1 Sleepydog

The freezing winds of the Appalachia at such altitude made hair and fabrics dance wildly. A man was standing at a cliff-diving edge, overseeing a trail within the forest in front. The dark sky masked everything under the shadows of the night, but the man's bluish eyes continue to glow.

He was wearing a black ensemble: coat, suit, slacks, and shoes. The only colors he had were the blue tips on his mid-length hair and those glowing blue eyes. He didn't seem to be someone who trekked the mountain for fun.

A smile then curled his thin lips until they opened to a more malicious grin. He then moved his left arm up, blue flames embracing his left hand. The flames then shaped into a clawed hand with only four fingers and resembled a wolf's paw.

"Awoooooo!" Like imitating a wolf, he howled into the night… before dropping from the height where he stood.

He freely fell towards the ground, but he flipped forward before he gracefully got on the ground. Before the force of his fall pushed down the earth violently, he had already launched himself forward. Running at the speed of a cheetah in full sprint, he crossed the forest with ease.

"Shit! Sleepydog's coming!"

A group of armed men heard the human howling from afar. They quickly mounted their guns on their arms, but they noticed movements all over the area around them. It was late at night, and yet they were all fully awake. Ah, adrenaline and fear were so bad for someone's sleep.

Soon, growling dogs were heard around them. The leader of the smugglers knew that it was a tell-tale sign that Sleepydog had already located them. He then pointed his machine gun at a direction and fired at the moving figures.

"Fucking die!"

The loud rapping sounds coming from the gun echoed all throughout the night. The flash of gunfire soon made its symphony in the black picture. However, the figures moving all about were like wolves laughing at their misery. They moved around, causing the smugglers to even point their guns at their colleagues.

The music of screams and laughter echoed and disturbed the guilty. Before they knew what was waiting for them, they soon saw a man with blue glowing eyes swiping across them. His left hand drew a straight line and gutted three men in the process. Blood splattered on the floor, and intestines were pulled out from inside.

"Shit! He's here—!" One man tried to fire at Sleepydog, but Sleepydog quickly evaded with his inhuman speed and lunged at him. The blue wolf paw dug at half of his face, and Sleepydog delivered a backhand fan kick and squashed what remained of his face.

"Kill this devil, quick!"

"Die, you fuck—! Argh!"

More and more men came down with their last breaths leaving their lips. The men were all scattered by fear, and even if there was only one enemy, they felt so surrounded. The dark figures running around were all distracting them and keeping them from running away.

In the end, each smuggler was lying on the ground, atop the pool of their own blood and insides. The dark figures running around began to step closer and closer, their silhouettes morphing into dog-like creatures with fairly large mouths… but it was actually their skulls vertically split open along with their lower jaws that formed the mouths.

"Your breaths smell worse than my lovely evil boys." Sleepydog then walked to their luggage and spotted a special-looking barrel. He smashed the side with his paw and took out a person hidden inside. "Oh, it's really a cambion."

The person was just a little girl, but she was already wrapped in chains. She seemed to be unconscious. Sleepydog picked her up by a chain link and shook her before being assured that she wouldn't wake up any time soon. He then set her down… on the back of what seemed to be a huge black dog.

"Mediis, carry her for me. We're going home."

The dog called Mediis, whose head had closed to hide their true mouth, bit on one end of the girl's chain links. She then ran off, circled by ten more black dogs. One black dog, the biggest one among them, didn't come with his siblings. He walked to his master and waited for his command.

Sleepydog reached out to pet the black dog. "This is very odd. If they knew she was a cambion, then why was she kept inside a barrel? Perhaps they didn't know they were delivering such a shady transaction. The client must've hidden the fact that a little girl was inside one of those things."

"Noah!" A female voice called out, her voice echoing along with the engine of a motorbike. Someone broke into the tree line and landed just beside Noah who didn't even flinch. She squashed on the intestines on the ground and hissed at the mess. "Aren't you a messy eater, babe?"

"Laquisha, you're late."

