Edited by: Waning_Crescents

“What’s the situation?” A woman’s voice resounded as she sauntered over to Axis. It was one of the other two people that refused to let Cal get away before. Her face also was covered by the same mask the others wore, making her voice sound somewhat muffled.

“They are on the way.” Axis glanced at his phone before he put it away.

“You sure you want to show your face? Won’t that cause unnecessary trouble?”

Axis shrugged. “I don’t care. If anything, it will just make things more exciting.

The woman shook her head and sighed. “Suit yourself.”

Cal, who still struggled to get out of the other man’s hold on him, stopped as he listened to the conversation. His eyes wandered to where Axis and the woman stood, only being able to briefly get a glimpse of them. His head was fixed to the ground after all, he couldn’t move and only could see so much from that perspective. What are they talking about?

“Get him up.” Axis gestured to his comrade who still restrained the young investigator.

The man nodded, grabbed Cal by the hair and pulled him up into a sitting position, while he still secured his right arm behind his back.

Cal squinted one eye shut and landed on his knees while he avoided Axis’s gaze.

Axis crouched down in front of him and grabbed his chin, lifting it up slightly, forcing Cal to stare at him. “You really caused me a lot of trouble, you know?”

The piercing gaze and the vicious grin on Axis’s face exhibited pure evil intent, joy and even pleasure at the other’s fearful expression. Even though Cal tried his best to conceal his fear, his eyes and the visible beads of sweat on his forehead betrayed him.

“I bet you thought I would never find you, right? You might have even forgotten about me.” Axis laughed. “But I never stopped looking since that day and now, at last, I can resume my work to its full extent.”

“How did you find me?” Cal asked through gritted teeth.

“Heh, I have my ways.” Axis lips curved down. He narrowed his eyes and the hue in his pupils darkened, emanating a terrifying aura. “But you have cost me a lot of money, a lot of time. How are you planning to make up for that?”

Cal dug his nails into the ground with his free hand. “You…are insane.”

Axis laughed out loud, but his laugh didn’t express joy or amusement, it more resembled someone who could snap at any second. “This time I will break you. Slowly. and I will enjoy every second of it. But!” His expression changed and he smiled. “I am not a complete monster, I even let you say goodbye.”

Cal froze. He can’t mean…

The sound of footsteps scraping on scattered sand and dirt resounded and Axis let go of Cal, straightening up. He turned around where two figures just walked around the corner. First, a man appeared with his hands tied behind his back and behind him followed another, pointing a gun at him.

“Welcome, Mr. Crawford. We have been awaiting your arrival.”

Like a bolt of lightning striking every nerve in his body, Cal stared at Sigal in shock, not understanding for what purpose he had been brought here. In a split second, many different terrifying scenarios rushed through his head, the possibilities unlimited as to what Axis could do to his partner and none any less cruel than the other. He shivered, he was afraid, not about himself, but about Axis’s plans for Sigal.

“He has nothing to do with this!” Cal opened his mouth without any second thought, his gaze fixed on Axis. He tugged at his restrained arm as he leaned slightly forward in a rush. “Let him go!”

Amused by that sudden outburst of the other, Axis just chuckled and walked to a half-built framework where he sat down loosely on one of the metal bars. “Maybe so, but this makes things way more entertaining.”

On one side, Cal was restrained and on the other side, Sigal kept in check. Axis took his seat right in the middle of both parties, eagerly awaiting how this would play out.

With a forceful push, Sigal got pressed down on his knees while the muzzle of a gun was fixed on the back of his head. His expression was grim, yet he ignored everything the other said and just eyed his partner from around ten feet away. “Cal, are you alright?”

As he heard these words, Cal’s heart jumped. Maybe because of what had unfolded between them earlier, exactly like thirty minutes ago, Cal didn’t even think that Sigal had any words to spare for him. Forget the situation they were in, if anything, he could blame him again for being reckless and not cautious enough or even worse, he could think he had something to do with this, yet he worried?

Cal’s eyes wandered briefly back to him, but then averted his gaze and lowered his head. “Yeah.”

“Cal?” Axis pondered. “Oh, right! That’s the name you go by now. I almost forgot.”

A gentle blow wafted by and even though it was a warm breeze at this time of the year, a gripping chill grabbed ahold of Cal as the light air touched his skin. The words Axis spoke and in combination of what he had been accused of before just froze him up and trapped him in his own mind. He wanted to say, ‘I can explain! There is a reason for that.’. Yet no words left his mouth. He just stared at the ground in front of him, his heart beating wildly.

“You didn’t know, right?” Axis grinned as he looked at Sigal. “That he lied to you about it all along?”

“So what?” Sigal remarked unaffected, “You really think I give a shit about names?” He narrowed his eyes. “But what I really give a shit about is that gorilla over there holding onto him with his filthy hands.”

Cal’s chest fiercely heaved up and down and only somewhat calmed as Sigal’s words reached his ears. He slowly lifted his head, gazing in surprise.

