A New Beginning

Moor City, 8:37 am, Saturday

The bright morning sun had long since risen up, lighting up the clear blue sky. The wet cobblestone streets glistened and shimmered with the heat wave. Silently and peacefully, the city slept in, few citizens were up.

Many store clerks, in the midst of opening, yawned and fidgeted tiredly. A uniquely exquisite butchery hadn't opened up yet. Instead, they opted to open at ten, to the chagrin of many.

This day, that butchery had a grand opening for their smallest branch store in Moor. For this momentous occasion, they opened up at nine sharp. This was shown to bring in more profitable business.

The chubby butcher assigned for the opening shift of the opening rubbed his eyes tiredly. He'd only now gotten ready and decided that 'resting' his eyes for a bit wouldn't hurt.

Soon, the man was snoring, unaware of anything going on. A very short child with red hair, who'd snuck in through an open window, ran amuck, grabbing everything in sight; A ostensible robbery in broad daylight.

The child, arms full of goodies, slid back through the window, unseen. The child's name was Ren, and he'd been born that size. His parents, unable to care for a child, had thrown Ren out onto the streets before running off into another city.

The orphanage inside the city was mainly for teenagers, more like a club than a refuge. Thus, the streets were littered with orphan children, although they kept away from sight. If these children were caught, they'd be beaten and sent to prison until they were old enough to serve in the military.

Ren snuck throughout the back alleys with his bounty, eyes vast in excitement. This haul was enough for Ren to eat for a week. His footsteps rung out, echoing around.

"Clap" "Clap"

Ren became suspicious, his footstep's echoes were starting to become more like another person were behind him. He'd had experienced this before, where a larger kid had followed him to his hideout to beat him up and steal his food.

Ren shifted his footsteps, listening for the sound. "Clap Clap" Turned into "Clap... Clap" Ren's eyes hardened, convinced someone was following him. He kept moving as if he noticed nothing.

He reached an outlet into the empty streets, stopping suddenly. "Whoever's following me, come out, and stop!" Ren called out, looking towards the alleyway.

"You got me, kid." A man slid out from the shadows. He had military slacks and large boots. His shoulders were broad, and eyes sharp as an eagle.

His jacket had the mark of a corporal, but Ren hadn't ever seen a corporal before. Ren just guessed that the man was a corporal, in reality, he was a power-hungry private, looking to get a promotion.

The man nodded, before saying "But, you aren't getting away. You'll go to the military like all of the others." The private reached out to grab Ren, moving at a speed almost inhumane.

To Ren, it looked like the man was moving in slow motion, he sidestepped the grab, causing the private to be unbalanced. Ren stepped into the man's, using the man's momentum to fling him into the ground.

'Whoomph'

The corporal lost his breath, wheezing in pain. Ren followed the corporal, slamming his elbow into the private's ribs. The man coughed up blood; quite a few of his bones were crushed.

The private laid there in pain and shock, eyes glazed over as he sped towards unconsciousness. Before he passed out, he hit a small button on the side of his jacket, and whispered, "I've placed a tracker, come to get him."

Ren whacked his nose, effectively knocking the Private unconscious. Ren looked about for the tracker the Private said he'd put on Ren. After searching for a few minutes, and finding nothing, he whapped the man again in anger, before plopping onto the ground frustrated.

If the man had placed a tracker on Ren, then he saw no point in running. Minutes passed by, the pressure Ren felt increased. As Ren was about to get up and leave, a black SUV sped to the alleyway, screeching to a halt in front of Ren.

Four men, dressed in all black, came out from the interior of the SUV. Ren noticed they all had no identifiers upon their persons. That meant they were either fake officials or thought he was a significant enough threat to bring out the big guns.

The men let out an elderly woman, who was dressed in traditional military garb. The woman walked toward Ren, glancing at the private, shaking her head. "Young man, did you do that?"

"Yes," Ren said flatly, eyes defiantly staring at the woman. "Who are you?"

'Wap'

The woman slapped Ren, shocking him to the core. Ren didn't expect the woman to be so strong. "Young man, you know that you've killed Private Ryan... Right?"

"No, he's alive... I think..." Ren replied, scrambling over to check Ryan's vitals. Ren's eyes shook as he found out he'd just killed someone. He hung his head, not daring to look at anyone.

The day had just started to get busy. Thus a crowd had now formed. A tomato flew from the circle, landing on Ren's crown. The mob, now incensed, bombarded Ren with a salvo of tomatoes. Most of the crowd were friends with Ryan.

The woman did nothing to stop the crowd. Ren sat there, shocked; he was becoming angry too. Ren had always had a good temperament, even when getting ridiculed for being small, he'd never lost it. Looking at the meat on the side of the road, anger overtook him.

Ren's eyes turned bloodshot, he stood up, causing a few tomatoes to miss their mark. He stared at the crowd, rage filling his eyes. The woman noticed this, and stood at the side, curious as to what would happen.

'Boom'

Ren's body shuddered, in an instant, the crowd exploded. The woman stared, dumbfounded at Ren, who'd appeared behind the now dead crowd.

"**** You all!" Screamed Ren, "You all need to chill!" Ren stared at the bodies angrily. The woman looked at Ren, nodding to her guards, "Detain him."

Ren stood there, unnoticing. The guards approached him warily, eyeing his reactions. Ren finally noticed the guards nearing him. Sneering, he tensed up, ready to shred them up.

'Whoom'

A tremendous noise rang from above, distracting Ren. Two jade coins flew towards Ren, breaking past the sound barrier. Ren, unable to dodge, was hit straight between his eyes, knocking him out cold.

The 'coins' slid into his hands after bouncing off his head. Steam rose from the coins, seemingly burning into his palms. Ren's body flopped to the ground. The guards rushed up and grabbed him, dragging him into the car.

To anyone else, it had seemed as though Ren fell to the ground exhausted. No one had seen the coins.

They drove off, leaving a bloody mess in the streets, where a massive riot would happen. Ren's actions caused considerable panic, prompting the government to take action.

"That kid is terrifying. Put him into the suicide squad." The woman said to her consorts as they drove off, "He'd do better there."