Waham city wasn’t always like this. Twenty years ago, this place was bearable. Even though I was an orphan, I never felt alone. That’s because I always had them. Naomi thinks to herself as she looks at the burn scar on her right hand.

Twenty years ago.

In the streets of Waham.

Three children were running away. Behind them, a middle-aged man was chasing them with a stick as he shouted at them.

“Catch those thieving bastards. Get back here you bloody kids.”

The only thing the kids could do was laugh at him as they were carrying something inside a cloth. They managed to lose the man after they turned around a few alleyways. Since they were more familiar of the area, they disappeared like ghosts.

At an alleyway.

The three kids appeared to be Naomi, Jasper and Raizer. Since they didn’t have a family, they considered each other as family. Naomi was the oldest one being fifteen years old. Raizer was the second oldest being fourteen and Jasper was the youngest being twelve.

“You guys did well today too. We managed to get ourselves some food that’ll last us tonight.” Said Naomi as she chuckled slightly.

What they had just stolen was food from the food stalls. Bread, fruit and some cooked meat.

“You know, we could’ve stolen more food from that old geezer. Why did we have to steal so little food?” asked Raizer with an irritated face.

Naomi then pinched Raizer’s ear as he cried out in pain.

“Hey. Call me big sis like Jasper does.”

“Like hell I will. Jasper is just a cry baby. Not me. And besides, you’re only one year older than me.”

Naomi pinched Raizer’s ear even harder.

“Aw, sorry okay. Please let me off.”

“You think you’re smart but you are not as smart as you think. You know that we can’t steal more than we can eat. We will only waste the food in that way.” Said Naomi letting go of Raizer’s ear.

“Yeah, I know. It’s just… it’s frustrating having to steal every day like this.”

“You don’t need to worry. It’s not going to be like this forever you know. We just need to survive one day at a time. Trust big sister, okay.”

“I’m never going to call you big sister okay. Get that through your thick head.”

“Huh, what did you say?” said Naomi as she slammed her fist on Raizer’s head.

Jasper just stood there, laughing as he was busy stuffing his face with the bread.

“Hey, Jasper. Who told you to eat the bread?” shouted Raizer as he pounced at Jasper, wrestling him to the ground.

“Let Jasper go you idiot.” Said Naomi as she kicked Raizer off Jasper.

That was just how their days were. They were filled with the commands of the bossy Naomi, the rebelliousness of Raizer and the laughter and crying of Jasper.

As they were busy being siblings, two boys walked up to them. It was Cole and a friend of his.

“Well, well, well. What do we have here? If it isn’t the three rats of the West Alley?” said Cole taunting them.

A look of disgust sank on Naomi’s face. On the other hand, Raizer was brimming with rage as he glared at them.

“Cole and his little underling.” Said Naomi with a smirk.

The boy who was next to Cole burned with rage but no words came out of his mouth.

“Funny as always Naomi. Anyways, what are you guys doing in our alley? You don’t belong this side.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, we were on our way anyways. Let’s go you two.” Said Naomi, edging Raizer and Jasper to follow her. Raizer seemed like he didn’t want to leave but a pat from Naomi brought his senses back.

“Oh, what do you have there?” asked Cole pointing at the food carried by Jasper. “Why don’t you hand that over since you stole it in our turf.”

In the slums of the city of Waham, there were small gangs and each of the gangs held a piece of territory. The territories were only known by the gangs and street kids that lived in this city. In order to survive, the children had to join gangs.

Naomi and the others were not in their own territory. Stealing from another gang’s territory was banned as that could start a war with another gang.

“What are you talking about you idiot. We stole these in the neutral zone. We are only here because we had to run from that old man.” Shouted Raizer at Cole.

“Well, that doesn’t matter. You are in our territory now. Or you could leave Naomi with us. The boss is always looking for new girls to play with.”

A vein popped out of Raizer’s forehead as he prepared himself to throw a punch at Cole.

“Stop, Raizer.” Said Naomi with a solemn face.

“But big sister.”

“I said that’s enough. Do you want to start a gang war just because this idiot has a crush on me?”

“Huh?!” both Raizer and Cole stood there dumfounded. Cole’s cheeks slowly turned bright red.

“Wha… what are you talking about? I don’t have a crush on you, you filthy girl.” Said Cole angrily.

“Oh, I’m a filthy girl now. I wonder what kind of fantasies you have about me. Calling me filthy. Did you learn that kind of talk from the adults of your gang?”

