He remembers it all in pieces.

Being dragged away from home with his little sister pulled along in the same manner. His mother smoking a cigarette in the doorframe as men in what looked like cargo gear or standard combat wear dragged them away.

They were told that it was just a behavioural camp for children that misbehaved. Charlie knew it was a lie, how? he couldn't say how. Maybe it was the sweet words they used on his mother over when she invited them in one morning when she believed he and his sister were already in bed.

Or maybe it was the dead look in the eyes of one of the men. Dark eyes that lacked any empathy, or had simply lost it.

Charlie blamed himself for his sisters death. Liza died within the first few months of being in Grid. The real name for the false camp they had been given to by their own mother.

Liza was a kind girl who wasn't even Charlie's real sister, just some kid dumped on Charlie and his mother after one of her boyfriends decided to pick up his guitar with two lose strings and leave without telling anyone.

But liza, he loved her. She was a beam of light even when her father left she tried to keep a smile on her face and seem unbothered, almost expectant at her age. Charlie felt bad for the younger one so he made sure that she was always by his side, that nothing could harm her and if it did, it would have to be through him first.

He could tell his mum was getting stressed and he even remembers feeling bad for her while he was sat in the car thinking of what led to all of this. His bad attitude, his treatment of others, his pranks.

He did feel bad, but that didn't last for long as he was thrown in what felt like a cleaner jail cell that was stark white with bright shining lights overhead that just didn't turn off.

Charlie remembered screaming to be let out while kicking at the thick white doors that didn't budge.

A full day later he was pulled out and he remembers the struggle he was having with them, they were pulling his clothes off. For someone who was so young at the time and just skin and bones he wanted to laugh at the memory of fighting back against fully grown men.

Eventually they got him out of them and instead of moving on from that point, they just beat on him. Stomps, punches, elbows, and more. Over and over again.

After he was properly beaten and didn't even try to fight back anymore they dragged him through the halls into another room where he was being patched up.

A needle was inserted into his arm and that got him up and wanting to rip it out, but the multiple looks of the people staring him down like an ant to be crushed if he did wrong was enough to stop him.

The effects were immediate, his mind felt clouded over but he could still hear words floating around the room. He was slapped, but he could barely feel it.

His teeth were clenched and chattering. The previous apprehension was fading away and all he wanted to do was get back at the people who had straddled him to his seat.

He leapt off and went to tear at one mans face but was kicked hard in the stomach. He was sent flying across the room and spat out a wad of bile built up in his throat. He instantly got up and looked at the four men in the room with murder written on his face.

"Much better than his sister he is..." he caught.

The anger was still there, in act it grew as he asked for her. Charlie didn't even wait for an answer and instead started calling out her name in the white room he was in until eventually he had on what looked like a dog muzzle clamped over his mouth stopping him from speaking.

Again, he was taken somewhere else, to another room with another boy standing at the end.

'What is this?' he wanted to ask.

One bent down and told him. "All you have to do is win. Win and you will see your sister."

Then they left the room shutting it closed and the boy in front of him, pale and short, got in some weird fighting stance that Charlie had only seen older people do on tv and in video games.

Fight. He had to fight? He was confused, the thought of this place actually being a facility to help people with bad behaviour had already been discarded from his mind, but he was confused as to what was going on here.

But only one thing was on his mind. Liza, his sister.

All he had to do was win right.

And so win was what he had done. It didn't take too long but the feelings after the match was over hurt so bad. He looked down at the pale boy now covered in red. His hand too covered in blood, Charlie didn't feel what he believed he would feel after what looked like killing someone and he wondered why.

He thought he would feel sick, scared, shocked, worried for what's to come. But no, none of that. All he is thinking of is when he gets to see his sister.

"She will be waiting for you in your room."

And he was taken back to where he was first brought, the place that was now going to be his room. The lights were still blaring but as soon as he got in the doors were locked shut.

"Jeez rude much!?" he tried making some joke to lighten the mood for himself as well as the girl shivering while sat facing the wall in front of him.

