Machinery worked relentlessly, pumping cold, salty, moist air through the rusted air vents into the massive underground facility.

  Air exited the countless air ducts and entered the long, cold steel corridors.

  A long line of fluorescent lights on the floor jittered as a group of masked men marched through the corridor.

  Four of them were wearing black tunics with white circle masks with no features, each holding a gun loaded with tranquilizers.

  Two more men followed them, wearing long white coats. One of them had a bunny-shaped mask, and the other was maskless.

  "Are our angels ready?" The maskless man talked, caressing his long duckbeard. His face wrinkled, and a bionic augmentation instead of a left eye, a near-perfect replica if not for its mechanical retina.

  "They are, Head Researcher." Bunny Mask reached for a red button on a pillar and opened a massive window.

  Behind, children of ages 1 to 7 scattered across, each wearing long white robes with two cartoonish wings embroidered at their back.

  "Good." The Head Researcher stepped forward, grabbing a microphone. "Rise and shine, my darlings. Rise and shine, and spread wings, for all of you are the angels to protect our world. From the unjust, from the alien, and the traitors."

  ***

  Desert night, cold. Not even critters hiding in the shadows make a sound.

  Multiple trucks passed a dirt road, a convoy of five. Their engines roared, shattering the silence, and their wheels leaving a trail of dust and sand behind.

  A cigarette butt fell from the first truck's passenger seat, its tip still blazing.

  "Maldición." The man closed his window. "Did we have to move all supplies in the night?"

  "Bosses order." The driver fixed his rear window and checked on the other trucks. "Have a problem, tell him."

  "Yeah? So he can make me his newest example piece?" The passenger pulled another cigarette from his pocket, lighting it with the small flame he created at his fingertip.

  "Just saying."

  Not long after, the trucks entered a seemingly abandoned warehouse one by one.

  Metal sheets that made its walls rusted and wooden beams with chipped paint supported the structure.

  Lights were on, yet the warehouse was empty. Trucks before them had also parked already.

  "Did we miss something?" Passenger asked. His hand reached for the rifle he put between the door and his seat.

  "I don't know." The driver stopped the vehicle, jumping out with a gun in hand. "But it doesn't look good."

  Soon, all trucks stopped, and about a dozen armed thugs gathered around the first one, each armed with illegal firearms.

  With a thundering sound, all turned to the warehouse's door.

  Nothing. Only the dust lifted by its movement.

  "Here."

  All the thugs turned towards the sound calling them.

  A lone figure stood still. A tall man in a jet-black suit stood before one of the trucks. Some dust circled him in a sphere.

  Some of his shining brass hair flowed out from the corners of his white bunny mask.

  "Gentlemen, appreciate the punctuality." The man in the bunny mask moved forward, his hands behind and a feint blue glow out from the mask's eye sockets.

  "Now, if you allow me, I have some business to conduct with you all."

  "Who are you!" The man in the passenger seat aimed his rifle. His hands were shaky, and sweat gathered on his forehead gleamed under the yellow lights.

  "Not very important, now if all of you could drop your weapons and get on your knees-"

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  His words were cut short by the burst of bullets coming his way.

  They approached the bunny mask, ripping the air with whistles, only to shatter with a buzz when they hit a small force field around the masked man. It was reminiscent of flies dying in an electric lamp.

  The room fell silent, save for the clatter of spent casings on the floor. The thugs froze, their wide eyes darting between the man and the shattered bullets at his feet.

  "Same as the other's, such predictable action." The gleam from his eyes turned from blue to red, and with impressive speed, thugs began being cut down by an invisible force.

  Limbs, flesh, organs, and blood scattered in the air as cut after cuts came in the blink of an eye.

  They only revealed their source once some body parts got stuck in the invisible machines, faintly revealing their thin bodies and scythe-like arms designed to slash.

  Only two were left, the driver and passenger on the first car.

  They trembled. One even left some biological waste on his pants. They could feel the metal blades on their necks, warmed by the blood of their peers.

  Bunny Mask approached them. His movements were slow and cold. He placed his hands on the thug's shoulders and lightly tapped. "Don't worry, I need you two alive, so why don't you two sit down and relax?"

  They did as ordered and fell to their knees and soon fainted from the stress.

  "Good. Right on cue. Shall we proceed to the final act?"

