Samson sighs but pulls out a small case from his pocket, turning on some music and pushing the earphones into his ears. He fiddles with his phone, and then his head starts to bob slightly. Then his feet shuffle. He moves awkwardly, his hand with the knife waving through the air.
All I can say is my brother is a terrible dancer. He should take some lessons.
“Hey, Cade, let me see that,” Harley says, setting his gun down and extending his hand toward me. “That’s a cool weapon. I want one.”
“It’s been available for use, but none of you have ever had any interest.”
Harley takes it and flicks a piece of bone off. “Well, I had no idea how cool they were in actual combat. Maximum damage. I like it.”
“I quite enjoy them too. But look at this one. I just acquired it a few months ago. It’s a kanabo.” I show him the thick, dark wooden Japanese club. It has iron bands wrapped around the length, and spikes glint in the dim light of the small room. I know that with each swing, pain will surely come.
Harley oohs and aahs over it as I give him a brief description of where it’s from.
But I’m not going to use this. Not yet. It’s too similar to the cudgel. Instead, I pull out a maul and sigh in happiness.
“Fuck,” I moan. “This is going to hurt so bad, Vexy.”
The man restrained on the chair is trembling now, much like I think Ansel was when he hurt him. It only makes me angrier.
“But first, music.”
I pull out a speaker and put on some nineties tunes that vibe with the moment—ones that speak about revenge and anger.
It makes my skin hum with anticipation.
“Now, before I smash you to bits with this, why don’t you tell us what Umbra’s end goal was here?”
“Never,” Vex sneers.
“Why stay so loyal to a syndicate that hasn’t come to rescue you?”
“Fuck off. I’m not telling you shit.”
“I won’t lie, I’m kinda glad you’re not giving in straight away. Means I get to do more of this.”
The maul comes down on his thigh, and he screams, but I don’t stop. I just slam it into him, over and over, his skin splitting open, blood and flesh spilling onto the floor. Vex is mostly unconscious now, but it doesn’t stop me from completing this. Each swing is retribution for my butterfly, for the pain he put him through.
He will be nothing but rot on the floor when I’m done with him.
I pause to stretch my back and give Vex a final chance to speak. It won’t save him. Won’t even stop me from delivering the maximum amount of pain.
He signed his death warrant and method of execution the instant he targeted Ansel.
“Anything you want to say before I remove your tongue?”
Vex is barely conscious, but he manages a few words. “Umbra won’t give up.”
I bare my teeth at him. “Then I won’t rest until every one of them is as dead as you’re about to be.”
I unleash myself once more.
The Umbra Syndicate will regret ever messing with us. We haven’t had much of a chance to look into the information Ansel found, but we do know that we didn’t take out the key players today.
Vex and Orin were nothing more than chorus players. We’re after the directors. None of us will rest until the entire organization is brought to its knees.
Samson is bobbing his head in the corner, his feet trying to tapout a dance. Harley is examining the weapons I handed him as I continue to slam the maul into Vex.
And when I’m done, my chest is heaving, my body covered in blood and matter. Vex is nothing but a fragment of a human. His body is slouched over in the chair, his head smashed in, his extremities littering the floor.