“Really brave for someone in a tight spot.” The woman of the trio of masked people leisurely walked over to Sigal. Although the mask hid her eyes and slightly distorted her words, the arrogant tone in her voice still clearly echoed through.

“Brave?” Sigal gave a mirthless smile. “I don’t have to be brave if I am not scared of scum like you.”

Wham!

Without any visible warning, the woman sent a kick into his stomach. “Maybe you should be.” She looked down on him, her stance as arrogant as her voice.

Sigal squinted one eye shut and coughed some, this came so unexpectedly fast that he didn’t even notice her hauling her leg at him, let alone give him any room to react.

“No!” Cal struggled. “Leave him be!”

Axis laughed amused. “This is so great. I love your temper, Chloe.”

“Don’t say my name, asshole.”

“My bad.” Axis flung his arms into the air as a sign of resigning. “But that was a nice swing, even I barely saw it coming.”

Sigal coughed a few times more, but his expression didn’t change, the smirk on his face still visible, if anything he even widened it in provocation. “Feeling better now? Got it out of your system? You are just ‘brave’ cause I am restrained. You think I wouldn’t hit a woman? Sorry, but a criminal is a criminal, I am not making distinctions.”

He might not make any distinctions, but he indeed controlled his strength more if the culprit turned out to be a woman. A man with honor but not a monster without principles.

“You really don’t know when to shut up, do you?” The woman set up for another round of beating but got stopped by Axis before she landed another blow.

“Chloe! Calm down. I need him intact.”

She stopped her fist right in front of Sigal’s face, who didn’t even flinch, and clicked her tongue. “Annoying.” Then she walked to the right side of the investigator and crossed her arms, displeased.

With the woman not blocking his sight anymore, Sigal let his eyes wander around, scanning his surroundings thoroughly for the first time. Everyone but Axis and the man that pointed the gun at him, wore black masks with a green snake across the middle. Even though this mark was different from the one regarding the case, it still depicted the same animal.

“Who are you?” Sigal grew suspicious. “Are you with them?

“Oh right, I am sorry. Where are my manners?” Axis shifted his gaze to him. “My name is Axis, and I am his brother.” He pointed at Cal, while a smile formed on his lips.

Sigal’s eyes partly widened, but before he even could say something, Cal intervened. “You are not my brother!”

“Huh?” Axis glanced at him, feigning disappointment. “How cruel of you to say that. I mean, yeah, we are half-brothers, but that’s just nitpicking now.”

Cal clenched his left hand to a fist, reeling in some dirt beneath his palm. “You will never be anything to me. Just get lost and leave me alone.”

“What a rude thing to say to the one who basically raised you.”

“Shut up!” Cal’s breathing quickened. He just wanted his half-brother to disappear to wherever, just out of his sight and more than that he wanted him to stop involving outsiders.

Half-brother? Raised him? Sigal wondered while he glanced at his partner, the frustration visible in his demeanor. Cal…

If this was true, why hadn’t there been any records about a brother? This raised more questions than it answered, but at the same time Sigal couldn’t care less about that because there was something else that bothered him. Throughout the whole time, Cal seemed tense, frightened, even terrified of Axis. What did that man want or what did he do in the past?

Sigal’s eyelids drooped slightly as he recalled what Cal said to him on different occasions:

‘Thanks for saving me, no one has ever done that for me.’

‘You shouldn’t do that…not for me.’

‘Don’t leave me alone.’

Aside from that, he also recalled the bandages he discovered the other day, wrapped around Cal’s torso. Even though he didn’t know what this all indicated, a terrifying realization rose inside of him.

With a serious expression, he gazed at Axis and asked, “What do you want?”

“What I want?” Axis glanced from Sigal to Cal. “I want to take my little brother home to where he belongs.”

“Bring him home for what?”

On Axis’s lips formed a grin, a nasty one, full of eagerness to tell all the stories in excitement, yet he just said, “To put him to good use.”

Sigal actually had more questions, but from the corner of his eyes he spotted Cal slightly flinching. This told him more than enough.

“You are some nasty bastard, alright.” Sigal’s eyebrows drew together, and his voice turned ice-cold. “Do you really think I will let you take him away?”

“What could you possibly do about it?” Axis asked with confidence.

“You are underestimating me, aren’t you?”

“Not at all,” Axis replied, “But I know how to restrain you. Let’s set-up a new rule here.” The corner of his mouth curved up as he took out a gun, hopped off the railing and walked over to Cal where he pressed the muzzle against his head. “If you move, he will face the consequences.”

“He won’t kill me, “Cal said through gritted teeth, “He needs me…”

“That’s right!” Axis nodded. “However, I only need you alive, it doesn’t matter in which state your body is. Broken bones, maybe missing limbs? That won’t matter to me.”

Cal’s eyes widened in shock. He…he got even crazier than before.

Axis repeatedly tapped with the tip of the gun on Cal’s scalp as if playing with a toy. The impact wasn’t strong, yet it was domineering. “If you don’t mind seeing him suffer, please, be my guest.”