Cult Infiltration

3/8 (?)

~~~~

I wish I could dream.

If I could dream I had the chance to forget.

Wales and moans of cursed screams in pain blasted through my ears.

I know what caused this, but for some reason I don't want it to stop.

Those screams were like the dead's retribution against me.

I sat, slumped with no willpower to fight back and just took the anguish those artificial screams made.

'Should I just kill myself?'

There were often times where I thought just ending my life would be a nice resolution to this second life I was given.

But I had debts to repay and promises to keep.

Before anything else - even my own well being, I'll keep pushing onward until none are left, then I can die.

Afterall, I already died once, death is peace compared to the chaos of life.

* * *1

My eyes slowly opened, flinching one time at the bright light the sun peeked into the curtains with, a greeting of sorts.

Getting up from the bed, I came to the sight of the now familiar hotel room.

My things were everywhere, my silver briefcase containing my suit lying on the table, the weapons on the ground, my disguises roughly everywhere, the list went on.

I scratched the new tattoo and made my way to the bathroom.

There I saw my reflection, black eyes and black hair. I had the appearance of a mid to late teen but I was only thirteen.

'This is a bit concerning…'

I rubbed some of my hair together, while not prominent it was beginning to gray.

Whether that was because of the growing stress of revenge or some other issue, it could wait. Not like this would kill me anytime soon, I had too much 'life' to die.

An imaginary weight always felt present during every waking moment of my life, it was like I was being blindly guided by the promises I made in the past.

I had no other purpose to live after all…

Once I took a shower I stabbed myself with a syringe and injected the serum for today's face.

It wasn't unpleasant per say… but it wasn't pleasant either, my face felt like it was warming up allowing me to not feel my skin wiggling but sometimes I felt it. 

Overall I was already used to it so I went through my usual routine of putting on another mask just to be safe before heading out.

'...For some reason, I feel like I have less time to live. I should finish this quickly…'

I thought, covering my eyes from the bright sky.

*

*

*

-Crunch!

"Sir Oliver, the reported base is one mile from here now."

"Hah~ Yup, thanks for the reminder~"

Oliver yawned before replying.

The Round Table had been focusing on the bigger bases, from both the United Kingdom and Ireland. This particular one was in a forest.

The Cult of Whitechapel had been a large issue since its creation and was a large parasite harming both the countries for over a century now.

The Round Table for the last four generations have been trying to wipe it off the face of the earth but to no avail.

Oliver couldn't help but something was missing.

Like one puzzle piece missing from a completed set, it was as if that last piece would change everything.

Every single last of the four leaders of the Round Table had died of unknown circumstances which was why Arthur had to step in at an early age.

'Just… What is it?'

Oliver held his chin in contemplation

"Sir, it's half a mile from now…"

He broke out from his train of thought.

"...Thank you for the reminder…"

Oliver sighed at the soldier's stiff attitude.

'I'll need to change the training back at HQ…'

Once they were in front of a large metal door, there were two gangsters lazing holding guns.

'I guess the information is true…'

They had got a 'tip' from an anonymous source.

"Start in three… two… one…"

Oliver flicked his wrist before two soldiers behind him shot once at the gangsters.

-Pew! -Pew!

Thanks to the silencers on the guns the sound was almost unnoticeable.

Everyone ran towards the metal door without stopping.

Oliver pulled out his long sword before cutting up the metal like it was paper allowing the soldiers to enter the base.

-BANG!

Through the generations of hard work of the previous holders of the different seats of the King's Table, Oliver had one of the most powerful sword techniques on the planet.

The sword technique was created by Sir Lucan, one of the loyal knights and royal butler to King Arthur.

'Of course this doesn't compare to the king…'

He thought about the aloof Arthur probably doing paperwork right this second.

His long sword cut through the bodies of gangsters and cult worshippers until no one was left until a corridor emerged where his 'knights' paved a way to a door.

-Knock, Knock.

After knocking on the door he opened it to find what seemed to be a maniac.

Oliver made himself comfortable in front of the maniac and asked, "Are you alright? You don't seem to look very good…"

The woman in front of him laughed loudly and stared into the ceiling.

Wondering what captivated the Victim Oliver looked up.

Feeling a sense of danger he hurriedly blocked with his arm.

-Ting!

"My, my~ If you wanted a piece of me you could have just asked."

Oliver teased, blocking the screwdriver with his metal guard.

"Haha!"

He got up from the chair and proposed a deal.

"If you give any other locations of the bases of the Cult we'll let you go." He said with a 'genuine' smile.

Of course they were all lies, he planned on killing every last one of these death worshiping pieces of shits.

As if the words didn't register in her brain, the Victim threw tens of sharpened screwdrivers at Oliver.

-Woosh!

As soon as he was done tossing aside the screwdrivers a large piece of cloth blocked Oliver's field of vision.

"These tricks won't work, if you give the locations I'll happily let you go." He said, cutting the cloth in half.

-Thud!

'She grabbed onto my legs?'

Oliver fell onto the ground along with the Victim.

"...If I die, you die along with me."

"!?"

-Click.

A small clicking sound resonated from the Victim's mouth.

'Shit!'

He rapidly punched the Victim's head in hopes that she would let go but she held even firmer than before.

"Run! Get out of the base, she's going to explode and bring the place down!"

He yelled, fearing his soldiers would die.

Just a second later an explosion brought the entire hidden base down.