"Liza?" her long ashen coloured blonde hair was rough, she shivered while muttering something about their mother.

Charlie noticed her fear, he felt it. He didn't want this for her. He reached and when he seen his hands still dirtied by red he stopped.

Suddenly reason started to come back to him, he felt sick and ran to a white bin in the corner of the room to puke in it.

His eyes were wide and shaking as the realization hit him. 'I killed a person.'

He had always been in fights before but he had never thought of taking anything this far. He felt even worse but he couldn't get sick anymore on an empty stomach, he started to shiver but then remembered he was not the only one in the room.

Liza was here too. Charlie turned to his sister who was still kneeling on the floor staring at the wall. He wiped his hand on the duvet that was on his bed and gently touched his sister.

"What's wrong Liza?" She didn't speak. He shook her a bit and then got in front of her and put two of his hands on her shoulders. "What did you see Liza?" He had to know.

He needed to know more about the place they were shoved into so that he could mentally prepare himself.

"So many.... so many are dead... and it was so loud." Liza put her small hands to her ears as she was recounting what she had seen.

Charlie was mortified. If he was right and got everything she was saying correctly, she was dumped in a room with tons of other people, children, and then they just started shooting at them from an unknown location until she was one of the last few remaining.

Liza, his sister was in such close proximity to death, and still is.

'We have to get out of here.'

But he didn't know how. He couldn't rely on his mother who had already seemed tired of them, he had no father and Liza's is a deadbeat.

Charlie would have to do it all himself.

The doors opened and they took his sister. He watched her go but before the last of them left he called out to them.

"I don't want her participating in whatever you have planned." The tall man dressed in a long trench-coat turned around with a smirk.

"You don't call the shots here." Charlie's fury was growing and then the man kneeled to his height. "But if you provide good results in her place, she will be treated fairly, no experiments." He spoke in broken English, but that didn't matter.

Charlie got an answer that was good enough for him.

It didn't matter how long it took, eventually he would get himself and his sister out of here.

___

As time went on he went on to do whatever was asked of him, fighting, testing of his state while on certain chemicals and toxins, academic testing and other things that he could only view as torture.

Things like being locked in a ice cold room with the task of not moving for five hours. Being subjected to harsh beatdowns at random and something that he believed was the favourite of the same man who spoke in some broken English which later became Russian, it was electrocution.

Other times they would take his blood, he didn't know why and he didn't care.

Charlie had changed, it had only been a month and it was getting too much. Sometimes he would lie awake at night shivering from the pain he was feeling. He hated it so much, but he was enduring.

He would only feel a semblance of peace when he got to see his sister without even a hair on her head missing. She is who he is doing it for. He would continue to endure until they were both out of this mess.

But everywhere was so dull, the dim grey and white tones were everywhere they went in the building. He was sure he hadn't walked past anywhere that could have been an exit, he didn't know how he was going to escape.

As he was being led somewhere else in the building he walked past some other kid. Dressed in all black, darker skin complexion and short curly hair. But what caught Charlie off guard were his eyes.

The kids eyes were a shade he had never seen before, an auburn jewel that seemed to radiate gold off of the light, but in this atmosphere even a child like that one only had a dry and dead look on his face.

He was told later that the boy was someone Charlie would never see as he is now. He and the more special children were kept separate from them in another building.

Charlie thought on the fact that the kid was probably the same age as his sister going through what he is.

'Doesn't matter.'

All he had to focus on was his sister.

___

And then he failed.

He didn't receive his predicted score on some test. And Charlie didn't get to see Liza that day.

Instead he was brought outside a room where she was going through their 'testing' and made to listen to her cries. He didn't know what was going on in there but he wanted to stop it.

But he was still weak, his face was being pressed against the door as he listened to whatever was going on with Liza in the room.

Tears were streaming down his face as he was stuck with another thought.

'I Will Kill Them!'

___

The failings kept happening. And then more and more he was deprived from his sister.

It was like everything got harder and the wins he did get meant nothing.

