Archer Griffen stood over the porch of an old abandoned apartment building, staring down at an even older and abandoned soda bottling facility. Though saying abandoned was a bit of a moot point here in the restricted zone, as everything here was abandoned.

After the first great reckoning that occurred decades ago, entire sections of the city were blocked off, deemed too dangerous as the place was laden with monsters and anomalies. The deeper you went, the more dangerous it was. Hence why no effort of repopulation has occurred yet, it also makes it a perfect place to have a secret base, if you could survive the environment, of course.

Which it seems like this group of Canolia gang members have done. They managed to set up an operation here in this soda factory and have been using it to achieve two things. One was to produce and move drugs and money, the other was to process the people they’ve kidnapped.

There had been a few disappearances of high school students over the past number of weeks that Archer was able to link to one gang. Thankfully for the last week there had been no such occurrences. It seemed as though Archer’s debut with his alter ego worked well enough to scare the group for a little bit.

They kept to peddling drugs and avoided any more kidnappings. But Archer doubted that would last much longer, these guys were going for something big. Why else would they be bold enough to employ a Trinity Academy student to lure other students just a week ago? They were planning something big and wanted it done fast.

So, before they start with anything, Archer may as well interfere first. Donned in his faceless white mask that had a messy, curly-haired wig attached and a fedora, Archer adjusted his black trench coat with his black gloves as he looked over the security.

There were two on guard at the main entrance, another one sat atop the roof. They looked pretty normal, with no visible mutations. They carried weapons, all magically powered. Archer guessed that they perhaps had the run-of-the-mill enhanced strength and speed. Though they could always have some special ability that could prove problematic. Archer would still need to approach this tactfully.

At the same time as Archer was planning, a car drove up to the front. Archer smiled behind the mask as he recognized the car. It was his newly made friend, Maq Bloom. Likely arriving here to try and warn everyone in there that he may have spilled everything he knew about this operation to a faceless psycho.

Well then, no dallying about now. Archer said as he rushed towards the factory. Moving up on the roof first, as it was the most unguarded. He carefully snuck behind the guard and very quickly and silently knocked the guard out.

Archer then gave pause as he looked down towards his fallen foe. What was he to do with him now? He wouldn’t be waking up for a while, and when he did, the hope was that the entire place would be destroyed. Leaving him and the others alone in hostile territory to fend for themselves.

Perhaps the merciful thing was to simply kill them all. Archer immediately frowned when that thought entered his mind. No. Simply no. He was better than that. Then what to do with all of these people? Archer had an idea, but he’ll look into it after the main part of this was dealt with.

As Archer made his way through the security, Maq was desperately trying to get the attention of his boss. He had to tell them, they were going to find out either way, but at least if he told them now, there was a chance that he wouldn’t be killed.

“Hey! Hey!” He yelled loudly when he entered the factory.

“Shut up.” Someone yelled as a spear struck right at the feet of Maq, causing him to fall backwards in fear, which then prompted those around him to laugh.

Gazing upwards, Maq saw him. The Martyr, a man known to leave his victims staked to the ground, with the power of generating spears out of thin air, he was an A-ranked villain through and through.

His appearance was unmistakable. Standing at six and a half feet tall, he sported a very fine-looking suit with a very expensive luxury watch. Though aside from his clothing and accessories, there was nothing sleek or elegant about him. Even in the suit, his muscles bulged outwards. He was muscular to an uncomfortable degree, where he no longer looked like a human. Across his hands were tattoos of spears, which in all honesty, looked ridiculous. Not that anyone was willing to tell him that.

“Oh, it’s you. What’s happening Maqqy?” The Martyr said with a laugh.

“We’ve been caught! They found out! He’s coming!”

“What? Who’s they?” The Martyr frowned as the lights to the factory turned off.

Archer during this time had just shut off the lights to the entire place. Though it was definitely possible for them to turn it on again, he hoped the chaos of it all would stall them for a bit.

Exploring the place beforehand allowed him to see a few things however. One was how this place was producing the ‘Mirage’ drug. The machines originally used to produce soft drinks turned into a factory for producing the stuff.

Though the secret ingredient was an interesting one. Death ghoul venom, highly rare, highly deadly. A single venom sack was enough to produce several tonnes of the stuff. The other supplies were also easy enough to gather even in areas within the restricted zone. Sugar and salt aren’t touched by monsters and don’t go bad. So do the other chemical products that go into the mix.

Death ghouls were human once however. So it could be considered that consuming the drugs was a form of weird cannibalism. Though no one really knew. Still it was an interesting thought for Archer as he intercepted someone trying to investigate what caused the darkness. With one quick strike, the issue was dealt with, and Archer moved to the main section. Deal with the main group and handle the stragglers.

“The monster is here! We have to run!” Maq shouted.