  As the bunny mask said, cars stopping outside echoed through the metal sheet walls of the warehouse.

  The front door was forcibly opened by a hulk of a man twice the size of the tall bunny mask. Two dozen armed men, better equipped and armored, followed in, the boss, clutching his fists right behind them.

  "What is the meaning of this message!" Boss roared as he entered the warehouse. "Who are you!?"

  "And the final act!" Bunny Mask opened his mask, put it on his chest, and bowed forward in a kind gesture. "Leonhard Clock, UN Council of Security."

  "A child-" Cartel boss threw his phone to the ground. "A brat dares to attack my man?" He turned to the giant. "Break his bones but keep him alive."

  Giant nodded with a grunt and dashed towards Leonhard at a seemingly impossible speed for a man of his size.

  And as almost his hand grabbed Leonhard, the boy teleported away, leaving behind a fading afterimage.

  Leonhard reappeared above one of the trucks. "You are certainly fast."

  Giant lifted the truck Leonhard was standing on with ease as he teleported away.

  "And certainly strong." Leonhard teleported once more, avoiding the truck coming his way.

  Angered cartel boss turned to his armed man. "Shoot that bastard!"

  Men quickly took aim in a disciplined manner, but before they fired, half a dozen humanoid robots appeared around them, their arms armed with an energy weapon.

  Leonhard teleported above the giant and watched the robots unleash their weapons with a big grin.

  Green energy beams fired from the barrels blasted through the armed grunts, completely disintegrating them, leaving behind only ashes and an avid smell of burned flesh.

  Pleased with his machines's performance, Leonhard teleported away once more, dodging yet another strike from the giant as a robot humanoid came crashing down from the ceiling.

  The plasma sword held by the robot cleaved the mob boss's enforcer into half with a single blow.

  The cartel boss felt a hand on his shoulder. "You..."

  "Beautiful, aren't they? Efficient killers devoid of any speck of emotion." Leonhard tilted his head, still holding the grin.

  "What do you want."

  Leonhard pushed the cartel boss towards the robots that teleported in.

  "I assumed my words were direct. I want you dead. That's all."

  "Wait!" The Cartel boss raised his hands. "I think we can strike a deal-"

  Twin scythes crossing his neck silenced him.

  Leonhard put his mask back. "Sorry, I don't deal with traitors. Cut him down."

  "Monster, how can you be so numb-"

  With his order, invisible machines cleaved the cartel boss's head away, cutting his words in half.

  Leonhard turned around. "I killed far too many of your kind to feel anything anyway," he murmured as he walked out, leaving his army of robots to clean up the rest of the mess.

  As soon as he stepped out, he felt uneasy. The creaking of metal sheets and the sound of wind hitting something of unusual shape.

  He turned to see a dark figure, almost as tall as the giant, standing in the shadows.

  "Look at my boy dealing with business."

  "I am neither your boy nor this is the end of the business." Leonhard turned towards the figure, his tone hostile, yet his movements respectful. "And I am not a cartel executioner taking down competition. These guys were smuggling illegal performance enhancers and using them in their underground fighting arenas, which they use kidnapped orphans from war-torn regions."

  "Yes, I read your report." The man stepped to the light, his body finely toned and long, wavy golden hair shining under the moonlight. "But I have a new job for you."

  Leonhard bowed forward, his eyes locked on the man. "What it is, Sir Chancellor?"

  Chancellor smiled. "I have a new program, about thirty to forty kids of your age, all highly talented. I want to offer them training opportunities beyond what they could get from our academies to create powerful public figures to boost morale."

  "And am I amongst these thirty to forty? If so, I decline. I already do enough business for the United Nations behind the covers."

  "No, you got this wrong." Chancellor stepped even further. "You will be my watchmen. You will check them, gather data using your tech, and be a neutral figure to keep balance. Maybe even make new alliances."

  "And what if I decline?"

  "You cannot. No more artifacts, experimental combat augmentations, an army of mercenaries, and combat robots under your belt."

  Leonhard stumbled. "That...You can't do that!"

  "I did." Chancellor put his hand on Leonhard's shoulder. "For the next six years, you will grow strong without the endless resources the United Nations offered you. Make new allies, artifice new devices, and create income through the legal business you get from your school of choice. An Eden's chosen should be at least capable of this much, am I right? This much shouldn't be hard for you."