The next time he did see Liza she was a husk of her former self, didn't even look him in the eye, constantly shivering and keeping a guarded expression.

She wouldn't speak, only cry. Bad memories were constantly swirling around her head.

'It's my fault.'

That was the only thought going through Charlie's.

And then the day came.

Liza was dead.

His mind went blank, he couldn't hear anything anymore. Charlie just went still as the tears built up in his eyes.

'I lost.'

Memories, where were the memories. All that popped in his head was his time at the Grid, his cruel and torturous time at Grid. And every time he was set laying on a table instead of seeing his own face, it was Liza.

'I killed her.'

The air got heavy, there was a change.

Charlie's eyes were closed shut and the next time he opened them it seemed like a flood was let out. Energy was surrounding him he felt like drawing at something.

Liza was now dead but there was still another promise he didn't want to break.

The doors to his room opened and it felt like he could finally see new light, his eyes were picking up wisps of aura of some kind around everyone, but instead of moving in circular motion like his, theirs moved upwards as if flowing away from them.

He instantly put the pieces together.

'There not like me. There not special.'

And he got up, his hand moved in a motion he could only describe as instinctual and a sword came out with a flowing scale of water surrounding it.

'I Will Kill Them.'

He sprinted in speeds that he had never reached before and cut down the three men who approached his cell.

'Yes.' He thought that with this new strength he could finally get out of here. But first he would have to...

!

The air went cold and he was afraid to turn around.

"I knew it was right to bet on you." The same broken English in a Russian accent was teasing him.

Charlie turned and backed away seeing the radiant dark blue aura surrounding the man, it felt disgusting and overly gleeful. Not a childish kind but one he could see in the eyes of the regular sick and twisted adults that he would see on the news.

In a blind rage, Charlie dashed forward sword in hand ready to cut down the man. But Charlie was put down quicker than he could even fathom.

His face was in the ground and he was shaking with fury and a growing sadness from the realization that his sister is no more.

He had failed, he couldn't find a way out, he couldn't cut down his enemies, and he had lost his sister.

Charlie had lost his resolve. He simply laid there taking in the beatings he was receiving.

He had started to notice something strange though, the punches and kicks he was receiving were so simply choreographed.

always in the same sync, and always lasted the same amount of time. Other than the teasing Russian man, the other men had dry looks on their faces that shown no emotion.

'Could it be?' Charlie thought. 'Have they all been through this...?'

Charlie slowly blinked and closed his eyes shut....

___

(July 2020)

A swift crack in the back and long sigh broke the silence in a broken down shack far from any main road or any other living beings.

The sound came from a tall man with blue hair, one could easily say that he was handsome with his dark blue hair that reached to the tips of his ears.

"What a shitty dream." was roughly muttered out.

"You say something Charlie?" A woman with dirty blonde hair tied lazily in a ponytail asked.

"Nothing to worry about Jo." Jo was a tanned skin short woman, her green eyes were always first to look for an exit whenever she was in a new environment, always ready to run.

It was hard for Charlie to get her to follow him, but she didn't really have anywhere else to go so after a little more persuading she folded.

She was annoying sometimes, but she was still useful. And also similar to him so he could sympathize with her.

"So what's on the roaster bossman?" she asked. "Last night you just made sure we got to this location before the rain fully came down and then you fell asleep."

Right. Charlie did remember that, but the reason he chose this location was because it was near somewhere he wanted to break into.

Grid had quite a few facilities across the country that Charlie had found out. Even though he felt bad for all the people going through what he had went through... what had happened to Liza... he still couldn't think of going through all the trouble of going travelling over the country to free them.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Not with just Jo anyway.

So that was why he had dragged her all the way to some almost barren area.

"Leave one of your 'hands' here alright." He told Jo.

He watched as her Od took on a dull, greyish yellow colour. In a swirling motion she had manifested a dethatched hand with a dense amount of Od surrounding it. This was how they were going to escape.

Jo could teleport, she described it as her hand dragging her to a location she had left one of her hands. But anyway, she was useful.

