Yuki waited patiently as the last of the former captives exited their old prison. He saw Erica chatting with the kitsune from before. They embraced and Erica waved at her as the kitsune left through the tunnel. Glancing over at the cells that were still occupied, he noticed that their occupants did not seem to be interested in the commotion around them. Two of them even appeared to be sleeping.

“Boss, what are you planning to do with them?” Yuna asked him. She was standing behind where he was.

“I’m just going to chat with them for a bit,” Yuki replied. “Erica, come with me for a bit.”

She turned her head toward Yuki and gave him a nod. Then she started to walk toward him.

“Can I come, as well?” Akira said.

“Sure.”

“What do you want me to do?” Erica asked as she caught up with him.

“We’re going to talk to a few people,” he replied. “By the way, who’s that woman you were talking to? She looks like a kitsune.”

“She is,” Erica smiled. “Why do you ask?”

“You seemed close. I just wanted to know how you two met?”

“Aww, were you jealous~?” 

“You know the answer to that.”

“Hmph. You’re no fun,” she pouted. Then her eyes became serious. “I met her a while ago when I was at that place that I told you about when I met you again in Fenrir. That shelter that was my first home in years? Vii was one of the reasons why I stayed. And why that place felt so safe for me.”

“What happened?”

“The Shikaku happened,” Erica replied. Her voice was heavy as she spoke. “Vii and I ran away together but we decided to separate because it would be easier to hide and only one of us could be caught at a time.” Her eyes grew unfocused. “We shouldn’t have done that. She wouldn’t have been caught if she stayed with me.”

“You don’t know that for certain,” Yuki said. “You both could have been captured. Then you would be together in different cells, unable to talk with each other or see each other. I think that’s worse than not knowing where she went. At least by not knowing you can convince yourself she’s fine.”

“But she wasn’t fine,” Erica said, her voice cracking. “She’s been trapped in here for months. Nothing to see. No one to talk to. You can barely move in those cells.”

“She’s free now though. Remember the past but don’t dwell on it. What ifs help no one. They only prepare you for the future. Vii looks to be doing okay as well.”

“She’s fine now but that’s after I broke through her shell,” she explained. “She didn’t even recognize me when I first saw her. I had to force my way into her mind and basically jump start it.”

“And now she’s fine. This isn’t something you should be worrying about, Erica.”

“But—.”

“No buts,” Yuki said with a firm yet soft voice. “Erica, you saved her. That’s all that matters. You found her and you helped her. Now she has a future and a life. Focus on the present. Never forget the past but don’t let it control you.”

“I know,” Erica sighed. “But it’s hard to.”

He said nothing headed toward the section where the real criminals were held. They were together in a group of five cells, three on the bottom and two on top. Two of them watched Yuki’s approach with passive eyes while a third stared at a corner in his cell.

“Well, we have to do some work right now if your up to it. Erica, can you do a quick scan of those five?” Yuki asked. 

“I can do it, don’t worry about it,” she replied with a small smile. Erica closed her eyes and let out a small breath as a wave of mana released from her. “What do you want to know specifically?”

“Their mental states. Are they unstable? Maybe if they have regrets or feel guilt. Whatever stands out to you.”

“Hmm. I see,” she said, her eyes still closed. “They all feel no guilt. Or at least, they don’t have any strong feelings of guilt or regret right now. The one that’s staring at nothing is too far gone. His mind broke from confinement.”

“And the others?”

“They seem to be functioning on a normal scale. However, two of them are almost dead. The two that look to be sleeping. I believe they’re trying to starve themselves to death.”

Yuki looked closer at the two that he initially thought were sleeping. They were quite thin with their cheeks sunken and their bones easily visible.

“How far gone are they?” Yuki asked. 

“I’m not a doctor so I wouldn’t know,” Erica sighed. “I just can feel their rampaging hunger. It’s all they can think about.”

“Zoe might have been more helpful here,” Yuki muttered to himself. “But since she’s not here, I’m going to have to assume that they’re too far gone.” He looked up. “How about the last two?”

“There aren’t any blaring problems that I can detect. But you’ll know more if you talked to them or if you let me do a deeper scan.”

“I see,” Yuki nodded. He put his hand to his ear and pressed the ear piece in it. The glass screen in front of his eye lit up at the press. “Uriel, can you unlock the two on the bottom that are furthest to the left?”

“Of course,” Uriel replied. 

The glass entrance of the cells for two of the prisoners opened upwards with a small woosh. Yuki walked into one and gazed at the man inside with cool eyes. 

“Hello there,” Yuki greeted. “I’m going to remove your restraint. If you attack me, I’m going to kill you. Understood?”

The man stared back at Yuki. After a few seconds, the man gave a slight nod. Yuki reached over to where the wire that was connected to the man’s collar was attached to the wall. Next to it was a button that disabled the restraint. He pressed it and yanked the cord out of the wall.

“Do you need help to take the collar off?” Yuki asked the man.

The man didn’t reply and reached up with his hands to grasp the restraint around his neck. Then with a small grunt, he tore the metal where the two ends connected at the lock. The collar clanged as it hit the floor and he stared at Yuki again. Yuki narrowed his eyes.

“Can you speak?” Yuki asked quietly.

