The Red Scorpion

"You encountered the Soultaker?"

Alex nods frantically:" Yes...yes I did."

The huge hulking gangster in front of Alex held a phone to his face while Minister Kenneth spoke through from the other end of the phone line. " I don't care if the Soultaker gets you Alex. You had a deal with us, if you don't finish the job...the Soultaker won't be the one that ends you. "

"But sir...."

"No buts. Slice off two fingers right now. Any of your choice."

Kenneth hung up.

Alex shivered in fear as the gangster in front of him passed him a combat knife. "Do what he says. You have one minute to choose."The teenager grabbed the weapon, his hand shaking uncontrollably as he wrapped his shivering fingers around the hilt, trying to keep himself calm, knowing that he had no choice but to obey the minister's orders.

"59...58...57..."

Two fingers that can be lost without too much consequence...he's a right hander, he needs to still blend in in school so...ring and pinky on the left it is. Alex grit his teeth, positioning the blade to his left hand's two last fingers, closing his eyes and pushing the blade down as hard as he could.

The first gushes of blood oozed out like a wet towel being squeezed, the mind numbing painful pressure seemingly kept on increasing. Every thought in Alex's head told him to stop, but he knew he couldn't. He continued pushing the blade down, cracking through his bones which began crumbling and with one final push, a jolt of eye watering pain shot through his body, finally cutting both fingers clean off.

Alex collapsed onto his knees in pain, the cold air being blown into his exposed wounds washing him with more and more swelling sharp pains. Before Alex could react, the gangster grabbed his bloodied hand, pressing a burning hot metal bar against the exposed wound.

Alexwas on the brink of blacking out multiple times as his body fell into a state of fatigue and immense pain. The wound cauterized, finally allowing the teenager to take a breather. The gangster placed the hot bar down, throwing Alex a new bag of red paint:" Lim Ah Tong has owed us money for too long now. It's been 3 months due since he last paid us. I want you to make a statement to the rest of the community that we are not people who tolerate being owed."

"But...what if the Soultaker shows up again?" Alex asks, holding on to his hand.

"Don't be a coward then. The Minister doesn't like it when people don't finish their jobs. You come back without finishing your task one more time and you will lose more than just two fingers. On the contrary, finish your task and you will be paid handsomely."

"Okay...I won't fail again." Alex muttered.

7pm.

Aunt Tan had invited Maxus to a meal.

Maxus arrived at the house of his aunt where Uncle Tan and his two younger cousins, Everlyn and Evan lived. Aunt Tan had prepared a spread of Chinese homemade dishes as Maxus took a seat opposite the youngest member of the family, 8 year old Evan who looked at his curiously, spotting the scars across his face and the red marks across his arms.

"Are you being bullied at school?" The naive Evan asked.

"What? Me? Nah this injuries were just from sports." Maxus answered his little cousin when Evan's older sister, Everlyn walked out from her room, overhearing their conversation:" Nah since when does he ever get bullied. People should worried about being bullied by him."

"She's right you know." Maxus pointed out, giving Everlyn a high five.

"I hope that's not true." Uncle Tan sat down at the table as Aunt Tan brought out the last of the dishes. A bowl of vegetable curry, stir fry spinach and carrots, seafood omelette, a plate of steamed fish and a bowl of mapo tofu.

Everyone at the family sat down at the dinner table where they began their meal.

"How's your first week of school? Do you need more money?" Aunt Tan, his legal guardian asks the teenager who shook his head:" No no, I'm very okay. I have more than enough allowance from my part time jobs. When I get my bursary application approved I should be able to get by even better."

"So did you meet any new friends?" Uncle Tan asks Maxus who nods:" Yeah, they seem pretty nice."

"You look muscular, you been working out?" Aunt Tan compliment Maxus who adjusted his sleeves, trying not to get his scars exposed when his little Evan pointed at his arm:" He has scars here too, he must be doing very violent sports."

"Are you? Did you go back to martial arts?" Uncle Tan curiously asked as Maxus lied:" Oh yeah I went for some CCA tryouts. It's nothing, really."

