Revenge Fantasy

Charles Ashford's death was nothing but miserable to the general public. Even if the media has moved on to more important news over the years, this one isolated murder still holds emotional weight. A relatively old man being shot in his hotel room, with his daughter found in miserable tears. It's enough to make a poor soul cry and weep.

But his death is an overwhelming payday in the eyes of another party.

In the mercenary world, Charles Ashford is a job, and the job is as standard as it comes. A client wished him dead, and had the money to ascertain and will his demise. A simple request for the murder a businessman. Anyone can order and commission an assassination of a businessman, nothing remarkable to note.

What made it special is the person requesting it.

In the Underworld, "Kuroiwa" the Stalker borrows the name of another Kuroiwa. A Kuroiwa that had far more experience, far more work in his possession. The person with high standing to the point where being one of their trusted mercenaries is destined for greatness and riches. If a mercenary worked for this employer, they were set for life.

"Kuroiwa sends his regards."

One such mercenary being the one who pulled the trigger. The one that did the deed to kill Charles Ashford. With that bullet, the man has cemented his standing as a mercenary that addresses Kuroiwa directly. A mercenary welcomed to the employer's payroll as an efficient killer to take out more names.

The mercenary... is the Executioner.

The rugged and grizzled mercenary that has gained the bloodthirsty ire of Chouko Ashford, the one that is only a few feet away from her at this very moment. His title, his "moniker" is the Executioner. A title Chouko never bothered to learn, a title of someone who "carries out a sentence of death on a condemned person", and a title belonging to someone as equally elusive as Kuroiwa is.

He is someone whose own journey throughout these nine years has been met with growth and success, becoming one of the highest rated assassins to carry out murders. His fame as the Executioner, the title bestowed upon him by the elites of the Underworld, came from the very job that sealed his and Chouko's fates.

As the one who did the deed, the one who put down Ashford on Kuroiwa's job, his status as a previously unremarkable mercenary escalated higher and higher to the point of being a moneymaker. More jobs were sent to him with great success, and now he commands the respect of fellow mercenaries that got their starts working for the Executioner. A group of them, almost a small organization of his own, the Executioner being the "Kuroiwa" of his own mercenaries.

His most trusted were a pair of mercenaries that have been with him for years. Steele, the big, buff, and gruff man with his steel legs, and Griffin, the blond pretty boy with invisibility cybernetics. Their beginnings date all the way back to the beginning of the Artificial Revolution, before their... cybernetic upgrades. Their work with Charon left them dissatisfied, so the Executioner shortly hired them and their fellow acquaintances.

Steele is with the rest of the mercenaries, accompanying the van and the pickup truck. Making sure that the mercenaries were still driving after the truck. Meanwhile, Griffin sits in the truck's passenger side, arms crossed and looking out the window. As Steele is the brawn that could manage mercenaries, Griffin is the brain that provided intellectual conversations about tactics and all.

And, en route to their next stop, the Executioner explained Chouko to the blond, their conversation accompanied by country music.

"Hm... I see. Your history with her is quite intriguing..." Griffin responds.

"First time seeing her in... ages, really. I had searched Times Square for her, but... no avail. She was too protected," the Executioner explains to Griffin. "To think, she's now a mercenary as well... employed under Charon, you said?"

"Yes, indeed," Griffin responds. One hand raised to brush the bangs of his hair for a few seconds, before crossing his arms and leisurely looking out the window. Eyes focused on the side mirror to check on the other mercenaries. The ones that are trailing somewhat behind, following after. "She claims that she's... 'Kuroiwa', meaning she... well..."

"It's obvious what she's doing, Griffin. She's being one of those crybabies, whining for daddy and all," the Executioner remarks, grinning to himself. "I didn't get to put her down like her old man, and here she is... biting us in the ass. I did mention 'Kuroiwa' that night, y'know?"

"Right..." Griffin lets out a yawn, leaning back into the seat. Taking a moment to flicker his eyes, beaming flashlights into the mirror at a specific angle.

In response, the headlights of Steele and the others flicker once.

"... all clear on their end. No signs of any escape yet, sir," Griffin tells the Executioner. "Is it alright if I get my rest...? It's late, and you know what they say about beauty sleep..."

"Very well. I'll wake you up when we get to our next stop," the Executioner responds.

"You have my thanks..." Griffin mumbles, covering his mouth to yawn subtly before beginning to snooze away on the trip.

"..." Once Griffin has his eyes closed, and silence fills the truck... the Executioner narrows his eyes, grimly staring forward, visible contemplation on his face. He claimed to the other mercenaries that this girl was worth billions of dollars, but...

...

Eventually, after some time, the truck is off of the highway and ends up in their next stop: Indianapolis.

