A bullet had struck Noire in the back of the leg. When she felt the wound, she noticed that it emanated Anti-Share energy. Already, she was beginning to feel her power fade.
"You…where did you get Anti-Share crystals?!"
Raven chuckled. "That shouldn't matter to a dead woman, should it?" A handgun clicked. He pointed a pistol at Noire's head. "Listen, doll. I didn't want things ta end this way. I thought you'd just take a good look around an' leave. Well, too bad for you." He smiled. "Ya had a great run as goddess. Let's both hope your pretty sister doesn't hafta meet the same end that you did."
A voice yelled out from the pathway to the main area, "Raven of the Black Feathers!"
He turned his head to face the newcomer, but did not move the gun. "Well, I'll be damned. Planeptune's star Guild agent, IF, in the flesh. Some people would be killin' just ta breathe the same air as you."
IF raised her hand. Magic glowed as she did so. "Demonic Inferno!" She perfectly positioned the attack's area so that Noire was left untouched.
"Shit." Raven jumped and rolled out of the circle, just in time to avoid getting singed by the fire. "Well, this got feisty pretty quick." The readying of guns was heard all around the room. As IF looked around, about ten men had emerged from the shadows, all wielding long arms. Raven himself had brandished a sub machine gun and had it pointed at her chest. "Tell ya what. Take the goddess and leave. Don'tchu even think of tellin' others where we are, either!"
IF ran over to Noire and helped her up. "C'mon. We have to get out of here."
Raven tightened his grip on his weapon. "Yeah, that's right. I'll give you to the count of ten 'till me and my boys forget our manners."
The two made haste in their flight from the area. As they walked, they heard Raven menacingly counting behind them. Once they emerged atop the door where they entered and closed it, they plopped onto the ground to catch their breath.
IF wiped some sweat from her forehead. "That was a close call back there. How's your leg?"
Noire performed a cursory analysis of the wound. "Not good. Do you think you can do something about this?"
IF walked over and examined the area the bullet made contact with. Luckily, the spot was difficult to miss because of the sinister red glow from the Anti-Shares. IF grabbed a toolkit from her jacket pocket and rifled through it to find some kind of tweezers, which she eventually located.
"Brace yourself. I'm not Compa, so this might hurt."
Noire nodded her head and grit her teeth. After what seemed like hours, IF pulled the tweezers out of the wound, clutching a small but potent bullet composed of Anti-Shares. Thinking quickly, she deposited it into a nearby trash can and firmly closed the lid. She returned to Noire and did her best to apply bandages to stop the bleeding, at least temporarily.
"How are you feeling? Can you walk?"
Noire shakily stood. "I think so." She internally cursed herself for her mishap in the underground.
IF wrapped Noire's arm around her shoulder. "I wish I could take you to Compa's place. For now, I'll bring you back to the Basilicom. I'm sure there's somebody there who can take care of you."
Noire only nodded in response. They began to silently walk towards the towering building in the center of the nation, the only sounds they heard being their footsteps. It seemed as though Noire was silently yelling at herself for the mishap, and no matter how many times IF tried to dissuade her from doing so, she continued nonetheless, leading to a very awkward journey.
"Alright, we're here. Hopefully someone can look after you."
They entered the building, and two guards immediately ran over to them. One spoke, "Lady Black Heart! Are you all right?"
She was about to speak, but IF cut her off, "Not really. Do you think you can spare a spot for her in the medbay?"
They both gave a firm nod. Without words, they walked her off to the infirmary. IF stood where she was for a few moments, thinking of the best course of action to take next. It was likely that the Black Feathers were moving to another area, so informing the police of their location would do little good. Additionally, further run-ins would be unwise, considering their heavy armaments.
Her phone beeped, signifying a text message. She picked it up, and saw that it was from Compa:
"Where r u? Just got out of school"
She quickly texted back, "In Lastation doing Guild work. Be back soon." It was probably best if as few people knew about this as possible.
"Kay. Cya"
After a few seconds, IF finally texted, "I'll tell u more if you want when I get back" With this, she closed her phone and began to walk down to the police department.
One indicator of the fear of the Black Feathers was the paucity of people present on the streets. Where there would normally be hundreds, if not thousands, of people bustling on just one block on a business day, there were now only a few, and they nervously scuffled from place to place. It was apparent that they wished to spend as little time outside as possible to mitigate the chances of being seen by one of the Black Feathers. All together, this was quite a remorseful sight, as the whole nation was merely a shell of its prior self.
Once she arrived at the station, two officers were engaging in dialogue.
"Did you get the report from the Basilicom? That shit is heavy."
The other one nodded and took a sip from his coffee. "Yeah. If something doesn't get done about these ne'er do wells, we might face a serious issue. Shares and what not."
The other one nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Let's hope someone can do something before the whole nation goes south."
IF walked in hesitantly. "Can I speak with the chief? I have some information that might be helpful."
The second guard took another sip of coffee before pointing down the hall. "Sure thing. Chief's office is at the end of the hall. Oh, and…please, do whatever you can to help this nation. Black Heart save us all."
IF only nodded before walking down the hall. Although the door was open, she knocked anyways to announce her presence.
A deep, frustrated male voice came from within. "Come on in."
IF did so, and was greeted by Chief Wallace of the Lastation police. He was a middle aged man, although he looked much older. He had brown hair that just barely sat over his ears and a beard that he carefully shaved to fit regulations.
"Lady Black Heart and I had a run-in with the Black Feathers. The information may be out of date, but I thought I should share it with you."
Wallace set down his papers immediately upon hearing this. "You made the right call. Please, tell me what you know."
IF took a deep breath and began, "I only saw a little bit of it. Lady Black Heart had entered their hideout first, and I followed. It is…or was, I should say…in an alley tucked into a corner in the Kuro district. Anyways, when I got there, one of the guys had shot her with an Anti-Share bullet and was about to put another one in her head."
Chief Wallace was furiously taking notes. "That lines up with our intel. Did you ever catch a glimpse on how many Anti-Share crystals they have?"
She shook her head. "No. I only saw Lady Black Heart and the one guy. We had to run when about ten more came in, all with guns."
He nodded. "And you said their hideout is in the Kuro district?"
"Yes, but they've probably either begun moving or have already moved to a new location."
Chief Wallace wrote some final things on his notepad before clicking his pen and putting it back into his breast pocket. "The only way they could move from Leanbox to here and from their old hideout to a new one so quickly is if they have people helping them. Namely, people who don't call themselves the 'Black Feathers'. That's also a good explanation for how they got Anti-Shares; they're probably teaming up with some old members of ASIC, like that troublemaker Linda."
IF nodded. "Are you suggesting we take out those offshoots first to cut off their outside help?"
Wallace nodded. "Yes. That seems like the best course of action. Taking them on directly as they are now wouldn't end well, since they likely have some government institutions under their damn thumbs. Our first priority should be cutting off the Anti-Shares."
IF agreed. "I'll help you do that. The entire world's practically after those guys, after all."
"Nicely done. The Lastation police force will assist you in any way they can. I hope that we can help bring the end of this closer. Lady Black Heart save us. Now, then…" He stood up and walked out of the room. IF followed suit. "Let's go kill a raven!"
