Guillotine?

Guillotine?

(Chapter 11)

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With chainmail gloves on his hands, he administers torture after torture. The guy who we thought we knew was only the mere surface of Guillelmus. This is the guy who'll stop at nothing to defend what he has. His relentless barrage of questions cannot be answered; a deliberate attempt to get some pain in to strike fear. You never know when he's gonna ask what's your birthday, and for that matter, formulating premeditated answers won't work.

He doesn't wish for the dude to bleed out so he switches his tactics from time to time. He currently has him on the water board and rendered gasping for breath. It's not about digging up the information no more. He has to punish him for even thinking about touching mama. He gives him the time of his life, the roughest time of his life. Death is always nearer to some than others, just by virtue of their spirit. Benignus, Malignus, Evanescent.

[>]

[Valentina]

The two ladies walk side by side, mom on the left and Tina on the right. They didn't have time to dress up though. They saunter along in their home clothing and you dare not judge them.

"Mom; I can call you mom right?"

"Why not? Every woman's name becomes mom the instant she bears a child. I'm very okay with it." She gives the thumbs up.

"Is that so?"

"Why? What's the matter?"

"I dunno. Thought it'd be weird since we're not related in the slightest."

"I see… well I actually didn't have anywhere in mind *giggle*."

"Just wanted to get outta there, right?"

"Mhm."

"Aren't you bothered by what he's about to do, and isn't it illegal, the vigilante justice? "

"Vigilante justice is still justice. These are heartless people, and beSIDES, no one'll find out if you don't go and tattle to anyone."

"Well I don't really have anyone to tell even if I wanted to. I'm alone here remember?"

"Weren't you staying at Ms. Laura's?"

"True. Anyways, we're outta the house now, and I doubt Amitha's in range."

"Right. So you wanna know more about my baby?" she pulls her closer.

"Sounds so weird when you put it that way. I wanna know more about your past. Let's head toward Erin's house so we can tackle two birds with one stone."

"Yeah. I even needed a little time to recollect my memories. C'mon."

[Veteran]

The blonde twins rendezvous with their granddad at the Western Gate. He actually managed to doze off under the shade of the "Carriage Stop". He's also in house clothing. Doesn't look like he's taking this one seriously either.

"Look at him. I'm sure he thinks we're gonna help some old folk out with their laundry or something."

"Don't be hard on him. You've been selecting "jokes" so you shouldn't expect him to take it seriously," Alexander states truthfully.

"But I don't want him to get hurt either. Could you imagine what we'd do?"

"Well that's true, but you know he hates being treated like a senior citizen."

"This isn't going anywhere. I'm off to find us a carriage—"

"Find who what?" he wakes putting his palm to his forehead.

"You dizzy grandpa?"

"I'm fine. Just flustered by the sight of YOU TWO up so early."

"What do you mean by EARLY?" she takes offense. "I'll have you know that I'm always up before noon," she says looking the other way.

"Isn't that like half-day spent? I know that the two of you barely go on Night Raids."

"Touché. But you see, beauty sleep is very important." Alexander steps in. "You see we don't wanna end up looking all scruffy like you." Mr. Alex can only laugh. He gets up.

"If you say so. We should get going."

"You don't expect us to WALK all the way there do you Grandpa?"

"We could even run all the way there. We're both I.M.U's. I could even carry Lil' Alex."

"No way. I can't be seen running like a madman. What if you-know-who saw me? Besides, I doubt little brother here would be delighted to be carried like a little boy. We have to take a carriage."

"Well then, lead the way."

[Valentina]

"You done now?"

"I might leave out some important details."

"Fine with me…"

"Alright. The circumstances around my baby's birth were very odd. I was so delighted at the mere sight of my newborn baby, but that feeling only lasted for a week. His Naming and Dousing came up… Our family had presented quite a low aptitude for quite a while so we just raked up any junk gear we could find. Now I wonder…if we had done things differently that day, would things have turned out differently. I can't possibly be certain.

[Guillelmus]

Although he's roughed the guy up quite good, the idiot hasn't sustained that much damage. He only lost his fingernails, got some broken bones and some bruises but it's better than other forms of torture. Elmus even has a needle kit which he hasn't used yet. Thing is Harmonie has an innate tendency to avoid violence and suffering if possible. Even when he holds a grudge, it always far outlasts his rage.

He gets a bit of information from the dirt bag about the whereabouts of the Dark Alley in Banlieue. The hierarchy is unknown to the small fry though so he has to put two and two together. These small fry push the drugs, abuse the people and some are even bold enough to take their "taxes" in broad daylight. What Harmonie uncovered from his operation last time is there are two divisions. Let's talk about the field op division first.

There are the thugs who do the dirty work. They called them rookies. Once you get along well operating on your own, that is if you're bringing in profit, they'll assign you to a "Family". This is a group of like thugs with a leader, the "Head". The Head of the Family calls the shots but doesn't take part in the action. He also receives a bigger cut. Then there's the Peak, a unit of three. The lowest ranking one takes the "tax" from all the heads and submits it to the Dark Alley after inspection. He's the "Scavenger". The next runner-up serves as the bodyguard to the tip of the Peak. He also provides tactical support and monitors the Scavenger. He's the Barricade. And finally, the head of field ops in a region/city is the Dark Alley Sentinel. Does Blood-Eye ring a bell?

It so happens that they plan to pump even more narcotics into Banlieue before the end of the year. Which one to be precise? It's Skylight. Extracted from mom's favorite flower is the deadliest drug on their streets. Just a small whiff of the flower gives you a taste of cloud nine. It's probably gonna be the thing to put the "Merry" in Christmas this year; only enough reason to put the incapacitation of Banlieue's Dark Alley at the #1 spot on his priority list.

As the hours fly by, the intensity of the interrogation dies down. The idiot has become a miserable sight to behold. It's just like how you hunt down any animal that you spot in your house, but you feel horrible when you actually kill it. He feels so awful that he doesn't even wanna continue after sunset. It's time to bring the sheep to the slaughter.

[Anika]

It's sundown and time for the next set of Night Raids. She appears to be very worried. It's not about her sister who is off to identify a new possible threat. It's about Arthur's team. She asked about them the whole day but no one had a clue where they were. There's also the possibility that they haven't located it yet but she can't be certain. It's not appearing on radar and it could've evaded detection like the Bigfoot. Or maybe she's just jumping to conclusions.

"Hey there!" Erin waves in her face. "Earth to Novanecta!" She jumps back and lets out a short scream. "Chill!"

"*breathing*… I'm sorry. Don't startle me like that." She pulls herself up.

"What's the matter?"

"… I don't know if I'm just over-reacting,"—she rests her chin in her palm—"but Succubus hasn't come back. I have this gut-wrenching feeling, a feeling that something went terribly wrong. Is it possible that they were even abducted?"

"Hey. Calm down babe. You're supposed to be the optimistic one. I'm assuming they left yesterday. Doing the math, if they're not back on Thursday, Send someone after them."

"but what If Thursday's too late?"

"Didn't I just talk about optimism?"

"Maybe you're right. They're like the upper echelon of the Guild."

"Exactly why there's no need to worry. Just do whatchu do best." He pats her on the back."

[Guillelmus]

Both of them feel awful at this point; one because he has suffered physically and mentally and the other because he has suffered emotionally. Guillelmus kicks him down and his forehead forcefully bashes the ground, "THUD!"This causes a mild splash from the water that spilled on the wooden floor. His blood slowly diffuses into the water as well, painting the floor with a violent hue.

Whether he's cold or hot, even he can't tell. Is he sweating so profusely because he's suffering or because he's actually so darn hot. Either way, I can proudly say it's HELL in there. He's been forced to air-sit for so long that he feels like his muscles are falling apart. Resting only got his legs sliced up. He's bloody as well. One look at the poor thing would tell you otherwise, that he hasn't given up on surviving yet.

"What're you doing? Please. I'm begging you. I've had enough."

"Well I noticed,"—he draws Amitha—"so it's time to put an end to this."

"{Don't tell me you're gonna…}"

"This is the end of the line for you." He gets into a befitting position for his beheading."

"Wait! I'm begging you from the bottom of my heart. I know I did wrong so please spare my life!"

"We BOTH know that I obviously can't let you go NOW."

"{Elmus. I've taken everything quietly. I was here throughout everything you did to him but…}"

"QUIET. I said I was gonna kill him when I started."

"No! You can't! God! God! Please help me!" He begins to struggle vigorously on the ground; tries to pry his hands of the arm-rests. He tumbles over and over again in a desperate attempt to overwhelm the metal structure he's been bound to, but all of it proves futile.

"…I honestly don't see why I should," he says without a single trace of emotion in his voice.

"Wait a sec!"—he starts to cry—"listen, I'm BEGGING OF YOU. I saw my life flash before my eyes today… It made me realize that I hadn't done anything right. When I suffered I just decided to go with the flow… What I'm saying is I want a chance to change. I know I haven't done anything right and I can't- I can't let it end like this!"

His cries turn to weeping. It doesn't seem to mean anything though. Guillelmus raises the blade which will serve as the Guillotine.

"Don't think your crocodile tears will fool me if I've been able to withstand them up till now."

"{Elmus don't.}"

"God-God-God-God please. I SAID I was SORRY. I'm genuinely SORRY. God…*whimper*…aren't I your child too! Help me!" He starts to struggle again.

"{I'm sorry Amitha. I have to make sure that mom is safe.}"

"{Don't you dare do it! I don't want even a drop of his blood to touch me. If you really wanna kill him, use. something. else! Can you hear me?!}

Our hero drops Amitha and sets his hands on a giant cleaver, thick enough to slice through bone, perfect for the job. He swings it around to his rear end so he can swing it down with the full possible extent of momentum to decapitate him. It even makes a large dent in the wooden floor boards. He cracks his fingers and psyches himself up.

"You hear that? I think it's time to say your final prayers."

------------End of Chapter 11-------------

Does the selflessness of heroes really exist? If you had to choose between assuring your family, your mom's safety, and sparing a life what would you do? The fact that he put Amitha down means his mind's already made up.

To be continued…