“I need a break…” Jack’s statement was met with piteous groaning and muffled screams and tears.

Granted, this was because he was torturing a few people who were trying to be a bit smart with him, but it was the essence of the matter.

“Boss?” Jack turned from his current position, straddling a chair while he carved a unicorn into the skin of another person’s back.

“Yes Eddie, what is it?” Jack could admit that he probably made a mistake or two with his second-in-command by accident.

Torturing Eddie, for one, was a mistake. Now that Jack knew the man more, he figured that Eddie would have actually been more compliant had Jack used a carrot and stick method.

…in a way, Eddie was given a carrot and stick method… just that Jack beat the shit out of him before making him reliant on the carrot, in this case said carrot was funding for whatever vices Eddie had, from smoking to the occasional line of cocaine.

And that was the other part to why torturing Eddie was a mistake. Sure, getting Eddie in line would probably always require a bit of violence, but there would have been less required had Jack known about such drugs and vices.

But that was life, filled with mistakes and learning experiences, sometimes the two were even the same thing.

“We managed to make a psychiatrist ‘go missing’ like you requested, he’s three rooms over to the right after exiting this door.” Jack nodded, going back to his art for a moment.

After completing a convincing bit of artwork featuring a unicorn with wings of a sort, Jack left the trail of wounds to scar over while he walked away, cleaning his hands before pulling on some gloves.

Jack had developed a bit of a cleanliness streak, though not to the point of being a germaphobe, he hated having dirt on his hands… ironic given his chosen profession had notoriously ‘dirty’ hands.

Finally walking into the specially made room, Jack raised one eyebrow… well, it was exactly as specified.

The room was made to look like a stereotypical psychiatrist office, complete with that weird couch/bed that patients lied down on, even a potted plant or two.

The only real oddity was that the psychiatrist was chained to a chair, which was then drilled and fastened into its current position on the floor.

The psychiatrist also seemed quite worried, clipboard in hand with a pen.

“Ah, hello there… do you have a name, or should I just call you the Boss?” the man, while notably terrified, also seemed quite good at keeping calm…

It was understandable given that psychiatrists had to deal with all sorts of people, and if they ‘triggered’ a violent character that would be bad…

Jack considered himself quite a violent character… if of a different breed then his role model.

“Jack. It’s the only name I’ll really answer to.” Jack admitted, walking over to the couch while closing the door behind him, flopping down onto the couch.

Jack had asked for a psychiatrist to be kidnapped, not to torture, but to talk to. Eddie was alright, but he was quite scared of Jack and would never answer truthfully.

This psychiatrist didn’t know enough to truly fear Jack, only knowing that Jack was a killer and in charge of this operation.

“Well Jack, I am admittedly a bit confused on why I am here… but judging by my placement and yours, am I correct in thinking that I am to act as your psychiatrist, therapist maybe?” Jack wasn’t truly aware of the distinction…

Although, thinking about it, a psychiatrist identified mental traits and ‘defects’ while a therapist helped? Knowledge of one probably helped the other, so regardless of this man’s old job, he should be able to do a bit of what Jack wanted.

“Bit of both I guess? I’m not admittedly sure on what’s the difference but I need someone to talk to that isn’t involved with my criminal project, and yet also can’t run away when I talk about violent things.” No doubt, if any of Jack’s men were to hear him talk like this they would assume their boss had been replaced by someone.

When Jack spoke to those under his command it was usually with faint pangs of insanity interlaced between his words and actions, disturbing his own men into fearing and respecting him.

Eddie was the only one Jack really got a bit philosophical with at times, but again, Eddie wasn’t really suited for that kind of role.

“I see… if I may, I’m pretty sure that if you spoke to anyone a year or two younger than yourself using hypotheticals, they might have been open to talking with you… but with me there is no need to hide things so it’s a positive I guess.” The Doc… that didn’t seem like quite the right name, but Eddie was calling the man that for now.

“Correct Doc. Not to mention I don’t really need to put up an elaborate act in front of you. But I suppose I wanted someone to talk to about me and my head.” The ‘Doc’ began to take notes on that little clip-board of his, if one ignored that his ankles were chained to the chair the man would look respectable.

