The next day.
Arron stood in the main meeting room far underground with other probationary members. There were people of all ages and from all different recruitment batches, not just those that had been recruited when Arron had joined.
The bright light inside the room revealed the nervous looks on everyone’s face as they quietly chatted among themselves.
There were already around 80 people standing in the room while even more probationary members continued to arrive from wherever they had been stationed for their daily jobs.
There were no chairs or even a table in the meeting room so Arron and the probationary members had to stand while they waited for everyone to arrive.
As Arron looked around he could only guess that something big was going to happen today with how many probationary members had been called here. They had not been told what to expect, only that they had to come or they would be hunted down.
When the number of people entering the room had passed over the 100 count by a dozen or more, the thick metal door to the meeting room slid shut blocking the hallway and all sound.
The lights in the room dimmed to the point that everyone in the room became an undefined dark blur. With the dimming of the lights, the sound of a metal door sliding open and several dozen footsteps echoed off the walls as they entered the room and walked to the front of the room.
Flash!
The bright lights once again returned to normal blinding everyone for a few seconds. After blinking a dozen or so times Arron was able to regain his vision to see the ‘Old man’, the head of the Family, standing at the front of the room.
Surrounding him were the heads and sub-leaders of each of the family’s departments and businesses. Ox stood on the right along with Bruets, the head of the enforcers.
The Old man took several seconds to look at each person individually that had gathered in the room.
“Congratulations. You have all survived and not been killed off by your mentors,” said the old man in a strong but slow voice.
The room which had been a little restless quickly chilled and calmed down upon hearing these words.
“You may have already guessed why we have called you all here. It is the final step you need to take to become a true member of the Ryu family. Some of you have been waiting for this longer than others. I could apologize for the long wait, but you can never be too cautious with how treacherous things are in the world outside of the Family.”
There were several people nodding as well as many fiery gazes as they heard this. They were all ready to become official members of the family!
“But first we must take out the trash that is trying to pollute and tear down the family from the inside.”
Each of the probationary members let out a shocked breath. This meant there were still spies among them!
“So far, out of your recruitment batches, there have been 5 spies, all coming from either the Office of Reason or a rival gang. They all passed the initial stage of investigation but in the end, were found out and permanently normalized. Today a 6th person will be added to that number. We held back taking care of this issue just for today to remind everyone about where your loyalties should stand.”
As the old man said this a floating metal plate descended from the ceiling and stopped in front of the old man. On top of it was an ancient gun from the troubled times.
Everyone in the room became restless as they looked at those around them. It was as if they thought they could find the spy by just looking around.
The old man silently grabbed the gun and unceremoniously raised it, his arm moving slowly stopping as it pointed towards Arron.
Bang!
Blood and brain matter splattered all over Arron as the man standing next to him had his head burst like a watermelon.
“Remember this. If you try to betray the family… we have ways to find out about it and we will do everything we can to normalize the situation. There is no hiding from the families as we have our special ways to fish out those who do not belong!”
With a wave of his hand, several 2D holographic images blinked on and began floating behind him for everyone to see.
Each of the floating images was one of the 6 spies that had been normalized. Each picture had a red X across their faces while detailed information flowed next to their picture. The information included their real name, government identification code, the faction they were aligned with, and several other details which included information about their blood relatives and close friends.
Arron felt a cold shiver flow through his body as he saw this and let out a long breath that he only realized he had been holding for some time now.
“Again I want to congratulate everyone. You have worked hard to get here. Please follow Ox to finish your induction into the family.”
Ox stepped forward and glared at everyone, his gaze paused on Arron for a second before continuing down the line. “Listen up you grunts! Although you are going to become an official member, that does not mean you can slack off or abuse your status like some low-tier gangster trash! Becoming an official member of the Ryu family still requires you to follow all the same rules as well as always keeping the family’s honor in mind whenever you take action. Anyone who crosses the line will receive the family’s justice.”
With that, he turned around and walked out of the room into a dark hallway.
The remaining probationary members followed him but made sure to keep a good distance behind him. They had all recovered from the excitement of being granted the privilege of joining the family and were now happily chatting with each other guessing what the last step they needed to take was.
Out of the millions of people in sector one, 99.99% of them could only dream about joining such a large Family where they would be set for life and not need to worry about where they would live or when they could buy their next meal.
Ox led them into another large room similar to the last one but this one had three large colorful doors, one on each wall not including the door they had just entered through.
Standing next to each of the doors was a gathering of two or three men of varying ages. They all had one thing in common… Their entire body was covered with tattoos, and not just any normal tattoos, but the holographic Irezumi that the families were known for.
“When your name is called, follow that person inside and you will be able to officially finalize your initiation into the family!” said Ox.
Immediately several names were called out. Those that were called did not hesitate and walked through the doors with one of the people leading them down a hallway.
Everyone that had not been called let out a sigh of resignation as they realized they would be waiting here for a long time. They all sat down on the floor and either continued their conversations from before or entertained themselves with downloaded content on their wrist datapads. All communication with the holo-net was cut off inside this room so there was little one could do.
When lunchtime arrived a basic and bland meal was served to everyone. Around this time the artist from before exited the room alone and once again called the second batch of names.
When dinner time arrived the third batch was called.
As Arron was eating his bland dinner he heard a muffled ‘Bang!’ come from one of the rooms.
