Convict Unit: Black Parade

RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT—

A hail of bullets poured through the open door.

But Punch Queen was ready. She thrust out the metal gauntlet on her left hand, and a gravity field formed, catching the incoming volley in midair.

“Cost me a pretty penny from my favorite techie, you know.”

The spray of bullets continued until the magazine ran dry, then finally ceased.

When Punch Queen deactivated the gravity field, the dozens of bullets that had been floating in the air tumbled powerlessly to the floor.

“Who the hell are you?” the shooter asked, his face drenched in a cold sweat as he futilely pulled the trigger of his empty submachine gun. “I asked you a question! Who the hell are you?”

Ghost jutted her chin. “You the boss here?”

“That’s right. I’m the head honcho, you bastards.” The Chuncheon boss threw down his submachine gun and, trembling with rage, drew a kitchen cleaver. “What outfit are you with? Who sent you?”

Punch Queen answered nonchalantly. “Oh, us? We’re… the ‘Black Coffin Crew.’”

“What? Black Coffin Crew? What territory are you punks from? The fuckin’ nerve…” The Chuncheon boss was flustered by the unfamiliar name.

He roared, “You dare pick a fight with our Chuncheon Prime Gang?!”

“Isn’t your name ‘Chuncheon Prime Poultry Co.’? Don’t go changing it.”

“It’s the Chuncheon Prime Gang! Drop that other shit, asshole!”

Punch Queen looked disappointed. “And here I thought you’d be proud of your poultry business. What’s the point if you drop ‘Poultry’ from your name? Tsk.”

Having cast aside his pride in poultry distribution, the Chuncheon boss swung his cleaver menacingly. “What do you want? Huh? I’ll pay you several times more than whatever your client offered. Just take it and get out of here. Deal?”

“Ooh,” Punch Queen said, speaking into her comms unit. “You hear that, Commander?”

«A tempting offer indeed.»

The distance was too great to receive video, but the audio feed was coming in real time.

Hae-eun let out a low chuckle at the Chuncheon boss’s bold proposal.

“He says he’ll pay several times more. What should we do? You gonna raise our pay, Commander?”

Hae-eun let out a short, sharp laugh.

«Let me remind you of our principle, Aunt Punch,» she said, her tone cutting. «We do not negotiate with Villain filth.»

Punch Queen shrugged. “There’s your answer. Sorry, but no deal.”

Enraged, the Chuncheon boss charged, cleaver raised. “You fucking bitches—!”

Shlick—!

The next instant, Ghost’s blade flashed out, slicing the wrist of the hand holding the cleaver.

SLAM

Punch Queen grabbed the Chuncheon boss by the throat, lifted him up, and slammed him back-first onto the floor.

“Gahh!”

Clutching his bleeding wrist with his other hand, the Chuncheon boss began to plead. “I surrender! I surrender! I’ll tell you anything! Just please, spare my life!”

“Heh. I like how fast you change your tune.” Still gripping his throat, Punch Queen asked, “Alright, just tell me this. Where’s Brain?”

“Th-th-that… I…” the boss stammered. “I… can’t… say…”

Punch Queen slowly tightened her grip on his neck. “You lack sincerity. You really do. Maybe you’ll try harder if I snap part of your spine~?”

“Aaargh! Aaaaah! I’ll talk, I’ll talk! Just ease up!”

Punch Queen relaxed her grip.

The Chuncheon boss, his face beet red, spilled everything. “He’s not a member of our organization! He was our interim advisor!”

“An ‘advisor,’ huh?” Punch Queen said with a smirk. “Funny, I find a little persuasion works wonders. Makes them spill their guts right away, doesn’t it?”

“Boss Brain is a nationally ranked Villain, you know! He has no direct ties to a small-time outfit like ours! He just… gave us some help so we could take over Chuncheon, that’s all!”

Ghost’s voice was cold. “What kind of help, specifically?”

“He gave us advice, and… and…”

The Chuncheon boss trailed off, but another squeeze from Punch Queen got him talking again.

“He lent us some of his subordinates, and with them, we wiped out all the rival organizations…!”

“Subordinates?”

“Y-yes! They were active Villains, seriously strong… nothing like our guys! Thanks to them, we took Chuncheon with no trouble at all…!”

Ghost and Punch Queen exchanged a look.

The convicts of Black Parade were all caught and locked away, but these Villains were still active in the underworld.

Brain’s organization was involved in this.

“The second basement floor belonged to them! There might be some intel there! None of us were ever allowed to go down there!”

“The second basement… I see. Wait, then what’s on the first basement floor?”

“The chicken warehouse!”

Punch Queen stared at him in disbelief.

The Chuncheon boss began to cry, shedding fat tears. “We actually had to sell chicken so the government wouldn’t get too suspicious! We really did! We even won an award for quality…”

“You son of a bitch.” Punch Queen shoved her fist in his face. “From now on, you sell chicken and nothing else, got it? Stop exploiting kids, work with your own two hands, be honest, and charge fair prices! Take pride in Chuncheon chicken! Okay?”

“Y-yes… thank you, truly… From now on, I’ll devote myself solely to the path of chicken…”

Standing beside them, Ghost casually kicked the boss’s leg with the tip of her boot.

