"Hello, everyone! Thank you for 'volunteering' to the program! This city's one and only... Handout Haul!" A man shouted, from an upper section of the facility.

  The abducted were forced to stand at the center of the space, by the various guards of the facility.

  "First, I may ask of you. Please split yourselves into four! In order, please! Weapon, Art, Form then Ego! Hurry on, please! I wouldn't want any of you hurt by my precious guards!" The man shouted, his squeaky voice echoing.

  Afterwards, the man leapt down from his section, right infront of the abducted crowd.

  He was nky and tall, his face looked deformed. His nose bent to the left, and his neck massive compared to the rest of his body. His fingers were long and spindly. He wore a baggy white coat, along with a bck shirt and pants. He wore boots of the same bck hue.

  He had a massive grin on his face, his brown eyes scanning everyone. He raised his hands and started counting down with his fingers, ten to one. The abducted group quickly arranged themselves.

  He itched his dark hair, seemingly out of irritation or annoyance.

  "W-Why are you doing this?!" One of the abducted shouted, his voice nervous.

  The long fingered man grinned, his demeanor changing.

  "Thamul Heat! Weapon Birthright Type, weapon is... Ignited Shield! Fitting name this one!" The long fingered man replied.

  That reply alone clued them in to what was in store for them, every single abducted was chosen. Their abductors, chose them specifically for something. That something, was no doubt their Birthrights, the physical manifestation of their souls.

  "My boys call me: 'Mr. Hands' in case you were curious!" Mr. Hands introduced themselves.

  Mr. Hands ughed maniacally, seeing the terror pstered on the faces of those in front of him.

  "What are you going to do to us! Most of us are innocent!" Thamul shouted.

  Mr. Hands stared at Thamul, narrowing his eyes as he caught on to his attempts of rallying his fellow abducted.

  "Human experimentation, my dears. To make you all so much stronger... Because, a lot of folks need you! Talented people!" Mr. Hands replied.

  The crowd anguished, others begging for escape or some mercy, some shouting in an attempt to make them change their minds, some offering to pay for their release, all sorts of demands.

  But Mr. Hands could not care any less. He just simply grinned, as some sort of gas started filling up the area. The abducted tried to use their Birthrights to fight, but they were too slow to act. Their bodies dropped to the ground before they could use their Birthrights.

  Mr. Hands ughed as he inhaled the gas, the guards put on their gas masks. Mr. Hands walked towards the Weapon Birthright Group and his left index finger started glowing silver.

  He wrote numbers on the abducted's faces with his finger, the glowing index finger creating some sort of liquid that allowed him to paint on them.

  One, two, three and so forth.

  Then to the Art Birthright Group, doing the same.

  One, two, three and so forth.

  Until he'd marked them all, he then gestured a thumbs up to the guards where they proceeded to carry the abducted's unconscious bodies.

  "What queue are we in this month, boys?" Mr. Hands asked his guards.

  "Seventh." One of the guards answered.

  "Excellent! Right on schedule, Birthday would've finished the sixth queue by then!" Mr. Hands yelped in joy.

  Mr. Hands scanned around the room, seeing his precious men retrieve the bodies they'd hauled. He then noticed a random cooler in the room and walked up to it, he opened it and found the one dead haul one of his boys killed today.

  "Kras Landeen. Weapon Birthright Type, and it's... Steel Cube! Ha! Might as well just give the corpse as a freebie then." Mr. Hands muttered to himself.

  He looked at the guards and nodded, the guards took the cooler to one of the armored trucks.

  Mr. Hands proudly rested his hands on his hips. What a long journey they've had, and yet there's still one more long journey to make.

  "From being the loan sharks' favorite punching bag to being the leader of one of the best Body Hauler Organizations in the four nations!" Mr. Hands ughed to himself, watching as the armored trucks started to drive off, leaving his facility.

  Mr. Hands ughed, licking his ring finger afterwards.

  "Oh my dear! I'm getting real excited just thinking about it!" Mr. Hands cackled, he then reached out, raising his arms.

  His long fingers just enough to reach the second floor of the facility's railings and climbing over it, promptly ascending to the second floor. He walked to his office and grabbed a severed hand on his desk.

  The guards outside Mr. Hands' office shook their heads in disgust as they heard the sounds of slurping from within the office.

  ***

  The armored trucks had left the Skurmesh Nation's territory by the night of the second day, using hidden trails and private roads owned by cooperative Nobles. The armored trucks had a retively safe drive because of their queue, had they been pced on a ter spot they would've had to face the most amount of trouble. Yet, there was still trouble coming to intercept them on their journey.

  By this timeframe, the Aviary had already warned the Sparrows about incoming vehicles that may contain illegal goods on public roads. While the more concerning Pelicans were on active patrols, more observant and specialized than the Sparrows.

  Luckily, the roads and trails they charted were either unknown to the Aviary or were fiercely guarded by the affiliated Nobles. But, one can never be too careful.

  The Aviary is a global government sponsored and established by the four royal families who oversee their own individual nations, because of their unique structure; The Aviary may occasionally have more authority than the royal families if three of the Four Royal Families agree to the Aviary's request, so long as the Aviary's request has a set condition and ending date which ensures that their boosted authority is temporary.

  As a result of this system and their constantly high funding, the Aviary has immense resources to enforce the Royal Laws. They have certain 'birds' who specialize in certain cases. Though the only 'birds' that are of concern to the Handout Haul organization's operations were the Sparrows and especially the Pelicans.

  The Sparrows focused on General Cases, for cases that are local and are not too dangerous or high-stressed. They are the easiest to avoid as they are not trained for specialization but rather trained to observe for general signs of criminal activity, they are trained for the basics of each crimes but aren't too well-versed on them. The issue with them is that there are so many Sparrows, hence the name. If one is not careful, they might find a Sparrow right above them, as they say.

  The armored trucks escaped the Sparrows' search areas by going on generally unknown roads and the private roads, yet the Sparrows are many so there's always a chance they might encounter one.

  The Pelicans on the other hand are the most dangerous ones, for their type of business anyways. The Handout Haul made sure to hire decoy trucks along with them, as this was their deterrence and defense against the Pelicans.

  They needed to enter the Kan'vas nation first, fortunately they had a Noble contact which gave them permission to drive through her private road thus avoiding the Sparrows that patrolled the border and letting them enter the Kan'vas nation without issue. But, once they'd made it to the inner-sections of the nation, then they would start seeing the Pelicans.

  The Pelicans are specialized in stopping or investigating Theft and Kidnapping crimes, their training and equipment allows them to take heat signatures and X-ray scans of the inside of cars with their assigned vehicles; with the equipment's weakness being that the range of said equipment were very low meaning their vehicle had to be near a person's car to perform a thorough scan of it. Additionally, there is a ten minute cooldown for each equipment as to not break the devices.

  The functions of their assigned vehicles and training were hard enough to deal with but there is also the factor of the Pelicans' own Birthrights. For all they know, one Pelican might just have a radar or have some sort of weapon that just stops their entire vehicles from running.

  This was always the most dangerous parts of their operations.

  After resting for a few hours, the armored trucks had once again started moving, it seemed Mr. Hands' boys had enough rest and respite to complete the journey ahead.

  ***

  After a few more hours, there was only a day and a half worth of travel left before the journey's end. The armored trucks have safely made it to the Kan'vas nation, now nearing the inner-part of Kan'vas.

  The decoy trucks slowly started appearing around the armored trucks, instructed to stay dormant until they spot the armored trucks. Now, the decoys have been pnted.

  As said vehicles started driving within the inner-part, they promptly scattered. Each armored truck taking split paths, and around four decoy trucks driving near them in a random pattern to look natural.

