12 The Shimada's Apprentice

A little warning, this chapter is a little graphic. I felt like I didn't have to put this warning here but decided to just in case.

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I look down in shame at my own naivety.

Why did I think that when I came to this world, that I wouldn't have to kill anyone?

I figured that I would only have to deal with omnics.

I glance at the unconscious man on the ground wearing the same uniform as the other Hashimoto members.

I shakingly raise my gun aiming it at him.

I think about just getting it over with and doing it quick, while taking the safety off.

Taking deep breaths, I mentally tell myself to pull the trigger, but my finger wont move.

I get frustated at my own hesitation to kill this guy.

I do a countdown from three in my head and when i hit zero my finger once again doesnt move.

Mamoru sees my struggle and places a hand on my shoulder.

"Would it help if I told you that I killed those guys you left on the roof?"

Hearing that didn't help me at all. It just put me more at odds with myself.

What was I hesitating for? Why did I care?

Mamoru grabs my shoulder and pulls me out the door.

"Come here, let me show you something."

We go to the first door that was locked and he pulls out a key.

Inside the room is a teenage girl who is tied up with a blindfold and a gag. Upon hearing us enter the room, she begins to huddle closer to the corner, whimpering in fear.

"We deal in drugs and guns because it is the lesser of the evils. The Hashimoto trade in, more heinous dealings.

Once they collect enough, the boss will give them the go ahead. Once received, these girls will "belong" to them if you know what I mean.

Once these grunts are done with them, they ship them to Japan, where they are sold to the highest bidder.

They'll be in a foreign place with no help, as the police is controlled by the most powerful gangs.

I'm not killing anymore of these guys, so if you want to stop them, you'll have to kill them yourself." He explains.

I close my eyes as his words repeat through my mind.

The girl has quieted down as she can hear us and realizes that we're not her captors and awaits my decision.

Then an idea forms in my head and I pray that it works as I'll deal with the consequences of what I'm about to do later.

I walk back to the room where the first guy is and hold my gun back at him.

I let my bioelectrical energy flow through me as I enter that state once again.

Without hesitation, I pull the trigger and a soft pop kicks my gun back with recoil and the guys body goes limp.

Not exiting the form, I rush through the door of this room knowing that I have five minutes before I run out.

With this state, my awareness is more heightened, so my stealth is easier.

Cracking the door from this hallway, I hear a group of gang members laughing not too far away from the door.

Opening it just enough to let my slender frame slip through, I see a group of three, all with their back to the door.

Picking up a nearby piece of metal, I toss it to the left, causing each gang member to look that direction.

Rushing to the right of them, I line up a shot, and shoot through two gang members heads at once. Their bodies knock into the last guy, falling on top of him.

Before he can scream out, I plunge my knife into his throat and pull it out, leaving him gurgling on his blood.

Wiping his blood off on his own clothes, I stand up looking around to get a sense of where everyone else can be.

I can see that I'm currently in the main factory area with giant rusted vats sitting dormant against the walls.

As I decide to stop wasting time and continue, one of the guy's phones rings.

Rummaging through each guy's pockets, I find it on the second guy and answer it.

A guy hurriedly says something in Japanese in a panicked state and I just listen.

Hearing no response, the guy shouts something to someone away from the phone as it clicks ending the call.

I smile as I know that my cover is blown and the difficulty just went up.

Cracking my neck, I head to the door gun in my right hand crossed over the knife in my left.

Exiting the room, I hear approaching footsteps and I duck into a nearby room, cracking it.

Two guys run past, and they pause to tactically clear the room I just left.

They kick the door open and rush in and I use that time to follow them.

They check each corner before further moving into the room slowly.

Coming up behind them, I go low, stabbing the guy in the right in his leg.

He screams out, falling down in pain as the guy in the left spins around.

His weapon swings over my head as I stay crouched and easily aim the weapon at his head and firing.

As he falls to the ground, the guy who I stabbed tries to aim his gun at me, but I pull the knife out and use that hand to block his weapon from swinging to me.

With my pistol, I aim it at his chest and his eyes grow wide as he dives out of the way just as I fire making me miss.

He swings at my stomach with his free hand, but I block his attack with my arm holding the knife.

I kite my arm around his and bring the knife down on him.

Dropping his weapon, he catches my arm, stopping my lethal blow, He uses his other hand to strengthen his resistance.

He was obviously wining as he still had the upper hand of being stronger as I was just an eight-year-old, but he forgot what was in my other hand.

I level the pistol at him and fire once into his chest and his resistance fails as my knife sinks into his neck.

Standing up, I hear more footsteps approaching the door and I pocket my pistol in my jacket and grab his assault rifle.

I sprint to the door and lean against it, waiting for my moment to strike.

I hear multiple footsteps rapidly approaching and just before they get to the door, I peek around the corner opening fire.

From the flashes of my gun, I can see four guys who came to investigate get gunned down.

Stepping over their dead bodies, I drop my current assault rifle and grab one of theirs instead of taking the time to reload.

Turning the corner, I see the barrel of someone's gun about to exit another room, and I take aim.

The guy exits the room and turns the opposite way and I fire into his back.

As he falls, I hear distant shouting and I prepare for another wave of enemies.

A guy rushes around the corner and I open fire, but he manages to duck back around the corner once again.

A voice calls out in English.

"Whoever you are, whatever they're paying you, we'll double it."

If I'm going to get this done, I need to do so in the next 2 minutes and I couldn't waste any more time.

Just as I begin to push forward, a hand grasps my shoulder, pulling me back.

Mamoru says, "There's someone here that I didn't expect to be, you've more than proven yourself, let me handle the rest."

Usually when I'm in this state, I would have shaken his hand off my shoulder and went charging down the hall.

But I calm the bioelectricity, taking me out of the form that I should totally have a name for.

Dropping the assault rifle and sliding down the wall, I sit as I return normal.

While Mamoru heads around the corner, I lose focus of him and can only think about the scene of me stabbing a guy in the throat.

I can't help by turn to the side and empty out my stomach right next to me as I heavily breath, trying to come to terms with what I've done.

Then a thought crosses my mind, 'Did this count towards class actions?'