“Monster? You mean the one that messed up the bar?” Martyr laughed, “That’s no monster, just some idiot who plays dress-up. Stupid tricks. No tricks will stop me!” He boldly declared. As a couple of his henchmen managed to turn on some emergency standing lights.

Not a moment too soon either as a loud crash could be heard, followed by screams. Maq looked around in fear as Martyr shouted loudly, “Whoever you think you are, you messed with the wrong gang! I’m going to mount your head on a spike and offer it to Rivista!”

In response, one of their heavy hitters came flying across the room, stopping right at Martyr’s feet. Then one of the standing lights were knocked over, still shining light but now casting a long shadow of a figure standing atop a conveyor belt. Staying only for a moment, Archer shifted himself out of the light, disappearing into the darkness again.

“Fight me like a man!” Martyr screamed throwing three spears at where Archer was, only achieving some property damage.

“Hey Maqqy! Get- urgh coward.” Martyr said realizing that Maq was now hiding in a corner. That’s fine, he’ll deal with the idiot later. Right now he’ll handle this wannabe hero.

“I’m standing right here! What’s taking you so long?” Martyr roared as the last of his henchmen were taken out in the darkness.

Then there was silence, and The Martyr could hear the sound of only his own breath, the hum of machinery, and Maq’s annoying sniveling, then he heard it. The sound of methodic boot steps echoed across the factory. Then it stopped. Cautiously, Martyr squinted into the darkness, trying to see where Archer was.

All of a sudden he felt something slam into his back. Knocked to the ground, he felt something strike him in the back of his head. A second one landed before he materialized a floating spear and sent it flying above him.

Feeling the pressure removed from his back, Martyr quickly rose to his feet as he created and fired more spears at a retreating Archer. Tough for someone who’s just an “A-rank”. Archer thought as he weaved past the spears.

“I’m going to kill you!” Martyr roared and began to wildly fling spears across the room.

Archer gritted his teeth in frustration. He was going to hit someone with those things. He clearly didn’t care, but Archer did. Taking a deep breath, Archer realized that he would have to do this the hard way.

Moving back into the light Archer let The Martyr see him, though somewhat still obscured in the darkness, there was enough light for his attention to be focused on Archer.

“There you are.” Martyr sang out as he sent several sharp spears flying at Archer.

Archer stuck a hand out and grabbed the first spear towards him. Flipping it around, he then used the spear to bat the others harmlessly to the side. But with each swing he could feel the spear bending and breaking, threatening to break.

The Martyr then used this opportunity to form a spear in each of his hands and he charged forward, striking at Archer. The first strike shattered Archer’s, the second nearly struck him in the head.

The Martyr grinned now as he pressed his advantage, thrusting his spears at Archer, he would periodically summon another one to fly at Archer. Annoyingly enough, none of his attacks made contact, though. Still, without the element of surprise, it seemed that this faceless idiot had very little going for him. Hit hard though, so Martyr was not going to let the fool any closer.

Archer at this time was simply keeping track. Taking note of how his opponent attacked, which hand he favoured, what sort of spear thrust he liked, how he stood. The style was definitely more unorthodox, not the most efficient, but made it chaotic and hard to read.

The actual power that The Martyr had was the most interesting thing to Archer however. It was similar to that of the lady, Hye-Sun’s muskets. Though a lot more crude. Now Archer wished that he had stayed to see Hye-Sun’s full fight, it would’ve been useful. But at least in comparison to Hye-Sun, this man’s ability was crude.

The spears that were haphazardly being thrown at Archer were of poor quality, though the spears Martyr was holding were of better quality, they were basic. While Archer remembered seeing the intricately designed artwork across the muskets, there was no creativity behind Martyr’s weapons. Though with how well he dresses, Archer doubted that it was due to his lack of care of fashion, more likely it was because he lacked the ability to.

Besides that, the spears themselves were made of strong material, magic-powered, or something along those lines. Archer could tell that much after using one of them, he also knew that while they were strong, they shouldn’t be strong enough to pierce him. Will hurt like hell though. But hey, that’s the game, and Archer’s seen everything he’s needed.

The Martyr thrusted his left-handed spear out again and this time Archer caught it under his armpit, trapping it in place. Martyr tried to pull it free only to find it stuck in place. In frustration he then struck Archer with the other spear. Headshot. Though whatever satisfaction The Martyr had lasted fractions of a second as Archer didn’t skip a beat. He moved in closer.

The Martyr struck him across the head again. Archer got as close as he needed to by then. With his right hand pinning the spear in place, he raised his left and struck right at the chin of The Martyr. The impact caused him to lurch backwards, out of the light and as he struggled to get back and stabilize himself as he got hit with another.