As she shrunk the hand to an unnoticeable size Charlie had started making his way out of the run down shack kicking the door hanging off of only one of its hinges.

He walked out stomping on the damp mucky ground.

"Let's move!" He ordered.

Jo gave him a questioning look but followed along waiting five minutes of them walking to finally ask.

"What are we doing in the middle of nowhere Charlie?" She asked with irritation. "Dragging a petite woman like me all the way to the sticks, and for what?" She started getting dramatic and it was annoying.

Charlie ignored her and then stopped moving as he seen what he was here for. He grabbed Jo and put a hand over her mouth and crouched down.

"Look." he pointed in front of them looking over a thick row of bushes, in front of them was a small building facility with large electrical fences and barbed wire on the top.

Security cameras were planted on the corners of the buildings as well.

"You never said we'd be doing anything dangerous Charlie!" Jo whisper-shouted to him.

"Cause I knew you'd try find a way out of it or delaying. But we can't delay now. I have a goal I want to accomplish and this is just another step to achieving it."

Jo stopped shaking and internally sighed while closing her eyes looking deep in thought.

"Alright. Get to work then."

Charlie smiled at that.

"You'll be going with me Jo."

Jo was growing even more frustrated, not in a serious manner but she still hated the thought of being put in the front lines of danger.

"How about I just stay out here and survive you know?"

Charlie patted her on the back. "You'll be stuck by my side so you won't be dying Jo."

"Also, I know there are only two people in this facility. Not like the Grid we knew, still bad experiments but less people."

"Why so little?" she asked. Jo didn't really like to know or hear of anything of the Grid. She badly wanted to leave that part of her life in the past, but for now she would stick with Charlie until she could leave to a more peaceful life.

"Ever since five years ago when a bunch of the facilities were busted they started to do less. And just move around on a much smaller scale to avoid being caught." Charlie informed her.

"One of them is an actual kid you know?" Most people, even those who had experienced great misfortune would likely have a soft spot for children. And Jo was definitely one of them.

"Alright we'll just quickly grab them and run then yeah?"

Charlie nodded. "There'll be people in the way so you know what'll happen. Lets move."

They were quick to move, hopping over the fences with their enhanced mobility. Charlie easily cut through a wall to create an entrance and they were immediately met with guards and people in long white lab coats, scientists, doctors.

As soon as Charlie spotted them he instantly cut them down, remembering the horrible things that happened to him in a facility like this. He just wanted to let himself go and tear it all down.

'Not now.' He would control himself. In due time he would let the world know of the pain they all went through. For now he would have to gather a few more pieces to players to add to his side.

The alarms went off.

He'd heard the alarms go off before, the day he was finally being freed. They were so loud it felt as if his teeth were ready to jump out of their sockets. Charlie wanted to clap his hands over his ears and he had already seen Jo do so.

'I found one.' He read off of her lips. Jo was Od sensitive so she could usually sense the Od of an individual from far off distances.

Charlie followed her and protected her on their way to a door.

A plain looking door was there and Charlie kicked it down, it took a few solid ones but he got it down.

"Jeez this noise is splitting my head." Charlie said.

He walked in the room first to see who's room he had entered. What he had seen was a grey room with soft landing and walls, covered in soft acoustic foam. 'Weird.' he thought, the room was dark and grey and in front of him was a bedframe, thin bedding and a boy chained to it with a suppression rune inscribed onto the chains.

Youthful in appearance and in plain grey clothing. Grey that matched his grey hair. The boy was still laying down completely ignoring the noise muttering something incoherent.

On his face was a skeletal animal mask. Real bone is what it looked like too.

Charlie didn't have much more time to waist though. He paced over to the boy... "Get up. We're leaving. Everyone in the facility is dead. You're free now."

The boy acknowledged Charlie and chuckled before sitting up. Charlie was directed to this lab since he was looking for something more, something that will tell those from the Grid that he was coming.

This boy was not him. But he knew that he was still in this facility.

