Instantaneous Choice

Its sleek silver barrel shone in the moonlight although blotted by the forewarning hail of rain upon this deteriorating expanse. Gripping it with a single hand, Kage peered from the rear to its front sight admiring the basic principles of the weapon. It wasn't overly complex with machinations and wizardry to enhance a user's ability. All that formed this tool were the bare necessities to end one's life. An idea that much like the revolver, would have to hang by his hip.

The rainfall of the night emphasized the glaring brilliance of the building ever more. An apartment complex abandoned then modified into a hideout of increasing complexity. Broadening its scope until it controlled the surrounding street then neighborhood, now it ruled the eastern ports including the shop fronts along the way requiring all inside its bounds to pay a simply exorbitant fee.

For three nights and two days Kage watched the inner workings of the area. The guards drunken to a stupor passed their time playing cards in their respective posts, a specific few always wound up passed out by the time the church bells welcomed a new day. They sat at the opening to the electric fence gated off with a threat more than actual defenses. This was a gang long incorporated into the history of the city, one in which those brought in would leave in little else than a bodybag. So caught in their pride a witness could chance upon a trailer dumping their foes into the street across from the police station. They cared not for the misdeed because of the bribes handed out as well as a simple slothfulness of responsibility.

Yet, he remained vigilant. On the third night he simply walked past the slumbering guards taking stock of the fire escape along the north facing side of their hideout. At the top with a shiny neon green glow was his target. The techno beat reverberated for a mile off the building bringing with it a watchful presence to place its inhabitants into constant fear.

A pig dining on a jewel encrusted slop as its minions dirtied the world outside its keep in a feverish hue. Kage barely contained his anger, for if he did not then he would never have spotted the camera lined up to face the dropdown ladder allowing entry into the stairwell. Despite their inherent laziness, an underlying worry maintained itself in the hog.

Carefully, Kage had maneuvered so that he stood just beneath the camera. It was attached to a metal pole covered in brush overlooked by a plastic tree. Sliding his hands on either side of the object he realized that all which kept it in place were three nails. With his strength, Kage was sure he could rip off the camera then smash it, but that night wasn't right. The next would have to be the time. One more day for his reassurance to be consolidated.

On the first day, he surveyed several points to overlook the complex, eventually discovering a decrepit construction site, long forgotten and unfinished. Apparently, it was to be the next landmark of the city. Dozens of stories to inhabit nearly a thousand people, now cut in half with its materials left behind as the ceiling rotted away as walls came close to being blown over by a violent breeze. It was a perfect location.

During the day, Kage used his binoculars jotted in congruence with a notepad to document all the vehicles entering the complex through its underground garage. Garbage trucks which were offloaded with pallets stuffed full of white bags, limousines lined with women no matter the age, and the occasional beat down sedan bearing a driver who tweaked as well as jittered with every breath.

Each action committed within that fenced area; he plotted his course further.

The mornings, 4:00 am to 6:00 am, were accompanied by loud yelling as orders were given to the grunts who would make their rounds rushing to their cars and tearing rubber to get their work finished. This left only the most awake and veteran of guards to maintain protection of the grounds. It was also the time when those cameras were most likely being watched, unlike at night.

The armored limousines arrived punctually at 9:00 am with their cargo of women and some boys who were shepherded off into the elevator landing on the fifteenth floor. They all bore the symbols of heroin injections, drugged with a plethora of depressants to keep them in the mood for their evenings at the penthouse. Through the right angle and exploratory heights in the abandoned structure, Kage witnessed the twenty or so hostages trafficked about in the pulsating room. Three were always given to a portly mustached man, hairs thinning to a gray undertone atop his shiny scalp, undoubtedly the boss. Meanwhile, the rest found captors at each bend using them for their twisted pleasure.

However, that was later in the day. Approximately 5:00 pm just when the shifts changed. The hours before were dominated by changes in the highly trained guards to ones bored, comforted by the taste of alcohol more so than the thought of death in their laziness.

Guests arrived in a variety of limousines, armored trucks, and sometimes even walking onto the premises without a word spoken at the gate. There were men and women attached to syndicates from across the nation and yet they met here.

'What ties does this filth have?'

A question Kage was unable to answer in his limited time spent surveying the complex.

Whatever, it did not concern him. He was here for one reason alone.

A tinge of guilt pressed into his consciousness at the idea of leaving those people to the group. There was no way for him to save them after all, if he were to interrogate the boss without incident then they needed to be sacrificed. Later, he promised himself. Later he would send someone to help them, a Hero not associated with this city who could save those inside.

He would tell Daniel after he rescued him. Then, he could save those inside.

"You need to stop with the lies, Kage… I didn't raise you like this." Caught by the voice. Kage sat squatted, hands rummaging through his tool bag preparing the loaded revolver.

"Look, see, hear the cries and woes of the choir below you. They beg for a relief. Hark and gaze at their outcome." Shaking off his shock, Kage peered into his binoculars once more witnessing what he failed to understand of the fate of those who never left the building. An SUV just peeled away from the gates but suffered a bump at too fast a speed, cracking the lock to its trunk revealing its innards. What lay inside twitched Kage's eye.

It was an uncontrollable act as was the grip he impressed upon the binoculars. Despite the rain, the flash of lightning, and the clouds of pollution hanging so low in the air, he clearly saw the bruised face of a boy in that trunk. But, coming shortly after the recognition of the face came, Kage's ears picked up on the final breath rattling out the throat of that child.

A child no older than Lisa.

Those eyes without color.

Even in death he suffered, unable to go peacefully into that cold night but squeezed into such a confined space most likely among many others.

Kage's attention then drew to the drunken couple at the front gate, snoozing in peace at their blissfully ignorant lives. Creatures without purpose.

'These people are not human.

They were never born by God's creation.'

"You see now, don't you? Will you just let them die, or can you do more?"

The voice was always there since the beginning. It took control of him, guiding Kage when at a crossroads. Although Kage was forced to stare up into those pristinely cleansed spectacles unable to look away. Now, he was listening, able to understand without moving forgoing his consent first.

But even this sight made his blood boil.

Toppling his bag over, spilling the entirety of its contents out, Kage found what he was set on. A steel bladed knife accompanied by a lighter embellished by the silver engraving of a rabbit as well as a rat on the cover and its backside. The rabbit winked at him gnawing further on its carrot as if to challenge him in his endeavors. It was a challenge Kage happily stood by.

The challenge to accomplish two feats without failure.

At first, he thought it would be quite difficult with the instantaneous timing, but in actuality it wasn't. Throughout his surveillance, Kage understood that the trafficked ones were kept in a separate blue building sunken low to the ground with a single story. For an hour before they were escorted into the penthouse the people were trapped inside. Inside this flat it was a mystery to Kage what they were forced to do. However, thirty minutes before they were called three were always taken. These were three the boss would manage for the night deposing his sickness upon.

Yet, despite them all being his possessions, he kept only a single guard on the door. It was as if the man could oppress them by the very idea of freedom itself. Sure, the captives would be able to escape if they wished to, but what from there? This person owned the city, they would be dead in the water in minutes. That was, if they were only to go out by themselves, with some assistance, they might be able to escape.

Kage pulled out his phone then dialed a number, waiting only two chimes before it answered.