair to reveal his chaotic eyes.

"If you don't kill him... then won't he view you all as INCAPABLE OF KILLING EVEN A SINGLE MAN?"

Thinning those horrid eyes, the man grinned as he looked around him.

The men were filled with fear, however that fear soon turned to a different type of fear.

Fear combined with anger.

"He's... he's right. If we can't kill him... we'll be viewed as useless."

"We can't allow that to happen."

"We'll be thrown aside."

"Haha... I got scared for a second because he killed someone... but that guy was weak as hell anyways! Always relying on weapons in his fights and playing dirty! That's all he had going for him! I can beat this twig with a single punch."

Yet another burly man stood forward with a grin, meeting the challenge as he approached the red haired man.

He cracked his knuckles as he towered above him, facing the man off with a smile.

"Are you scared, little one? What, you thought you could just come here and scare us into submission? We're not such easy prey-"

"Sorry, but I’m going to put you on hold for a moment."

The red haired man turned around with a casual twist, looking over to George with the wave of his hand.

"Come on George. Let's get out of here. If you escape then these guys will probably get punished. Wouldn’t that be good enough revenge?"

"Do you think you can ignore me?"

As the red haired man faced George, the burly one appeared behind him, raising a meaty fist with fury.

"I'll show you to be so cocky, kid."

"Buzz buzz buzz. Shut the hell up, will you?"

Catch.

With a single hand, not even taking the effort to turn his head to look behind him, the massive fist which was aimed right at his head from above was caught.

"Wha..."

And then with a single twist the hunk was flipped around onto his back, landing on the ground with a thud.

"Urgh!!"

"Hm... it looks like I didn't do enough. Ah! That's right. You gotta teach them a lesson. I see, I see. Alright, alright. I get it. I have to use words to TELL people what they should do."

Placing his foot on the head of the man on the ground, the red hair of the man fell over his face to cover it.

"The next person to lay a single finger on me will end up the same way as this guy."

Crack!

Pressing his foot down, the skull of the burly man was trapped between the concrete floor and the overwhelming strength of the psychopath's foot.

"Agh!! Urgh!! Stop!!"

"If I stopped then they wouldn't learn their lesson, would they? They would think that they could GET AWAY with something like this. Therefore... I don't think I will."

Crack.

Squish.

"AGH!!!!"

The man's screams became louder and louder as his head was crushed, bit by bit becoming more and more mutilated as blood covered the floor.

"P...please!! I'll do anything!!! Anythi-"

Slosh.

The skull of the man caved in at that moment, and his brain was destroyed along with his words which he was never able to get out.

The men who stood around the scene watched breathlessly as such a brutal event took place, unable to even utter a cry of fear at the scene.

It was a slaughter.

One that had been performed by a monster.

"Forgive us..."

"Don't hurt us..."

Falling to their knees, the criminals placed their heads to the ground in submission as they spoke with trembling voices.

"Ah... that isn't very fun either. Are you saying that you're more scared of me than you are of your boss? Or perhaps it's only because I'm here right now? If we were both here... I wonder who you would be bowing to?"

"Please!! Please, don't tell the young master about this!! We'll... we'll do anything!! Just spare us!!!"

The groveling became all the more furious, to which the red haired man let out a sigh as he lifted his now flesh covered foot from the cavity within the man's skull.

"Whatever. I don't care anymore. Come on Georgie."

"Are you really going to tell me to just come on after all that?", George said in disbelief.

"Hm? Is something wrong? I mean... I just got rid of a couple pests. They're all pests, you know.... and you know what pests do?"

Folding his hands into his back pockets, the criminal boldly strode forward as he walked towards the exit of the facility with a murderous smile.

"They eat away at everything they can get their filthy hands on."

It was at that moment that George caught eyes with the man.

And what he saw was something which he could never have expected.

In those disturbingly chaotic eyes he saw a glimpse of sadness.

"So you've gotta protect what you can before it gets ruined... even if it means you have to act as an EXTERMINATOR."