“Death comes in many shapes and forms. Sometimes it's described as otherworldly beauty, sometimes as skeleton in tattered robes and scythe, sometimes it's drunkard in underwear with newspaper, can also be a truck, but there was no information on successful reincarnations so far, so I would advise you against getting hit by a truck, but whatever it may be, most of the time it won't show itself. Me? I wouldn't consider myself 'death', not in it's form or something like that.” was the introductory speech of figure in black clothes, with scarf around the mouth and hood over the head. Near him was sitting a man, frightened and bound to the chair, wearing tattered business suit and gagged with pink ball on a leather belt.

“Mhm! Mhmm...”

“Sh, silence please, I'm not yet finished with my speech you know?” continued dark clothed person. “While I wouldn't be considered death, I am the one who helps it collect it's due.” he slowly caressed the scalpel in his hand. “But! I'm not unreasonable. I will 'allow' you to live a bit longer. Humans fear death, are they not? Such foolish creatures they are. Even going as far as to be tortured, and for what? To delay the inevitable.” the person placed the scalpel in the small tray nearby, and took a plastic bag. “Though I must confess, I do not like torturing, the act of torture looks a bit barbaric to me, but when in Rome, do as romans do, right?” he looked at the contents of the plastic container “But don't you worry. I won't be the one torturing you.” showing the contents of container to the person sitting on chair made him to pale. “Don't worry, this ones are not poisonous, well not THAT poisonous. Too bad you have arachnophobia, no? I wonder when will you tell me what my client wants to know...” the person removed the gag from man's mouth. “But you can always tell me what I want to know right now, and chicken out.” with those words he placed the container on the lap of Sitter and opened to lid.

“WHAT DO YOU WANT TO KNOW?! I'M NOT EVEN-” sitting person's mouth was covered with the hand of the standing one.

“Shhh... don't scream, you're scaring the little guy. Or is it female? I think I brought male in this container. But considering the coloring and size, it is likely I brought the wrong box. Sorry, but we will have to proceed with the questions at a faster pace.”

“P-please, I don't know anything!”

“Please be quiet if it's not the answer. You're agitating him, or her. Doesn't matter really, to me that is.” grabbing the scalpel from tray, he traced it on the face of unfortunate victim. “So, Mr Smith, care to tell where's the money you stole from your boss?”

“{Sob} I don't-” the 'not' torturer made a slight cut on the face of Mr Smith. “{Cries of pain} Not my face!”

“OK, I will go for eyes next time. So, care to tell me where's the money you stole? Requisitions should be in some safe place, or you actually memorized them all? {Laugh} Oh, who am I 'kidding'? You got it? Kid-dining!”

“NO!!!” true to his words, torturer cut the eye of Mr Smith.

“No worries, your family is alive and well, currently. Who knows what will happen to them if you won't answer?”

“WHY?!”

“Hm... dunno? I noticed that cutting the closest persons in front of my target takes less time to extract needed information, even if I had to spend more on obtaining their closest persons. And no, I'm not talking about your wife, she's already dead-ish. Needed to show what will happen to your-”

“please... all the accounts and passwords are in the deposit box-”

“You ready to confess already? Damn, that was fast. OK, come here girl. Good spider, go back to the box will you?” torturer carefully took the spider and placed in the container. “OK guys, he's going to spill his beans.” as he said that, two people walked in, one dressed like an old gentleman in white and black suit, with gray hair and pencil thin mustaches, carrying a cane. The other one was more of a muscle guy, with military style clothes

“That was fast, Mr Archie.” said gentleman. “So, Smith, where are the money?”

“I'll go grab a drink. Anyone want orange soda? I'll take that as a no then.”

As Archie left the room, he got to the kitchen, and grabbed a bottle of soda, and decided to take a rest at sofa, while drinking his favorite drink.

“Damn, this dude got a nice house. Why would his wife decide to cheat on him? Well, doesn't matter, what matters is that he fucked up and pissed off his ex-boss, and I'm getting paid for his idiocy. I love my job!" Archie took a sip from the bottle and smiled. "Free soda is also a great benefit!"

