"Well? What did you find?"

"Maam, we found three things about Ms. King's assailant. First, he used a motorcycle to escape. Second, he used a modified assault rifle at Ms. King as determined by the bullet's speed and power. Finally, it's a male. We determined that by the way he shot, moved, and acted according to the security cameras that were surrounding the parking garage."

"I see. Is there anything else?"

"No. Since we private detectives have done our job, we'll receive our payment later. Goodbye, ma'am."

As Rose watched the detectives she hired leave, she felt exhausted and tired. She had spent all her resources trying to track down where Samantha's assassin had gone. It was clear that he had expected the bullets to penetrate her bulletproof vest. However, Rose had gotten Samantha to wear an extra layered bulletproof vest. This served to barely slow down the bullets enough so that Samantha could live.

Rose slouched down into a nearby couch as she started thinking.

'Who would want to kill Samantha? Who would they hire? Is it because of her company that she had inherited from her parents? Is it one of her father's associates? Damn it, Samantha.'

Rose stood up as she picked up her phone from the desk and started dialing a number.

"Hello? Ah, yes. I need you to do something for me. Track down who hurt Samantha. Yes, I'll owe you a favor. Thanks."

As she hung up, Rose sat down with relief. Her most reliable asset was going to hunt down whoever hurt Samantha and bring him to her. Then it would be the hard part.

Getting the information out of him.

**********************

After driving for tens of minutes, Wade arrived in the Mercenary Association's district. He decided to leave his motorcycle in an abandoned building nearby along with the old equipment he was wearing before walking the rest of the way to the hotel.

There was one question on his mind that he couldn't get rid of. Had Samantha died or had she survived the barrage of bullets fired at her? Usually, Wade wouldn't have this feeling as his shots were practically a guaranteed kill. But Samantha's fall when he had shot her full of bullets had felt different. Somehow. He felt like he had misfired or aimed at a non-fatal area.

Unfortunate as it was, when Wade had fired at Samantha, he had miscalculated one probability. The probability of Samantha wearing a double-layered bulletproof vest. He had thought that his bullets would pierce through the vest and kill her through multiple wounds and large amounts of blood loss. However, her double-layered bulletproof vest had slowed down the bullets immensely, allowing her to survive.

Wade suddenly received a text on his phone and as he looked at it, he sighed in annoyance.

[Mission Uncompleted]

'Damn it. Did I not kill that bitch with the entire magazine I emptied at her?' thought Wade as he slammed the wall of a building near him.

"I'll think about this damn shit later. I need that money for the future I envisioned. You may have lived for today Samantha, but tomorrow. You'll know what'll happen then."

*****************

A few hours later...

Within the parking garage, a man stored various pieces of metal and asphalt in a paper bag. A brown sweater and an old motorcycle were laying on the ground beside him as he stooped on the ground with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"So from what I can tell, the assassin drove into this parking garage to get a clear shot at Samantha. Afterward, he sprayed his entire magazine at her, with most of the bullets hitting the chest and lower body. Then he escaped with no injuries or evidence other than these bullet shells, skid marks, and broken parking garage gate."

"Is that it?"

A small voice could be heard out of the man's ear. As he replied, he fished a cigarette out of his pocket.

"Whew. This one's going to be a hard one to get, I can already tell based on the evidence he left behind."

The smoke blew as the man opened his mouth while speaking once more to the transceiver in his ear.

"I think I can catch him though albeit with some difficulties."

The man grabbed the brown sweater laying on the ground before swinging his leg over the motorcycle and driving off.

*******************

A few hours later...

The sound of water striking the tile floor sounded throughout Wade's large room. As Wade walked out with a towel around his waist, a glass of water sat innocently near his bed. If one could look under it, there would be a small white pill slowly disintegrating as it sunk to the bottom of the glass.

"Oh, a cup of water. I wonder if I filled it up this afternoon?"

Wade picked up the cup and as he sipped it, a drowsy feeling overwhelmed him and he collapsed. The broken glass scattered all along the carpet as footsteps echoed in Wade's ears.

A cigarette fell in front of his eyes as he went unconscious. An air vent above Wade was knocked down and a man in a brown jacket leapt down.

"Rose. I got your man for ya. I thought it'd be harder. Not even a challenge. Get the money ready when I arrive."

The man tapped his ear before speaking in a bored tone.

"Send him to the castle. I'll be waiting with your payment."

A small voice was heard as the man threw the unconscious Wade into a duffel bag before slinging it over his shoulder. The man threw him into the trunk of a Toyota Corolla that he had prepared for Wade's capture after leaving the hotel inconspicuously. As the trunk slammed shut, the engine started and the Corolla drove away with an unconscious man in the trunk and a kidnapper in the front seat.

After an hour of driving, the man had reached Rose's private airport. He opened the trunk and grabbed the duffel bag before dragging it down the road toward a familiar plane.

"Another one?"

One of the security guards near the plane spoke with a bored tone as he fiddled with his pistol.

"Yeah. Any news?"

The man handed the guard a cigarette as he stepped onto the plane.

"Nothing interesting. You still owe me one, Nix."

Nix closed the plane's door before flinging the duffel bag into a seat and sitting across from it.

"Finally some time to drink and relax. I swear, there are so many people out there with a bounty on my head that sitting on a plane is the only rest I have," spoke Nix while pouring himself a drink with a wine bottle laying nearby.