Home of the Indianapolis 500, an annual automobile race occurring on Memorial Day, this city is famously the heart of Indiana and the racing capital of the world. A strong history in the automotive industry, a city with culture and history. The world's largest children's museum, calm walks along its Central Canal and its Cultural Trail, the historical Monument Circle around the Soldiers' and Sailor's Monument, even soccer stadiums and vibrant nightlife with stylish bars and nightclubs. This city, in several ways, was one of the greatest hearts of America.

Now, it was just yet another hub of androids and cybernetic people living the mass-spread status quo of poverty-filled metropolises. The effects of the Artificial Revolution devastated and drowned out this city's importance, sweeping all of this golden life away.

And the only reason the Executioner and the others are here... is because of a safe house. An Indianapolis office building, one that has been prepared for their use. Enough space in its storage area to keep the boxes, enough places for the mercenaries to rest for the night without arousing suspicion. One available to them for a single night, before they needed to vacate the premises for the next people in line.

Their encounter with Chouko Ashford is... coincidental, a side occurrence. The plan was to go here all along, taking a stop to intercept the mercenaries that got arrested by a police car. This very truck carrying belongings that, altogether, will be going to a nice little location once they were expected to vacate.

With this, the truck drives into a spacious enough parking spot to the side of this building, and the Executioner steps out with Griffin. The group of mercenaries gathering at the back of the truck, discussing what to do now.

"Simple. Unload the crates into this office's storage for now, exchange the truck for a new replacement, and then we're off to our next location," the Executioner explains. "Any of you that are incapable of carrying boxes, just keep watch and prepare to restrain the girl inside."

"Getting right on it, sir!" Steele exclaims, approaching the truck door with a few other mercenaries.

However, one of them idly speaks up before Steele could do anything.

"Before we open that door, why... exactly... did we need to keep the girl conscious?"

An immediate inquiry from one of the mercenaries working directly for Steele, the track-suited one with neon green sunglasses. Nothing about him screamed "remarkable" on first glance, but this mercenary's title - given by the Executioner himself - is the Repairman. One of the Executioner's tech-savvy hackers, a necessary force in this age of technological threats, having experience with cybernetics and cybersecurity.

No one seemed to be bringing up why Chouko Ashford was left unconscious for the entire drive, so... he immediately took it upon himself to ask. A calm look on his face as he looks to the door, crossing his arms and gazing at the truck door. The one with a hostile woman behind it and all. "Knocking her out would've made all of this easier. Saves us the hassle of having to deal with a conscious enemy. Why did we not just- y'know... render her unable to fight back?"

Asking this question, the hacker was... met with a bit of silence, as the Executioner stares with narrowed eyes.

Griffin, rubbing his eyes, idly rolls them and explains for his employer. "... allow me to explain. Knocking someone out is the equivalent of inflicting brain damage to subdue them. If you hit someone in the head and knock them out, the sensors in someone's head is set off to overwhelm. Damages some nerves and inflicts a concussion. One could wake up from the brain trauma, but the damage will always be there."

"Right," the Executioner continues. "And she's better in good condition. Hostile or not, people will pay good money for her to be in perfect condition. We took all of her weapons, left her in a locked truck with nothing but crates, and still outnumber her. No harm in letting her be awake for all of this, let her really think about it all. Again- billions of dollars are on the line, with her survival, and... well, let's just say that we don't want a repeat of the android."

That remark is enough for the mercenaries to, collectively, look at Griffin for a bit.

"... fair enough," the Repairman remarks, adjusting his glasses and averting his gaze. "I'll leave the heavy work to Steele, then. This phone of hers is a gold mine of information on Charon, and I think I'm better suited looking through it," he explains, waving the flip phone.

"Very well. Come along, then," Griffin tells the man, as the three mercenaries head into the building. Idly going through the process of alerting the mercenaries stationed inside that they have arrived.

With that, Steele and the five other remaining mercenaries are left to handle the truck cargo.

"... okay, well, time to open this door!" Steele tells the mercenaries, arms crossed and actively staring at the door. "Someone want to do the honors? Show off their door opening skills while the rest of us are on guard for the girl?"

"I got it, Steele," a mercenary speaks up, walking up to the door and unlocking it. Cautiously, ever so cautiously opening the door with a careful look on his face. Idly peeking into the inside of the truck, ready to keep watch for anything their captive may do.

Though, one glimpse of a crate in front of him, and he stops. His eyes glancing at the crates, seeing a wall of crates in front of his eyes. Creates stacked atop other crates.

"... huh? What's up?" Steele asks, raising an eyebrow. "Can't open a door? Don't worry, I got it if you can't."

"Well- Steele, sir, actually... there's- a small problem," the mercenary begins to explain, gesturing to the boxes. "Look at how the boxes are arranged..."

Steele- raises an eyebrow, staring at the boxes. "... yes? And? I mean, boxes can fall out of line, that's why we have the door here!"

