Inside of the elegantly decorated restaurant that acted as the Scavengers' base, Vixen was giving a full report of what had happened at the underground fight to Vox, the leader of the Scavengers. He had already heard a little bit about what had occurred over the phone.
He was angry then and that was the reason why he told Vixen to bring his captive straight to him. Now that he was hearing everything in person though, his anger was rising even more than before.
“I see, I see,” Vox said, his hands held together. A few moments later someone had come in from the back, and started to whisper into his ear.
“Alright, it looks like we have found everything we need, Vlad Epison,” Vox said standing up.
This whole time, Vlad hadn’t mentioned his name once. To be honest, he thought that they would ask him all sorts of questions about Austin and who he was or where he had come from but they hadn’t said a word. The fact that they knew his name without him saying anything, he had a very bad feeling about what was going to happen.
“Let’s go for a little drive.” Vox walked right past Vlad, and one of the men that were by his side in a suit lifted Vlad easily up off the ground with one hand. He was pushing him along with his body and Vlad had no choice but to continue to follow.
Outside of the establishment, there was a car waiting for them. Vox got in the front seat next to the driver, while Vlad was practically thrown in the back. He was then squished in the middle between one of the guards and Vixen on the other side.
'What… what is going to happen to me… what…' His mind was breaking, he felt incredibly sick and even the inside of the car was twisting and swirling around.
“I don’t know Big Mask!” Vlad eventually blurted out. The fact that he didn’t know what was going to happen but he was in a car with all these dangerous people, he had to say something.
“He just appeared at my school one day, and knocked out one of the bullies. He did me a favour and asked for a place to stay, so I let him stay at mine… he said he was looking for some people to fight, and Killer was the one that introduced us to the underground tournament.
“That’s all I know… Ah, I know his name is Austin as well, but why he’s here or what city he’s from, I really have no idea," Vlad said.
All the men in the car had no reaction to what Vlad was saying. Eventually, the car had come to a stop, and looking out the window, he could see that it was one of the factories. It was night so most of the lights were switched off.
'Shit! Shit! Are they going to kill me, and put me in one of those barrels, bury my body here so no one can find me!' Vlad thought.
“I really told you everything I know!” Vlad said.
The doors opened, and both Vixen and the guard still stood by his side.
“It’s okay, I believe you,” Vox said. “You made our job a little easier, but there is something else we need to deal with.”
The group entered the factory and rather than entering the main part of it, they headed to the side where there was a two-floor makeshift building. Heading up the metal stairs they eventually came to a door, and opened it without any introduction whatsoever.
The first thing Vox did was turn on the lights. Multiple people in the room reacted to the light, squinting open their eyes. There were several mattresses just laid out on the floor with blankets; it was where the workers would stay.
When they eventually saw who was at the door, they sprung up, and stood right by their beds, waking up from their drowsy state immediately. However, there was one person that needed to blink twice as there was an unexpected guest.
“Vlad… Vlad, you're hurt, what are you doing here!” It was an older gentleman with grey hair at the side of his head and the middle centre missing. He was thin and frail like most of the workers at the factory.
Seeing his son in a particular state, he was already moving before he knew it.
“Get back!” Vixen shouted, as he pushed the old man in the chest. Immediately, the strength used sent him tumbling to the floor, and he coughed as he held his chest in pain.
“DAD!” Vlad shouted. “What are you guys doing? I already told you everything. I’ll do whatever you want, just don’t hurt my dad.”
“I already told you we came here for another reason,” Vox said, walking over to where Vixen was. The guard then held both of Vlad’s wrists behind his back so he was unable to move, and when he started to struggle, kicked him hard in his legs.
“You see, we run a tight ship around this city. Everything we do is extremely important for the sake of the workers and the rest of us. The truth is though, there are only so many people we have in our group,” Vox tried to explain. “The only reason why things work so well is because we are respected, respected enough that not a single person dares to try to go against us.
“Yet, after all this time, someone has. Now I’m sure by tomorrow, there will be rumours spread around how someone went loose at one of our events, maybe people will start to talk about how the Scavengers don’t have as tight a leash around the city as they thought, and when that happens it causes problems for us.
“But there is an easier way to solve the problem, to create another rumour that will be spread around. One that will make sure they know the Scavengers haven't lost any power at all.”
Vox nodded towards Vixen. The Altered's hand started to transform into that partly of a snake. As it did the fangs opened up and bit right down into the forearm of Vlad’s father.
“DAD NOOO!” Vlad screamed and tried to reach out, but the guard kicked his legs again sending him right to the ground. Vlad looked up, as he could see the colour going away from his face.
His father wanted to speak, he wanted to say something as he started to move his mouth, but everything in his body was starting to slow down. He was being paralyzed, every part including his heart, and eventually everything stopped, even his breath.
His dad fell over backwards, falling to the floor lifeless in the centre of the room.
“I already told you, I believed everything you said.” Vox looked back at Vlad as he was leaving the room. “You're free to do what you want.”
With that, the rest of the Scavengers left the room, leaving Vlad with his father, and the rest of the onlookers and workers to spread word of what happened that day.
*****
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