For Archie life was all rainbow and giggles, even if it was accompanied by the smell of burned flesh and horrified screams. "Well of course it's rainbow and giggles! Who do you take me for? Some psycho? Oh wait, I am a psycho, considering that I talk to voices in my head." He pondered a bit and added "Oh and I'm probably should have said that I'm not a saint, but considering you guys already heard screams, you should've figured it out by now, no?" sipping some more of the repoed soda he continued

"Right, so it's year 2026 and we have a few interesting things, so let's start with relations between countries. European Union is no more, as after the exit of England few other countries decided to leave, some formed new alliances and others simply ceased to exist from the financial crisis of 2021. China grew bigger after it bought a part of Russia, which had some financial problems after... let's say they grew a bit arrogant, so there was quite a lot of terrorism involved in it's downfall, mostly from the countries that had a 'help' from Russia. Ukraine was divided in two new nations, with same financial and corruption problems. Belarus actually became quite powerful with it's 'new' president, more of a grandson of the old one. Syria was completely devastated and depopulated, but not forgotten, which is why Russia had a slight terror problem, along with some other unneeded conflicts. As for Japan, they finally finished research on matter fabricator, became self-sufficient and started an expedition to the moon, in order to create the first space colony, the Mars one never worked out though, and you know why? Aliens. Bunch of those green fuckers. OK, back on topic, India had a plaque which wiped around 80% of it's population. Ireland, well, it remained the same, while Brazil with the rest of South America, except Colombia, made a Southern State Alliance or SSA for short, don't ask me why they came up with reversed ASS, maybe it had something to do with all that . Colombia, Central America and Cuba entered unofficial 'drug alliance' along with some European and Asian countries. Portugal, Spain, Morocco... Wait... why am I thinking about it? oh right, introduction. Anyway looking at the current world map and comparing it to that of year 2000, you could find a lot of new countries.

So with everything said about the current situation it seems that WWIII will be soon. With some European nations allied with the China, USA started on extending their nuclear program, while also adding some military satellites, also I should add that they have a robot army, courtesy to South Korea. By the way, USA, Canada, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Britannia (Wale, England, Scotland, Ireland) and South Korea became a new Anti-China alliance. Also they are the most technologically advanced group out of them all. While China has the advantage in resources (after the buyout of the Russia territory) and manpower.

There are independent groups too. Mostly mercenaries, assassins, cartels etc. I am working for 'Black Hands'. Yes the guy that named this organization was a fan of C&C. We even have symbol similar to that of NOD Brotherhood. Just instead of Scorpion tail there are claws. And we form different groups. I am from the 'Arachnids' we specialize in assassinations and interrogations for private sector, so we kinda work alone, most of the time anyway, sometimes we get together for some really nasty contracts, which usually include assassinating some high value targets with all sorts of backing, even Illuminati guys. Damn, those bastards are annoying little shits, not the proper secret organization that rules the world, not anymore at least.

Ahem, back to the group config. 'Rhinos' are a war division, or just mercenaries. Most of the 'Rhinos' are greenhorns which just entered our organization, and/or they have no talent in other spheres. They have quite a lot of vehicles, weapons and armor, they are expendable and if they survive enough missions they can become officers in 'Rhinos' or transfer to other groups, which rarely happens. 'Beholders' are our hackers and intelligence gatherers. 'Troglodytes' are engineers and maintainers. Those two groups are always working inside our bases, or in their immediate vicinity. 'Ravens' are some sort of inquisition, or spymasters, but inquisition sounds better. They take care of the most troublesome missions and sweeping for the traitors. 'Wolves' are the strangest. They are considered a space division.

Usually you can apply for one group and take a test, but there are exceptions. Like the guys from 'Wolves'. They are usually from 'Beholders' or 'Troglodytes', and some 'Ravens'. My main group is 'Arachnids' while 'Ravens' are secondary, meaning I usually take care of assassinations, but in case of betrayal I will be the one of inquisition. Hey, witch hunt is quite fun.

Oh damn! My soda's finished! There was one more in the fridge, I'll be back in a second.” Archie quickly got up and stormed into the kitchen, only to find the bottle of cola left there. “Bah! Who can drink this shit? Oh, orange juice!” as he grabbed the pack of juice, he heard the voice of his client.

“Mr Archie, the rat spilled everything he knew, and my people already confirmed it. The agreed payment was already transferred to your account. It was a pleasure as always.”

“Well gramps, you could always send someone else to say thanks, but you're welcome, as always” Archie grinned. “By the way, what happens to rat?”

“The same thing that happens to all rats. His corpse will be used to send a message. And to your next question, his family will be taken care of.”

“Em, about that, I forgot where I dropped of his son. But he's not a problem as he's already a vegetable.”

“Good. We will contact you again when we'll need your services Mr Archie. Have a good night.” that was the usual conversation between the two. Archie often helped Delgado family with their business, in exchange he was often welcomed to stay at their villa when on a vacation or had contract in Chili.

“Few of my clients are quite old friends actually. It's easier to work with those of old school, they have honor, unlike the most run off the mill gangsters.” Archie preferred to work with people he was comfortable, therefore unless it was old acquaintances all his contracts was handled through beholders “Mainly Central. He's fun, especially around Grimm. Oh right, I should check for contracts.” With such words Archie took smartphone and started browsing through contracts, until he found one he was looking for. “Can't believe they are ready to start a war. Let's help them, shall we?” World already knew how much impact one assassin had. “But people seem to forget how much can one person influence the world.”