Aya and Nadia exited the local pub. Aya was thrilled, Gladys the town gossip had actually been a great help. Usually she couldn't stand the woman, she was always looking for a way to spin a story or make the facts no longer the truth. But this time she didn't have to, the facts were impressive enough.

According to Gladys, a local thug was recently bragging about a super powerful weapon they had found. Apparently, he had it stashed in some of the abandon buildings down in the southern part of town, which was considered the run down part of town. He had also said that once he got it to full power, he would be the boss of this town.

For an hour worth of work that included drinks, this was a very productive day. Aya couldn't wait to get back and report this to Collin, so he could go destroy the weapon and they would be rich. She looked over at Nadia, expecting to see the same expression as hers, but she was surprised when her face looked rather serious.

"Kitty, whats wrong?"

"I dunno," Nadia said, looking down. "Its just, that was too easy."

"What did you mean?" Aya didn't get how easy that was. After all, she had spent the past 24 hours searching for a lead. And they finally had one. She didn't see what was too easy about that one, she saw it as a lucky break.

"I could be wrong, but I don't remember information retrieving ever being that easy." Nadia slowly said, as if she was thinking about her words as she said them. "Something smells off about this, I'm just not sure what."

Aya stopped walking. "What could be off? We already know the dangers." If it was a trap, surely they wouldn't tell them how powerful the weapon was. To her that just didn't make sense. It would of made sense if they told them the mission would be easy, but not this.

Besides, who would want to set a trap for them? As far as she knew, they didn't have enemies.

"Yeah I know. I don't know, its just, it doesn't seem like a good idea to do this." She pushed the front strands of her hair behind her furry ears nervously and looked away from Aya. Suddenly it became all too clear what was going on with Nadia's sudden hesitation from the job.

"Oh I know what this about. This is about Collin isn't it?" Aya stated and Nadia turned red from embarrassment. Yep she was right. Sometimes Nadia was so transparent. "You're worried that he'll get hurt or killed."

"Well Patrick did say that Fumei was very dangerous. I'm just not sure sending Collin in is a very good plan." Nadia was twisting her hands out of nerves. "He's not exactly careful all the time."

"Yeah, but dude, he's been doing this stuff for six years. I think he knows what is too much to handle." Aya said comfortingly. She placed her hand on Nadia's arm. She adored Nadia, but she worried too much about all of them. But that was probably just part of what made her so love-able. "We won't lose him, and we'll be rich. Well, less poor."

Nadia nodded. "Yeah, you're right." She smiled a little bit. "I just worry too much. Don't mind me."

Aya pulled Nadia into a hug. It was amazing how sometimes, she would remind Aya so much of her sister. They both had the same kind and gentle personality that cared about everyone they knew. That was probably what drew Aya to the group in the first place. How much this girl acted like her beloved sister. "I don't mind you Kitty. I never mind you." She said softly, hoping that Nadia couldn't see the tears that were forming in her eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When they entered the old abandon building, the first thing that Preston heard was singing. A voice of a young boy; singing in a language that he couldn’t understand. The voice echoed in the empty building, making it sound louder than it was probably being sung. All in all, Preston found it eerie and haunting.

“You sure it won’t be able to sense us?” Preston asked Patrick, feeling uneasy about this. He wasn’t a fan of magic, too many tricks and illusions involved to make him comfortable. The entire premise of it was to deceive others the way he saw it.

“I told you before, I had my top witches make these charms,” Patrick said coolly, fingering the small charm that he wore around his neck. “Even if it was looking for us, it would be very difficult for it to locate us.”

“Yeah I know you said that. But what about that enhance smell thing?” This Fumei was supposed to have a sense of smell as good as a bloodhound’s according to this guy. What if the hiding charm didn’t cover the smell? I mean who would think of doing that to hide from a person? Preston certainly couldn’t recall the last time he tracked someone using his sense of smell.

