Convict Unit: Black Parade

While Jae-hee was busy herding the children out of the lobby, Punch Queen had already made her way inside.

She clicked her tongue. “Well now, looks like this joint’s signature dish is drug-laced chicken, huh?”

It was a poultry processing room. Gutted chickens were lined up on a slowly moving conveyor belt as small plastic baggies of white powder were stuffed inside them.

Punch Queen tore one open, dipped a fingertip in, and touched it to her tongue. She grimaced.

“Ugh, what is this cheap crap? If you’re going to do it, at least use the good stuff. This just ruins the taste of meat.”

The kidnapped children were stuffing packets into the chickens, their small hands put to work.

Thin and hollow-eyed, they looked up at Punch Queen and Ghost.

“All right, kids, time to go. Head for the main entrance. That cute young man out there will see you to safety. Go on, hurry!”

After sending the children on their way, Punch Queen clicked her tongue again at the thugs who came pouring in.

“These guys just never stop coming. At this point, I’d believe this was a gangster factory, not a chicken plant. So, who are you lot supposed to be?”

Instead of answering, the thugs activated their abilities in unison.

One man’s muscles bulged across his entire body. Another’s arms transformed into the massive forelegs of a beast. A third became coated in a layer of ice crystals.

So this was the squad of Awakened the organization was rumored to possess.

“Oh, so the main event has finally arrived.”

Punch Queen cracked her knuckles and stepped forward. “Listen up, fellas. You ever hear of child labor laws? No? Can’t say I know much about them myself. But still, you can’t work kids like this and starve them. You have to at least feed them.”

“Fuck you, bitch!” one of the men at the front spat, extending a hand to his side. A long spear of ice materialized in his grip, and he immediately hurled it—not at Punch Queen, but at the backs of the children who were just exiting the room.

“...?!”

FWOOSH!

Before Punch Queen or Ghost could react, Jae-hee shot forward like an arrow and kicked the spear out of the air.

He’d been at the main entrance a moment ago, but in the blink of an eye, he had dashed to the center of the building to block the attack.

A gale erupted, and the ice spear shattered into a thousand pieces.

Every one of the thugs froze. The man who had thrown the spear just stood there, his mouth hanging open in disbelief.

“Ah, sorry about that,” Jae-hee said, looking awkward under their stares. “Thought I might be needed… I’ll get back to guarding the entrance now.”

He zipped back to his post.

Punch Queen pressed a hand to her hiking hat, steadying it against the wind Jae-hee had stirred up, and let out a dry laugh.

“He’s way too nice to be in our unit, isn’t he?”

“…”

“You should knock some of the rough edges off him, boss lady. He’s just acting that way because he’s young. He won’t die a natural death if he keeps it up.”

“He’ll figure it out,” Ghost murmured, her voice fading as she stood guard, shielding the backs of the fleeing children.

“Whether he dies early from his reckless stunts or that flimsy spark of goodwill finally burns out... that’s his problem.”

“…”

“We should just focus on our own jobs.”

“Yes, yes. Who are we to worry about how some kid turns out, right?”

Thump.

Punch Queen shot forward, launching herself at the squad of Awakened.

“Let’s just do what we do best!”

Crack!

As Punch Queen finished with a two-fisted strike, the already-dead thug flew through the air and crashed into his comrades. It was a perfect aerial combo straight out of a fighting game.

With the remaining thugs stumbling, their stances broken, Punch Queen followed up with a running jump kick.

Crunch!

With the sickening sound of bone and muscle being crushed, the thugs caught by her kick coughed up blood and sprawled across the floor.

At the same time—Bang!

Covering fire arrived from Cowboy, taking down six of the Awakened who had been preparing ranged attacks from the rear.

Regular grunts, Awakened… it made no difference. They all got wrecked by the Black Parade.

The rest of the thugs scrambled back in terror.

Punch Queen ducked under the attack of a muscle-bound Awakened and drove her palm up into his chin.

Whump!

A shockwave blasted outward as the thug was launched into the air.

Without pausing, Punch Queen laid into him with a merciless barrage, beating him like a punching bag suspended in midair.

“Why… why is she so strong?!”

“You’re cheating! What kind of broken-ass ability is that?!”

“Hm?” A smug, satisfied grin spread across Punch Queen’s face. “Oh, is that what you think? That my ability is broken?”

Punch Queen was a B-Rank Awakened, and her ability was Qigong. It was a common type of Awakening that allowed her to manipulate a formless energy within her body, similar to the concepts of qi or internal force from martial arts stories.

But the ability alone couldn’t produce any real killing power. Only by training to move that energy at will, and by honing one’s martial arts to strike an enemy effectively, could its true power be unleashed.

“This isn’t a difference in ability,” she said, her voice dripping with contempt. “It’s a difference in skill.”

Her martial arts and Cowboy’s fanning technique were both the results of bone-grinding training.

“You think you’re special just because you got your Awakening on a silver platter? You stopped trying, and that’s why you losers are stuck sucking the life out of people in some back alley with no room for growth.”

“…”

“So you Awaken and suddenly you think you own the world? Get some tattoos, flex your fake muscles, shake down some kids… think that makes you a big shot?” 