  Twenty minutes had passed, and the first 'fish' was caught. One of the armored trucks' drivers shouted through the radios; saying that that they were caught, promptly ending the signal the moment a big thud was heard through the radio.

  The Pelicans had caught one.

  Then, eleven minutes had passed and the second 'fish' was caught, more screaming from the radio.

  This was bad.

  They were halfway there but the Pelicans had already caught two hauls. Then, suddenly...

  A Pelican vehicle appeared a few streets behind an armored truck. The hefty vehicle showing its devastating bulk, it looked big. With the symbol of a golden pelican on its hood, there was a 'beak' on the front of the giant vehicle.

  The X-ray and the Heat Seeking beaks, they were not only extremely good for detecting but they themselves were rge battering rams. The beak positioned in a way to scoop up the rear of a vehicle and cmp down on it, precisely 'swallowing' the vehicle's rear and stopping the vehicle from moving due to the Pelicans' vehicle being so heavy it effectively anchors the 'swallowed' vehicle.

  The beaks started emitting a flickering light, all the Pelicans needed was a clear video of a heat signature or an x-ray of a person struggling and they'd be given the permission to ram.

  Unluckily for the Pelicans, the driver had a card up his sleeve. One of the decoy trucks drove in between the armored truck and the Pelican vehicle giving the driver time.

  The driver pulled down his colr, tearing a part of his shirt off. His silver diamond birthmark started glowing, and a small dart manifested in front of his chest which he quickly caught with his left hand.

  He looked at the dart in his hand and grinned. He was lucky the dart had just finished reforging itself with its new modification, he threw the dart from his window. And as it fell, it slowly regained itself by floating.

  The driver moved his left hand, and the dart started moving. He moved the dart with gestures during the chase, as the Pelicans got closer to the armored truck. Its beaks starting to detect the struggling victims, a dart was caught inside the engine bay of the vehicle. The driver clenched his left hand, and the dart started pumping out an almost invisible gas.

  As the engines of the Pelican roared with intensity, the front of the vehicle suddenly exploded. Destroying the Pelican vehicle's engine and preventing it from moving. Then, decoys drove from behind the armored truck becoming barriers to prevent more Pelicans from catching up to the armored truck.

  The driver took a deep breath, his silver birthmark glowed a dim light to signal his Birthright's return to his birthmark. He breathed out a sigh of relief as he'd finally exited the inner part of the nation, therefore no longer treading upon the Pelicans' typical fishing spot. Any upcoming 'birds' would be easy to avoid as now there would be fewer of them in the outer parts of the nation.

  The driver called on his radio, asking for a head count.

  Four left.

  About half of the haul had been retrieved by the Pelicans.

  This was a reasonable performance, yet, it was still a bit disheartening every time due to the potential wealth they've lost. The driver sighed.

  Finally, the journey had reached its end.

  ***

  The armored trucks drove through the countryside, way lower risk in terms of security. Here, they'd finally be able to drop off the haul.

  The four trucks eventually met up and were once again on the same road, their many hidden trails allowing them to efficiently avoid the Sparrows' search area. Not to mention, the many nobles willing to allow passage of their private roads in exchange for tickets to the auction.

  The Kan'vas nation, also known as the nation that has the most Art Birthrights, lead by the Beauty Royal Family. Here, many nobles were a lot more 'lenient' with their morals due to their eye for Art, afterall, artists need a little insanity to truly create meaningful pieces.

  The armored trucks slowed down as they finally reached the designated forest, the drop-off point for the month. The drivers checked on their vehicles, did a headcount and checked up on their haul. The constant gas being emitted inside the armored trucks' cargo section weakened the haul's physical abilities to the point they'd be no stronger than a toddler.

  Everything was checked, and nothing was out of pce.

  "No issues here, ready." The driver said to his radio.