"Don't be too reckless alright young man? Keeping fit is important but don't overdo it." Uncle Tan tells the vigilante when his phone rang. "My god old man...I've told you already, don't bring your phone to the table when eating." Aunt Tan reminds.

"Urgent. Business call." Uncle Tan tells them, walking away from the table.

Maxus observed his uncle, who seemed more...jittery and desperate than usual, which was a sight he had never seen from his uncle before. He was the owner of his own business, there wasn't anyone to answer to but himself and seeing him operate the same business for over a decade, this type of behavior just seemed wrong to him.

"Why is he like this? Are you guys okay?" Maxus asks his Aunt.

"Some clients are just more demanding than others. It's just how it is." Aunt Tan explains.

Maxus paused for a moment, deciding the next course of action to take. "I'll...use the toilet first, be right back." The teenager got off his seat, walking towards the toilet trying to act normal but on the inside, trying to direct his hearing to the call, overhearing his uncle mutter a few words of interest.

"But they...we can't keep handling this type of money."

Maxus pretended to wash his hands to make himself look busy while trying to obtain more information. His uncle hasn't noticed him yet, giving him a small window of time to get closer. "Okay...just make sure they clean the place up."

Maxus smiled to himself, knowing what to do next.

The vigilante went home, looking at his fresh set of armor. He had two entire nights in the engineering labs of his school using their equipment in combination with the materials he had stolen from the port. He had did his research online, studying about the materials he possessed and how to use them too.

The Kevlar was now sewn into the fabric of his jacket hoodie. A Kevlar mask, spray painted white to resemble that of a skull and pieces of bulletproof glass as eye piece. Maxus ran his fingers across the mask, checking it's sturdiness and stared at the Chinese Word: 鬼 sprayed black on the mask's forehead.

The Chinese character for Ghost.

Maxus placed the mask on, covering his entire face. Dawning slightly loose jeans, a belt that held smoke pellet bombs that he modified to his own design and his trusty twin knives. A bulletproof vest, strapped to his torso followed by the Kevlar enhanced hoodie jacket, covering the rest of his body made up the majority of his suit and lastly, combat gloves, strapped to his hands.

The gangs of Singapore had already heard of him. The Soultaker...the entity that has been hunting them down over the past few months, relentlessly leaving a trail of bodies in his wake. Describing him as a ghost was the perfect scare tactic for these gangs, serving as a reminder that the days of their crimes being hidden and covered up are going to be gone.

Maxus arrived at his Uncle's company at midnight, located in the industrial site of Woodlands.

Tasty Catering Pte Ltd, the food catering company that his uncle founded, regularly cooking up huge bulks of food for large events and gatherings, having over fifty workers that included chefs, nutritionists and packers. Maxus had been here once before when visiting his uncle, an old industrial building that despite it being way past midnight, still had the flavorful scent of food flooding the hallways.

If his Uncle was being used...this was one way he could help.

The building was dark...the cold, windy night weather gave Maxus the perfect amount of darkness he needed to blend in with the shadows. The long corridors in the building seemed like the perfect haunted house location, dirty unclean grey flooring and plain asylum like walls. Any normal teenager his age wouldn't even want to be here, it seemed like the worse possible place to be at this timing.

However, Maxus was the predator here as he spots the first signs of life, dim lights and chattering at the very top of the floor of the 4 story building.

The vigilante made his way up the stairs, now more confident than ever with his fresh gear.

"Come on, what's the tally now?"

"Two hundred and thirty thousand, four hundred and eighty."

Maxus reached the floor where the commotion was coming from, hearing stacks and stacks of a paper like material being flipped, the typing of calculators and people, counting numbers out loud. The vigilante took a glance into the rooms, confirming his suspicions. Money laundering...stacks and stacks of cash were being counted while a police officer, presumably a corrupt one watched over them with a pistol in his hand.

"We're supposed to have four hundred thousand. Double up." The officer commands.