“Alright then, do you perhaps have a starting point of discussion to work onwards from?” the Doc’s question had Jack think about it, really think about it.

“Well I guess we should start from the beginning… I don’t know my real name, nor do I really know my birthday.” Jack started, getting a few blinks from the Doc, and then a nod showing the man was indeed listening.

It was much better than speaking out loud or to Eddie.

“The reason for that is that I was placed in a secret government facility for something known as Project Fool. And yes, I know it sounds like the plot of a bad movie.” Jack waylaid the man before the Doc could say anything against the truth.

Really, Jack might have had limited access to media (more like none at all) for most of his life, but he did spend a lot of time on the internet since escaping that place.

“I will admit to it sounding farfetched, but I will not deny your statements unless you are saying them with exaggerated tells. Sarcasm, in other words.” Jack could respect and understand that.

“Project Fool is… well, I don’t know the specifics because I burnt that hellhole to the ground during Red Sky Day, but it was held at a place called Pennhurst Penitentiary.” The widening of the Doc’s eyes said the Doc recognized the name.

Jack had also searched the name on the internet, finding out the history of the place…

The place was roughly as bad as the internet definition, but with purpose.

“You have my sympathy.” Was all the Doc had to say on the matter while Jack continued, being thankful to just have someone listening to his words.

“Thank you. Pennhurst was a horrible place, and it’s the only place I remember up until Red Sky Day, I grew up there, under the guidance of Project Fool.” Jack started, reminiscing a bit while he had the chance.

“I wasn’t the only member of Project Fool, in fact, I was the twenty third of the most recent generation of Project Fool patients… I hated the place.” The Doc likely only knew about Pennhurst but didn’t really know about why things happened.

“In Pennhurst, between bouts of pain and agony, were lessons. The lessons were not always academic in nature, and more often than not were actually lessons on hurting others, it’s why I’m so skilled at ending the lives of others.” Jack admitted with a bit of annoyance at that being his main skill set.

He was proud of his skill, but he did not want only one skill…

It’s why he enjoyed making jewellery and the other habits he gained since leaving Pennhurst.

“That’s quite the worrying bit of information… were you okay with hurting others?” Jack thought about it, trying to think back to how he acted as a child, some of the memory understandably foggy… and unwanted.

“I don’t think I was, at the time. I recall being punished for losing against other children, or going easy on them... but that was before.” Jack could admit at least this much now, as the Doc paused in his writing, looking at Jack with a raised eyebrow.

Seeing the unasked question for what it was Jack breathed a sigh, looking at the ceiling where a fan was swinging slowly.

Huh… that shouldn’t have actually been there… maybe they had an electrician guy or something?

“I was a passive child, I did my best in training, I think, but I could never apply my lessons until I met my role model, the first patient of the new generation of Project Fool.” That got the Doc’s attention quickly as he nodded.

“Tell me more.” It was actually a question, because this man was in no position to make demands… though that smile…

Doc Cheshire might be his nickname from now on.

“Well, he’s the man that I call Boss… or at least I did.” I started, a bit wary about this doctor now, despite how he seemed compliant.

Next time, if there is a next time, I pick the doctor.

Shaun reached for his glass of alcohol with a vengeance, and for once, Dante did not stop him…

In fact, Dante even joined in, though unlike Shaun, Dante decided to partake in gin while Shaun decided that for the day he was a vodka man.

And as usual, there was nothing mixed in with his alcohol. Shaun was a hard-liquor man, and if anyone mixed anything to his alcohol he would probably viciously murder them for ruining his drink.

The only mixed drink he had enjoyed, as far as he could recall, was a mix of vodka and an energy drink… odd combo.

“So… we going to talk about it?” Grey asked, only allowed into the room for this discussion because he was the… third-in-command? There wasn’t actually a title for it, but Grey was the person in charge after Dante and Shaun, and an old friend of the members of Einherjar.

He was unfortunately a bit separated from said team of Adventurers due to mistakes made during his teen years, but as far as Shaun was concerned it was just something childish they’d grow out of eventually.