  The other drivers also seemed to have no issues, and drove into the forest. The trees were perfect, spaced apart enough to make sure vehicles inside weren't getting blocked but the foliage thick enough to hamper vision. This was obviously the work of one of the members of Birthday.

  Birthday's members are masters of concealment, each member contributing to make sure they are never located. Not to mention, their drop-off points are always changing from nation to nation.

  But that's simply the tip of the ice berg, the fact is, no one within the entire eight decades has ever found the main base of Birthday. Sure, some temporary drop-off points were found by the Aviary but no one, neither the other organized criminal organizations, the Aviary, the Royals' Armies nor the Body Haulers were able to find even a hint regarding the location of their base.

  Birthday was just that good, hence why entire criminal organizations were made just because of them. Their consistent evasion of punishment and production of top-quality 'goods' made them a monumental organization in the underworld.

  The driver grinned, wondering what kind of products they'll receive from Birthday this month.

  Each product, was a unique piece of its own.

  The driver focused back to what's at hand as he spotted the foretold clearing at the middle of the forest, it was quite rge. Then they saw it, the Birthday Candle. All they had to do was light it, and Birthday would be notified.

  The armored trucks carefully drove near the Birthday Candle, lining up their vehicles side by side. The drivers left their seats and walked towards the candles, one of them holding a lighter.

  "The haul's ready?" He asked.

  The other drivers nodded, and the driver lit the wick of the candle. Immediately, the candle's fme turned a bright red. Then a tune came out of the candle, it was like a radio was broadcasting from said object.

  "Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday... Happy Birthday to-o-o-o you!" Sung from the candle, the singing voice sounded distorted and androgynous.

  Then, a rge wound appeared from thin air. It looked like a cutting wound, except the meat and blood were of purple and pink hues of some material. The wound slowly opened up, revealing itself to be a portal of some sorts.

  The portal started out small, then gradually expanded in form. It became as big and tall as the spruce trees in the forest.

  Then they saw it.

  The Retriever of Birthday.

  A giant pale foot, cking any toes. It looked both metallic yet organic. At the middle of the foot seemed to be a 'welding' mark, a metallic piece with grey welded marks surrounding it. Then a dark metal cw akin to a cw-machine's jutted out from the portal, connected to it was a long cable-like appendage. Solid in composition, but extendable and flexible showing its wire-like property. Then, the rest of the body of the thing revealed itself as it walked further outside the portal.

  Its legs of the same material as its foot, still inorganic and organic in appearance. Welded marks on each of the thing's hips, with metal pieces melted into the middle of said welded scars.

  Its chest filled with welded marks, simir to scars in shape. Metal pieces infused to the middle of said welded scars. A welded scar from its shoulder led to the cable-like arms with cw-machine looking hands at their ends. The 'flesh' of its entire upper body was a pale-ish blue, simirly inorganic and organic in appearance.

  While its neck emitted a light source, as a neck bracer fitted into it. At the middle component of its front side was a gss-made section that showed a light-bulb's inner structure, said structure emitting the aforementioned light. A white light illuminating the rest of the thing's body, its face was humanoid in appearance with key differences.

  Its lips non-existent, showing its grey teeth as welded marks surrounded said teeth. Its eyes a pure white sclera, cking in pupils. Its eyelids were also non-existent, along with eyebrows and eyeshes. Its ears were also missing from its body, and the top-section of its head was bare.

  Not even a single speck of hair could be observed on this creature's head, nor body. Just like the rest of its body, it's head was composed of the same inorganic and organic seeming material.

  This was the Retriever, also going by another name, monikered by Birthday as the: 'Cw Machine'

  Spoiler

  [colpse]He was a human before, now reformed into a being whose body was forced to house four birthrights. As such, they were aptly named by the Aviary as: 'The Reformed'.

  The Reformed were monsters, weapons and beasts. But they were one thing, they were powerful. By Birthday's design.

  The drivers stared in both awe and unease, watching something that could only be described as a walking deadman make its way to the lined up armored trucks. This thing was monstrous, not just in appearance but also in size.