Punch Queen cracked her knuckles, the sound sharp and deliberate as she strode toward the remaining thugs. “You little shits. If you’re going to be a gangster, at least do it with some style. Got it?”

One of the trembling thugs shouted back, “How are you any different?!”

“Hm?”

“You look like a hired killer for some other crew! You’re just another criminal, so what gives you the right to act so high and mighty?!”

“Oh my, he’s got a point.” Punch Queen covered her mouth and glanced back at Ghost. “My dear elder, I’m getting my ass handed to me in this debate! A little help?”

“We’re out of time.”

The thugs who had charged Ghost were already broken.

Whether they shot spears of ice or turned their arms into beastly claws, it was useless against her. Not a single one had even managed to touch the hem of her clothes.

She’d shattered their skulls, broken their jaws, and caved in their solar plexuses with nothing more than her scabbard.

Planting a foot on one of the fallen men, Ghost slowly drew her sword from its sheath. “Make your choice. Tell me where Brain is, or die here.”

“I-I really don’t… Aaaargh!”

The thug pinned to the floor stammered, only to have his arm lopped off.

Ghost flicked her blade, spattering blood across the floor, and growled, “I have no use for anyone who doesn’t know. Only those who do, raise your hand.”

But no one did.

“My, my, what a poor classroom attitude. I can just imagine what you were all like in school. Tsk, tsk.”

Punch Queen started swinging one of her arms in a wide circle, limbering up. “From now on, anyone who doesn’t raise their hand to answer gets a spanking.”

The Awakened thugs exchanged nervous glances. Starting from the edges of the group, they turned one by one, until the entire lot spun around and fled.

“Fuck this, we’re no match for them!”

“Run! Get outside, now!”

“We’ll fall back and regro—”

They all sprinted for the back door, bursting out of the building… only to find someone else waiting for them.

“Huuu… huuu…”

Standing there behind a butcher’s mask, breathing heavily, was a mountain of a man—Robbin’ Hood, twin axes in hand.

“…?”

“Huh?”

As the thugs stared in confusion, Robbin’ Hood rumbled in a seething voice, “Even in thievery… there must be conviction.”

“What the hell is this crazy cunt talki—”

They had no time to react. Dark red veins bulged across Robbin’ Hood’s entire body. He swung the axes with all his might, and the heads of six gangsters caught in the arc of his blades flew into the air.

“Ugh…”

The remaining thugs stared blankly for a moment, then screamed and tried to run back inside.

“Aaaaargh!”

“No! Not like this!”

“I’ll talk! I’ll tell you anyth—”

Robbin’ Hood ignored their pleas, bringing his axes down again and again, crushing them.

The desperate screams gradually faded.

“Hey, Robbin’ Hood! Stop killing them! We need to get infor—” Rushing out, Ghost stopped short in alarm.

Every single thug who had fled through the back door was now a corpse.

Robbin’ Hood slowly turned his blood-splattered mask to face her and muttered, “There’s no way worms like these would have any meaningful information.”

“…”

“Just finish searching the rest of the building. I’ll guard the back door.”

After glaring at him in frustration, Ghost slammed the door shut.

Robbin’ Hood slowly pulled his gore-drenched axe from a corpse’s skull.

***

The search was finished up to the second floor, but there was no sign of Brain. No one knew anything. They only found a few more kidnapped civilians.

“Out you go. Hurry up, now.” Punch Queen let out a long yawn as she directed the civilians to the first floor. “This doesn’t usually happen, you know. That cute rookie at the front door is just a sweetheart, so he’s letting you go. Now hurry up and get out.”

The second floor had a completely different atmosphere from the first. It was crammed with computers, telephones, and monitors of all sizes. Every screen was filled with online gambling sites or materials for impersonating government agencies.

“What’s all this now? Illegal online gambling… looks like they were running a group voice phishing scam, too?”

Punch Queen, utterly dumbfounded, kicked a monitor displaying a banner that read: ♥Safe & Reliable Cash-Outs♥ BACCARAT BACCARAT BACCARAT

“They’re dealing drugs, kidnapping kids, running a casino, and a phishing operation… These guys are total scumbags, aren’t they?”

Ghost replied cynically, “Not really our place to talk.”

The convicts of Black Parade were hardly saints themselves. Many were far worse.

Punch Queen awkwardly scratched the top of her hiking hat. “Aw, I was just saying it ’cause I’m envious. Man, I should’ve just set up a respectable gangster business on the outskirts instead of trying to be some big-shot killer.”

“Let’s go up,” Ghost said. “Only the third floor is left.”

Just then, a transmission came in from Cowboy in the adjacent building.

«There’s only one guy on the third floor. The bastard broke the elevator on purpose and is waiting at the top of the stairs. Want me to take him out?»

“Sounds like he’s the boss. Hold on. The elder and I will handle it,” Punch Queen answered, then gave Ghost a look. “Well then, shall we go pop a head?”

“…”

Ghost followed silently as Punch Queen took the lead, banging on the third-floor door.

“Excuse me! We’re here for the lecture!”

Boom!

She kicked the door in and chirped brightly, “I’d love to hear a lecture… on the brilliant business acumen it takes to kidnap children, sell drugs, and run a casino and a voice phishing ring all at once!”

There was no lecture.

A hail of bullets erupted from the open doorway.

RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT—