A Daring Rescue and a New Beginning

“A world too big to be so small…”

*************

“Who are you?” LevZuss whiffed out in suppressed anger. “You have crossed a bridge that will cost you dearly…”

“I am not interested in such minuscule costs. And I have no time for you. Move.” Kai said in a controlled and calm tone.

“You do not understand do you? One of the Seven Horsemen of Doom stands before you. I hold the cards my friend.” LevZuss said.

Kai gave him a disinterested look and raised his gun again.

“A mere gun cannot penetrate my armor….” LevZuss thought.

Kai was inches away from pulling the trigger when some commotion from the layers above caused LevZuss to look up.

A man in a camel coat was jumping from one techno-landing to another after descending from a layer above in an effort to reach Kai.

“Now hold on just a minute you trigger happy, blood thirsty, gunslinging wolf!!!! Do you know how tedious it is to deal with irritating mobs like these? “Senosuke said in a flustered tone after landing beside Kai.

“Knowing you, you were about to inflict maximum amount of pain right? I wish you would stop being so sadistic against criminals man. There is always a better way. How many of these henchmen and thugs did you demolish on your way here man?” Senpai said.

“I understand you concern Senpai. But this had to be done. Some forms of evil cannot be allowed to fester.” Sensei said.

“Sensei…. Please don’t cross a line you will never be able to return from.” Senpai replied.

“LevZuss of the 7 Horsemen of Doom is it…… That must be your brother Targuss then. Here is the deal. We are from Sensei Consultancy Services. The yellow haired man over there is our …. friend. I, Sans Senosuke of SCS propose a deal. You let him go and this does not escalate any further.” Senpai looked at LevZuss and said in a rational manner.

“W….Wh…y a…re yo….u h…e..r..e?” Melvin whispered in a pained tone.

“Well Mr. Havencort…. Let’s just say that your message reached the right consultant.” Kai said with a slight smirk.

*** A few hours earlier in the SCS Head Branch -à Sensei’s office ***

“So, any new business that requires urgent notice or are they the usual ones?” Kai asked.

“I was about to get to that. We have a platinum request again. The client had one of those coins…. Here, let me give you the request memo. It is a handwritten letter. No digital signature this time.” Senosuke said and passed over the letter.

The letter read :-

“ To Sensei of the Sensei Consutancy Services,

I have attached one of your most coveted consultation coins with this letter to bring to your attention the gravity of my situation. I believe I have a valuable cargo that the Rinzen gang of Kazel downtown require. It has been extracted from the archives of the Lodonis Mafia of England.

I shall require your more “ practical consultation” service exactly five hours from the submission time of this letter. I believe I shall meet the leaders directly and I cannot trust them completely. A deeply personal stake is involved and I cannot spare too many details about it. I can pay you upfront after the job.

If you choose to accept my offer, please come find me.

----- Melvin Havencort”

“Senpai, come with me.” Kai said.

“Wait just a moment man…. What do you mean?” Senosuke said.

“There’s no time to explain! Let’s go. Now!!”

The two headed down the aisle that connected the large SCS building with its different wings. They moved passed all the security personnel and went down a private elevator that only the top executives could use.

==== The basement ====

The private section of the basement had all the vehicles of the executive members.

Technology has advanced at a rapid rate here in Kazel. Large scale objects can be stored in small quantum containers and unlocked using neural interface based commands. Though, this was only available to a select few individuals.

“Senpai, I will use a hoverboard. You contact the teams and follow after me. I will share my neural coordinates with you.” Kai said while unlocking his hoverboard.

Slick, metallic and lightweight, it is the most convenient way to travel. SCS exclusive experimental property had its perks.

“What is this about Sensei?” Senpai asked in alarm.

Kai tossed him the letter.

Senpai read it and realization struck.

“Do you know Melvin Havencort?”

“Let’s just say that circumstances were a bit … special. Let’s discuss this over our interfaces as we go” Kai replied.

**** Cue to current time ****

“Sensei Consultancy Services…. Well, this makes things more interesting. I have a proposal of my own. I do not know what deal Melvin Havencort has made with you. But, I can offer you a much better one. This man has a bounty on his head. And, he will fetch us a hefty sum. He is famous so we can gain money from his benefactors too. The payload that he has brought us has sensitive data too. Do you see the potential? It is much more than anything he alone can muster.” LevZuss said confidently.

Kai started getting angrier by the second. The blood lust was palpable and Senpai could feel it.

“I am sorry. We cannot accept this proposal. We are not mercenaries. We shall take Melvin Havencort with us.” Senpai said.

“I see… I am sorry it has come to this then!!!” LevZuss said and launched a massive electrical storm towards Sensei and Senpai.