Besides… in their line of work, growing out of shyness was important, Shaun used to be quiet and a bit skittish around other people until he joined the military.

FBI wasn’t strictly military, but the idea was the same, shooting people with a chance of getting shot at. One did it in warzones, the other did it in ‘peaceful’ places.

“Grey, that’s kind of the reason for this meeting remember? Rather… boss, what are we going to do about this?” Dante asked, gesturing to the file on the table as Shaun opened it, leafing through it.

“Well, for one, we’re going to need to up the production of LEV-using police officers, they’re first responders to things like robberies and assaults, it would be pointless if we sent them to their deaths.” Shaun said as he looked at the statistic.

Across the country, there had been over thirty seven bank robberies in one week.

By today? Almost two hundred.

The enemy, and yes Shaun felt justified in considering this group an ‘enemy’ rather than just thugs and mobsters, was slowing down recently, robbing every bank would just cause havoc on the economy really, and someone amongst the enemy had to have realized that.

Each hit did not take extreme amounts of cash, but there were noticeable amounts, not once was a robbery taking less than one hundred thousand, with the worst taking about seven hundred thousand.

Not as much as it was in the movies, but sustainable and reasonable… not to mention that because they never broke over a million the robberies were not getting as much focus as they should have been…

After that first week it became really obvious what was happening though, and news outlets were beginning to discuss the ‘crime-wave’ going throughout America.

“Yeah, I suppose having super-powered first response units would be better than sending a non-Adventurer or low levelled one against higher levelled ones… but what about training time?” Grey asked, knowing particularly well how training was, having been dragged out of Quantico before he could become a fully-fledged agent.

“There’s nothing we can really do about that bar sending higher levelled Adventurers with weaker ones to power level them, but then it becomes an issue of needing said higher levelled Adventurers, we got a few in government such as ourselves but we can’t be expected to walk five green Adventurers through the Dungeon daily until they finally break level thirty, which seems like a reasonable level.” Shaun added, pouring himself another shot as he spoke.

Grey and Dante both frowned at the idea of having ‘newbies’ follow them around in the Dungeon, even if the newbies were part of law enforcement and knew how to take orders.

“There’s also the fact that different branches of government militia rarely work well together, FBI doesn’t always play nice with the PD, and the CIA is focused outwards, so they probably won’t be of much help in the first place…” Arthur swirled his vodka around in his glass for a moment.

Dante set down his own glass, not really wanting another shot as he thought about the issue… and then looked to Grey before looking back to Shaun.

“What if we outsource our problems?” Dante asked in a moment, causing Shaun to pause mid-sip.

“Outsource? Like merc-work? That could work… but unlike us, if we bring in non-government people to do the training then we’d have to pay them for their efforts, Adventurers could make quite a lot of money in higher Areas, so having them give that up to work in the first two or so Areas with people they aren’t used to working with…” Shaun mentioned as Grey piped in.

“Maybe we could pay them what they’d normally be earning from the Dungeon every day, so their earnings still equal out?” Grey’s suggestion was met with a shake of the head from both Dante and Shaun.

“No, that wouldn’t work because Adventurers still need to level up, fighting in a place far below your level would slow down your levelling, another reason why it would be difficult to outsource… maybe if we paid enough to make them think it was worth having to play catch up later…” Shaun paused for a moment, looking to Dante.

“What if we put Roy and Oliver on it? Roy retired to go live with his family and Oliver’s a civilian, so he would have free time… as for other cities, have them put up a request for Adventurers over level thirty to train specific people to an ‘acceptable’ level in exchange for their daily average earnings plus twenty or thirty per cent.” Shaun said, Grey nodding as he wrote that down, usually he acted as the gopher for Shaun’s orders…

“Okay… and we leave Ellie here?” Dante’s question was more of a request, considering he didn’t really want his sister to be involved with the rest of the situation.

“That’s up to her Dante, though knowing Ellie she won’t really want to be involved, medic and all. That leaves the three of us to work on the crimes.” Shaun said, finally downing his glass as he contemplated the bottle, instead closing it and putting it away.

