CHAPTER II: THE EMBROIDERED BERSERKER

Banoy Bautista, twenty-years-old, grew up to be more of a delinquent than he already was. Constantly intoxicating himself with nicotine and alcohol, extremely unhealthy diet and unscheduled oversleeping. On that couch, he woke up from a random and utterly unscheduled snooze while realising that he was only having the same nightmare, over and over again, of what happened four years ago involving the rampaging of the extraterrestrial, Baphomet, the death of Dolores and the decimation of the Southeast Asian district.

"Damn, I snoozed." Banoy said right after he woke up. What first appeared in front of his freshly-opened eyes, is the tied up middle-aged man trying to say something to him but it's muffled because of the underwear gagging his mouth. Banoy looked at him mockingly then removed the underwear from his mouth while saying, "Let me help you with that." After removing it, the middle-aged man desperately uttered to him, "How much are they paying you? Huh? I'll pay you double than whatever the fuck those bastards are paying you just please, these videos will sell for a high price trust me! That's a good deal for you isn't it?" Banoy smirks and glares at him with contempt then suddenly kicks him in his genitals, so hard that he made it bleed.

The man, of course, screams due to the excruciating pain and he can't even hold or check it because his hands are tied. "Nice try, child-fucker." Banoy said as he moved closely to him with a menacing expression. "Look at me." He said to the man whining in pain, slaps and grabs him by the jaw when he doesn't comply immediately. "I said fucking look at me you dick-minded child predator." The man is forced to look at him with fear as Banoy proceeds to say in a shuddering voice while grinning, "Do you really think I look like I give a fuck about money?" He then directs his face towards the monitor of the man's laptop, still grabbing him by the jaw and says, "Look at how fucking abhorrent you are!" As he makes the man watch a video of him raping a seven-year-old girl, the man himself made for child pornography content he's selling through the dark web.

One of his victims as well, happened to be an orphan girl Banoy knew at the orphanage where he spent his last two years of juvenility after Dolores' death. Which, the girl, unfortunately died after being raped by that old man. Which also, that old man, happens to be in Banoy's current hit list. Being fortunate enough to be hired for the job.

After making the old man watch his own loathsome pornographic video, Banoy's right hand shifted from grabbing the man's jaw to grabbing his bald head as if he was patting him. But the head-patting he will do might be the bloodiest kind of head-patting. Whereas, he diabolically shoved the old man's face and head towards the laptop six times, all weighed by his sheer strength and heavy contempt, fracturing the old man's nasal cavity and upper jaw.

He then stops shoving the old man and looks at his half-mangled face. Still mumbling about begging for mercy, Banoy pretends like he can't understand what he's saying. "I don't understand what you're saying, asshole! Now, let me show you how it feels to be a poor and defenceless kid getting thrusted by an old man with a disgusting fetish who disgustingly preys on those who are half his size and can't fight the fuck back!" He said while forcing the old man in a bending over position with face pointing towards a cement wall. "Here I go then." Banoy said as he furiously thrusts the old man's bending over buttocks with his whole sheer and vigorous strength of archaic power he inherited from Dolores and the mysterious fisherman, devastatingly pulverising the old man's all sets of bones including his pelvic bone and spinal cord along with his internal organs and his pre-mangled face; making a jelly out of the old man's body.

Subsequently, Banoy walks back to the couch. He sits for a few seconds as he pulls out and lights a cigarette, smokes it with pleasure, while pulling out his phone to call his friend's cleaner crew. The crew then arrives shortly afterwards. Upon seeing the pulverised corpse, "Banoy… what in the utterly fucking fiendish shit is this?" The crew's leader said. Banoy scoffs and says, "What? I thought shit like this isn't new to you?" The crew's leader replies, "How do you even do this stuff? I mean… you are definitely the only assassin I know that can literally beat a person to death with your bare fucking hands. No other assassin from the guild can do that, even with their weapons."

