The usually unruffled man was sitting behind his desk in his small office, thinking of both the latest empty cell in the basement and the conversation that had occurred not long ago because of it. 

"That child was my favourite!  How dare you lose him due to some petty Lord's request!"

"Seven was a weapon, mine to wield as I see fit," he had argued with the man.  "And he was with Five, how was I to predict that they would fail the assignment with the loss of one of their lives."

"That 'assignment' could well have been completed within the city at the cost of a few days wait.  Not upon the surface where the dangers are increased by an unknown fold.  It is your rash decision that has lost me my boy."

"Seven's poisons could be blamed upon the plants with no one the wiser," he had thrown out the excuse, but in truth, the Lord that had paid him was impatient, did not wish to wait in order to gain what he desired.  Personally, he did not believe that a wife, who dearly loved her husband, would fall into the bed of another man the moment his death was announced.

"You are a fool!" The reply had come and he could not entirely deny the claim even if he wished to dispute it.  The accuser was more powerful than him and possibly even that Lord.  He had to deal with the insult in silence.  "Regardless, I have a new interest and as my pet is no longer in your care, I can no longer be bothered with you.  But try not to get my other toys killed, I still might have need of them in the future."

Rehashing over the memory did nothing to improve his mood.  So that man would no longer poke his head into his business, that did not mean that he was now free to do as he pleased.  He quietly lamented the day that he agreed to do business with that psychotic man.  Granted, he had earned a ridiculous amount of gold in the aftermath of the experiment, but to what expense?  Still oppressed in the face of his 'betters.' Still looked down upon pitifully.

He snapped out of his morose musings, distracting himself with the files before him.  Selecting one, he looked at the simple task and summoned one of the handlers to summon Five to come to him.

*****

"Five, you have a job."

The handlers had been shocked, one morning, when the large man had appeared in his own cell without word and without Seven, who he had always been attached too.  They could not get any answers from the man, who simply hung his head low and ignored their attempts to question him.  It did not take long to discover what had occurred.  They had plenty of contacts in the city after all.  Seven had been lost to the forest.  They had watched Five for several days after that, thinking the man, who had no attachment to this place anymore and could not be contained beyond his wishes would leave and need to be captured or silenced.  However, he remained motionless, even consumption of food and sleep taken in that melancholy form.  And so they had become complacent, believing that they had the man under their thumb.

"Are you listening to me?  Get up, you have a job!"

Five did not heed his demand, remained still like a human statue.  The handler unlocked his cell and withdrew his whip.  He flicked a few warning lashes to the side of the assassin, close enough that the man felt the air move sharply against his cheek.

"Five! Rise and get to work or I will punish you!" Came the final warning.  Five lifted his head slightly to view the handler through his dark eyes, but made no other move.  Frustrated, the other man lashed out with his weapon, intending on wounding Five, but instead the whip came to be wrapped about the assassins forearm and gripped in his fist.  The handler panicked, tugging at the whip, but Five did not release the tail and the handler could not make him budge. 

"Forget him," another voice came from behind him.  "We'll have the mages deal with him later.  Help me get Eight out of her cell.  Old Sunshine isn't here, so we'll have to drag her out by ourselves this time."

The handler in Five's cell tugged at the whip which was finally freed from Five's grasp.  The assassin stared at him, but made no other move, so he retreated and locked the cell door, cursing the man audibly as he did.  "We'll see how you deal with lightning coursing through your veins, you dare disrespect us!" He muttered as he moved with the other to Eight's cell. 

Five listened as he heard the jangle of keys and the loud click as the cell was unlocked.  The metal door hinges creaked as it was opened, followed by screams of protest.  Screams, Eight knew only to voice her anguish and frustrations loudly with shrieks and high pitched sounds that hurt the ear to listen to.  If Five calculated her age correctly, she was only a year or two older than Seven.  She had not been forced through the same trials that the rest of them had suffered, having had her own trials to face, ones performed by the 'law-abiding' public that feared her.  He could only imagine what she had experienced to break her so thoroughly.

"Fucking bitch!" These words had followed a warning growl and were followed by a slap and heavy sobs.  Five's eyes began to cloud darker and the shadows surrounding him seemed to lengthen, deepen and move against the lores of knowledge.  They poured like a fog around his body and pulled him into their depths.  The handlers did not notice this, too busy dragging Eight out of the cell by her matted hair.  They also did not notice that behind them, the shadows appeared to be black, coating the walls despite the torchlight.

"Think it'll get infected?" The handler that had sworn stuck out his arm once Eight was removed from her cell, revealing the bleeding bite wound.

"Just clean it up once we've finished her," the other suggested, feeling that neither of them were having an easy time today.  Eight's handler agreed with a nod and reached down to grab the crying girl to manhandle her out of the basement.

"I always do anyway when touching this one," he mentioned.  "Otherwise, who knows what disease I'll get from her disgusting body."

"Ugh? You don't dip it in do you?" The other man questioned with a grimace. He was granted a long stare.

"What the fuck are you thinking?" Came the retort.  "What sort of sick man do you think I am? The prostitutes on the street are cleaner than this one and cheaper!"

"I dunno, I thought you might like the thrill of the risk of it or something."

"If I want to risk my jewels, there is a far lovelier option a few cells down.  So stop being an idiot and help me take her upstairs." 

They did not get any further in action or conversation, for the heavily muscled assassin fell upon both from behind them, smashing his fist into their heads and pulverising them like smashed gourds.  Blood splattered over Eight and Five as he killed the men mercilessly.  The still sobbing girl was unperturbed by their deaths, simply began crawling back to the shelter that was her cell, only to find she was stopped by a wall of a man.

An offering hand appeared in front of her and she stared up at him through watery eyes.  "Help me," he asked, softly.

Eight tilted her head to one side as the unexpected words came from him.  No one had ever thought to ask her before, so she was unsure of them.  "Don't understand."

Five knelt down before her and repeated his words.  "Need your help."

"Don't understand!" She wailed, clutching her hands together.

"Want to find Seven," Five said after a moment's pause.  "You can get Seven back."

"I can get Seven back?" Eight had no issues with the boy, he liked her powers, he was not afraid of her, never looked at her with disgust nor fear.  For this, she liked him and for this she also came to accept his shadow, Five.  Five nodded in agreement.

"What are you bothering for?" A sound almost like purring came from the second cell.  "That boy is likely long since dead."

"Not dead," Five told her, but did not explain why he thought this way.  The fire mage apprentice had told him this and he sorely wished to believe him, thus did.  It was that simple to his mind.

"Me too! Me too!"  Six was staring at the from between the bars of his cell, fidgeting as always, unable to keep still.  It had been days since he had last been sent to perform a mission and he simply had no will to wait any longer, his cell was a cage to his endless restlessness.

"Yes, take him with you," came Two's dulcet tones.  "I might actually be able to sleep tonight."  It had not been quiet for the past few nights as the youth had paced circles about his cell. 

"We should all go!" Six declared.  "Our own personal mission to get one of our own back!"  None of them had taken it well when Three and Nine had been killed by the handlers, even the icy One clung to the link that bound them in their united chains.  Losing one of them set them further back, fracturing their already broken minds just a little more.

To further prove that point, Five heard the hiss and crackle of forming ice and the shattering of the frozen lock as One forced his cell door open.  He stared down the corridor at Five and Eight before offering a small nod.  Six jumped up and down with glee as Five thought whether or not that this would be a wise idea.

"Alright," he eventually agreed.