9 – Clean Up (1)

It was a normal day in Valery's life and she went shopping as usual. After she found out that Samael, who has always shown a different disposition from other children and teenagers, had created a Med Gel that made them a lot of money, she was more relaxed about everything.

Anyone who says that money doesn't bring happiness is either very rich and doesn't understand what it's like to be poor, or they're stupid. The money in the account made her worry a lot less, she paid Amanda back with huge interest, and now she was enjoying life for the first time in a long time.

Of course, it wasn't as if she hadn't enjoyed life before, but now, without having to worry about money, everything was different. Valery's only concern now was to get Samael and Veronica to start some kind of relationship, but that was proving difficult, even though they both spent most of their time together.

Anyway, today Valery, as usual, bought her groceries and was on her way home. What she didn't know was that danger was lurking around her, in the form of rival gangs, who somehow thought she was in a relationship with Tarzan, even though she never met the man.

THUG POV

Today was supposed to be an easy mission since Tarzan's girl wasn't that heavily protected. However, if it was easy, what is this situation...

'' ARRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.... PLEASE STOP! KILL ME!''

Looking at his 'friend', who had come to help with the kidnapping, the thug shuddered seeing the state he was in. The worst thing was that the one who was causing the pain didn't look like a demon or something like that. No, it was a normal-looking teenager, someone you pass by regularly on the streets, and that was even scarier.

Pulling the knife out of his friend's thigh, the teenager sighed, ''Yeah, no. You're not getting off that easy. Death is something you're going to have to work hard to get.''

All those captured shuddered at that, as the teenager continued, ''I'll ask one more time. Who sent you?''

To understand the current situation, let's go back a few hours into the past.

A FEW HOURS AGO

While Valery was doing her shopping, some rival gang members were lurking around her house. What they didn't know was that as soon as strange people approached the house, RR had already warned Samael and activated the defense around the house. They vary, as some were lethal and nonlethal, but know that almost every square inch around the house had some sort of trap waiting to be activated.

''Samael, suspicious individuals are in the vicinity of your house. I recommend intervention.''

Samael immediately stopped what he was doing and said to RR, "Show me the images.''

Immediately from Samael's Omni-Tool came several images of security cameras, alongside the location of a few traps.

Samael wasn't naive to fully trust Tarzan, as everyone could make mistakes, so he prepared a lot of traps on his house, in case of an attack or something like that. And it seems today was the day they would put to use.

'' Hmmmm, they're covering their faces, so RR can't use the police database to see who they are... but it doesn't matter. They're clearly not from around here and they're watching my house, that's enough for me to act.''

Samael got up from his office in the compound and started heading home, ''Where's my mother?''

'' Valery is on her way home.'' RR was connected to Valery's Omni-tool too, so he knew exactly where she was.

'' Contact Tarzan and tell him to use the people who are protecting her to slow her down the max they can.''

'' NO problem.''

'' Wait, one more thing. Tell him to prepare.''

'' Prepare for what?''

'' Those people weren't from here, so someone sent them. And this someone will die, so he will need to clean up. Tell him to prepare all his forces.''

Samael wasn't going to let this slide as if they had the balls to do it one time, they could do it again. ' It's time to clean up some dumb people.'

He knew that somehow, someone found something about him or Tarzan and it led to his mom. And the only people who would try to get that info were the other slums, who were losing space after Tarzan started spending more money on his business many years ago, a secret organization, or Cerberus.

Based on a few things, he assumed it was the thugs from others slums, as no good secret organization nor Cerberus would be so ... dumb. He hated those organizations and Cerberus, but he knew their strengths.

'' Contact Jaret too, tell him to prepare all of our forces and be ready to depart at any time. Our mercenary group will have their first mission today. Ha, it seems I have to thank those people who attacked because they just provided a chance for us to advertise our forces to the galaxy. Make sure to have some people film our attack.''

After relaying those tasks to RR, Samael went home alone, as he was enough to handle them. Before doing that thought, he grabbed a few things from the armory to use on those people.

----

The bandits from the other slums were lurking outside Valery's house, just waiting for her to come back and kidnap her. After that, their job would be done and they would return home unscathed, oblivious to the cruel fate that would probably befall the woman.

But they didn't care about that at all, since it was a normal thing for them to do. Kidnapping and killing were normal for them, so much so that they no longer felt anything when they did it.

However, today, one of the members was having second thoughts, "Where is she? According to the schedule, isn't she supposed to be here?''