“Yeah… the crimes… what were they calling themselves again?” Dante asked, with Shaun tapping the side of his own skull in thought.

“Something stupid, like Wonderland, though their boss might have been joking when he said it, everyone in the group seems to have taken it seriously.” Shaun felt like cringing at the name, it sounded so… childish.

“Well we’ll have that as their name for now… anyway, the members of Wonderland are quite difficult to take down non-lethally, we only managed to figure who they are because of how diverse their roster of members is.” Shaun said, reminding the two of their interrogation of some captured drug dealers and bank robbers.

“Yes, from what we’ve managed to figure out the members of Wonderland are mostly two-bit thugs and semi-professional criminals… but then you got their leadership, which is a bit… unstable.” Dante reminded, and Grey frowned in memory.

“Right, from what we’ve found the boss refers to himself as ‘twenty-three’ or mister Mourn, whether that’s an alias or not, we are unaware.” Grey said, turning to Shaun.

“Not to mention his face-changing ability… and all lieutenants in the group seem to be people broken out of prison or other psychiatric institutions… people who are a bit more dangerous than the rank and file.” Grey added and Shaun sighed, recalling the information the president managed to get him.

Shaun was quite thankful for his authority on American soil, he could only take orders from the president himself, and could exercise authority roughly equal to the vice-president.

This was only so long as Shaun didn’t do anything bad with said authority, but Shaun didn’t really want for much beyond information and a pay-check.

“Right… Pennhurst and Project Fool… I’m well aware that the government has quite a few under the table projects that could be hold-overs from previous administrative orders, but this, a Project that has been around since a bit before WW one?” Shaun seemed incredulous within reason… you hear about things like that in movies but in real life?

“If we are to possess mentally ill people who wish to harm others, why not let them harm our enemies… how did such a thought lead to a century long project aiming at unstable super soldiers…” Shaun had reviewed what little information they had managed to find about the situation, as well as finding Pennhurst himself.

The place was destroyed, understandable given Red Sky Day, repairs took quite a while even with help from civilians and newly discovered Earth and Metal magic from those allowed into the Dungeon, but this place was abandoned that day, and reviewing the notes in Pennhurst showed some terrifying results.

“Morally it’s sickening, but from a tactical viewpoint… someone gave up their morals to come up with this idea and actually used it in WW two for a bit, sending periodical attacks on their borders, and if they could get through, cities.” Dante noted, having read the report after Shaun, though Grey still hadn’t been given clearance to read it, they could talk about it with him.

Loopholes.

“Whatever the case, the leader of… Wonderland… happens to be one of those soldiers, and now that he’s free without orders, I can understand why he’s so set on attacking America as a whole… currently he’s just a gang boss but his motives would equate to terrorism… then again, one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter…” Shaun said with a complain, and Dante and Grey could both understand where Shaun was coming from.

If Mourn let the media know about why he was attacking America? He’d get sympathisers instantly, people questioning how the government could let his treatment continue, situations like those are polarizing and being on opposite sides of an argument is enough to make people attack one another…

“Luckily for us it doesn’t seem like Mourn is ready to do anything like that, and as long as we don’t let him know about it we should be fine.” That was a definite; never let your opponent know of a weak spot in your armour.

“So we’re going to be taking the fight to Mourn’s soon, launching our own attacks… but we can only do that with the correct information… until then, we need a response force while the police are being trained.” Dante reminded…

And Shaun responded with a sigh, placing his hand over his face.

“We happen to know a team of Adventurers that are strong enough to bounce back from having time missing from the Dungeon, remember?” Grey and Dante considered their boss’ words before realizing who he was talking about.

“Einherjar, would they really… I mean, killing their opponents is a real possibility…” Grey was reluctant, but ignoring his words, Shaun looked to Dante in question.

“It’s a possibility, the only issue is that they don’t have training in non-lethal takedowns… if we give them that info, and remind them to try non-lethal first, we could legalize them with your authority Shaun.” Dante agreed, knowing that Einherjar was one of the strongest Adventurer teams in the world, if not the strongest…

And that was even after considering that unlike other teams they didn’t go every single day and they went in to the Dungeon with only doing one floor every one or two days.