“Wha-? No. It’s not like that. I meant dirty okay.”

“Oh yes. I’m a dirty, dirty girl.” Naomi then pouted her lips and turned her head over her shoulder wiggling her waist at Cole. “Do I need a spanking too?”

At this point, Cole’s cheeks and ears were so red that steam seamed to pour out of them. He had never heard anyone of his age say the things she had just said. He was so flushed with embarrassment to the point that he ran away.

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Naomi, Raizer and Jasper took that opportunity to return to their base.

***

On the way back.

“How did you do that? How can you stay calm in that situation?” asked Raizer with a dejected look on his face.

“The East Alley Gang right now, needs even the tiniest of reasons to start a war with us. We can’t afford to have a war with them. If we did, then the balance would be broken, and a lot of people would die from both sides. Not only that, but other gangs might also see an opportunity to attack either side while they are weak from fighting each other.”

“To think you had thought that far. I guess you’re right about me being an idiot. The only thing I could think of at that time was punch that jerk’s face in.”

“That’s why you have me as your big sister.” Said Naomi as she looked at Raizer with a grin.

The grin startled Raizer. That was when he realised that he had called her big sister back when he wanted to punch Cole.

“It… it just came out okay. It was the heat of the moment, that’s all.” Said Raizer with red cheeks.

“Don’t worry, little guy, big sister understands.” Said Naomi with a creepy smile of satisfaction as she brushed his head with her hand.

“Sigh, this isn’t going away anytime soon, is it?”

“Nope.”

And just like that, five years went by in a blink of an eye. They managed to enter the inner circle of their gang and became important figures. Naomi used her intelligence and became the leader of the Information Gathering Division. Raizer and Jasper became top fighters of the gang and managed to show their capabilities, getting their own units to command. Everything was going fine for them. They didn’t have to steal anymore to fill their stomachs.

***

One day, Naomi received a lead about the East Alley Gang. It seemed that they were preparing to start a war with them, but they weren’t sure about that. Naomi was now out gathering intel following the lead she received.

Argh, this is so annoying. I don’t know why I’m even here. A few months ago, I received some credible intel on a trustworthy source about the East Alley Gang. I gave my report to the leaders, but they said they wanted full proof evidence. Full proof evidence my ass. They are just scared of going into war with the East Alley Gang.

I know there are risks of going to war with them like having other gangs interfere. But they don’t have to wear it on their sleeves the fact that they don’t want a war. I bet the East Alley noticed that too. Sigh, let’s just find the evidence they need so that they don’t come up with stupid excuses.

Naomi and the group of five she was leading arrived at the building their intel led. It was an abandoned building in the East Alley Gang’s territory. Just being there was already prohibited and if they were to get caught, they would be killed on the spot or captured.

The building was oddly quiet. The intel mentioned something about the East Alley Gang receiving a substantial sum of weapons to prepare for war against them. So, finding the building empty with no weapons on sight sent chills down Naomi’s back. Her instincts jolted, telling her that they should get out of there.

“Listen carefully. We’ve been compromised. Retreat slowly and report back to base.” Ordered Naomi with a whisper.

The other five were confused. They didn’t understand why she was saying that. But they knew that Naomi never gave orders that meant nothing. All of them retreated slowly but before they could escape out of the building, a group of ten men appeared.

They were all equipped with magic weapons which Naomi realised at first glance. What got Naomi’s attention more though was the crest on the weapons.

That crest?! I see. So, they were being helped.

The weapons they were wielding had a crest of a sun. An insignia that belonged to the military of this kingdom, the Slavia kingdom. They are attacked by the group and they fought back quite valiantly. Naomi wasn’t much of a fighter but that didn’t mean she couldn’t handle herself in a fight.

They were defeated and all the five people with Naomi dropped dead on the ground. Naomi on the other hand was kept alive.

“Hahaha, the boss wants you back alive so you should be happy.” Said one of the men.

“That voice. So, it’s you Cole.” Said Naomi after hearing the man’s voice. The man took off the mask he was wearing.

“Nothing gets past you now does it. When I heard that you were the one who was on this mission. I asked the boss to be the one to bring you in.”

So, they already knew we were coming. That means we have a traitor. I’m sure the ‘backup team’ has already returned to base to report this.

The backup team Naomi was thinking about was a team that followed the main team from the shadows. Their job was to observe the main team and also serve as a backup in case of emergencies. The backup team was only made up of two people so that they could retreat to the base if odds were against the main team without much trouble.