They had studied Valery's routine for some time, and at the current time, she was supposed to be at home, even with unforeseen circumstances. Therefore, the instinct of one of the members who had come to kidnap Valery was screaming for him to run.

However, the others thugs were calm, ''Don't worry, her being late can happen. Let's wait and act quickly when she arrives, and get out of here as soon as possible."

Even though he wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible, the member who wanted to leave knew he couldn't do that, since he would be punished if he did. So he could only grit his teeth and wait.

However, what happened immediately afterward sent chills down everyone spine.

"Good afternoon. May I ask who you are?''' A voice came from behind them, startling everyone. Something that was supposed to be impossible, since they had placed movement sensors and cameras around the area to monitor it. Therefore, anyone getting behind them unnoticed was impossible.

'How?!' The cautious member was already regretting coming on this mission.

Everyone was stunned and didn't respond. The person noticed this and asked again, this time with a stronger tone, "Who are you and what are you doing in my house?''

When they heard that it was his house, the group knew that the person in front of him was Valery's son. They quickly forgot that he had somehow managed to sneak up on them and were already thinking of using him to kidnap Valery.

Only one wasn't feeling it, the same member who sensed something was wrong. He, again, had the instincts screaming at him to run.

However, before he could even say anything, one of the members smiled evilly. ''Ha, brat, you're unlucky today.''

He took out a pistol from his waistband, ''Be a good boy, stay quiet, and follow us. Then, you may live.''

The boy didn't react much having a pistol pointed at him. He just sighed, an act that sent chills down the spine of the cautious member.

'' Smart people would've left, but it seems only one of you is smart.'' The kid looked straight at the cautious member, who was involuntarily retreating, almost as if the instinct had taken over his body, '' You might be useful under me. The rest...''

Before the others could comprehend what was happening, they were hit with something on their head, making some fall to the ground, and one of them was hit on the arm, dropping the gun. '' Will die.''

What hit them was a nonlethal bullet, and while it didn't kill them, 2 were knocked out while the other lost his weapon.

And while the thug who just lost his gun was still trying to figure out what happened, the only thing he saw was a fist coming straight to his face.

PUNCH

After that, darkness.

Samael then looked at the member who tried to retreat, who by now realized it was impossible. He was waiting for him as the reaper-looking teenager approached, '' Who sent you?''

The cautious man stayed quiet. Samael sighed, '' Are you really going to do that? You are clearly a smart man, so you know what will happen now. Do you really want to go through that route?''

With no answer, Samael just said, '' OK.''

Before the cautious men could react, he was hit in the face too, going straight to the dream realm.

--

And this brings us back to the now, as Samael was in the middle of using his torture experience on the gang members.

'' I'll ask you one more time, and please don't answer me so I can continue this. Who sent you?''

The cautious man was the only one not getting tortured, as it seemed Samael liked the man. Still, watching people getting tortured in front of you wasn't a nice feeling.

' I should've just told him from the beginning.'

The cautious man was regretting now, but it was too late, as the torture on the others was already too deep and they were already dead, it was now just a question of time.

But, the cautious man decided to tell Samael, to end their suffering, as it was clear the person in front of him wasn't going to stop, '' Stop, I'll tell you everything I know.''

After that, the cautious man told Samael everything he knew about the plan, who sent them, who knew what, etc. Samael checked the info with the others, and when the answer he received was a yes, he said, '' Good.''

BANG BANG BANG BANG

After four shots, the others members of the group who came to kidnap Valery died, leaving only the shocked cautious member.

The cautious men knew Samael somehow had an interest in him, seeing as he hadn't tortured him until now, ' Maybe he wants to recruit me or something?'

Of course, he would accept it immediately, as it meant his survival.

But, that train of thought stopped as he saw Samael pointing the gun at him. He immediately started to trash around, '' Why?! I told you everything you wanted! You even sparred me from torture, so you know I'm different from them! I can work for you!''

Samael didn't change expressions, '' You're clearly more intelligent than them, and if you were born here or didn't take the mission to kidnap my mom, I would've let you live and even take you under my wing. But, you just had to try to harm my mom.''

'' No one in the galaxy could've protected you from my wrath.''

BANG

And just like that, all the members of the group who came to kidnap Valery were dead. Samael continued talking to the dead man, as if he was still listening, '' But don't worry, soon you will be joined by all your gang friends. Tonight, those who tried to attack my family will disappear.''

True to his words, Samael left to attack the other slums right after that.