"What's your name?" Charlie asked over the noise. There was nothing but intense staring "Do you even have one?"

"You first. I don't know how to do this." He finally spoke, yellow eyes almost dead but still holding on to some intense fury stared deeply to Charlie.

Charlie took a step back and obliged.

"Charlie Liber. Nice to make your acquaintance. But we should leave now. This alarm is truly unbearable." Charlie said with a smirk on his face. He then stretched out his hand to him.

The boy took it and then got down from the metal bedding. Once down Charlie could see that he was actually quite small, only reaching to his chest area. The boy was looking at him with a curios gaze.

"All dead? They're really all dead?" he asked.

"Yeah. So now we just need to free one more person and then we'll be out of here." Charlie only realized how worn out the boy sounded, his voice was thin and raspy, he probably hadn't even spoken to someone in months.

"Edwin Duval, that's my name."

"Great, nice to meet you Ed. But lets save the rest of the introductions for later."

Jo took that as her own sign to leave the room with Charlie following. As they followed Charlie noticed Elliot looking at the bodies they passed. Elliot looked on with a quiet indifference and even seemed happy to see it showing off a light smirk when seeing some of them turned over.

"This room." Charlie put his sword to the side and cut downwards finding it to be an easier way to open the door to the room.

And what they seen when they opened the door... was nothing.

The room was stark black and couldn't be seen through.

'Damnit.'

"He's in there." Jo said. "He seems to be real scared though."

"Wait here both of you." Charlie walked in, Od already radiating off of him. He was not sensitive like Jo was but he could still sense Od near him like any other user. He closed his eyes and followed the signature.

Letting his feet guide him, he noticed the floors and walls were the same as Edwin's but what was different were the shards of shattered glass on the floor as he walked. He finally came upon a small figure, he felt it since he still couldn't see anything.

'To have him locked up in a room like this all day.'

"Please just leave..." the whimper caught Charlie off guard.

'Maybe its just cause he can't see me.'

"Don't worry kid, I'm here to help you, try reaching out..."

"Please, I'm begging you to leave."

Maybe the darkness meant nothing. The boy had been crying Charlie could tell from his voice. But Charlie wasn't going to leave here without him, he would use any necessary piece to make sure he accomplished what he had set up for himself.

Charlie got closer and the kid noticed and seemed to skitter around the place. Charlie stepped hard on the small foot of the child and enhanced his fingers and tapped them against the child's forehead and put him to sleep.

He then lifted the child out of the room.

"Yo Ed." he handed the kid to Edwin. "You'll be in charge of the kid for now."

Edwin looked like he wanted to say something but Charlie then looked at Jo. "Lets go."

"There's one more!" Jo said harshly. Charlie wasn't informed of this, he thought on whether he should leave them or not. But then he thought, 'Everyone'll have a use.'

Jo led him to another room and to say he was surprised was an understatement. As soon as he opened it up he could see doctors still seemingly operating on her. The room was separate to the rest of the building and the alarms didn't go off in it, so they were not prepared for the onslaught brought by Charlie.

But that didn't mean Charlie was prepared for the crazy he was about to come in contact with.

"Heya!" A cheery voice spoke to him from under her bindings on an operating table, long dark hair and a calming smile was what he had first noticed. The blood was next, splattered over her belly which was just stitched up.

Charlie wondered what had happened but then cut the straps keeping her restrained.

"You're coming with us!" He said boldly. The girl looked about Edwin's age, maybe a little older. She was more dirty and literally in rags.

"What if I refuse?" She asked causing Jo to tense up with the bloodlust she revealed. Charlie faced her and showed off his own.

"Then you can die here." And he was serious.

The girl laughed, there was joy in her face. It was weird but not unnatural. Maybe it was because of her appearance.

"What's your name?" Charlie asked.

"Renata Kalim. Nice to meet you." She tried to mockingly bow down when giving her introduction but the fell over causing Jo to run to her aid and lift her up.

"Alright Jo bring us back to the others and lets get out of here."

A swirling vortex came out of nowhere and out of it came a hand that dragged them all to another location.