Other Adventurer teams took longer to venture past one floor, while levelling up slower, due to a combination of many reasons, such as Emilia Vasilievna being capable of mapping, their team being ideal when it came to all-round capability, and their leader being who he was.

“Sir… I must add that I’m against this.” Grey added, looking at his two superiors who stopped their contemplation to look at the younger agent with raised eyebrows.

“Oh? I can understand wanting your friends to stay out of danger, but isn’t this their decision?” Shaun asked, fishing for information as Grey bit his lip before affirming his resolve.

“Can sir recall, there was a time when you asked me about this team and I answered with our previous affiliation… as well as mentioning how Arthur is… violent.” Grey reminded as Shaun paused… then leaned back a bit, staring at Grey with his eyes flashing green for a moment.

“…You’re worried that Clive will enjoy hunting down bank robbers?” Shaun cut to the heart of the matter as Grey nodded, taking a deep breath before he spoke up again.

“Yes, sir. Arthur is a deeply violent person, but like I said, he has remarkable control over such tendencies… but when he has to hurt others, he does so with no hesitation… that’s not normal.” Grey’s words reminded the two senior agents of a few… questionable people they had known in the past.

“…I’m not sure there’s a term for that beyond apathy or shell shock.” Dante added, thinking to reports of veterans from the world wars saying how their fellow soldiers died so often at their side that at some point they just became numb to the pain…

“But that isn’t quite right is it? Apathy is the lack of caring, but doesn’t Clive care about his team, at the very least he cares about Vasilievna.” Shaun reminded that said person was actually dating someone at the moment, and Grey just sighed, running a hand through his hair.

“But that’s the thing, Arthur can care… but he can also just as suddenly not care. With others you can’t help but sympathize, we train to hit someone without flinching because when we see others in pain we feel a bit of it ourselves, synaesthesia…” Shaun nodded at that, still thinking about Grey’s words.

“You’re saying that Clive can somehow ignore it? He can just hurt someone without caring… you’re right there, that’s a worrisome trait… he has capable control, but you’re worrying about him taking it too far if given permission?” Shaun clarified once more as Grey nodded.

“Yes sir. I’ve even asked him once, and while I thought it was a joke at the time, I still remember the words.” Grey suddenly shivered as if feeling a cold breeze in the room.

“I would kill so many people, if only I wouldn’t be caught. The only thing keeping Arthur from hurting others is that there would be repercussions. Remove them and…” the idea was there.

“If that’s the case… I’ll train him myself. Dante, you deal with the rest of the group, but let me deal with Clive myself.” Shaun warned, and his two subordinates nodded.

“Oh… and by the way, someone talk to Collins about that trick with the floating sword, telekinesis with Mind magic? Really, it’s acting like the force or something…” Shaun complained with a sigh.

“Yes sir. So, are we going to go patrol for a bit?” Grey asked, trying to lighten the mood after dropping that bomb on the group.

“Grey, you suck. Let’s go.” Dante blandly said, as he stood, Shaun taking a moment to stand himself as all three reached into their inventories, removing bullet-proof masks created by Dante as well as their equipment of choice.

Stepping outside, Ellie saw them with their masks with a raised eyebrow before sighing.

“Just be careful you three. Grey, use your second Anima if it will help, please.” Ellie warned and Grey nodded with a salute, which would have been funny seeing as it was a superior saluting a lower ranked officer…

Seniority said that Grey was lower ranked though.

“I will… I might not use it that often, but it’s not like I hate using it.” Grey’s second Anima was kind of a secret considering few ever saw him using it, but that was the brilliance of a trump card.

“And bro, no collateral damage, your Anima is dangerous in a wide area.” Dante rolled his eyes in response to his sister’s warning, his own Anima was dangerous, certainly, but it wasn’t like he could use it with a gun…

His Anima only worked on his own body and on blunt weapons, hence why he used a hammer.

“No need to say anything, my wife complains every day I leave the house.” Shaun cut Ellie off before she could say anything to him about this outing, the girl scoffing as she moved back to the till to deal with the Adventurers…

She was one of the senior members of the Guild and was to be feared, so Adventurers were quick to listen to her instructions and obey, she usually got done with them quickly.