Cole punched Naomi with his strong fist causing her to pass out.

***

At the base of the East Alley Gang.

Naomi was locked up in a prison cell. She had chains shackled on her hands and feet that were connected to the wall. She was bleeding above her left eye. Her eyes twitched as she came too.

Mhm, where am I?

Naomi opened her eyes, her vision blurry from the punch. She looked around the room and noticed the guards outside the bars. There were two of them. One of them had keys on his waist. They both were equipped with swords.

Ahh, I was captured. This is quite the predicament I’m in. I’m not really sure what they want from me for them to capture me alive. Maybe they want information? That would make sense since I basically lead a division that its sole purpose is to gather information.

Sigh, I bet the backup team got the message back to the base. But I doubt anyone will come to rescue me. After all, I trespassed. There is also the possibility that we have a traitor. Nobody knew about my mission except for my squad and the leaders. There’s no way one of my men is a traitor which leaves the leaders.

They are so scared of war that one of them or maybe more chose to betray us. A bunch of cowards. Well, I guess this will be good for them. They never did like me after all. I guess being too smart is threatening for them. There wasn’t an Information Gathering Division until I made one after all.

Naomi glossed over the room one more time. It was basically a dungeon used to capture people. There was nothing inside it except for a bucket.

I need to get out of here. I can’t hope they’ll come for me. The problem is how will I get out? The chains are tight. And even if I did get out of them, I would also need to find a way to unlock the bars that are keeping me here. I would have to do that all while hoping those two dimwits don’t recognise me which is basically impossible. Sigh, I guess I’ll have to try that. How embarrassing.

“Hey, two idiots. I need to pee.” Shouted Naomi at the guards.

“Shut up, woman.”

“I would if you unlocked these damn chains so that I could pee.”

The two men didn’t respond.

“I really have to pee you know. Haven’t your mothers ever told you, you can’t deny a woman’s need to pee. I mean, if it was your mother who needed to pee, would you ignore her?”

The two annoyed guards didn’t respond but gritted their teeth.

“How heartless can you guys be. Keeping a woman waiting like this. And after drinking so much water this morning. Come on, idiots. Help a girl out.”

“Just pee. I don’t see anything stopping you.” said one of the guards cockily.

“How dare you say that to me. That’s just disgusting. Do you want me to lose my dignity as a woman?”

The guards didn’t respond again.

“Sigh, well I guess it can’t be helped. I hope your boss likes a woman who smells like pee.”

Those words seemed to startle the pair.

“Wha-what do you mean by that?”

“Well, I’m a woman. And your boss is a womanizer. I doubt he’s going to torture me like he would a man. He probably will have his way with me first to break my willpower and then give me to you guys to do whatever you want to me before torturing the life out of me. Well, the life would have already been tortured out of me so I guess he’ll just kill me.”

The two men stopped and pondered the compelling argument.

“Well, since you guys don’t want to let me pee even though a bucket is right over there, I guess I’ll have to pee on myself then. Oh, and I tend to do number two too when I really need to pee. It’s kind of a two-way streak.”

“Wait, wait, wait. We’ll unlock you, okay. Jeez, to think you’re actually a woman.” Said one of the men as he unlocked the bars of the dungeon.

He walked up to Naomi and unlocked the chains.

“There, go pee. And don’t you dare try anything, okay.” Said the man as the other one entered the dungeon with his hand on the hilt of his sword.

Naomi sat down on the bucket and did her business.

“Woah, I guess she did drink a lot of water.”

Naomi then started groaning in pain.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“I don’t know. My pee feels like it’s burning.”

“Doesn’t matter. Finish up so that I can lock you up.”

“For reals though, it feels like I’m peeing blood? Let me look.”

After Naomi finished her business, she squatted on the floor and looked over the bucket.

“I knew it.” Said Naomi in shock.

“Knew what? Hey, quit stalling- “before the guard could finish talking, Naomi threw her urine at his eyes, blinding him.

“Ahaa!”

She then hurled the bucket at the man at the gate hitting him on the head, temporarily stunning him. She quickly grabbed the keys from the man’s waist, pushed the man who was standing in front of the gate to the ground before pulling the gate of the cell and locking it.

“Damn bitch. Do you think you can run away?” shouted the man with blood shot eyes.

“Not sure. I won’t know unless I try, right. See you later, idiots. Actually, I hope I never see you again.” Said Naomi as she bolted out of there.