As he sipped the wine, he grabbed a couple of newspapers and started reading without noticing the duffel bag slowly squirming across from him.

**********************

As Wade opened his eyes, the only thing in his vision was darkness.

'Where am I? That sound. Am I on a plane? Where are they taking me?'

These were the chaotic thoughts echoing through Wade's brain as the plane flew. After struggling for a few minutes, a deep voice near him spoke.

"Stop moving you damn worm. If it wasn't for you, I would've already gone on a 2-day vacation to Hawaii."

A foot then kicked the duffel bag he was in onto the floor. Since Wade's mouth wasn't covered whatsoever, he cursed relentlessly as he wanted to set a fake impression toward his captors. Fake impressions were usually sought through but Wade's acting was as clear as fog, so much that he could even be a professional actor.

"Fuck you. If you didn't put a damn sleeping pill in my water, you'd probably be a piece of shit meat right now. I'd even feed you to the pigs and once the pigs are done with it, to the rats instead."

"You really do have the guts to curse me, don't ya? How about I blow off your leg, right here right now? I'm sure Rose wouldn't mind a slight injury on your body. You'd be dead as soon as you give her the information she wants anyway."

A cold metal barrel was placed against his lower left leg and the man laughed before firing three shots into it.

"Damn you!"

A curse came out of his mouth as the three shots went into his left leg. He quickly put pressure on the wound with his other foot before groaning in pain once more.

"How's that you damn bastard. Still got the guts to cuss at me now?"

After receiving another groan of pain, the man laughed once more.

"That's what I thought, you little bastard."

Wade heard the footsteps walk away before he sighed in relief and pain. He decided to try to sleep while he had the chance. Who knew whether he would be able to sleep when he arrived at the dreadful place they were going to send him.

As he slept, Nix smoked a cigarette and when he blew out the smoke, he spoke with pain.

"I'm probably going to lose a couple thousand for hurting the subject. Well, he's too fucking annoying. What can I say."

When they arrived at their destination, Nix unzipped the duffel bag and dumped the still sleeping Wade onto the floor.

"Hmm? Did you have to dump on the floor? That hurt my head y'know?"

It was night but Wade could see that he and his kidnapper had arrived at some sort of stone castle. It looked quite eerie surrounded by darkness. No lights were shining inside, only metal gates that swung open as if they were welcoming him.

"Come on. Rose is waiting inside with my payment and your pain. Ah yes, I forgot. Don't you want the name of the man who shot your leg? My name's Nix. Now let's go."

Nix dragged him through the gate and Wade carefully studied his surroundings so that he could escape later on. If he didn't see his surroundings, how could he leave this place once again? That was the most important thing when escaping your opponent. Know your surroundings. He had learned this the hard way when one of his targets had almost shot him through the wall due to his knowledge of the house. One detail that he had noticed when he was being dragged through the castle was that it was quite small and the houses that should've been kept inside the walls had all been demolished and replaced with modern buildings. However, unlike the houses, the walls had been repaired and strengthened. Every brick had some sort of metal casing around it. It would be tough to get out of the castle if he wasn't equipped with a weapon.

When Nix and Wade reached the keep in the middle of the castle, a familiar red-haired woman stood in front of it with a black van behind her.

"So Nix. I got your money. Give him to me. I need him for the information he possesses."

As Rose spoke, her eyes were scanning over Wade in contempt and disgust.

"Sure. I assume the money is transferred to my bank account already?"

Nix pulled out his phone and tapped for a bit before nodding in satisfaction. He threw Wade toward Rose and started to walk away before stopping.

"Hey, Rose. I might've shot your guy a bit in the leg. I'm sure it'll be fine as he can't escape and he's already got a taste for pain. Maybe he'll enjoy it. You never know."

He laughed as he walked away. When he was out of sight, Rose slung him over her shoulder before walking into the keep and down some dark stairs. Wade noticed that they had kept the torches instead of replacing them with electronic lights and the walls were still stone compared to the outer walls that were encased in metal. As Rose carried Wade over her shoulder, she started speaking with a bored voice.

"Do you know why I'm taking you down here?"

"No?"

Rose's eyes brightened at Wade's response and she replied in glee.

"Hehe. We still have the main dungeon on one of the outer wall towers but we have the torture center under the keep. We have all kinds of weapons and devices to keep your pain senses alight. And if you think death will be the end, it won't. We have a healing drug that can heal you but the scars will still be left behind."

"I see."

Wade gave a simple response as Rose's eyes turned to that of madness and pain.

"Ah, I can't wait to torture you. You better keep that information to yourself so I can hear your precious screams more. You didn't know how Samantha felt when she was shot multiple times right? She felt useless and weak. I'll make you feel the same. Useless and weak. You're going to feel pain beyond imaginable. Unfortunately, I'll have to keep you silent for this part. Our security system can't be seen by the likes of you. If you did, with your assassin skills, I'm sure you'd be able to escape. I'll see you inside... Wade."

Wade struggled but as Rose knocked him unconscious with a chop to the neck, he felt regret. Not for taking the mission to kill Samantha but for the first time, being careless enough to the point that he'd be tortured for the information he held. As his eyes closed, one thought reigned supreme in his head.

'I will never give in. I was supposed to reign over these foolish people. Wasn't I supposed to achieve great things? Never give in, never give up, never surrender. Samantha. Don't worry. Once I get out of this, I'll find you and finish you off once and for all.'