A Look into the Past

The first moment Chizuru laid eyes on the man inside the tank, she knew who it was. It was the man that had saved her all those years ago. She felt the blood drain out of her face as she broke out in a cold sweat. Seeing such a kind person as part of some science experiment was overwhelming to her.

Chizuru let her mind travel back to around her 15th birthday. It was her first time ever on the battlefield and she was eager to start fighting. Back when she was young, Chizuru was disgustingly patriotic. Her hatred for all things that the Nazi party viewed negatively was fueled by propaganda and she never really put much thought into her own feelings or why certain things were worth hating. If the party said it was bad, it was bad, PERIOD.

This was one of the many skirmishes that had broken out between the party and the Rebellion over control of a supply shipment. At this time, the national food shortage was at its worst and the Lowerclass were dying everyday of starvation. Upperclass remained stable with minimal rationing, so understandably the Rebellion was trying to secure food for the Lowerclass that needed it more than ever.

At the time, Chizuru was unaware of the severity of the famine and was ready to kill to stop anyone from stealing items belonging to the Nazi party. As Chizuru and her squad exited the transport vehicle, they were immediately gunned down. The bodies of her comrades fell onto Chizuru both shielding her from the gunfire, and causing her to hit the back of her head on a bolt from the transport vehicle.

Eyes blurred and voices echoing, Chizuru attempted to get up, but couldn't find the strength. A Rebellion soldier was walking the field, delivering finishing blows to all of the downed Nazi fighters. He lifted the back of his gun and was about to crush Chizuru's skull when a strong, muscled arm stopped the strike mid-swing. The two indistinctly argued about something as everything around her faded into black.

Chizuru awoke to the warm crackle of a fire, and the smell of cooking food. The muscled man was sitting on a log next to the fire stirring a pot of boiling soup. His short brown hair tousled from his helmet, his light-greenish brown eyes looking in Chizuru's direction.

As Chizuru became more awake, her heart started to race and she flung herself off of the bench she was laying on.

"Woah, easy," the big man bellowed, "if you aren't careful you will re-open your wound".

Chizuru felt the back of her head and noticed the rough bumps where several stitches had been placed.

"Look kiddo, I know you are scared, but you are safe for now. So how about you come sit on the bench here and have a bite to eat? It's safe I promise. I'm having some now," the man sat a bowl on the bench.

Chizuru felt her stomach growl. Like a scared animal, she grabbed the bowl before backing into a corner and scarfing down the food.

The man spoke, "The name's Adam kid. What are you doing out here fighting? You are still so young, why not live your life a little? You never know when it's gonna be your last day."

Chizuru ignored the questions and instead asked her own, "Why did you save me? I mean, aren't I your enemy?"

Adam laughed, "You're like 13. My enemy, no. The enemy is the system that keeps the little guys down and gives one group all the power. You? You’re just a kid. I got a kid of my own. I can do a lot of things, but I can't hurt someone innocent. I could tell by your eyes that you were green."

Chizuru looked up at the guy and saw sincere and kind eyes. A few moments later a little girl came running inside through the front door. Her long brown hair flowing behind her as she ran, she was emaciated and dirty from the pollutants outside. She ran and jumped into Adam's arms, "Papa!" she screeched, "Did you find us something to eat today? I'm so hungry."

"You see, I wouldn't have to take things if not for my kiddo. Remember, there are always two sides to a story. If we don't steal, we starve, the party doesn't look out for us so we look out for ourselves.”

After seeing the starving child scarf down her meal, Chizuru started to think deeply about the reasons behind the beliefs and thoughts she had always agreed with. She never realized how blindly she listened to the Nazi Party until that moment. Why would people who were fighting for food need to be punished? Why did they have to steal it in the first place?

Once Chizuru had eaten, Adam and his daughter led her to the tunnels she could take to get back to the capitol. Not long after that interaction Adam and his wife Kana were executed. Chizuru remembered the empty pain in her gut that came when she attended that execution. The most appalling thing of all was the reaction of the two's daughter who unknowingly, was forced to witness her parents' murder. The look on her face was one of pure hatred and her eyes were already determined and ready for revenge.

For days, Chizuru wrestled with her feelings, and then decided that she could no longer stand for a system that punished people for feeding their children or for fighting for equality.

Chizuru lowered herself into the tunnel she had used to get back to the capitol and re-traced her steps back to the lower city. As she knocked on the door, she was greeted with half a dozen guns pointed at her head. She got down on her knees, removed her respirator, and put her arms behind her head as they searched her for weapons.

The guard asked, "What reason do you have for coming to this place?"

"I want to help you. I saw what happened to Adam. If it weren't for him I wouldn't be alive. I can't stand what has happened and what will continue to happen if we don't do something about it. I won't."

After months of gaining the trust of the Rebellion, Chizuru was accepted as a double agent. Her first real assignment was to gain access to information about the Nietzsche Protocol and mind transfer.

In order to gain a skill special enough to be promoted and have security clearance needed for her mission Chizuru investigated topics which she already excelled at and found interesting.

Chizuru happened to be extremely good at anatomy and physiology. When she looked at a real human body she could envision with almost perfect accuracy where muscles connected to bones, gaps in bones and even vascular anatomy. When she looked at a moving person it was like they were moving in slow motion and she could see the perfect place to slice to meet the least resistance. She gained the title "The Butcher" because she, like a meat butcher, could cut through limbs in a single slice. Finally, Chizuru got into OTS and struggled to find any happiness until she met Shion. On the outside, Chizuru had appeared to be happy and friendly, but inside she was devoid of almost all joy. She was tired of all the people who were just as brainwashed as her younger self.

Her fondness for Shion came after she saw a genuine kindness and a fire in her eyes that reminded her of Adam. Shion was not like the others, she didn't trust without question and she always tried to do what was right even if it meant defying orders.

Underneath the sharp and cold exterior that Shion built as a leader, Chizuru saw how gentle she was with animals and children, and how guilty she felt hurting people she believed to be innocent, and how loving she could be when given a chance. Based on her reaction at the promotion ceremony Chizuru got the impression that Shion would defect as well if given the chance and for that reason Chizuru picked her as a life long partner.

The loud grunt of the man who had the same eyes as Adam woke Chizuru out of her state of shock. When he almost landed a punch, she remembered how strong Adam was and called out to Shion. His reaction surprised Chizuru even further.

Why did this imposter know Shion's name? Why did he mistake her for Kana first? Why did he attack so violently until hearing who she was? Chizuru was going to have to ask her handler to do a little digging for more information before bringing it up to Shion.