"Years of training, I guess." Banoy replied. The crew's leader chuckled and said, "Others had years of training as well." A dead air and the crew lifting a body bag with the old man's corpse in it passed in between Banoy and the crew leader at the same time. "Not like mine… I guess." Banoy said. His phone then suddenly vibrates with text notification. He views it, and reads the message of his contractor, it says, "Got a job newly sanctioned to our party. Hope you're finished with the child-fucker." After reading the text, he bids farewell to the cleaner crew leader and heads back to a pub near the border of Southeast Asian District and Indonesian District.

Four years have passed since the incident in the Southeast Asian district. The district's decimation forced its residents to move to the Indonesian district; the only Southeast Asian community separated from the district for the Southeast Asians. Ever since that the surviving small communities from the district including Malaysian, Filipino, Vietnamese, Thai and Cambodian communities have taken refuge in the Indonesian district; it is considered by many to be the 'New Southeast Asian district'.

However, the Indonesians refused for the reason that they don't want to be marginalised the same way the Southeast Asian district was. So racial prejudice, even with the races that came from the same continent, is inevitable. Not wholeheartedly, but they have provided the refugees accommodations in their vacant residential apartments, condominiums and orphanages to orphan children.

At the same time, many took advantage of their circumstances knowing that the provided shelters are properties of shady people like crime leaders, cartel and mafia bosses, mercenaries and greedy businessmen. Nonetheless, some of the refugees are aware but they have no choice but to accept it knowing as well that it would also be the same with the current fascist government.

Deliberately and superficially providing the shelters for the refugees; they aim on taking advantage of their livelihood and obligation to pay back with debt bondage, overpriced bills and rents, forced labour, usery, forced recruitment of children and teenagers as either one of their goons, one of their prostitutes or worse; forced to become a hitman or drug dealer.

Many powerful people are responsibly involved in these inhumanities. However, there's a certain organisation that deepened the cesspool in the border districts. Which is the underground, assassination and mercenary-work secret society covertly authorised by the government: The Crimson Pool.

It was established after exploiting the destruction of the Southeast Asian district. A portion of its ruins near the border of the Indonesian district was rebuilt as an open-area rendezvous, fronted by pubs and restaurants; for assassins, mercenaries, wetwork operatives and private contractors coming from different districts. Forming the community as a guild-like, bounty-hunting-work organisation. All jobs sanctioned for all the killers involved are either broadly contracted by the guild itself or directly given by the private contractors that serve as the representative of each party. The often clients, which are the source of their bounties; are oftentimes wealthy businessmen, crime leaders, government officials and even ordinary people that have enough money.

The Crimson Pool is covertly being manipulated by the government as well. Thus, making it an open season to those people that the government wants to get rid off. It's a way of practising their fascism without accountability of their tyranny. The cycle of tyranny exploiting the savagery of the guild's members for money and the members' savagery exploiting the mundane livelihood of the ordinary and the working class folks. Nevertheless, we never know how the ordinary and the working class folks will complete the cycle. To exploit it all back to the root of the problem.

Apparently, Banoy is a member of the guild. Works as a hitman, being paid for all sorts of violent and risky jobs along with other mercenaries (though he's alone most of the time); sanctioned by his party's private contractor, Marcus Eisenhower, a former Vogelstadt Police detective and now works as a private contractor for Luminous Industries; the wealthiest oligarchical independent industry in the world that serves as Vogelstadt's primary technological provider and BIOME's armaments supplier.

Their party consists of six members. Including Marcus, four mercenaries and Banoy, who is known as among the most dangerous hitmen in the Crimson Pool. Known for his title, the 'Embroidered Berserker'. A brown-skinned, messy hair, body embroidered with Batok tattoo, 177.8 centimeters tall and slim muscular body build. People never saw him wear anything other than his black sleeveless hoodie, ankle-cropped fitted denim jeans and besmirched white sneakers.