The man shook his head.

“Are you mute because of biological reasons or have you taken an oath of silence?”

The man’s mouth twitched and he continued to stare at Yuki.

“Ah, I see. You can’t tell me anyway. No matter. Let’s meet your neighbor now, shall we?”

Yuki walked out of the small cell and into the one next to it. He repeated the same warning to the woman in that cell and she gave him a nod. Then he removed her restraint and led her outside of her prison.

“Now. You probably know why you’re still here, correct?” Yuki asked.

“Yeah,” the woman shrugged. “We killed some people and that’s why you’re not just letting us run out.”

“That is correct,” Yuki nodded. “May I have your name?”

“Jackie or Jackal, whatever you like,” she said. She pointed with her thumb to the man beside her. He was sitting on the floor with his legs crossed. “That’s Abel. He doesn’t like to talk all that much now so he swore that he wouldn’t speak unless it was extremely necessary. As you can see, he’s doing a very good job at it.”

The man nodded and said nothing.

“You can communicate with him?” 

“Yep. What do you want to know?”

“Who you killed. That’s all,” Yuki said. “Just tell me. Were they rich? Were their personalities horrible?”

“I killed a lot of people, my friend,” Jackal replied. “Who do you want to know? The businessmen? The asshats? Abel, you’ve killed like what? Seven people solo?”

The man frowned.

“Oh, nine? Yeah. I killed maybe twelve or so by myself. Together with Abel, maybe around twenty, give or take.”

“That’s a lot of people. Want to tell me why you did it?”

“Why we killed them?”

“Yes.”

“Well, to make this short, I like to consider Abel and I as, um, social warriors of justice?” Jackal said, nodding as she said that. “Yeah, social warriors of justice.”

“So vigilantes.”

“Yep, that’s the word. But I think my term sounds nicer.”

“Debatable but move on.”

“As a social warrior of justice, I go about the cities of Libra trying to clean up the streets and stuff. There’s crime everywhere and I just decided that I’ll help out a bit here and there.”

“Why not just report to the police about the crimes?” Yuki asked. “It would have made things much easier for you. Killing isn’t an easy task.”

“Easier, but things won’t get finished,” she explained. “You know what happens when criminals get arrested? They just sit in prison until their sentence is up then go on their happy way back to their life of crime. Murderers just sit there for the rest of their life. They don’t regret anything because normal prisons are nothing like this place. Hell, this place didn’t even guilt me at all. It just made me madder. Those people shouldn’t be alive.”

“The police seem very efficient and effective at what they do at least. And there is a death penalty, isn’t there?” Yuki replied. “They arrested you so that proves that their capable. I’m sure they can arrest others with ease.”

“No on both accounts. They only arrest when it helps them. And they only kill when it benefits them. Trust me. I would know,” she growled. “I used to work for them.”

“A demon worked for the police? That’s seems risky.”

“Yeah. I was a private contractor that they hired when they were a little short on manpower. They would send me out to catch some crooks for them. But the crooks were never your normal run of the mill ones. They were the ones that caused problems for the police and the rich folks. The rest of the criminals? They’re just free to roam because they weren’t hurting the important people.”

“So you just kill to exact justice then? Protecting the weak.”

“Basically, yeah. No one does it so I might as well. I met Abel here a few months after I started and we joined together. But it wasn’t really about protecting the weak and more about getting rid of the assholes. The protecting was a side effect.”

“I see,” Yuki nodded. “But still, killing is no easy task. Do you ever regret your actions or felt guilty? Anything at all?”

“Never. They deserved what they have coming to them,” Jackal spat. “I would be lying if I said that I didn’t enjoy doing it.”

‘A bit cold,’ Yuki observed. ‘Nothing that is of worry though. I think Abel should be about the same.’

“How good are you at what you do?” he asked. “Be honest with me, would you?”

“I would say on a scale of one to ten, I would be around a seven or an eight,” Jackal replied confidently. “I’m not the best but I’m pretty damn good.”

“Have you ever hurt any civilians or killed any civilians?”

“Not intentionally, no.”

“How about police?”

“Well yeah, but in my defense,” she said, putting up a finger. “That was just because I was trying to protect myself. Of course, it would have been easier to run away but I don’t do that with the police. The police in Libra are basically the same as criminals to me.”

“I don’t really care either way just as long as you don’t kill indiscriminately. Just as long as your reason isn’t something like she looked at me weird,” Yuki said. He thought for a bit before speaking again. “Would you like to do some more social justice? Like maybe eliminate some people from, let’s say, a dark guild?”

“If there’s a good reason for me to do it, then I don’t see why not,” she shrugged.

“Oh, there’s a good reason. One of the reasons is why you’re here in the first place” Yuki said. “How about your friend here? What does he think?”

Abel shrugged and pointed to Jackie.

“He says that he’ll go wherever I go,” she smiled. “He’s a good partner.”

“Erica, are they lying?” Yuki said louder.

“I can’t tell about the mute guy because, well, he’s not saying anything but she seems sincere enough,” Erica replied. “So she at least believes in what she’s saying.”

“I see. Then in that case, Jackie and Abel,” Yuki said, spreading his hands. “Want to join us? We could use some people like you.”