The Comfy Cartel: Corpse gets 'hired'

Cleaning up...

"And that's how you carve the perfect Comfy Cartel logo! Just remember to avoid the nose and eyes if you can, otherwise, it'll get messy"

It was day one of Corpse's lessons with Yvonne, who would have been a really cool normal teacher, except she wasn't normal because she was teaching Corpse how to give a good handshake (which he now has nailed thanks to his strong, firm grasp), how to properly dispose of a body without leaving too much evidence, and now how to carve the symbol used to represent The Comfy Cartel into an unwilling victim's face as they die.

At first, Corpse had no idea what on earth was going on and wanted nothing more than to run away or throw up, or both. But as he slept in his own little room in the BnB that was located in the middle of the row of shops disguising the Cartel, the smell of the garden store next door was becoming more and more bearable, he decided that anything was better than that orphanage, and the rejection he had been shown for so many years.

For this reason, he made an effort to become a member of this family, even if they were kinda murderous and everything.

While practicing carving the logo into some paper mache which Yvonne had made ready for him earlier, there was a knock at the door. She opened it to find Sykkuno, zoned out with his hand on the back of his neck. He hadn't even noticed the door had been opened until Yvonne waved her hand in his face.

"Hello!? Earth to Sykkuno? What do you want, can't you see I'm busy?" Sykkuno pokes his head around Yvonne's shoulder to see just what she was busy with. He didn't expect to see Corpse playing with some paper mache, much less did he expect the boy to look at him, smile, and wave in recognition. He could feel his blush growing there and then but decided to ignore it as best he could.

"Uh, Jack and Felix just finished up a job downtown, took out some of those Team Rocket guys, they want it clean so that it can't be traced back to us."

"Makes sense, what do you say Corpse? Wanna come with us?" He looks at Yvonne with big dark eyes, throwing away everything on his desk, picking up the equipment he had been given as a gift from Michael the day before, and was at the door in seconds without a single word.

"Wait, you really wanna come?" Sykkuno looks kinda shocked. He was recruited two years ago now, and he knows how he felt when he found out what kind of organization he had joined, and it wasn't like this.

"Yeah, I suppose I could use the experience. And you guys will protect me right?" He may have looked confident, but he was actually borderline sweating. They're gonna go clean up dead people. He knew how to do that though, thanks to Yvonne's lessons.

After a few hours, they arrived at the location, a small detached house in a quiet culdesac. The door was swinging off of its hinges, but nobody seemed to pay any attention to it, must be common or something over here.

Brodin had dropped them off and was waiting in his cab down the street. They planned everything in the car, Sykkuno would go in first and scope out the area, as he was the only one with a gun knowing how to use it. Then Corpse would follow with his knives, with Yvonne coming in last with her bucket and mop.

Corpse watched from around the corner of the building as Sykkuno shouldered the door and entered, gun drawn in front of him, held with both hands.

His form was perfect, "Why is he on cleanup with us? Shouldn't he be in the action or something?" Corpse was curious, although he loved the fact that he got to spend more time with Sykkuno, but he felt like he didn't belong with them. His hunch was right.

"Yeah, he wasn't always in our division. He used to work under Toast, territory expansion. He was one of the best, until one day, when he was tasked with taking down some guys who were causing some problems for Lily, trying to pull down our public image. He and his partner Ludwig went to get rid of them. Only one of them ever came out of that apartment."

Oh.

"He blames himself every day. It's not fair though, he was only one year older than you are now actually, and he wasn't ready. Since then he has decided to help out on my end, which is nice. Until him, I was working alone. I'm grateful for the help, and I think he's starting to recover finally. You seem to be helping with that too."

At least he was helping. Corpse finally found his purpose, he finally found his family. He was definitely staying, working with the Comfy Cartel.

"Bingus!" That was the codeword, an odd one that no one expected, which is why it worked great.

Corpse entered the house, followed closely by Yvonne. His knives were drawn and he was scanning the room. No one but Sykkuno. Oh, and two dead bodies laid on the floor. Perfect headshots, nice. Less cleaning up to do.

All they had to do was get the bodies to the car, and take the rug too, it had some blood on the corners. It had to look like nothing ever happened here.

Sykkuno watched as Yvonne got one end of the rug, and Corpse got the other. They wrapped the bodies in the rug so that if they were seen on their way to the car, it wouldn't look too suspicious, and you wouldn't be able to see the fact that it wasn't just a rug they were carrying.

"Looks clear enough, you two gonna be able to lift that?" Sykkuno raised a good point, Corpse wasn't strong enough to carry them.

"Good point, Sykkuno, give Corpse your gun and help me lift. Corpse, any sign of movement, you know what to do." The pair looked at Corpse holding the gun, it felt natural in his hands. He kept his thumb on the safety, and his finger on the trigger, ready to fire if necessary.

From the other side of the room, a faint glow from the fridge caught Corpse's eye, but he didn't look away from the duo in front of him, hauling the rug up in near silence.

All of his senses were on high alert, his toes curled, his hands shook, and the hair on the back of his neck was stood up. He scanned the room once more, Yvonne half out the door. They were going to be okay.

Suddenly, a shadow passed the light on the other side of the room. They weren't alone!

Bang