Sink or Swim: Drawn To The Venom

Chapter 16

Recap: Koshiro defeats Jerry using his Second Manifestation. He then welcomes Matsumi, Dan and Naomi into his basement while Chisaki sleeps peacefully in another room.

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In the Guardian Angel's Humble Abode, it is anything but peaceful. The Guardian Angel is staring down and giving a dose of reality to a few of her subordinates, while the ones on the receiving end are none other than Wendy and Jerry. Terrance, Mihai and Joseph are standing beside them as well.
Guardian Angel: "And just why were you unable to  capture your targets, my dear ones?"
Terrance: "Yeah! You had such amazing gifts given from our highness, yet you decided to return with your tail between your legs?"
Jerry: *sobbing* "S-S-Sorry! I barely remember.....barely anything. Did I.....did I use my Chimerization? I don't know! Just don't do anything to Wendy, I beg of you."
Wendy glares at her pathetic mess of an older brother.
Wendy: "SHUT UP YOU IMBECILIC MESS OF A BIG BROTHER!!! DON'T THINK YOU'RE SO HIGH AND MIGHTY THAT YOU CAN JUST TURN A BLIND EYE TO THE FACT THAT I WAS JUST AS IRRESPONSIBLE AS YOU!!!"
Jerry cries harder and begs for mercy. The Guardian Angel pulls out a flask of whiskey and gets a glass with some ice. Her touch turns the glass into a sinister looking deformed skull container, she then pours in the whiskey and offers it to Jerry.
Mihai: "Wow, really that's something cool!"
Guardian Angel: "Drink it! It's your elixir isn't it?"
Wendy: "Big brother! Big brother don't drink it!"
Jerry however ignoring his little sister's pleas drinks the whiskey in the creepy skull glass.
Jerry: "Ahh! What? It's just whiskey!"
Wendy: "NO! YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE..."
The guardian angel is about to touch Wendy using her finger, however she stops a bare centimeter before reaching her.
Guardian Angel: *whispers* "Are you forgetting your situation, my sweet Wendy? Aren't I the one who gave you two a place to belong? Your big brother did something wrong, so that's why he's getting punished for it!"
Jerry however suddenly screams. His vision becomes blurry, and he starts seeing blood as well as hearing screams out of nowhere. He begs for mercy while Wendy tries to calm him down.
Guardian Angel: "This poor child, he can barely handle 0.2% of my power. It was probably my mistake, I should've sent someone actually competent for this job."
Jerry is on his knees, begging for mercy and screaming "MAKE IT STOP".
Guardian Angel: "Wendy! Take your big brother to your room and put him to sleep, he'll be fine in a few days."
Wendy: "Yes, your highness!"
Guardian Angel: "But I'm not letting either of you off the hook so easily."
Wendy: "Y-Your highness?"
Guardian Angel: "You'll participate in the Hermit's Death Match, won't you?"
Wendy: "Aren't we supposed to be onlookers?"
Guardian Angel: "The other Saints will be the onlookers, but not you two my dear. Prove your worth, and we'll reclaim you both as members of the Saints."
Wendy is extremely shocked at this development. Mihai and Joseph smirk at her, mentally kicking her sadistically while she's down.
Wendy: "NO! NO WAY! We.....why so early? Please try to reconsider!"
Guardian Angel: "This is your only chance, we won't offer anymore generosity."
The Guardian Angel dismisses them.
Joseph: "Hey Wendy! The first thing you should do once you get out of the Saints is get some pants or a skirt on."
Mihai: "Yeah! Your panties are so boring now it's not even sexy to look at or grope."
The two of them laugh in unison while Wendy tries to handle her hallucinating big brother. He points to an artistic "L.O" tattoo on below her butt.
Mihai: "Cute tattoo by the way! What's the 'LO' for? LOSER?"
They laugh again, the tattooed pantless muscle girl is now angry.
Wendy: "You perverted scumbags! Why do you even care if I wear pants or not? Your dear mother, who failed her last mission miserably dresses like a total slut. Atleast I cover my torso modestly."
Mihai and Joseph (in unison): "COME AGAIN!!!"
Wendy smirks while the two of them suddenly appear as huge looming dark shadows in front of her, for they have resorted to their true monstrous forms.
Wendy: "Hit a nerve, did I?"
Mihai: *monstrous voice* "THAT'S OUR MOTHER YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT, BITCH!"
Joseph: *monstrous voice* "EVEN IF SHE IS THE WAY SHE IS, WE ACCEPT HER JUST THE SAME WAY GUARDIAN ANGEL ACCEPTS YOU."
Wendy chuckles at them, being unintimidated by their rage. However, before anyone could do any damage - Terrance interferes with a menacing glare.
Terrance: "Now now! Let us not fight amongst ourselves. All of you, head back to your rooms before we have to do something extreme to all 4 of you."
Both of Panacea's sons revert back to their human forms. All of them leave with resentment and sighs filled with hatred, as their fight was broken up sooner than it started. Wendy enters her room with Jerry, sedating him using some tranquilizers so he wouldn't scream or be frightened anymore from the hallucinations. She then cries to herself while curling up into a ball in the corner. Her thoughts lead to a flashback, wherein it's a dark room in a small apartment. A toddler girl is playing with her mother.
Mother: "C'mon Wendy! Throw the ball to me!"
Wendy: "Okay mama!"
The girl throws the ball to her mother and smiles happily. However, the very next moment the sky turns a shade of dark orange. Little Wendy has the ball in her hands, but her mother is not in front of her.
Wendy: "M-M-Mama! Mama! Mama where are you?"