Edwin was left wondering and Jo seemed to finally rest as she slumped on the thin dirty mat that she made her bed the night before.

"Finally no more noise and out of danger."

Charlie ignored her and the bubbling questions of Edwin and the curious noises of Renata as she seemed in awe of the random kid, he thought to himself.

'Soon'. They were going to stir up some trouble for the paladins and the country as a whole. Charlie would make sure his sister wouldn't be forgotten. The torment and strife she went through wouldn't be in vein.

___

"So why did you want that kid specifically?" Jo asked Charlie who was in a new set of clothes as they were in a safehouse on the outskirts of a city.

Charlie looked on and said. "He has a crazy powerful ability that I want to use."

Jo gave Charlie a disapproving look but he ignored it. Charlie knew that Jo was not one to happily use children in whatever his plans were but Charlie also knew she wouldn't defy him.

Jo loved her life too much, she would follow the strong until they dumped her so she could have her peace, but she was also dumb and would get involved in bad situations where she would always meet with people like Charlie and be used for her own power.

"So what is his power?" she asked with a little intrigue.

Charlie thought on telling her what it was and then believed there would be no harm in doing so.

"Doctors experimenting on him at the Grid called it **Chaos**, he's got little to no control of it for now though." That left many interpretations on what the power may be. Yet Jo didn't think Charlie's explanation of it would be what it was.

"He emits some smoke that can barely be detected, its odourless and travels far. Its effects are turning people into some weird crazy zombie like state forcing them to breathe hatred and all negative traits they have. They start attacking each other for a couple minutes at a time."

Jo looked frightened, a power like that in the hands of a boy with no control of it could cause too much trouble. Trouble that Jo really didn't want to be around.

"We're going to dump him in specific spots and close our way inwards to the city whenever his ability shows signs of awakening."

"Wait!" Jo was a little scared now. "Do we even know when it activates, or how bad it really gets, I mean it feels like dropping bombs on innocent people."

Charlie's head swivelled, he had thought of that. He just didn't look at it as a big problem. 'Cause it's not.'

"We'll wait for the kid to wake up and tell us himself. He should get comfortable with the yellow eyed kid anyway." Elliot didn't seem incredibly friendly but he at least showed some care to the child on board. "And just know the effects once activated are bad. I nabbed a brief on his profile describing that when it first awakened his parents were in the vicinity and started attacking each other until they both dropped."

Jo was truly starting to feel an ache in her stomach, like she shouldn't be here. She didn't want to be a part of this.

Charlie knew that she could always take the chance to run, but where to? Paladins? Bad choice, if she exposed her past there's always the chance she'll be locked up even for allying with him, same with the police.

Jo had no home, and couldn't even remember her family name. Plus if Grid was still going on like this there is always the chance she could stumble into them again and fall back into that isolated and torturous life.

Charlie made sure she knew this. She had a limit of summoning five hands at all times. If she were smart she could have found a way away from Charlie already, but she was not smart, she was scared. Scared and already too deeply involved.

She continued to listen on to the tragic past of the young boy in their possession now. After police were called on to the scene their loud sirens never turned off and once they got in range they would feel the effects and start to indiscriminately attack each other and other people caught up in the effects down the whole street of the neighbourhood.

Eventually after the chaos there was only a crying child about the age of six years old trapped and barricaded in his room. Who found him were not police or paladins that got to the scene too late, it was operatives from Grid.

"What's the boy's name?" Jo asked with in a despondent tone.

"Oscar." At least she now had a proper name to call him by.

"And, what's the end goal? Is it at least near?" Jo was sounded somewhat desperate now.

"The regional office for the ministry of welfare. The center. That's where some very important people are. I want to meet with them. After I get my hands on them, you're free to go."

"Really. So you won't bother me again?"

Charlie didn't see it fit to respond, not even a nod of his head. He had already said what he said so he ignored her, only for Jo to get in his face.

"I need you to promise me that you will not come seeking me again..." her Od was flaring, not in a violent way, one asking for a promise to be made. Charlie obliged.

