6 Chapter Five: Uncovering the Corruption Within

Meanwhile outside, Tatsumi was with one of the remaining guards and Aria as they were all near the shack, confronted by one of the assassins. She was a black long haired girl in her teens with red eyes. She wore a dark sleeveless tank top with a white collar and a red tie; a red belt that has a red side skirt cover over a black, pleated skirt with long black socks, black shoes, red gauntlets and black gloves. She wielded a long katana and she made quick work of the guard with it.

While Tatsumi wasn't a target, Miss Aria was. Tatsumi wasn't going to let her have it, nor back down from fighting her. A few moments of fighting, it looked like the assassin struck a killing blow on him, but he was saved thanks to his village's idol. He then tried to persuade her to not kill the girl, but the female assassin wasn't having it.

As she was going for the kill, a familiar figure halted her blade with his adamantium claws. It was Gunnar, garbed in his superhero garb. "I wouldn't kill the girl just yet," he said as he lowered her sword down. The girl was surprised, by both his outfit and his claws. But he continued regardless. "At least not until Tatsumi here knows the truth."

Tatsumi, first relieved to see Gunnar, suddenly turned to shocked dismay. "Dude, what the hell are you saying?!" he exclaimed.

The mutant then held up a book in one of his hands. It was the diary that Aria's mother was carrying. "While getting my outfit, I came to inspect the dead mother and I found this. This 'diary' of hers contains various names of all who were brought to this household and guess whose names' were recently recorded?"

Tatsumi looked to the section marked by Gunnar prior. As he looked, his face changed to shock. "Ieatsui?! And Saiyu?! How...how can this be?!"

The girl he was fighting earlier was about to strike at both of them when someone placed a hand on her from behind and stopped her. The boys both looked up to see Leone, only this time her hair was longer with lion ears, tail and also lionlike feet with many areas of her body covered with fur, overall having a more beast-like appearance.

"What are you doing?," the katana wielding assassin asked in monotone.

"We got some time left," said Leone. "And I kinda owe this guy a favor. I'm pretty sure he'd like to cash it in now." She then winked at Tatsumi with a smile.

It took Tatsumi a while to figure it out but he soon recognized her from earlier. "Hey! You're the girl with the boobs!"

Leone giggled as she waved to him. "Yup, that's what they call me!"

Gunnar folded his arms and smiled. "Funny, I was thinking more along the lines of Triple B: big-boobed, blonde and beautiful. That is, of course, unless you're one of those blonde bimbo stereotypes."

Leone looked to see Gunnar standing there in the same garb she saw him before. "Well, hello there, mister handsome mystery man!" She gave him a flirtatious smile.

"Likewise I'm sure." He looked Leone over once. "Nice getup. Is this what you really look like at night or is this some cheap Halloween costume? Not that I don't mind, but I think it really brings out the...ahem...'beast' out of you," he retorted teasingly. He proceeded to the business at hand. "I trust you guys have a very good reason of why you're targeting this family? I take it what's behind those doors is the main reason why you were sent."

"If you were so skeptical about this family, then why did you stay?," the black haired girl finally spoke up when she had the chance to.

"I needed the information, and further evidence of what this family was really all about," the mutant clone said to the assassin. "Plus he showed up a little after I did." He gestured at Tatsumi. "It was a good thing that I stayed; otherwise I'd never know about the corruption within the city. But just to be absolutely sure of my assumptions,-" he pointed to the shed, "-I think it's best if we check out the shed for ourselves."

And with that, he walked up to the door of the shed and with one swipe of his clawed hand sliced off the lock and peered inside. As he did, Gunnar could smell the scent got even worse from within. His face curled into snarl when he saw what was inside. "What is it? What do you see, Gunnar?!" asked Tatsumi.

"The true face of the empire, kid." Gunnar replied grimly, feeling the anger stirring inside him. "It's best you see for yourself and take a good look." He swung the door open and revealed a true horror within. What was inside was just as bad as the Holocaust itself. Corpses of dead souls hung up from the ceiling like carcasses of meat hung in a slaughterhouse, bodies tortured by means of bruising, flaying and who knows what else. How many there were was uncertain. Tatsumi looked at the horror with a shocked look on his face as he took in this horror movie scenario.

"Welcome to the Capital boys," said Leone, unpleasantness in her voice.

"What...is all this?!" Tatsumi gasped.

"This-" Gunnar explained as he gestured with his as if making a presentation, "-is what could have happened to us if we weren't too careful; or at least you." He was a little cautious but to him, Tatsumi was just too naive to think there was a little more to this family than let on.