  If the Cw Machine stood up properly, he would probably be at the same height as the spruce trees of the forest. And his size wasn't just for show, the Cw Machine raised his highly flexible arms and cmped both of his cws on one armored truck each.

  At an unexpected speed and incredible precision, he effortlessly threw the armored trucks into the portal. Then without even a speck of fatigue, continued to do the same to the two remaining armored trucks.

  The drivers still felt intimidated by the giant retriever every time they conducted business with Birthday, something so big yet so unexpectedly fast just felt so humbling. The drivers knew why though, the reason why Birthday's retriever was made to be so powerful; to indiscreetly show off Birthday's power.

  The Cw Machine's presence alone has probably prevented multiple criminal organizations from trying to hijack the portals.

  The Cw Machine looked around, his glowing light acting as a giant fshlight.

  "Nothing else here, retriever." The driver spoke, knowing the Cw Machine would ignore him anyways.

  After awhile of the Cw Machine just seemingly scouting, he ran back to the portal. The portal quickly closed off, twirling and twisting itself into nothingness. The Birthday Candle had melted completely signalling the end of another successful haul.

  The drivers woo'ed and cheered, knowing they'd once again completed their jobs. One of the drivers quickly pulled out her phone, confirming the month's haul had been dropped off.

  Soon, after the call had been made a car pulled up to their location. A white minivan.

  "Time for a payday! Whoo!" The driver of the minivan cheered.

  The four drivers woo'ed back as they entered the vehicle.

  Just another day of Body Hauling!

  ***

  Thamul slowly opened his eyes, getting up sluggishly. The gas that was poisoning them for the st few days had considerably weakened their constitutions. He looked around and found that he was yet in another dark room, the other abducted people were with him.

  They too were waking up, just like him. The dark room was big, like half a stadium-big in terms of size. The floor was simply made of concrete, with dried bloodstains decorating the otherwise boring floor.

  He looked around again and found a cooler, next to the other groups. He ran to it and looked inside, only to quickly close it and cover his mouth. He prevented himself from puking, bile almost bursting out from his mouth.

  What a horrible sight to witness just after waking up.

  The other abducted also seemed to be exploring just like him, however, they were suddenly interrupted by something. A noise.

  It has begun.

  The ceilings started to light up, weak light fixtures that only seemed to emit a dim light. Then, the sound of popping. Along with some randomly colored pieces of paper floating down from the ceiling, it was confetti.

  The sound of loud party horns echoed within the rge room.

  Then, a voice speaking. From multiple sources, possibly from speakers within the dimly lit room. The voice sounded robotic and feminine.

  "Welcome to the Birthday Party! Y'see, I know it's not your birthday, but... There's so many of you that I get confused on what day and whose birthday it is!

  So, why not just... Have everyone's Birthday today?! Yeah! Y'know what?

  Happy Birthday to you~! Happy Birthday to you~! Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday~... Happy Birthday to you~!" The speakers bred out.

  After the song had ended, the speaker repeated the things it said. But, slowly, the speaker's volume became lower with each repeat. Then, a subtle voice came in.

  No, it sounded like multiple voices. They were just so in tandem that they sounded like one person. The multiple voices sung Happy Birthday, slightly off pitch but trying to follow the song's flow.

  This kept going until the speakers' volume became so low that only the multiple voices were audible, when that happened the multiple voices sung one st Birthday song then stopped.

  Their st words echoing as the silence introduced itself again. Heavy stomps were felt throughout the entire room, and the ceiling lights slowly died out.

  Until only a single light remained lit, at the center of the room. The abducted quickly ran to the center, still unable to use their Birthrights because of the poisonous gas lingering within their biological systems.

  "New Year, New Me." The multiple voices spoke, echoing against the quietness.

  The stomps moved closer and closer to the center of the room.

  End of 2: Body Haulin'!

  Staag