"I swear, after I get my hands on a man named Callum Verus you are free. And I will never seek you out for aid every again." Charlie's Od also flared in a more sharp way.

It was an oath. One he would have to stick by, though since they never agreed on any type of punishment, if he broke it then it would be completely random. Something he knows very little about but he wasn't worried.

The ball was rolling in his favour and he would keep it and take it to the goal, by himself if he really needed to!

___

2 Months Later

Corin Shepherd. A tall man, few inches more so than Charlie, he had dull purple eyes that reminded Charlie of someone he met when he had snuck into the paladin institution a few weeks ago.

"Have you been involved in the mess going on around the city as of recent?" The man asked, he spoke in a unemotional tone. Charlie didn't really like running into him.

"Who knows." And he certainly wasn't going to give him any answers, the two were in a bar that was filled to the brim with people who all decided to revel on the bad side of life.

Charlie stuck a fork in his steak, he grabbed the knife to his side and slowly cut it into pieces before slowly lifting a bite to his mouth and chewing even slower. It was methodical, and not what one would expect from such a young lad.

Robberies, assaults, murders. Each of those crimes could probably be found in the past of people like this. Even the owner of the place who had claimed to be a rehabilitated man after spending a long eight years in prison.

"Have you found any more clues to your missing kid?" Charlie didn't like the man to his side but he did owe him for helping him out when he was younger and had been freed from the grid.

He's just wondering of a way to use Corin with the information he has.

"Only a small bit. I found the group leader who orchestrated the kidnapping all those years ago. Roman Costa was his name."

Charlie could guess that he didn't live long, Corin was given the name of the *Reaper* in the underworld. He was brutal and completely hollow inside. This Roman Costa name did sound familiar though.

Corin seemed to notice Charlie's thoughts as he gave him a brief overview on the now dead man.

"He was the head of the relief group Trust," Now Charlie remembered. "They were a group that acted as a relief aid for those misplaced after tragedies that happen, either because of natural disaster, chimera attacks or awakened people using their powers however they want."

Charlie knows that they had a hand in supplying subjects to Grid. Easy source that no one would suspect. The group was seen as a godsend for the regular people and for so long there was no suspicion of the group, until about six months ago. Probably when Corin got to them.

"Roman Costa was part of the group who came into the small run down town I lived in and kidnapped many of the children and other young people there and sold them into slavery or just other businesses that had a need for them."

'Sick.'

Seeing Corin's dim purple eyes reminded Charlie of that same girl in the paladin institution with bright purple eyes, completely different but still looked similar. Not to mention the shape of both of their oval faces made it seem like they may have had a relation.

"Did you figure out anything about your kid from him before you killed him?" Charlie asked still deciding on whether to speak or not.

Corin stayed quiet, like his words were caught in his throat. Or maybe he just wanted to watch what he said even in a open place like the one they were sat in with people who didn't care for your disgusting pasts and seemed to welcome it.

Charlie had heard news of Corin throughout the years many times. He reached many circles where people who had abused children would be strung up and tortured ruthlessly by Corin, people who would give him false information just to try and ambush him would die mercilessly as well.

With all the bodies he left behind it was no wonder how he was already high on the list for most wanted among the paladins and police force.

"He laughed at me." Corin was squeezing glass trying to reign in his anger. "The sick pig who took my daughter laughed at me. He spat blood in my face only to laugh and say if he waited longer for my reputation to skyrocket as it has, he would have made triple off what he sold her for."

"So you know where she is?" Charlie asked.

"No." Corin said in rage as he cracked the glass in his hand causing a quiet silence and some people to turn their way to see the commotion.

The sole bartender walked over with a cloth and some bandages.

"Please clean up and take care of yourself."

Corin apologized and gracefully took what was handed to him.

"All I know is, it didn't take long for him to sell her after he had took her compared to the other children, she was still really young."

Probably because she was young was left unsaid by Charlie. Charlie had met Corin five years ago to which Corin had been on this mission for seven years.