The entire area was lit up and several electrical devices in the area were completely fried as the electrical storm devastated everything in its path with a blinding dazzle.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Taking out the two of you will improve the quality of my work. I will ask the crew members to clean up the bodies.” LevZuss confidently declared.

His smile faded away as a voice echoed.

“It was a good plan. But you failed to consider one thing…..” Senpai said.

The area became visible again and there was not a scratch on the two.

“…. the possibility that your attack will not work. What a pity” Senpai finished.

“What….?” LevZuss wondered in disbelief.

“And about you men…. Could you please check your interface? It will tell you what exactly happened.

LevZuss checked his interface to see what his crew was up to but only saw people knocked out in all sectors.

“I took the liberty to knock them out… Sensei, you should be considerate of me. Do you know how tiring it was?” Senpai cackled.

“Uh… yeah. Good job!” Sensei replied with an apologetic smile.

“I’ll take that as appreciation. And, I will take care of big guy down there. Do not go firing like a madman.” Senpai said.

LevZuss went alert.

Senpai jumped towards LevZuss.

Even before LevZuss could blink,Senpai was right in front of him.

“It is time to put you out Horseman of Doom.”

LevZuss charged up a punch straight at Senpai but Senpai caught it with ease. The grip was so tight that LevZuss felt an immense surge of pain.

“A mere person toying with a Busoku armored behemoth…. This is just impossible” LevZuss thought in shock and despair.

Senpai just smiled at him.

He released his grip and gave him a push that sent LevZuss a few feet backwards.

“urghhh….”

The busoku interface read -à “Warning!! Entity with superior battle power detected. Immediate termination or retreat is advised.”

“If that is how it is, then there is no point in anything but this….”

LevZuss initiated a chain of commands:-

“Busoku Maximum Output mode initiated. Electrical field around user-suit at maximum. Electro dispenser at maximum. All stats at maximum. Warning: All safety measures disabled.”

LevZuss charged up the entire power of the suit and attacked Senpai with several blows but it was all for nothing.

Senpai dodged and blocked every single attack.

Not wishing to prolong this any further, Senpai launched a devastating sweeping kick to LevZuss’s solar plexus.

A loud crashing noise played throughout the area. Pieces of metal and electronic parts scattered everywhere as a portion of the Electro-Busoku was decimated. LevZuss was sent backwards with a whirlwind force. Blood spilled from his mouth and eyes as he crashed and fell.

“Warning: Critical damage to suit and user. Administering possible medical aid and shutting d…..” The interface could not finish the message before the suit completely shut down.

Senpai looked at the entire scene and sighed.

“Why does it always end like this…”

Sensei started clapping in a grandiose manner. He was very amused!

“You enjoyed that didn’t you?”Senpai said with a light scoff.

“Oh yes…. I did! I got a kick out of it!”Sensei smirked.

Senpai rolled his eyes and went to check up on his victim.

“He’s out cold. Our people should be here soon to wrap things up and round up the thugs.”

He walked up towards Melvin who was slowly recovering.

“Mr. Melvin Havencort…. It seems we have a lot to discuss” he offered in a soothing manner.

He took out a healing kit.

“Here, this will help you recover some ounce of strength”

The electronic kit deployed several medical nanobots throughout Melvin’s body and basic aid was administered. Some of the wounds were patched up and relaxants were injected into his body.

“Thank you… uh…” Melvin fumbled.

“Sans Senosuke from the Sensei Consultancy Services” Senpai offered.

“I am Melvin Havencort… Thank you for the help. Both of you.”Melvin said.

Sensei had quietly reached beside Senpai and both of them were relieved that Melvin was recovering.

“Where do I even start….. First of all, you should have told me that you were Sensei of the Sensei Consultancy Services.” Melvin quipped.

“You never asked….” Sensei said in return.

“That is true though…” Melvin said and smiled at himself.

“Mr Havencort, I have heard how you met Sensei here. You stole something from the Lodonis Mafia?”

“Yes, I did. It is a list of all the locations of the different gangs bases and mafia operations. All the updates and comm details are present here. LevZuss has it in his interface.” Melvin revealed.

The two gasped.

“Well….. this is big. This is a very dangerous piece of information. I don’t know how the Lodonis Mafia had this but ….. You know what you did was reckless and dangerous, right? This could have been used to fuel a lot of evil…. ” Senpai told Melvin.

“You are right…. I was desperate. I needed some intel that these people had. I had planned to recover it from them later. I was careless…” Melvin said in a remorseful voice.

“Yes… It was careless. But I understand… somehow. I will not condone your actions but your eyes are filled with sorrow. I know you bore no malice. “ Sensei said in a somber tone. He looked pensive and somewhat remorseful, as if he understood what Melvin was going through.

“Huh…. Do you really understand? Why I am doing so much of shady things even though I never wanted to? Can you really say THAT!!”Melvin demanded.

Sensei peered into his eyes and locked his gaze. “You are searching for something very important, aren’t you?”

Melvin was taken aback by that. He did not expect this. “How do you know?” he asked.

“Your eyes told me…..” Sensei voiced in a very serious and earnest tone.

Melvin blinked at Sensei and chuckled heartily “Ahahahaha!! What does that even mean?!!”

Senpai smiled and said ”Well, it is nice to see you get along!”

“Are you blind? I get along with no one” Sensei huffed.

“Whatever you say man. Let’s leave it at that…” Senpai replied.

Sensei went towards LevZuss and used his neural interface to extract the stolen location module from him. “This shall be put to good use.”

“What do you plan to do with it?”Melvin asked.

“There’s a lot of evil that must be purged. And a lot of justice that must be meted out.” Sensei quipped quizzically.

“Huh…?”Melvin was confused.

“What he means is that we can use the data to prevent a lot of potential crimes. Don’t worry, he has a habit of speaking like that sometimes.”Senpai intervened.

“Oh…..”

“If I may ask, what are you searching for Mr. Havencort? We can help. And how do you have one of our platinum coins?” Sensei asked Melvin.

“I am searching for someone. A girl….

Actually she is my sister.” Melvin said.

“Should be easy enough!” Senpai exclaimed.

“No….. The funny thing is…. I do not remember her. And many things about my past. I am sure we had a lot of memories but my mind draws a blank here. I remember having your platinum coin and my father explaining how it works to me. He never explained anything else no matter how much I asked. And he disappeared a few years ago….” Melvin blurted out everything as if he was unloading a burden that was weighing his heart down.

Sensei and Senpai were shocked and they let out audible gasps.

Sensei gave a pensive scowl while looking up towards the sky. He felt uneasy. A quiver. Like an inkling that something big was happening and he was not privy to it.

“My condolences Mr. Havencort. I am sorry. I understand. I can….. never mind. You have my condolences.” Sensei said in an uncharacteristically soft voice.

Senpai looked at Sensei and Melvin and said “This is strange. Very strange. Yet if Sensei trusts you, then so do I….. We will help you.”

“With that sorted, I have a proposal. Sensei…. We have a vacancy for an executive position for a Public Relations and Coordination Officer, right? We need someone influential and connected to people to expand our services. All services.” Senpai said slowly.

“Here, we have a writer…. A famous one who is immensely popular… What if we-“ he continued but he was cut off.

“No.” Sensei interjected.

“Why? Do you not trust me? I can understand your concerns but I can prove my worth – “ Melvin started.

“It is not that.”

“Then what?” Melvin questioned.

“You may lose your life. I do not wish to bring that reality upon you” Kai said.

“Oh…. Oh….. Is that so? Looks like grumpy here has grown a heart…. Don’t worry chap, I can take care of myself. I took care of the hammer swinging twit there didn’t I?!” Melvin teased.

Sensei scoffed.

Senpai chuckled.

“I have no qualms then Mr. Havencort. I welcome you into our ranks.”

Kai held Melvin’s hand as if to shake it and helped him get up. The important ritual of handshake was done.

Senpai heaved a sigh of relief and Melvin’s cheeky smile had returned.

******Somewhere in London. In the Headquarters of the Lodonis Mafia ******

“What is the meaning of this??!!” the leader fumed.

They were seated in a luxurious hall with all the amenities that those who oppress and destroy the poor can have.

“ I trusted you. You said I would have the data and the mutant by this time. YET, LevZuss called off the deal. Listen here. Your life shall be used as payment for this failure.” he yelled at the robed man. Every executive was in agreement.

An eery laughter erupted from the robed and hooded man.

“What is so funny?” the boss fumed.

“No. No. You were fantastic. But your use is over. Great work… Everything went exactly how I wished it would go!” the man uttered.

“We shall have your hide.”

Before anyone could react, the hooded man took out a techno stick that turned into a scythe.

Only second of horror registered on their faces before the room was turned from white to red with their blood.

“Thank you for your cooperaton!” the hooded man exclaimed as he finally slit the throat of the boss of the Lodonis mafia. His face was splattered with some blood and he nonchalantly wiped it off.

“So close…. Just you wait….”

That was a night that the survivors of the Lodonis Mafia would never forget. There was blood, destruction and death and no one knew what had happened. The imagery of the terrifying dance of the fire that entombed the Lodonis HQ has etched itself firmly in the hearts and minds of the few survivors.

*******