Maxus drew his knife, kicking the door open and making a mad beeline directly to the police officer. The officer could barely react to the vigilante, pointing his pistol greatly panicking, doing his best to take aim when Maxus slashed his blades right out, slicing the officer's wrist, forcing him to drop the pistol which Maxus kicked into the air before kicking the officer in the chest with the same momentum, knocking the corrupted man onto the floor.

"None of you move." Maxus grabbed the pistol mid air, pointing it towards the men who were counting the dollar bills.

Maxus found himself in the middle of an industrial kitchen, with massive stoves and ovens surrounding him lit up the warm yellow ceiling light. Hundreds of stacks of cash were stacked high on massive rectangular metal tables with several middle aged men and women, counting them one by one.

The police officer grabbed his wrist in pain, trying to slow the bleeding while gritting his teeth, looking up at the vigilante with teary eyes. "You...you're....him."

"If you want this to be painless, you will tell me everything that is going on here." Maxus cut straight to the point.

"Hehehe...." The police officer chuckled.

"Is something funny?" Maxus snarled.

"He knew you'd come."

Maxus felt an impact striking the pistol he was holding, ripping the weapon right out of his grip. Maxus turned around quickly, the pistol flying straight towards the other end of the room, smashing into the wall and breaking apart like glass. The man responsible...a red ninja, dressed in mix of traditional Japanese combat robes and armored plating on his chest, shoulders, arms and legs.

The ninja wielded a weapon Maxus didn't recognize.

A modified Kusarigama like weapon, twin 30cm blades with wooden handles, both ends of which attached to a black long chain that slung behind the ninja's back. The ninja glared down at Maxus before launching his next attack, shooting his chained blade out with devastating force at Maxus who ducked backwards, catching the weapon by the handle.

This power...it's no joke. Just before Maxus could do anything else, the ninja retracted the chained blade, forcing it out of Maxus' grip again and returning the weapon back to his hands. The vigilante himself didn't even manage to react to that move...something he had never experienced before. This ninja...was an individual who was on another level. He could be a potentially genuine threat.

"Get out of here." The ninja tells the rest of the people in the room, who began running for their lives.

Maxus knew this wasn't the time to try and catch everyone as the two men were left alone in the room.

"The Soultaker...it's an honor." The ninja greeted, readying his chained blades. Maxus himself grabbed both his knives tightly, trying to get through the pain of having the pistol ripped out of his fingers, the friction of which felt like they were still burning into his fingers.

"Who are you?" Maxus took his stance.

"Many in the industry know me as the Red Scorpion...and I've been tasked with your death."

The Red Scorpion sprinted towards him out of the blue, jumping into the air, launching both chained blades at Maxus who quickly jumped aside, dodging the two weapons which the ninja skillfully wielded, almost like the chains themselves were just an extension of his own arms. Maxus jumped back once more as the ninja shot the chained blade out again, slashing at the vigilante from a long distance, almost slicing his hand.

He could dodge forever, but that wouldn't solve anything right?

The vigilante grabbed a tray, tossing it towards the ninja like a Frisbee which the Red Scorpion easily sidestepped, turning his attention back onto the vigilante who had already closed their distance in that split second, swinging his knife at the ninja, about to land a potentially fatal slash when Red Scorpion's instincts kicked in, using his own blades to deflect the stike, resisting the blade.

Red Scorpion looked up at Soultaker who didn't hesitate who strike again, forcing Red Scorpion to go on the defensive.

Their blades clashed, sparks forming from the sheer power of both their swings as the two skilled fighters find themselves meeting each other blow for blow, both trying to land a hit on the other with their weapon only to be met with an equal amount of speed and precision back.

"You're good. No wonder so many fell to you." Red Scorpion mutters.

Maxus read the ninja's moves, noticing that he was holding his arms back, preparing an attack which Maxus quickly did something about, jumping off the side of the wall next to them as The Red Scorpion released his chains, rapidly spinning his weapon like a torpedo of blades, slashing it at Maxus, slicing him in the arm.