He is feared as the-hitman-who-kills-with-his-bare-knuckles considering he never uses any gun or weapon of any kind when he's tasked to kill someone. Even though his job is a bit sloppy, he always gets it done quickly and is capable of killing several people at once. Therefore, earning the title of the 'Embroidered Berserker'.

After a thirty-minute walk from the slums of Indonesian district to the pub at the Southeast Asian border, he finally met his private contractor at that pub for a new job. Banoy sits in front of Marcus who is pressing his smoked cigar in the ashtray while turning off his tablet device. "So what is it? The job." Banoy said as soon as he sat down while pulling out a cigarette from his pocket. He then inserts the cigarette in between his lips as Marcus insists on lighting it for him. Marcus answers his question, "Ben Schroder, a retired BIOME researcher, who apparently possesses classified information from the BIOME's research division. The government, our client obviously, wants him dead." Banoy, blew the smoke from his mouth in bliss and said; "Can't we just take the information from him? Whatever it is? Just threaten him a little, you know." Marcus sighed and said, "Nice proposal, unfortunately, it's in his head. Neither a hard or soft copy of that information exists." Banoy replied, "That's why the government badly wants him dead? Why us, though? I mean, they have BIOME and I'm sure as hell they have assassins there." Marcus cut and lit another cigar to smoke and said, "Will you do the job or not?" Banoy said while sighing, "Alright… I'll do it."

"Let me clarify something, the Crimson Pool exists as a covert eradication enforcement for the government; so they won't hold any accountability with their extrajudicial killings. Considering that this former BIOME researcher legally retired, his sudden death at the hands of the government's legal enforcements would be questioned by the Leviathan Order and the Albion Union internationally. So do your job, kid, as well if you want the fucking donation." Marcus elaborated then he blew the smoke from his cigar.

Totally understanding Marcus' reasoning, Banoy replies; "Yeah alright. Send me his whereabouts and usual routine. Consider it done tomorrow." He then pressed his smoked cigarette in the ashtray. As he was about to leave, Marcus added something; "Oh by the way, it's a job for the whole party. I already told Eka and his boys about it so they'll most likely come with you tomorrow." Banoy scratches the back of his head and sighs of dismay while saying, "Fuckin' hell Marcus, as if you don't fucking know who I am. I can make this shit done better alone! Given that the target is alone as well!" Marcus replies, "Apparently, Ben hired private bodyguards. He already foresaw that the government might get rid of him due to his high profile." Banoy replies, "Yeah you should've said that earlier, but even so—" Marcus cuts in while he's talking, saying; "Kid, those assholes are still members of this party so whether you like it or not, you'll do the job with them. Understood?" Banoy sighs and says, "Yeah, yeah alright. Those cocksuckers better not get in my way. Anyway, I better get going now." Marcus chuckles while Banoy is walking away leaving him, saying; "You speak as if you're a professional already. You don't even use any goddamn weapon and still kill your targets with your bare fucking hands." Banoy raises a middle finger to Marcus behind him while walking away and says, "Because I don't need those pieces of shits! So pathetic." He then leaves the pub and goes straight to his apartment to rest.

On second thought, Banoy suddenly decides to visit the orphanage while on his way. No one immediately opened the door for him when he first rang the doorbell, considering that it's 2:12 AM in the morning. On the third ringing though, one of the caretakers answered the door for him. He hears the aggravated voice of that caretaker getting louder as it gets nearer. "Who in their right fucking mind goes in an orphanage at this godforsaken hour!?" The caretaker said. They then saw Banoy as soon as they opened the door and said, "Oh yeah, who else would it be?" As their mood slightly lightens up. "It's nice to see you again too, Andrea. Just as I thought, you're still a nocturnal animal." Banoy said, then he showed the bottle of gin and a sachet of juice powder he bought earlier at a nearby store; "A drink? For old time's sake." He said. Andrea smiles and says, "It's been a while, Banoy."