Protectors

A cloud of mist descended from the sky, landing on a poor vagrant and enveloping them in a torrent, slowly entering their body. It was a painful process, their pores widened as the mist rampaged into the old man's body.

After a few seconds, the vagrant opened their eyes as their figure quickly changed into Cain.

'The mist ghost has my weapons and the collar; there should be no problems. Though one of the librarians might go missing if he needs a real body for a time...'

The only way for Cain to escape the sight of the Family was to switch out with one of his men. The problem lay in the fact that the mist ghost had to rely on a mere illusion while still only being mist.

If Zoe returned, the ghost would need a body to complete the disguise. Only, it was impossible to take a body without notice; there were no vagrants near the library to take over.

'I shouldn't be gone too long, a week or two at most... but that inspector might come back in a few days... hmm, this way of moving about stressful. If I get caught, I'll just go back to the old way and kill everyone. I can always try again this method in another territory.'

Walking around, Cain blended in with the rest of the vagrants; he covered himself in dirt and soot. His clothes already had the smell required to blend in so the effort was little.

'What I'm really curious about is the family. To keep such a large population in the dark is hard. They must have some special ways to achieve this. Is it the work of this place's power? There might even be a ruler...'

Cain would spend his time huddling up with other exiles and keeping an eye on everything. He learned what they did during their days and watched over them at night.

The exiles didn't have it too bad; the Family had people come every morning to distribute food among them. Even exiled, they were given the treatment of normal human beings.

'Is it a way to control them? Perhaps a condition to use the powers? Oh, I'm getting so excited thinking about this place's secrets!'

After lunch, Cain was walking around, balancing on top of a half-collapsed wall. From the corner of his eye, he saw a van. Vans were a form of motor transport that could carry many things or people. Cain learned about such amazing machinery from the library.

The van was different from the ones that brought food; this one seemed more heavily outfitted with armor plating. Hiding in the shadows, Cain watched for a time.

Eventually, he could see masked men dragging unconscious vagrants into the back of the van.

"Oh? What's this now?"

The men swiftly packed the exiles away like they had done countless times. The van then drove off.

"Let's see where it goes, shall we!"

Entering a half-mist state, Cain trailed the vehicle while keeping some distance.

The van went through all areas of the city; it seemed to deliberately try to avoid tails. The question was why? Didn't the Family own the Complex? Who were they hiding from?

'This is getting more and more interesting!'

Finally, the van passed through a gate leading into the Compound of the Family. The compound was a third of the complex in the center of the city and the core of the Family; it was where almost all the Family members lived.

'I will surely get caught if I follow... looks like I need to watch from afar and hopefully catch something. I am patient; I have all the time in the world!'

Disappearing, Cain returned and continued acting as a vagrant.

As time passed, Cain saw the vans take vagrants regularly. It was almost every day; sometimes they would come during the day, other times at night. Today was no different; the sky was blanketed by grey clouds as usual. The only source of light came from a few street lamps the road still had.

Like usual, Cain followed behind the van and waited to see if anything happened. Fortunately, today he was lucky.

As the van turned down a poorly lit road, an explosion detonated from below the armored van, disabling it. Falling on its side the steel screeched against the concrete before hitting a pole. 

Out from the darkness, men and women wearing armor similar to the masked men charged the truck with rifles and pistols in hand. They were quick and organized; one of the men put some sort of device on the driver's door.

Three beeps went off before the door was blown off, and the driver was pulled out and promptly executed.

Watching his companion die, the other masked soldier in the passenger seat tried to reach for his gun but was shot as well from above. The unknown assailants then headed towards the back door of the van and opened them up. Inside were another two lackeys of the Family.

This time, the masked soldiers were able to fire a few shots, maiming and injuring a few of the assailants before becoming riddled with holes and dying.

From there, the assailants freed the vagrants and brought them away.

Watching everything, Cain couldn't help but smile with glee.

'Bingo!'

Switching his target, Cain followed the assailants as they escaped into the darkness. After a few minutes, he watched them enter a building in the 'slave' sector.

Cain drifted to the ground still in his vagrant disguise, and entered as well.

Upon entry, Cain was in the back of a group of unknown people and the vagrants who had just been freed. One of the previous assailants noticed Cain; at first, they were alarmed before seeing his clothes.

"Don't fall behind next time; you could jeopardize the rest of us and your fellow vagrants."

Cain lowered his head, "I apologize; thank you for saving me."

The man turned back to the rest of the group, and Cain filed in with the rest of the exiles.

As he remained quiet, a man came forward and removed his mask.

"My brothers and sisters, again, we have succeeded in stopping the Family's attempts to kidnap our fellow citizens! Give yourselves a round of applause."

The room erupted in cheers and laughter. The man then continued.

"It has been too long since we've had the chance to act. The Family has been limiting our operations in recent times. Our organization has been forced into the dark, and we've had to hide like rats! However, with more members in all corners of the Complex, no more do we need to fear losing everything. Even if one of us is destroyed, the rest remain to pick up the pieces!"

The men and women cheered again.

"With this operation, we have proven we will not let them win. We will find out what the Family has been doing; we will find out the truth, and we will free ourselves from their influence. We will rebel and bring about a new order!" The man threw up his fist, and the crowd did the same.

'So this is a terrorist organization? They work in cells?'

As Cain made his guesses, the man looked at the poor vagrants. "I ask you, exiles forced into the slums due to unfair rule. Will you join us?"

The vagrants looked around, and Cain did the same to fit in. They all looked back to the man who seemed to be the leader and nodded.

"Excellent, welcome to our group! With you, we can continue to help our people and free ourselves from the grip of the Family!"

Cheers and screams of victory drowned out the room once more; Cain couldn't help but snicker through it all.

'Fascinating, this place is just too intriguing!'