"We learned that they fancied picking up newcomers from the countryside, then tortured them for their own sick twisted entertainment." Leone carried on, her arms folded. She then added sarcastically. "That's the reality of this poor, innocent and happy family."

"I saw the plans in the parents' bedroom." Gunnar then pulled from his belt some folded up papers he grabbed after finding his outfit. He showed the others including Tatsumi. "This, along with a few torture devices of their own design, were just a few I found. One big, happy, psychotic family." Gunnar scoffed. "They make the Addams family look like patron saints."

He certainly got his answer of why they would do this sort of thing, but what Gunnar wanted to know was what was the guards' hand in all this? Were they just paid to keep their mouths shut, or did they have a hand in this twisted little family activity? He glanced at Tatsumi, his eyes wide open at what caught his attention. The mutant clone looked up to see a corpse of a near naked girl, all bloody and tortured.

"Saiyu! No! That's Saiyu!" the mini swordsman say faintly in horror. That was all Gunnar had to know; for it was just as he had feared what would happen.

"Do you know who girl is?" Leone asked, now leaning against the doorway.

"Yeah, she was a friend of his if I'm not mistaken." Gunnar informed her. "He mentioned her yesterday, but why don't you ask her if I'm wrong." He jerked with his head, noticing the daughter trying to make a break for it by sneaking away. But Leone caught her by the hair and stopped her before she could squirm away.

"Oopsie. You didn't really think we were through with you yet, did you sweetie-pie?," the feline assassin asked the little tormentor.

"These people really did this?" Tatsumi was almost on the verge of sorrowful despair by the tone of his voice.

"Evidently so, kid. Believe it." asssured Gunnar, his voice filling with disgust the longer he looked at the carnage.

"And their guards are just as guilty for keeping it secret." Leone added.

"Well, that answers that question then!" Gunnar thought, clenching his fists tightly in anger.

"She's lying!" Aria spoke up. "I had no idea anything like that was going on! Who would you believe, these...these murderers, or the one who saved you?"

Gunnar could tell from her voice she was frightened, but still detected a flare of lying in her tongue. He turned and snapped at her menacingly. "As far as I'm concerned, you little shit, I believe these killers more than I believe your lying ass! And don't even think you can fool me, little bitch! I'm very gifted at detecting lies; like your little comment from yesterday! If one of his friends are here, then that could only mean that..."

"Tatsumi?" a voice cried out weakly. "Is that...is it you? It's me." Everyone turned their attention to see another victim, alive but barely holding on, caged while also just as scarred and tortured just like Saiyu reaching out for his friend.

"Ieatsui." Tatsumi replied, hardly believing what he was seeing.

"She invited us to stay at her house," his friend went on. "She gave us something to eat, then that girl...that girl tortured Saiyu to death!" It looked like the poor kid was on the verge of tears when he brought her up.

"Well. I guess that answers that question as well, doesn't it?!" Gunnar retorted crossly, staring at the little blonde wretch.

"Fine! Fine! So I did, okay ?!" Aria exclaimed, finally telling the truth as she shrugged Leone off. "This trash are just worthless filth! They are nothing but...but...but livestock I use to see fit! Garbage like her doesn't have the right to have such beautiful hair! Mine is always giving me trouble, so I treated her extra special!" At this point, Gunnar was getting more enraged as he was seeing the ugly side of this little but sadistic cunt; his teeth grinding in boiling fury. "She should be honored that I gave her such attention! Ungrateful biiiitch!!!"

"Sorry honey, I don't mean to interrupt your little tantrum here, but you are kind of disturbing." Leone interceded as the girl with the sword was drawing her blade as if to kill her.

"I'll kill her," she said unemotionally. But as she was about to, WHAM! Gunnar had delivered a sharp backhand to Aria, making her slide a few feet before trying to prop her self up while trembling with fear as she saw one infuriated mutant approaching her with one clawed hand.

"I don't know what's more pathetic," he said vehemently as he grabbed her by the throat holding her her high above his head. "The fact that your family has been doing this for who knows how long without any regards for humanity, or the petty reason why you killed his friend. All because her hair was more beautiful than yours?!" His face turned into a even more gruesome snarl as he felt his choking hand tightening his grip around her neck. "Either way, it doesn't matter. Because you'll be joining your parents in a matter of moments, you cunt! When you and your parents meet the Devil himself, tell him to make some room!" He drew his arm back, attempting slice her head like an apple as he saw the fear grow in her eyes. Just as Gunnar was about to deliver the death blow, Tatsumi spoke up. "Wait." Gunnar couldn't believe it, and apparently neither could Leone.