-BOOOOOOM!!

* * *

-Break!

Out from the large rocks was Oliver, heavily wounded and missing an arm. He found a spot to lie down before calling to the AI in his helmet.

"Cough…"

"...System… call Arthur."

If he hadn't put on his helmet before the explosion happened he would have surely died.

"Calling… Arthur Pendragon…"

-Click.

"Oliver?"

Arthur's familiar voice called out to Oliver.

"Cough… Arthur, send a clean up crew and also a medical team…"

He asked, his consciousness slowly fading…

'If I die here… I hope you know Arthur, you don't have to be bound by the expectations everyone has on you Arthur…'

'Ah, I wish I could have seen the day when this damn Cult falls…'

"Oliver!? What happened!?"

"Oliver!"

"Oliv-"

That was the last voice he heard before he passed out.

*

*

*

None.

None.

None.

I opened the next cabinet, looking for anything that could clue me in on Virus' location. Someone must have spoken or at least communicated with her.

If it's not here then I'll just go to the next location.

Everything went back to its proper order.

I only need to look at the files from the past few months because the item was sold then. Afterwards I can find the exact file easily with the papers in hand.

-Creak…

"Huh? Who are you?"

I confidently walked up and grabbed his face.

-Bzzst!

Some smoke rose from his face and his head dropped down like he had passed out.

"[What are you doing here?]"

"...I'm here to grab some files for someone…"

"[Do you know anything about a recent transactions that happened between a merchant buying an EMP device made by Virus?]"

"...No…"

"[...Complete your task and forget this conversation and you seeing me ever happened…]"

"...Yes…"

I looked through all the files for the entire year thus far and there was nothing that gave a hint about a purchase of an EMP device.

However, Virus' name came up multiple times. They all lead to another base, presumably the Cult's HQ.

Some were devices and others were code.

If this was only for this year, I couldn't imagine how much she has done over the years…

This was only one organization, just how much damage has she caused?

My hands curled into fists. I could imagine who was causing damage and who wasn't. What they were doing, when, where, how. None of them actually happened but the image was so vivid that it was as if it was reality.

'What would have Two done?'

He was smart, unusually so. He was the strategist of the Termites.

Holding my head, recollections of past memories started coming back one by one.

I shook my head allowing me to focus again instead of daydreaming in the enemy's base.

It was faint, almost unnoticeable but…

Turning my body I stretched my arm to reach for the face.

-Bzzst!

Sparks flew from my modified glove and rather than a healthy dodge of electricity enough for mental manipulation, this was lethal enough to kill a person.

-Snatch!

'Wha!?'

"You made me ruin my favorite uniform, how will you repay me huh? Is it a crime to stalk a person?"

White hair. That was the first defining feature I noticed first.

"...Don't tell me…"

Because of how shocked I was, I let my thoughts out on accident.

"What is this thing?"

His free arm shook my glove like it was a toy.

Although I was internally crying at the scene I showed no emotion aside from apprehension at the figure.

This wasn't a good spot for me.

Because of how cramped and narrow the room was I couldn't perform my moves at their highest capacity.

'Who is this?'

I only asked myself that as a joke, there was only one person who was erratic enough to do anything as he pleased.

'He's the Suspect!'

I barged through the door, running away from the files room.

This base in particular was in conjunction with a smuggling company situated in Japan, the Flower Bin. So even though it was large, most of the members were non-combatants.

-BEEP! -BEEP!

[Lockdown Protocol activated. Lockdown Protocol activated.]

Bells and sirens rang throughout the warehouse.

Slow steps came from behind me.

"Don't tell me a little rat like you thought that you were going to get away were you?"

He laughed at my face.

"I am. And I will."

"Hoh~ It's like a fly you know? You kill them but they keep coming back, you seem like a fly you know that?"

-Crack!

I watched as he stretched, cracking all his stiff joints trying to provoke me. I've seen lots of people try this, but they're now all six feet under.

"How polite, you let me warm up before fighting. But chivalry is for the strong."

As he rushed towards me I grabbed my knives and prepared for combat.

*

*

*

Arthur anxiously waited outside the emergency room.

The bright red sign showing that the surgery was still in progress was draining any sanity he had left from working countless hours before.

"Haaa… Those cult bastards self exploded… I knew this would happen sooner or later…"

The base Oliver had raided was in the middle. Average guards, average overseer commanding the base. 

He thought that the self explosions would come from higher, more costly bases since the money required would be astronomical for each base to implode on itself.

'We need to revise the plan.'

-Tap -Tap

"Arthur, is Oliver here yet?"

As Arthur looked up he came to the sight of one of the Knights of the Round Table, Lancelot.

"No… he's still in the emergency room." Arthur replied as he sighed at Oliver's misfortune.

"Here, want a drink?"

"...Thanks…"

Arthur went back into deep contemplation in the peaceful silence.

"...Haha… this is awkward isn't it?"

Arthur looked at Lancelot wondering what he meant.

"I'm trying to find words to cheer you up but I can't seem to find any. But I will say this, Oliver is going to be fine, he's one tenacious person after all."

Lancelot got up and left, throwing his aluminum can in the recycling bin along the way.

"Hah… I guess all I can do is have faith…"

He looked at the 'In-Progress' sign with some newfound hope.

~~~~

Ha… 

I said so confidently that I was going to triple upload a few days ago and now it's like what… three days later?

… I'm missing six chapters…

You know what, since it doesn't matter if it's today or tomorrow I'll try and do a seven chapter upload!

(I'm going to regret this so much)