The loud noise startled everyone. The sound was not clear enough for them to tell what had made the sound but it did not sound all that pleasant. They all looked at the door that was now opening.
“Lop, it’s your turn.”
The person who was called hesitated for a second before gathering his courage to follow the artist as he still did not know what had happened.
And so it was like this over the next few days at every meal a new batch of people were called into the rooms. Every day 1 or 2 muffled bangs were coming from inside the rooms causing those outside to worry and wonder what was happening inside.
No one returned to the room so it was slowly becoming more and more empty until there were only a handful of people left including Arron.
Arron paid no attention to the door opening for the hundredth time and kept his eyes closed.
“Sorry! Hurry up, it’s your turn,” said a young bald artist that was around Arron’s age.
Arron silently got up from the ground and followed the man past the colorful door on the right and walked into a small hallway that had three other doors. He could hear the buzzing and whirring sound of the tattoo guns at work behind each of the doors.
They walked into the only empty room at the end of the hallway. The room was quite bare and it smelled like a surgical room. There were only a few hovering trays that held several chemicals laid out as well as the tools needed. The only furniture was a large reclining hover chair and a floating stool for the artist to sit on.
Arron did not have to be told to sit down and hopped onto the plush hover chair still not sure what to expect.
The young artist tapped on a secure datapad pulling up a list of designs. He began taping on several of the designs before locking the system after completing his selections.
He took one last glance before handing the secure datapad over to Arron and only said, “Pick one.”
Arron’s hand did not hesitate as he swiped through the holographic images. He had given up trying to resist such things as the Office of Reason had given their word (not that he fully trusted them) that he would not be prosecuted for actions taken while working undercover for them. That is… if he did not get caught.
All of the holographic pictures floating above the datapad were half-sleeve tattoos for the lower or upper arm. There were various flower combinations, tigers, lions, and birds that all looked alive as he swiped through them.
He sighed after seeing the designs one of his worries was wiped away. He had been worried that the Irezumi would be unable to be hidden. But from the look of these designs if he just picked an upper sleeve he would be fine.
As he reached the last option his hand stopped and all thoughts from before flew out the window as he stared at the holographic image in front of him. It was not a half-sleeve like the rest but looked to be a full-sleeve Irezumi tattoo.
Arron felt a certain calling from this image of the coiling blue dragon that was staring back at him with its mouth open as if it was angrily roaring at him with blue flames escaping its nostrils and mouth.
He stared at the holographic image for over a minute only to be interrupted by a light cough from the artist.
Arron, who was jolted out of his daze, immediately pointed at the holographic image and said, “This one.”
The artist’s blank face turned into a pleasant smile as soon as Arron picked it.
He slapped the chair and said, “Good thing you actually picked something otherwise I would have had to shoot you.”
Arron shivered slightly at hearing this.
“My name’s Enk. You are also quite lucky as normally you would not be allowed to pick this rare design. Only close family members and those that have done a great deed for the family are allowed to pick this. If my memory is correct… in the history of our family there have only been three others who have picked this as a reward… each of them have already passed on due to the bloody fights of years passed.”
Arron looked at the artist confused, not understanding why he was offered and allowed to pick such a rare Irezumi.
“It seems ol’ Ox asked the Old man to give you a few additional choices as a reward for completing a big mission, or so the rumor goes. Normally new members are only allowed half sleeves and are very limited in what they can get. While more seasoned members are allowed to update and add more to their bodies as they move up in the ranks of the Family. The higher the rank, the more intricate and larger the Irezumi are. With a higher rank you are also given more options on where the Irezumi can be placed on arms, legs, chest, and back,” said Enk as he started to gather the different floating trays and prepared several empty containers.
For the next few minutes, he silently went about mixing various concoctions of colorful inks and chemicals that he needed for this job.
When he was ready, he tapped a few options on his wrist datapad and a drone flew out of the ceiling and stopped right next to a worried Arron who saw a large needle popping out of the drone.
“You can be at ease. It is just a sedative to calm you down and numb the pain,” said Enk after wiping Arron’s arm down with a strong chemical cleaner.
“Do I really need it? Isn’t it just a tattoo?” asked Arron.
“This one is more troublesome than the normal Irezumi inkings and has more active chemicals. With this design, there is a need for greater detail to fully bring out all of its potential. Even the strongest person out there would cry like a baby and try to run away if they didn’t get this shot. It would also make my job harder as I can’t work on a subject that won’t stay still.”
As he said that metal clamps extended out of the chair securely clamping his legs, body, and right arm to the chair not allowing him to move anymore.
The drone shot forward and the thin needle stabbed Arron in several places on his arm as well as in the shoulder and chest for some reason.
The numbing feeling was quick acting and he had a sense of deja-vu as he felt the calming feeling of something similar to the stims he had a while ago.
Enk picked up his tools and turned them on making an electric buzz as he gathered the needed inks and chemicals for the first part.
He turned to Arron who was slowly losing consciousness and smiled, “You can rest assured that even though I have not done this one before, I have done over a thousand other designs. This will take longer than normal due to all the different layers but you won’t have to worry about that as you won’t feel anything.”
…and with that said, he began to work on creating a masterpiece.
The last thought in Arron’s muddled head as he lost consciousness was…
‘You liar this hurts like hell!’
