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The training was tough. I had just arrived from over the mountains my legs frozen stiff and dogtired from the long and laborious journey. Mr Dyani welcomed me into his home with an icy look that terrified me. After the welcome I was expecting some cup of something warm to be offered me, instead my host said with an unflinching gaze at me:
"You are now ready to begin training. You have accomplished the journey necessary for all who want to join our ranks. We must begin at once."
I gasped and let out my words in a whisper:
"But I can barely stand."
The words were scarcely out of my mouth before Mr. Dyani stretched me out on the floor with a merciless punch to the guts.
"The enemy," he said "" Does not wait for you to be ready. We begin immediately. "
And so I endured months of rigorous training that would qualify me to don the Istas Mask and become a vigilante. I was trained extensively in the martial arts, ninja training, and weapons training. After 8 months of this hellish experience I was finally ready.
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https://pixabay.com/illustrations/ai-generated-man-vigilante-8180610/
At the initiation ceremony, I caught the words of the initiator reverberating like thunder throughout the building high up in the mountains. He was speaking through clenched teeth, and I focused my weary mind on his words.
"We all are aware of the sacredness of this secret society. It has been our job for decades to maintain the wellbeing and peace of the human race and purge the world of all filthy criminal scum. We have succeeded in a lot of cities of the work in doing this, but a new challenge lies before us. This city has proved too tough for us to handle. It's criminal elements especially the Los Zetas cartel that have eaten out the heart of this town like a worm does an apple. But we are hopeful. Salvation is nigh as prophesied, one would come from our ranks by whose hand the greatest criminal city in the world would be redeemed. Maybe that person is amongst us today or maybe he will come later."
As Mr Sinaloa talked his fervent words were going to my heart like a double edged sword and I had a strong feeling that he had just described my destiny. Anyways, I walked out of that initiation ceremony a changed man.
My first consignment was to solve a murder case by bringing the murderer to justice who had taken three innocent lives, young girls, in a girl scout camp. I accomplished this task with ease. Then more assignments which I also accomplished. Then I decided to asked to be assigned to the Los Zetas cartel. My request was rejected the first time. It was against the rules, Mr. Guzman told me, whom I had approached on the issue, to ask for places to be assigned.
But three months later my request was surprisingly granted and I set to work as soon as possible. Now this cartel was the largest in the city maybe the continent. It had defied the efforts of governments and law enforcement agencies to bring it to justice. It was rumored that it's owner named Juarez Carroll had people in every cadre of society who worked for him. Some members of our group who had been on the case had died mysterious deaths. So it was quite clear to me from the beginning that I was setting out on an impossible task.
Three months in no tangible results. I had managed to strike up some friendly relations with some people inside the criminal organisation, especially a girl named Jessamine. There was nothing sensual going on between us as the rule of our group forbade that. We were just close pals.
I continued on this job for three years. Eleven times attempts were made on my life, but I managed to escape each by the skin of my teeth.
One day I was casually going through the phone of my friend, Jessamine (we were that free with each other) when I played a recording of two people discussing about the arrival of shipments of drugs and arms. One of the voices seemed familiar, I had heard it before. After some effort I found that one of the speakers in the recording was the head of the cartel. The other remained a mystery until a voice matching system proved it to be the regional leader of our vigilante society. . For minutes my body was frozen stiff on the couch. The machine could not lie but it was also possible it was a setup.
I continued in my investigations and soon our regional head was unmasked as the brains behind the crime ravaging the city. He had been bought over with money a long time ago though no one knew. With his unmasking, the cartel fell and crime in the entire city was choked out.
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https://pixabay.com/photos/city-at-night-colorful-city-4567412/
This was the fulfilment of a destiny I had longed for for a while and that is saving people's lives and I had achieved that on a grand scale. The fall of crime in this city meant that crime was nearly wiped out in the region, for that city had been the stronghold of criminals in that region.
The End.
Thanks for reading.