If it wasn't for the Kevlar...his arm might had just been sliced off.

Maxus jumped back, finding cover behind a table to give himself a moment to breathe when The Red Scorpion attacked, shooting the chained blades at him, forcing him to flip away, barely dodging the strike. Maxus watched as the chains were shot out again, the blades flying to him like projectiles at blinding speeds.

Maxus couldn't see the trajectory of his opponent's weapons, only being able to roughly predict where they were going as he swung his knives, knocking the ninja's blades successfully out of the air.

The Red Scorpion simply flicked his wrists, the chains retracting back and bringing the blades right back into his grip.

"You're good too. You must be a big reason why the criminals are still conducting their operations on such a large scale. Some whistleblower must have had threatened the Blood Lion before, but he or she couldn't possibly get past you. Unfortunately...you haven't met someone like me yet. " Maxus hissed.

"Confident eh? Come on then. I wanna see your true skill."

Maxus watched as the chains were released again, The Red Scorpion spinning in circles, the chained blades starting to build up momentum as Maxus prepared to dodge the incoming blades that shot right for him, forcing the vigilante to jump back before tossing a singular knife towards the ninja.

The Red Scorpion jumped into the air, kicking Maxus' projectile away easily.

"You're getting desperate. "The ninja flipped sideways, extending his chains out and began swinging them like tentacles with sharp tips, slashing at Maxus who found himself going on the defensive with only one knife left.

The Red Scorpion knew he had an adavantage with range as well, becoming even more aggressive, narrowing Maxus' chance of escape and forcing him into a corner before changing his chained blades' trajectory, landing several slashes that Maxus was forced to tank, using his Kevlar armored sleeves to deflect the blows. The armor did it's job, the knives not landing able to cut his skin but the impact of which, still managing to inflict painful bruises.

Red Scorpion shot his arm forward for the chains to obey his movement, exploding towards Maxus who sidestepped it, the blade bursting right into the concrete wall behind him. Maxus didn't waste any time, grabbing the chain, wrapping it around his arm and yanking the ninja right towards him, delivering a straight kick into his opponent's ribs.

Maxus didn't waste anytime, jabbing his weapon at the ninja who knew how to save himself, quickly using his other blade to meet Soultaker's as their blades clashed again, the ninja flipping himself into the air and forcing the chains out of the vigilante's grip again.

"Your fighting style...I've never seen any like it." Red Scorpion mutters.

Maxus didn't bother replying, charging at the ninja with his one knife. The Red Scorpion growled, readying his own weapons as the vigilante attacked with a fury of slashes, the ninja reading them as fast as he could and blocking them with his own attacks before returning his own.

Both fighters knew they were each other's match.

Maxus never once fought an opponent that could last this long against him. He recognized the Red Scorpions' moves, a fluid and polished combination of Ninjutsu, Taekwando and Judo. Every move the Red Scorpion made was filled with a fierceness that he had never seen from anyone else before. Every time he thought that he could finally land a hit on the ninja, his opponent dodged or deflected him in ways that he never expected.

For the first time...the thought of defeat crossed his mind.

Who the hell is this ninja?

"Officer Meng to HQ, Red Scorpion is engaged in battle. Charlie Platoon moving in." A man shouted from outside.

Maxus leapt backwards, looking around quickly to make sure he had an escape route. From what he heard, it sounds like police officers were here. He didn't know if they were corrupt and now wasn't the time to find out either. The Red Scorpion is different, a fighter of his own caliber. There was no chance he was taking both the ninja and policemen, he didn't even know if his enemies were working together.

"Never mind them. Let's keep this between ourselves." The Red Scorpion offered.

Yeah...trusting that this would be a fair fight would be the dumbest thing he could do.

Maxus kept on trying to widen the distance between them for a chance to escape, but the ninja was relentless, unleashing a wide range of attacks, the chained blades managing to reach him from a distance which gave Maxus little choice but to defend himself. This was risky, but Maxus had an idea.