The only exception being Einherjar, Ellie was practically their personal secretary…

Only because the other secretaries were fans and shy about dealing with the top team in the country, and Ellie couldn’t give a shit.

The top three members of the Guild left after a moment, filing into Dante’s car instead of Shaun’s, Dante’s smirk as he revved his generation six Ford mustang.

Dante was still waiting for the next edition to get that one instead… his car was also one of the reasons why Dante was actually a friend of the Cardinal Agent…

The Cardinal Agent who was currently standing next to their car, leaving Shaun scowling beneath his mask as he rolled down the window to talk to the man.

“Clements, why are you still around?” Shaun asked, it was an honest question given that George was supposed to be back in England, he worked there after all.

“Ah, I’m just setting things up for a few future events, nothing major… by the way, monster…” Shaun sighed, once more being insulted to his face by the crazy agent.

“I heard, through the voice of the shoe that flies in the sky, that you are going to be out of country for a while in a month or so.” After translating and editing the sentence Shaun nodded, accepting that George was just trying to explain that by seeing the future he knew Shaun was leaving the country.

“Good, I’ll be seeing you there… a few other Guild Leaders were ordered to check out that situation as well, and I’m part of that group. Albert won’t be joining us though, he’ll be too busy competing against Arthur Clive.” That was news to Shaun, why wasn’t he-

A hum and ping signalled a message being received, and checking his phone, Shaun looked at the message from Clayton saying exactly what George was telling him.

“As usual, your timing is impeccable. So I suppose we’ll be working together in a while… that still doesn’t say why you aren’t back in England.” Shaun added with a huff.

“All the action is happening over here though… the only thing I get to do at home is figure out new ways to mess with Jade about my relationship with her sister.” George complained as a man ran behind George, huffing slightly.

“George… you asshole… you just set off that chain reaction and walked away…” The man, clearly one of George’s subordinates, was pitiable considering he somehow had feathers in his hair, tears in his clothes and one shoe looked a bit burnt…

How that happened, no one wanted to know.

“Sorry Mike, I forgot you weren’t important. And hey, at least I caught the thief right?” George asked while Mike growled.

“Yes, but if anyone found out you released that chicken, and set it on fire, then we could be in serious trouble, this isn’t even our jurisdiction!” Mike was complaining, and Shaun just blandly stared at George… then forced Dante to drive away quickly.

“Come on Mike, I feel like taking an enthusiastic walk.” Mike paled at the words of his friend/boss, rushing to stop the wannabe Hokage before he did something that would get them kicked out of the country.

“George, the last time you took a walk you engineered events so that a terrorist group would end up tarred and feathered, and besides, the Prime Minister said you aren’t allowed on those walks anymore.” Mike tried to calmly talk to the Cardinal.

“Eh, the higher ups are wet blankets. Never mind, I’m going to go get Felicity an anti-tank cannon. Bitches love cannons after all.” The Cardinal said, removing a wide brimmed hat of the same colour as his suit from his inventory, placing it on his head.

“George, George was that a reference? George, what are you talking-”

“Cut the chapter!”

Arthur Clive

Level: 63 (C-Rank)

Class: Linked Swordsman- Grants one stat point to Strength and Wisdom per level

Gives Soul Sight (Unique) Skill

Anima

Dagger of Hunger

Cloak of Will

Anima Skills

No Change

Primary Element: Lightning

Other Element(s): Darkness

Personal Skills

Tactician IV (11/200) - increases Wisdom by 25% (total 155%)

Sword Sage II (162/300)- Any bladed weapon deals 30% extra damage

Soul Sight II (295/300) - Allows insight beyond mortality

Dual Wielding IV (29/200) - Greater use of two weapons

Lightning Elemental III (58/300) - Use supplementary lightning spells

Quick Reflexes III (43/150)- Increases Dexterity by 20%

Stats

Strength: 79

Dexterity: 96 (115)

Intelligence: 54

Wisdom: 105 (162)

Endurance: 54

Vitality: 79