"I ain't no bullet train."

Noah shook his head and hummed as he gave a final pet with his black dog. "Let's go back—"

Laquisha broke some more barrels with her leather boots. She then recovered some kind of an idol and waved it. "Without our mission objective? Are you really just here for the kill?"

The man only shrugged his shoulders and walked off. Laquisha dusted the idol and stuffed it in between her giant breasts. She zipped up her jacket before watching Noah who had gone ahead. She only shook her head before driving to catch up with him.

He later got on her bike and rode with her dangerously, his back against hers like he was riding a bicycle's back basket instead.

Even from the speed of her bike, he had enough time to see his black dog in the distance. The dog wrecked its head open and used the bigger mouth to consume all the bodies, each with just one quick slurp.

…

In the headquarters, Noah and Laquisha walked across the well-lit hallway going to the conference room for them. Under the stark light of the LED, their features were easier to make out. Noah had a rather baby face, looking like a teenager even though he was already twenty-six. His hair had become plain black, as well as his eyes which lost the blue glow.

Laquisha was a black beauty with an awesome chest. In contrast to Noah's formal vibe, she was wearing a black biker suit with solid leather boots and a utility belt filled with small explosives. Her hair was curly and reaching her shoulders, and they kept on bouncing at every step.

Both of them then stood in front of a door equipped with retinal scanners. Once their identities were confirmed, the door panels showed and opened for them. They walked into an office with nine more people inside.

All their eyes locked into this duo, but Noah nonchalantly sat down. Laquisha smiled at the women looking her way before flicking her gaze to the man in front.

The man in the stage only hummed. "You're late, Sleepydog, Greyhound."

"The meeting coincided with a mission. We're already underway when you summoned for us. Is this something very important?" Laquisha answered for both of them, soon glancing at the other people in the room. "Why gather us?"

"Yes." The man raised a remote controller and pressed on a button to start a video presentation on the huge screen behind him. On the screen was a video capture from one of their airport's security cameras. "Bomberman had returned to the country."

Noah's eyes lit up with a flash of fury, but his quiet demeanor kept him from having a loud reaction. However, everyone else was quick to show their excitement. Some males snickered while some women leaned closer as if showing interest.

"Nadin Jaeger, aka Bomberman, had returned. It would only mean that he would be setting up another show. Different factions and even the government are willing to contact us just to get rid of him. I will be drafting each of you to different factions in name, but your main mission is to recruit Bomberman."

"Recruit?" Noah echoed his word a bit too loud, and everyone else turned their attention to him. He seldom spoke in meetings and mission briefing after all. He didn't have to meet each of the gazes to know that they were all interested in what he had to say. "Why do we need to recruit an idiot who wouldn't listen to anyone?"

"…Sleepydog, Bomberman is a rather good asset for our interests. Every faction in this world is scared of him." The curator smiled as he laid out the dream; however, he felt like he was about to bargain with Noah. "If the organization swallowed this power, we would be able to make nations kneel."

Noah only frowned. He moved his lips to argue, but he chose not to. Then again, he decided against himself one more time and asked. "What if he rejects our offer? Can we kill him?"

The eight other people in the room exchanged gazes; only Laquisha hummed in agreement to the question. The curator looked at the two who were occupying the third and fifth seat of their ranks. He then glanced at the first seat and second seat holders before smiling at Noah.

"Sleepydog, this is Bomberman we're talking about. You're just new to our organization, but you shouldn't use that as an excuse to underestimate this man. He had set Hell on earth more than once in different countries.

"He was even dubbed as Satan himself. He cannot be killed."

Noah then shifted his eyes from the curator to the cursed image of Nadin on the screen. Noah couldn't forget that face even if he had been dipped into the seven depths of Hell and back. With the past and his unhealed wounds being scratched open, Noah didn't even hold his tongue anymore.

"Well, I guess it's time for his retirement."

One year of training and resentment drive had come to an end now that Noah stared at the face of the man who ruined his life for good.