"Well- if they're dislodged, if they got loose by themselves, then... why is it that these boxes all form a perfect wall? Stacked on top of each other, still?" the mercenary asks, pointing up. "T-The boxes are somehow-"

"A-Ah!" Shortcake calls from inside, interrupting this mercenary's train of thought completely as she cries out to the mercenaries outside. "T-The door's open! H-Hey! C-Can anyone hear me?!"

... Steele curiously hears this voice. The only reason it would call that out is because it's trying to notify her fellow passenger of the door's opening, all but confirming that something is wrong... so, looking to the other mercenaries, he readies a hostile, tough response to the android. "That's right, android! Don't you dare try anything funny, or-!"

"P-Please help!!" Shortcake interrupts, crying out for help. Begging these mercenaries to help, even. "S-Something happened, and- and I- I think there's a dead girl back here...!"

Steele's eyes widen at this... unexpected response. "... what? She's dead? Are you sure about that, android?!"

"Y-Yes!" Shortcake exclaims, starting to sob behind her panic. "W-We were trying to- to do something to trick you, to stack the crates, b... but, okay, s-so, so, uh, a while back, the truck ended up bumping on something, and the boxes e-ended up dislodging from their places! T-They ended up sliding and- and a few squished together with the girl in between! T-The impact, uhm, it- there's- I'm scared, please- please help! Help us! Quickly! She needs a doctor!"

Shortcake loudly calls all of this out, sounding audibly authentic and genuine in her claims. As if this wasn't part of Chouko's plan, as if something really did happen to her...

... but Steele doesn't believe Shortcake, doesn't want to believe the android. The pure disbelief on his face is prominent as he tries to reason in his head that their billion dollar captive isn't dead. That this android is lying about it, trying to trick all of them with a pathetic exaggeration of what really happened. If something did happen to begin with.

"You're lying!" Steele eloquently shouts at the android through the boxes. "You're probably just waiting for us to be tricked into letting you two out!"

"W-Well, e-emphasis on 'I think'...!" Shortcake shouts, her voice starting to grow shaky and concerned as Steele is calling her bluff. "W-When the boxes were sliding, a corner of the crate ended up impacting with her head, and-"

"You can cut the crap, robot, we're not buying it!" Steele shouts harder, glaring at the crates and trying to intimidate the android into fumbling whatever plan this was. "M-Maybe we should keep you in there, make you fumble up a new plan, if she's pretending to be dead!"

... Shortcake appropriately responds to a grown man shouting at her, by loudly crying and sobbing, wailing and succumbing to her programmed emotions. "I- I don't know what to tell you, s-she's- I- I don't know what to do and I'm scared and I just- I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry for being an android and I don't want to be in this truck with the dead body anymore and... w-waaaaah...!"

If this is the truth, then she's left clueless and uncertain what to do now. If it was a lie, then she's trying to continue selling the act to tug at whatever semblance of heartstrings these mercenaries had.

With the possibilities that the android is, indeed, telling the truth, Steele... faced a dilemma. As the one who is in charge of handling the crates and their captive, that unexpected casualty will now lie on his back...

"... ugh! Fine- we'll see what happened!" Steele- grits his teeth and tensely shakes his head. He'll be responsible for the mercenary group missing out on a big fortune, again! So he can't take any chances, if Ashford is actually dead. "Open the truck, I'll hold the boxes so that it doesn't fall on us!"

The- the mercenary nods, and begins to raise the door fully.

As predicted, the crates on the upper half begin to fall, and Steele holds the crates with his two buff arms. This doesn't stop all of the crates, however, as the man's hands could only support two pillars of crates while the third one falls out of the truck with thuds.

The lids on the crate spill open, the contents of the goods out... revealing that the crates have been opened.

"..." Steele glares at this sight, pushing the upper boxes back forward to stabilize them from falling. Climbing into the truck and looking around, seeing the android standing right behind the boxes. "Alright. Where's the body, android?"

Shortcake is looking at the truck floor, hands against the side of her head as she hesitantly mumbles.

"S... She... she- she made me lie to you all... I- I don't know where she is..."

"... tch!" Steele aggressively sounds at Shortcake, glaring at the android. Grabbing her by the shoulder and forcing her out of the truck, making her fall to the ground with a hard thud.

Shortcake, hands on her head and holding onto her white hair, has her eyes closed tightly as she whimpers against the ground.

"I... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."

"She couldn't have gone anywhere, we JUST unlocked the truck! Where in the bloody hell could she have gone?! Talk, Android, talk!"

Shortcake, tensely, begins to plead for her life, hands against her face and actively crying in the presence of these mercenaries.

"I- I really don't know...! S-she's gone and left me behind and I- I don't know what to do, please don't kill me-!"