CRACK!

The sound of bone breaking was followed by a shriek as high and shrill as a rooster at dawn.

“AAAAAGGGH!”

“Easy there,” Punch Queen chided gently. “The man just said he’s turning over a new leaf.”

“He doesn’t need his legs to turn over a new leaf.”

“Huh. I guess that’s one way to look at it.”

As the Chuncheon boss scrambled to crawl toward the stairs, Ghost slowly followed him and—CRACK!—broke his other leg.

The boss passed out without another scream.

Ghost spoke into her comms. “Broke the boss’s legs and left him on the third floor. Pick him up later. The specialists can probably squeeze more info out of him.”

«Good. Well done.»

“We’re going to check the second basement floor.”

Punch Queen took over the comms. “You all hear that? We’re heading to the basement. Front door, back door, building next door—nothing to report, is there?”

***

“The ground floor is clear now,” Cowboy reported from his post in the adjacent building. “But if you head into the basement, I won’t be able to provide covering fire from here.”

«Alrighty. Cowboy, you stay put, keep an eye on the perimeter, and report anything unusual.»

“Roger that.”

The comms went dead.

Cowboy leaned back against a pillar and let out a long yawn.

“Beating up on some backwater mafia is a real cakewalk.”

It was then that someone approached silently from behind. A bald, middle-aged man with a lightbulb affixed to the crown of his head.

As the man slowly reached for Cowboy, the lightbulb began to glow.

A vivid red.

The man with the lightbulb head offered a faint smile and mouthed something silently.

Ding. Ding. Ding.

***

«Comms are spotty in the basement.»

As soon as they entered the first basement level, the connection began to break up. The reception was terrible.

Ghost’s last words came through. «Everyone, hold your positions. We’ll check things out and be back up shortly.»

“Okay! See you soon!” Jae-hee chirped.

Just as he finished, the comms link with the two convicts in the basement was severed.

“Whew!”

After herding the last of the kidnapped children safely out of the building, Jae-hee let out a sigh of relief and wiped his forehead.

Having gone through something similar in his own childhood, he couldn’t help but feel a personal connection.

“I don’t get why adults are so obsessed with caging up kids like they’re fish in a farm…”

Muttering to himself, Jae-hee suddenly felt several pairs of eyes on him. A small group of the youngest children had huddled together, staring up at him with dead eyes.

“It’s okay now.”

Jae-hee crouched down in front of them and frantically dug through his pockets… but they were empty.

“Ah, crap. I don’t have anything to give…” He smiled sheepishly. “Sorry. If only I had some candy on me.”

The children just gripped the hem of his clothes.

As he patted their heads, Jae-hee felt a wave of complicated emotions.

So, I got them all out, but… what now? Are the police going to show up and handle this…?

Just as he was wondering, someone approached the main entrance.

Jae-hee looked over, a flicker of confusion on his face. “Huh? Cowboy bro?”

Cowboy, his hat pulled down low, walked silently past and entered the building.

Wasn’t he assigned to lookout duty in the next building?

Jae-hee called out to him. “Bro? Cowboy bro!”

But Cowboy gave no sign of having heard.

He simply staggered toward the stairs leading to the basement and descended…

Jae-hee tilted his head in puzzlement.

What’s with him? Did something happen…?

***

The first basement floor really was a chicken warehouse.

Ghost and Punch Queen moved in silence through rows of hanging poultry. After sweeping the first floor, they headed straight to the second.

There, in the basement, they found a strange, unsettling area.

They stood, bewildered.

Though it was a basement, a tile-topped fence began right at the bottom of the stairs and led to a massive old clan gate.

“What the hell is this now…?”

“…”

Sensing a vague, ominous feeling, the two prisoners cautiously stepped through the gate.

Despite the sinister atmosphere, there was nothing special inside. Just a wide, empty clearing.

Clatter.

Something touched Ghost’s foot as her piercing blue eyes scanned the surroundings.

She looked down. It was a traditional mask.

Dozens of broken masks were scattered around the perimeter of the clearing. 

Ghost frowned. “What is all this…?”

“Elder Ghost! Over here!”

Punch Queen, standing in the middle of the clearing, beckoned to her. Ghost walked over.

Punch Queen pointed to a chaotic jumble of characters and symbols drawn on the ground. “What is this?”

“This is…”

She couldn’t decipher the characters or the formation, but the eerie, violet energy that clung to them was familiar.

Ghost gritted her teeth. “These are Gate traces.”

“What?!”

“It looks like they were experimenting with the stolen Lord Core.”

“What the hell are these bastards planning…?”

“Let’s investigate further.”

Just as Ghost stood up to search the clearing more thoroughly, they heard footsteps.

Someone was behind them.

The two women spun around in alarm. A familiar man was standing there.

“Cowboy?”

Cowboy stood at the old clan gate, silent.

“You were on lookout in the next building,” Punch Queen said, confused. “What are you—”

Cowboy didn’t answer. He simply whipped the single-action revolver from his hip and opened fire.

BANG!

His signature fanning technique exploded into action, unleashing six rounds in an instant.

Aimed precisely at Ghost and Punch Queen.