“Well hopefully you took a shower this morning." Patrick chuckled at his own joke. It was a hoarse laugh, that Preston always hated. And as the time he spent with Patrick went on, he found that he was hating this man's habits and traits more and more. Instead of replying with words that the man would surely mock, he simply shoved his gloved hands into his pockets and gave Patrick an annoyed look which the man just smirked at.

He followed Patrick deeper into the building. The charm must of been working, because the singing didn't stop once despite the noise those two were causing. Part of him wished the song would stop though, it would calm his nerves about what was soon to take place. It was hard to feel okay with using this experiment as a tool of vengeance if it kept singing like it had a voice of a sad young boy. It only got worse as he got nearer to the source of the sound. Little by little, he could hear the voice clearer, and the emotions that were behind it. They were sad, lonely, and scared.

When the source of the voice came into view, Preston felt as though a knife went into his stomach.

Fumei, the biological weapon that was designed to be a killer, couldn't of been older than fifteen years of age. He was tiny in size, and looked more like a lost, innocent child than a killer. He sat on the floor, wrapped in a jacket that was far too big for him like a blanket. The expression on his face showed a boy who felt exactly like his song sounded like. Scared and lonely.

Preston looked quickly over at Patrick, horrified at what he was realizing. Patrick showed no remorse or sadness towards the boy. Instead, he looked at the boy as if he was just yet another impressive lab rat. He could feel himself getting sick to his stomach, he dropped to his knees. The project he had been guarding, the one he believed in, were scientific experiments on an innocent child.

"What? Did you expect something different Preston?" Patrick said coldly, looking down at Preston. "Were you hoping that Fumei would look like a horrible monster? One that you would feel okay about us performing experiments on?" He made a noise that sounded like he was disgusted at Preston's naive thinking. "Life doesn't work that way. You should know that."

Preston didn't want this to be. He knew life wasn't fair, he knew that innocent people got hurt. But not like this. Not when he had stood idly by, letting this happen. "But that is a child Patrick. A child! Do you have any idea what you've done?"

"I created something that would save lives, finally fight off the Lost Ones from killing off so many people." Patrick said bitterly. "If sacrificing the humanity of a few is what it took to obtain that goal, I would do it again and again."

"But what about that child? What about his feelings?" Preston choked out. He wanted to wake up, for this nightmare to be over.

"That thing doesn't have feelings anymore. It may act like like a normal boy, but the moment it senses a Lost One it will lose any sense of innocence in him and he will do nothing but destroy his target. That is it's purpose in life" Preston couldn't believe how he kept saying this without any feeling in his voice. He was cold, as if he felt nothing about this child than just a tool. "I guess accepting the boy as a killer, is the price you must pay for your revenge."

"What do you mean?" Preston asked even though he knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Don't play stupid kid. You know why we are here." Patrick said in a mocking tone. "We're here to kill that monster that gave you those scars. By setting Fumei on him, an opponent nearly impossible to defeat. Thereby finally making you feel justice for what was done for you." He could feel Patrick's cold eyes glaring at him cruelly. "Though I would call it more vengeance than justice myself. But did you think it would come freely?"

This was the price he had to pay. In order to see the man that destroy his life finally receive the payment he deserves, he had to watch a small child lose any chance for innocence he may have. He would have to let this boy become a killer. By accepting that Patrick was right, the war needs to be fought with any means necessary. Morals had no place on the battlefield.

A long time pass. The boy's song continued on. He watched as Fumei's eyes were near tears from fright. Whoever this child once was, his life would never be the same. Was that what was upsetting him so much? That he would never be a normal boy again, never do the things other kids got the chance to do. Instead, he would be a killer, and a savior to the world; hiding out in an abandoned building in a strange land, unaware of what was going on around him.

"So? Whats your choice?" Patrick said, breaking the silence.

Preston closed his eyes. He knew what he needed to do. It was the thing that kept him going after all, the force that drove him for all these years. He said a silent apology to the boy. This had to be done.

"How do you activate him?"

Word Count: 1788
Total Word Count: 12369/50000