The tables around them can be used if timed correctly.

The chained blades were being shot out again, Maxus holding his ground as the blades struck his vest, impaling into his Kevlar, narrowing piercing his chest. This bought him the second he needed to run towards the ninja, completely catching The Red Scorpion off guard. Maxus faked a blade swing which the ninja tried to dodge, only for Maxus whril back to perform a sweeping kick that struck the ninja, bruisng the ninja's leg.

The Red Scorpion lunged back as Maxus rolled aside, ducking past the ninja before kicking the corner of a table right into his opponent's face, managing to stun the ninja just long enough for him to fish out the smoke pellets in his belt, smashing them into the ground and creating a smoke cloud, the perfect cover he needed to escape.

Maxus sprinted out of the room without hesitation.

As expected, a few police officers were already arriving towards him with their pistols drawn. He knew the smoke wouldn't do anything against the ninja who wouldn't be down by such a light attack. Maxus looked around him, exploding towards the stairwell and without hesitation, jumped off the side of a railing, going down level by level by skipping entire flights of stairs.

"Where is he?"

"Alpha Unit to HQ. No one in sight."

The Red Scorpion realized his opponent was gone, clenching his fists in frustration. " Thanks to you fucking idiots...he's gone! I had him!" The ninja roared at the officers.

Maxus could hear the roar from the first floor as he felt the adreleline in his body slowly leaving. The pain that he had barely managed to endure from the previous week was coming back, the muscles in his forearms tensing up, creating a painful strain that made even his bones shiver. He must have made a big enough dent for the higher ups in the criminal underworld to deploy such a monster.

What kind of enemy is he going to face from now on?

For the past few months, all he had to fight were just some simple goons, armed amateurs. However, The Soultaker was now well known. His opponents from now on...will never be the same again.

"I swear...the next time we meet. You won't survive." Maxus growled.

Maxus decided to make his way back home by foot, taking off the vests and mask before shoving them into a bag he hid behind a tree on his way there, returning back to his civilian clothing. The vigilante made his way out of the industrial area, grabbing a rental bike to get back home.

His forearms were in a light shade of purple now, the bruises he received starting to swell.

2am.

His neighborhood was mostly quiet, like most nights were when he returns home from his expiditions as the Soultaker. No one would be awake at this hour and adding onto the fact that his neighborhood was relatively old, there was basically nobody to be out here spotting him returning back to his flat as Soultaker.

This was the time of the day, the rare moment that he gets every time he becomes the vigilante, the feeling of knowing that he reduced the evils of this world, going home believing that he was making Singapore a safer place...he didn't get that today.

Flashes of red and blue could be seen in the distance.

Maxus stopped his bike, ending the rental service as he strapped on the bag that contained his gear, recognizing the police sirens. Who...? No way they found out who he was right? The cautious teenager walked towards the lights and to his relief, they were coming from another block...

Maxus' heart sank.

Uncle Lim's store, now nothing more than an empty space of charred ash. There were fire trucks, dozens of firefighters and policemen investigating the scene. The teenager rushed over, knowing where the elderly man was living at as he went up the stairs of Uncle Lim's block...the worst scenario in his head coming true right in front of his eyes.

Uncle Lim was on the ground of his flat's corridor in a pool of blood with a knife embodied deep into the elderly man's chest.

"Boy, don't look." An investigating officer spotted Maxus.

"He...what happened?"

"Do you know him?" The officer asks Maxus who nods:" Uncle Lim...owner of the Mama Shop downstairs." The officer sighed as the shaken Maxus collapsed onto his knees, clenching his fists. "We believe this has something to do with loan sharks. If you have anymore information, can you share them with us?"

Maxus' surroundings seemed blurry now.

A violent ringing sensation shot through his ears as the vigilante grit his teeth, tears flowing down his face and his chest, burning with an unquenchable rage. He recalled the day before...Alex harassing the poor old man for a payment that was impossible to be paid off.

Alex Beng...I'm going to fucking kill you.

Next Chapter- Bloodlust