"Tch-! Just shut the hell up!" Steele loudly shouts at the android, looking to the other mercenaries. "One of you, take the android inside. Repairman's smart with these things, he can hack its memories to see what could have happened!"

"R-Right! O-On it, sir!" a mercenary exclaims, grabbing Shortcake by the shoulder and beginning to drag her inside. Roughly pulling on her arm, just pulling her into the building.

With that, Steele- just knocks the side of his head, visibly stressed and agitated by this. "Tch... okay, Steele... this is your brain moment. Think... think...!"

He begins to think about where Chouko Ashford could have gone. Where this brat could have run off to, with a closed truck.

Minutes upon minutes of Steele's brainstorming. In this silence, the other mercenaries begin to survey the area for any glimpse of the girl. No Ashford in sight, whatsoever. No girl hidden under the truck, no girl around the building corners, and certainly- no girl already fleeing far enough from the area.

In fact, Steele thought to himself... how could she have escaped to begin with?

The truck door is the only way out of the vehicle, and she can't- phase through walls. It should be impossible for a person to leave this truck alone...

... and, in this moment of triumph for his brain power, he realizes. If Ashford can't phase through walls to escape, and this door has been locked the whole time, all she can do is make use of the items in the truck. All she had was the android and these crates.

Therefore, there's only one thing Ashford could have done.

"... everyone, listen up!" Steele exclaims, glaring at his mercenaries. "Look through these crates, search through any of them that have been opened! The only thing she could have done is hide in one of them!"

"G-Got it!" a mercenary exclaims, the four of them beginning to examine crate after crate. Opening the crates accordingly and searching for any signs of a person stowing away, guessing at random out of the few that fell out of the truck. Some mercenaries climbing into the truck, accordingly, to check the crates inside.

Steele's massive eureka moment has dawned onto him, as the crates were the only thing that made sense. It feels like a sun shining its light onto Steele's mind, a dawn of how genius and brilliant he is for deducing all of this. For once, he's done something better than just having raw, brute strength. His brain shined this night.

Maybe Ashford's plan was to hide away in a crate, to be taken away while in the midst of this chaos. The mercenaries would have searched for the girl, and would have taken these crates into the storage... so, she's concocted some sort of lie about dying during it to rile them up!

"S-Sir! I found her!" one of the mercenaries shouts from inside the truck, pulling a hand out of the crate. The girl has hidden away in the very back, attempting to be the very- very- last crate taken to the storage area. A rather elaborate idea, convoluted and- really risky, really foolish!

Steele's eyes widen, grinning almost cockily. Boasting about his brilliance to the other mercenaries now, overtaken by his own brilliance. They managed to catch her in the very act... and he's triumphed as the genius! "... haha! Prodigy, my ass, she tried to outsmart me and failed!" the man shouts, walking over to the box and gripping Chouko's arm tightly. Yanking her out of the crate, dangling her off of the ground. "Alright, let's get you into the building and-"

...

Steele's eyes narrow intensely.

The arm he was holding, the body in this crate, it... it's Ashford, right? Clothes match.

But she's... bald. She's bald and she has pink eyes.

Didn't she have a full head of hair before?

For a moment, the mercenary had to really ponder on this. Really think to himself, is this something women do? Instantly shed their hair and change their eye color upon being enclosed in a tight area? There's no way that women do this... right? Do they shed their hair almost instantaneously, and dispose of it?

Is there a bundle of hair inside this crate? ... no, then... did she eat the hair? Do women eat their own hair, all at once?

Are women actually salamanders?

... they get more and more complicated each passing year, Steele thought, glaring at the bald girl. "Alright- well, I'm sure there's still some value to-"

"A-ah!" one of the mercenaries exclaim, pointing at the back of... "Chouko's" head. "S-Steele, sir! Look! S-She has slots to secure a synthetic wig!"

Steele's eyes- just go absolutely wide, looking at where the mercenary's pointing. Witnessing the slot in question, something for an artificial wig... and, curiously, a bar code.

And further knowledge enlightens Steele, holding "Chouko's" arm and realizing it felt synthetic. Fake. Artificially made. This isn't human skin, it's...

... it's the android.

This- this isn't Chouko Ashford, it's the android.

Shortcake remains dangled by Steele's grasp, remaining visibly silent as she looks to the mercenary. Watching the man glaring at her, her pink eyes staring with horror. "U... Uhm... I... uh... a-are you going to hurt me...?"

Steele stares at this bald android for a while, not even aware that these things had their hair attached like this. The first thoughts in his mind were of how unsettling a bald girl is.

Then, the next thoughts, the more important thoughts, a realization.

"... i... if this is the android... then..."

... a feeling of dread shadows over Steele and the mercenaries as they slowly, ever so slowly look to the building in horror and realization.

Realizing that the mercenary that left... did not walk away with an android. He wasn't escorting an android to the Repairman.

He was escorting Chouko.