The third one caused him to lose his grip on the left spear. A fourth sent him falling all the way back, but he wasn’t allowed to. Archer had released the spear at the same time as The Martyr did and now used his free hand to grab Martyr by the collar and punched him again.

Then he allowed Martyr to fall to the ground as he smashed him with a twelve-to-six elbow. That one was for the pain of getting hit with the spear. That is not an A-rank. Archer thought as he got up from the battered villain. Rubbing his sore neck, Archer then looked around. The main threat was done, now he just needed to deal with cleanup.

Archer then turned to see the still cowering Maq, unable to see anything. But he heard Archer’s footsteps. Desperately he tried to scramble away, only for Archer to catch him and slam his head onto the cold tile floor.

Alright. Bad guys are done. Drug ring is found. Just need to find some evidence I can take and figure out what they’re trying to do with the kidnapped. Archer thought as he went searching now without the issue of dealing with anyone.

It didn’t take long before Archer found what he was looking for. A locked door with a keypad. It had been a while since Archer had to hack anything, so to save time he simply ripped the door free. He kept the lock, practice for later.

Entering it he found something that made him sick. A half dozen large cages laid about, all filled with the kidnapped, or at least what were once the kidnapped. Now turned into undead monstrosities, parts stitched onto them, mutated and tested beyond belief.

Moving over to a research table, he found several log entries and a computer with recorded data. The kids were used to try and create some sort of undead monster that the Canolias could use. Hence why the Death Ghoul venom was available. Failed experiments, they were trying to create something even greater than those.

The ones still remaining in the cages were those that were halfway there. It seemed that getting someone in their teens offered the best results, even better if they had some natural abilities. Hence why the attempt of taking Trinity Academy students.

Further documents show that they got help from rich businessmen and politicians. Not just for this project but for other Canolia gang-run activities. Useful information, but information that could be hidden if given to the wrong hands.

But first, to deal with the victims. Thankfully the ones that ran the place weren’t idiots and had a failsafe to deal with the undead in case one broke out. Quickly activating the failsafe, the cages’ purifying spell activated and the bodies crumpled to the floor lifeless.

Arche stared at the bodies sorrowfully for a moment. Reaffirming why he was even here in the first place. He promised himself that he would not let this go unpunished. Then he grabbed everything and left.

***

“Yeling. You can’t be here, it’s past your curfew!” Inspector Xiao the grizzled, graying police inspector, shouted at his daughter, “Why are you even at the police station?”  

“To help! I wasn’t even doing anything dangerous. There were petty thefts that you weren’t paying attention to!” Yeling, the braided ponytail teen, said indignant.

“Listen, right now is a bad time. It’s safer for you to hang out with your friends and not be here. Leave the police work to the adults.” Inspector Xiao said. The various gangs in the entire Noak province were getting more active. A power play that just about every other person of power seemed to be involved with honestly.

Technically it was just a conspiracy theory, but Xiao was nearly certain of several people involved with corruption. From heroes to his own force, but trying to finger the blame now was worthless without proper evidence. It would just give people a reason to kick him out. What good would he be then?

“Why don’t you want me to be like you? I want to help people.” Yeling complained.

“It’s complicated.” Inspector Xiao said with a sigh, “Helio, drive my daughter home.”

“Oh you can’t even take me back home?” Yeling said crossing her arms.

“Yeling, you know it’s not like that.” Inspector Xiao tiredly.

“Uh, yes sir. Right away sir.” Detective Helio said with an awkward cough. He hated having to be stuck in the middle of the family drama of his boss. They were then interrupted by the sound of loud honking.

“Who’s that?” Inspector Xiao said.

“Uh… not ours.” Helio said opening up the blinds of a window to see a massive semitruck parked in the middle of the parking lot with its floodlights on and horn sounding. There was someone tied to the grill of the car.

“That’s a Canolia gang member!” Yeling exclaimed.

“You stay here Yeling. Everyone follow.” Inspector Xiao ordered, and those on the night shift pooled out of the precinct to investigate the truck. Opening up the back they saw several people tied up inside. All gang members.

“What the hell is this?” Helio said as he saw something land in front of him, “Huh?” He said looking down and picking up some files. Looking back up, he briefly caught a glimpse of a figure before they vanished.

“Helio, what was that?” Inspector Xiao asked.

“Uh, I think another gift.” Helio said recalling the two previous drop-offs he’s received.

“Right, they’re getting bigger every time.” Inspector Xiao said nodding his head, “Alright Helio, process them. I need to make some calls.”

“Oh what? Sir, can’t I take your daughter back home?” Helio asked and a single look caused Helio to comply, “Yes sir. Right away sir.”

***

Cassy Teresa was sitting at her desk in her home, writing up the news report. She then received an email notification for her business email. Surprised that it didn’t go into her spam, she opened it and read the contents. Her eyes widened when she saw what was inside it.

“Holy shit.”