The Peacekeepers

Part Two; Chapter Twenty-Two

The story of Crimson

"I had owned and directed a dojo in L.A. for quite a long time. It was quite successful and put food on my table but with the laws before the war I couldn't train my students the way I had been taught and the way I'm teaching you."

"I had a great many young students who enjoyed doing this whether for fitness or application, I never really questioned. There was one young man however that was exceptional. He didn't have much of a home. His father was a drunken jackass and his mother was just as useless. But the day the drafts happened shortly after the Great European Exodus and when the war with the U.E.A came home he never left the dojo along with many other children who's parents were either killed in riots, drafted or simply abandoned them. But this exceptional student of mine wanted desperately for me to train him the way I was taught. So I did..."

"Right before 'The Chaos' started he was already as good as you are now. One day his father came into the dojo demanding to see his son. His hands and shirt were covered in blood and his face had the look of a drunkard. Many of the children were terrified and stood behind myself and my student."

"He was such a strong young man. This moment was the only time I would ever see tears swell in his eyes. He just stared at his father and tightened up his fist so hard that blood trickled from it. He took his gi off and sling it halfway across the dojo. This is when I saw them. The long scars across his back and the backs of his legs. Cigar burn scars dotted his body. He looked back at me and told me not to interfere. He approached his father and the father cursed at him and tried to hit him. He ducked out of the way and wailed strike after strike so fast and concise that they seemed like blurs assaulting the man's body and face. He was helpless. No matter how hard he fought the father could not harm his son like he had been able to previously. The drunkard is down on his hands and knees, paralyzed by the pain. I see my student pull his leg back and slam it into his father's head as hard as he possibly could."

Ren looks down. Takes a long pause and sighs. His voice falls quiet.

"I saw a section of his skull come apart on impact. Blood sprays everywhere. Skull clatters to the ground and the fat, bloated body crumples to the floor seeping out more blood. A younger student clamps onto my leg in fear. He's afraid of the monster before me."

"A monster was awakened that moment. The next day we left the dojo and came to this very building to escape the chaos of the city. For a while it was good and peaceful. We got some crops to start growing and had plenty of game to hunt from the absence of humans scaring them off. We continued training to stay in shape and... stay sane in all honesty. All my students improved every day but none could compare to my best and brightest student. But the better he got physically he deteriorated mentally. He would question the purpose in protecting the weak children and letting weak desperate bandits live instead of killing them outright. It disturbed me but like the fool I was, I ignored him and his plea for help."

"One day I went hunting and as usual I left the children in his care, thinking nothing of it."

He paused for a moment. He hung his head down and I saw a single tear caress it's way down his lightly wrinkled face.

"I came back empty handed. I went up to the door and opened it. A tiny, ten year old body slumped at my feet. I dropped down to check for signs of life. He was dead. Ten years old, murdered in cold blood. I rushed into the basketball court as fast as I could but was stopped almost as immediately as I started. What I saw... It was horrific. The court was lined with bodies. Some were mangled beyond recognition. Skulls caved in with perfect knuckle indentations, necks snapped, the bodies of children contoured in ways I never thought possible."

"Then I felt a sharp pain on the base of my skull and on my sciatic nerve one after the other. I couldn't move, I had been completely paralyzed. I dropped to the ground, unable to even blink. I was rolled over and I saw him. His face coated in their blood. My star pupil. The man who was once a son to me. I can remember his words to me with perfect clarity." Ren looked me dead in the eyes. His red, bloodshot, swollen eyes.

"Look at this old man! Your students were weak and pitiful! Their deaths are on your hands. Had you not coddled them they may have survived at least long enough for you to arrive and help them. My name was my father's and has no meaning to me anymore. It was weak and frail. Henceforth I shall be known as Crimson. The mightiest of all. Find me one day old man. Fight me and die but for now you will be forced to revel in this failure around you. I'll be in the east creating real fighters. Something you clearly failed at." Tears were now streaming down his face.

"I fell unconscious after he walked off laughing. Drake... the men you will be fighting are all incredibly strong, fast and skilled fighters with experience mercilessly killing people. And it's all my fault..."