"You're kidding! You're still going to defend her?" she asked in disbelief.

"No...," he said, and before anyone could think he drew his sword and sliced the little miscreant in half. "I'll do it!" All that was left Gunnar's hand now was the girls' top half as the bottom half flew a feet away from them. For him, it seemed satisfying for Tatsumi to do it on the account that it was his friends that the family killed not his; but it also seemed a bit bitter because Gunnar so wanted to do so, out of sure spite.

"Good work, Tats," he said to him. "I honestly didn't think you had it in ya." He then thought 'fuck it' and made sliced bread out the girls' cranium, cutting it in four perfectly sliced meaty pieces as they fell to the ground. He tossed the rest of her carcass to the side with little disregard. It wasn't exactly the way he wanted it, but it was still satisfying to him all the same.

After seeing what just happened, Leone was quite impressed. The boys didn't even think to hesitate for a second about killing Aria, granted her being heinous. She saw Gunnar walking towards the shed and watched him free Tatsumi's other friend from his prison and laying him down upon the ground as Tatsumi soon knelt on the other side of him. "Thank you, Tatsumi. And whoever you are, sir." Ieatsui thanked them weakly. "I needed to see that."

"Easy, bub. Easy." Gunnar could tell by Ieatsui's condition as well as his pulse that this poor soul wasn't going to last much longer. It turns out that, according to the assassin with the katana, the family enjoyed poisoning people with different medicines. Even though he knew that he was created from the same cloth as his predecessor who was known to be immune to poisoning, Gunnar was still glad he didn't have to be tricked into it. That way he really would've had an excuse to kill these sons of bitches. He even noticed in the mother's diary the reactions of each victim. Just when he thought humanity couldn't possibly think of another low, there was always another.

"Tatsumi,..."

Gunnar looked at Tatsumi with regret, "I hate to say this to you, kid. But I don't think your friend is gonna make it; not unless there's a medical kit somewhere around here. Otherwise, I think Saint Peter is going to have another visitor."

"Tatsumi..." Ieatsui said faintly, his life signs fading fast. "You should know, that Saiyu never did break. She never let herself give in. She was incredible. So...I wanted to...to go out like a hero." And with that, Ieatsui was dead; his body turned limp as that last breath of his life left him.

"His will was the only thing keeping him alive," said Akame. Gunnar felt sorry for the kid. He knew from experience about what it was like to lose someone as a friend. His hand rested on one of Tatsumi's shoulders, trying to bring him to solace and comfort.

"I'm sorry kid," he said to the wandering village kid.

"What the hell is wrong with place?!" said Tatsumi on the verge of tears as he clung to his dead friend.

"That's the harsh lesson of life, my friend. Sometimes there's always that one group of people with no conscience or morals that believe that this sort of corruption is the best way of living. That's what separates us from people like them (in reference to the family). By learning of such horrors it's what makes us better people smarter stronger and more compassionate than these fuckers."

Gunnar turned to the lady assassins near the doorway. The young assassin was about to leave, but he then heard Leone telling her to wait a moment. "Don't you think we should bring them with us?" he heard her ask. "We could use another pair of hands. They have some potential and a little luck on the side."

Gunnar thought it over for a moment, thinking that he could probably get their side of the story, to know exactly what their intentions are in this conflict. And if he didn't like it, he could always just leave and just do things his way. "I'll come along with you," he said to them. "I could use some more answers."

Leone's face seemed to have brighten up when she heard him accepting her offer. "Great. You guys are gonna love it here with us," she said cheerfully.

But Gunnar was not exactly 100% on the level with her. "I said I was coming along. That doesn't mean I'm agreeing to be part of your team," he retorted sternly. He stood up to look again at horror show before him. "But first thing's first. We need to burn all traces of this ever happening, including the shed. Giving these bodies a burial by crematory is better than having them rotting away and stinking the air."

Gunnar reached into one of his belt pouches for some kindling and some waterproof matches he still had on him. When Tatsumi heard the mutant say that, it gave him great concern. "But wait! You can't! I need to bury my friends!"

"Relax kid, your friends are coming along with us. Just go find me a sack or something big enough for me to carry them. Everything else here is going to burn. There should be no evidence of any kind of what has happened here tonight. No bodies, no witnesses, no traces of any kind in letting anyone know that we were here." He gritted his teeth as his fists clenched in anger. "Make no mistake. Before this is over, I'll make sure that those responsible for this and more will burn. Whatever it takes, I will right these wrongs."