She searches nearly everywhere for her mother, then enters the storeroom of her house to see a sight nobody would wish on their worst enemy. Before little Wendy could decipher, right in front of her was a horrifying disfigured blackened corpse. Next to the corpse were a highschool boy and a middle aged man, crying their hearts out. It was evident that the corpse was her mother's.
Wendy: "Big bro! Papa! What happened? Where's mama?"
Jerry and their father cry loudly while hugging Wendy tightly. However a few months down the line their father becomes an alcoholic, beating up both Jerry and Wendy whenever he is in a bad mood. Jerry takes majority of the blows, protecting Wendy. The abuse continues for years until one day, a 10 year old Wendy comes home from school only to be hidden into a closet by her own brother.
Jerry: "Don't come out for a dew hours, okay?"
Wendy: "B-b-big bro! What is happening? Are you okay?"
Jerry: "Just don't come out! I'm with you, believe in me Wendy."
Jerry hides her, then suddenly runs away. Wendy opens the closet a few hours later, only to see a huge bat-like monster in front of her. To make things worse, in front of her is the brutalized corpse of their abusive father. She falls to the floor, unable to scream or cry being shocked with the realization that she had become an orphan. However the bat creature reverts to being her big brother Jerry. Wendy is shocked at the development.
Jerry: "I promise.....I'll protect you."
He hugs her tightly, crying in her embrace. Wendy cannot turn away from this, so she hugs him back.
Wendy: "Big brother! You couldn't take it anymore, could you?"
Jerry: *sniffles* "I promised to protect you, Wendy! We have found a new home, our new mother figure. You wouldn't believe it, she's magical and gives everyone powers. A true Angel!"
With this, the flashback ends and Wendy is still sobbing pitifully on the floor while her big brother sleeps due to the tranquilizers. She gets back up and sits next to her sleeping brother, caressing him gently.
Shifting to yet another tale in Shinjuku, taking place in a remote dark ruined apartment is another incident. Tied to the wall is a naked woman, completely horrified and moaning through the tape on her mouth as she is illuminated due to a candle kept in front of her. Looming over her are the shadows of two men responsible for her horrifying condition.
Kidnapper 1: "She looks quite tender and young."
Kidnapper 2: "I would want to give her up to the Guardian Angel for the experiments, but....."
Kidnapper 1: "Hey hey! You don't wanna mention anything in front of a total stranger."
Kidnapper 2: "Oh my bad!"
Kidnapper 1: "So you're supposed to be a police officer, right girl?"
Right next to them is a police uniform and undergarments that they've taken off of her. They pull out her ID Card and smirk at the details.
Kidnapper 1: "How'd you get kidnapped so easily then? You must be real soft, cause....y'know.....streets are nasty and cold."
Kidnapper 2: "Besides, going by how most of your senior police staff act - I don't think you'd survive in there anytime soon."
The girl is still horrified and shaking.
Kidnapper 1: "You don't believe us? Check this out!"
They pull out what looks like a VHS player, and put a tape in it. The tape playing turns out to be extremely disturbing, horrifying incidents of police brutality in Shinjuku itself. They force her to watch it on repeat multiple times.
Kidnapper 2: "So! Do you like it? The police, they're the arbiters of justice aren't they?"
The tape volume is increased, she is shown more and more of the footage.
Kidnapper 1: "I think that's enough, we should let her go."
The 2 men release her, she is panicking and trying to breathe.
Kidnapper 2: "What's wrong? Aren't you gonna run away?"
She trembles, simply looking at them. Then she picks up her pistol, shaking.
Kidnapper 1: "Whoa girl! Do you really think you're gonna frighten us with that?"
Kidnapper 2: "After giving you your freedom, this is what we're gonna get huh? You cops are all the same!"
The girl is extremely panicky, and in a frenzy puts the gun to her head.
Kidnapper 1: "Oh no you don't!"
As soon as the girl tries to pull the trigger, her arm bone gets fractured with a cracking noise. She screams in agony, but before she could let out her second scream - her second arm suffers the same fate.
Kidnapper 2: "Really? Are we gonna waste our gifts on her?"
Kidnapper 1: "Hahahaha! Why not? Test them all you want!"
Before she could decipher the entire situation, her legs are fractured with extreme creaky noises as well - crippling her.
Kidnapper 2: "God damn! Let me just put her out of her misery."
The girl is now unable to move, scream or talk. She is trembling and trying to crawl with whatever possible movement she has left.
Kidnapper 2: "It's okay! Time to finish you off."
The girl tries to crawl around, however within a few moment drips some sticky hot fluid on her hands and legs. As soon as she looks up, she sees a giant cantle burning from which the wax was dripping onto her. The wax solidifies, locking her hands and legs onto the ground.
Kidnapper 2: "And now the finishing touch!"
The candle's flame gets brighter and engulfs her, burning her completely until she could do nothing but scream with the little energy she had left while she burned alive. The kidnappers then come out of the basement area and their faces are revealed - turns out the two are Juro and Nagito, the formerly helpless NEX members who witnessed their powerless comrade Rika get murdered at the hands of none other than Matsumi.
Juro: "I'll do the same to those three, those scumbags."
Nagito: "Yeah! So what if they took down NEX? We'll destroy their spirits, even hell would seem like a breeze compared to our hospitality."

TO BE CONTINUED........