'Would his kid even remember him?'

"She was sold to some French couple during the integration period after the Fiends' attack twelve years ago." Corin wasn't home when his child was taken, he was out doing his best to make enough money to eventually move to a bigger space for him and his new family.

But then one of the Gluttonous Fiend attacked, one of The first children. The strongest Chimera who aren't officially ranked because their power is on a completely different level.

The fiend had attacked countries like France in the past, like twenty years ago which caused great destruction to the country only to come back eight years later to tear up another large section of the country leaving it as less than half of what it was.

Many were misplaced and ended up in many different parts of the world that were allied with the country.

So the only information Corin got of his daughter being sold to a random French couple in the country was not much to go off.

"And how old would she be now?" Charlie asked wanting to finally confirm his suspicions.

"Fifteen, her birthday was a few months ago now. March 12."

That would be the same age of that paladin student he had nearly shot at when he was escaping. Purple eyes and pale blonde hair, he didn't get a great look at her face though.

Corin had always made it a point to work alone. Silly in Charlie's opinion, but he understood it as Corin not wanting to drag other people into the bloody life he is now leading. Still stupid in Charlie's honest opinion.

Charlie leaned forward, lowering his voice to create a more intimate atmosphere.

"You could spend months chasing ghosts or you could be more smart about it and maybe see your kid before her sweet sixteen. I have contacts who deal in information, those who know where to look and who to talk to."

Charlie looked over to Corin's face to see that he had on the same unemotional look after his short outburst. But his eyes did gain some interest in what he was saying.

"I'll be in this city for a while so, if you're willing to keep your ear to the ground, I can help you navigate this maze." Charlie then picked up his glass of orange juice and took a big sip of it leaving the glass half full.

"I don't like to drag people into..."

Charlie held his hand up.

"You're not dragging me anywhere. I have my own goals that need to be fulfilled. I'm just gambling with the idea that maybe you'll find what your looking for with a little more guidance. You don't need to follow me or anything like that. Just be ready for anything."

Corin looked with wariness and a mixture of bloodlust that wafted throughout the room making some stumble in their step.

"Just because I don't like dragging people in the messes I create doesn't mean I'll idly sit by and allow one to run circles around me Charlie Liber."

Oh he seemed to be getting serious now.

Charlie felt the tension in the air shift as Corin's demeanour hardened. A warning for him not to misstep. Charlie believed he could now take on the elder, but he wasn't stupid enough to just try.

"Look Corin." Charlie said, keeping his tone steady despite the weight of Corin's gaze. "I'm not trying to pull you into anything, I'm looking for a way to help you, to pay you back by helping you find your daughter. The more time you spend on your own, the more time you miss out on crucial leads."

The noise of the Tv picked up and Charlie gazed over to it to see a face that was oh so familiar to him.

Callum Verus.

He wouldn't forget the snobby and geeky looking guy anywhere. 'Seems he's moved up in the world.'

He read along to the news clip almost forgetting Corin was beside him also listening in to see what had dragged in Charlie's attention.

"See that Corin. They're inviting in more players to toughen up the army." Corin was looking baffled but followed along to what Charlie was saying. "You can't play lone wolf much longer trust me, or else you may loose more than just time."

Charlie knew that Corin's want to go at this alone wasn't the only reason as to why he refused Charlie's aid. Charlie had been making noise as well lately and even longer in the underworld as one to be feared.

If Charlie was in Corin's shoes then he wouldn't trust a single word coming from his mouth but a father's want for their child back in their arms was unstoppable, so Corin would come around soon and be of use to him one way or another.

He just needed to keep him in the city a while longer.

"By the way, what's your daughter's name?"

"She was named Zarita. Zarita Shepherd."

And then he stuck out a picture of a small toddler one with a bright smile on her face showing missing teeth and violet hued orbs glimmering with an otherworldly intensity with a growing tuft of ashen blonde hair crowning her head.

Charlie went back to his nonchalant smile on his face...

Seems we found a match.