The Crow: Fragile
Disclaimer: Please read chapter one for the disclaimer.
Summary: Please read the first chapter for the summary.
~::-|-::~
"You owe me four hundred and fifty-three bucks, you asshole!" Fury was living up to his name, grabbing Shadow by the throat and slamming him against a wall. Shadow managed to slip out of his opponent's grasp and danced across the floor, keeping his gaze level with Fury's. Other members of the Cyanide Nazis watched the confrontation with bored expressions. The newest inductees to the Order were standing nervously to one side, hoping they wouldn't be called to pull the two feuding warlords apart.
Both warlords drew apart, still glaring at each other as a shrill whistle pierced the air. Looking up at the first floor landing, the newest inductees saw a tall, thin woman with a bright, feathered mask over her eyes. The eyes, an interesting mixture of chocolate brown and ice blue, seemed not to suit her face. In fact, they didn't. The woman had stolen them and cast a spell for them to become her own.
"Fury! Shadow! You will stop fighting this instant!" A loud, commanding voice called down. "You will pay attention to what Lady Byrne has to say!" The words came from a tall, almost Amazonian woman on Lady Byrne's right.
"Thank you, Gemini." Lady Byrne said with a gracious smile. "New inductees, come forward."
Trembling, Siren, Blade, Havoc and Mayhem came forward. None of them dared look at the Lady Byrne. There had been rumours that she was in fact the bride of Satan himself and no one wished to anger her for fear of what she might do to them.
"Isis, will you please do the honours?" Lady Byrne ordered a tall woman on the ground floor.
"Yes, Lady Byrne." The woman came forward with a small bowl clasped in her pale hands. Standing in front of Siren, she looked at the girl's bowed head. "What is your name?" She asked coldly.
"Siren." She answered quietly.
"Louder, so the whole Order can hear you, girl!" Isis said loudly, causing Siren to jump.
"Siren." She said, raising the volume of her voice.
"Do you, Siren, swear to be true and become one with the Cyanide Nazis? Do you promise to be true to our leader, the Lady Byrne? Will you willingly give your life over to the Order?"
"I do and I will." Siren raised her head and looked Isis in the eye. "I am ready."
Isis nodded and put her hand in the bowl, fishing out a small, perfectly round stone. Siren opened her mouth and the stone was placed on her tongue. She winced slightly but closed her mouth.
"Siren, you have promised to give yourself willingly to the Cyanide Nazis and their one true leader, Lady Byrne. You have been inducted by the cold fire stone. May your service to the Order be long lasting." Isis moved to the next inductee, ready to repeat the ritual. Havoc was chewing the inside of his cheek, watching a slight wince and a single tear emit from Siren. "What is your name?" Isis asked, her voice ringing out through the warehouse.
"Havoc." His voice shook slightly but his head remained bowed.
"Do you, Havoc, swear to be true and become one with the Cyanide Nazis? Do you promise to be true to our leader, the Lady Byrne? Will you willingly give your life over to the Order?"
"I do and I will." Havoc said, raising his head and looking at Isis. "I am ready."
Again the stone was place onto the inductee's tongue. "Havoc, you have promised to give yourself willingly to the Cyanide Nazis and their one true leader, Lady Byrne. You have been inducted by the cold fire stone. May your service to the Order be long lasting."
The same happen with the last two inductees, Mayhem and Blade. Both accepted the responsibility and swore to give themselves over to the Cyanide Nazis. Lady Byrne looked down at them triumphantly. Once the induction was over, she spread her arms wide.
"My children, the time is almost upon us! Tomorrow night is Devil's Night and the night that we raise Hell!"
The Order erupted into cheers. The newest inductees looked slightly confused for a few minutes. Lola Byrne blinked her strange, stolen eyes and surveyed her Order. Yes, with these four new inductees, her plan to raise her Satanic husband from the dead was going to succeed.
~::-|-::~
As Lola exited the main warehouse to retire to her room, she began to think of her husband. Entering her room, she looked at the faded photograph of them together and stroked her husband's face. "Oh, Luc… if only you could see how much I have achieved in the years gone by." She murmured. "And these eyes! Oh, Luc… I just know that little brat was the spawn of Jimmy and Lily. I've had my spies watching her for some time." She smiled. "And now that she's dead and I have her eyes… she's just as dead as her mother… oh do you remember that, Luc? That night was so much fun."
Lola often did this, talking to Luc's picture as though he were really there. The years had not been kind to Lola's sanity. When Tanner had arrested her, she'd spent only a few nights in a cell before her conversations with no one had forced them to send her to a psychiatric ward in Mexico City. It had been there that Lola had received her first vision of the Cyanide Nazis. Before Lola had been released and helped them find their feet, the few members there had been at the time were finding themselves in court every other week.
Lola had become leader of the Cyanide Nazi Order. She'd organised the brains and brawn apart, and had her trusted advisors and her cunning warriors. She also had the muscle, which was always good when they needed to show anyone who was boss in this town. The message was quite clear to anyone who knew of the Order – the Cyanide Nazis were not to be messed with. If they were, people died, often brutally.
"Oh, Luc… how fun it will be to have you here with me again." Lola said with a smile. "But," She let a serious expression cloud her features. "I tell you here and now, my darling husband, the Antichrist, that if you mess with me, you're going straight back to where you belong." Her face brightened. "Oh, but you'll be so proud of me, Luc… I've organised this whole Order by myself, I've divided them into levels… I am their queen and you, my darling, will be their king." She clapped her hands gleefully and pulled off the feathered mask, dancing around the room.
~::-|-::~
"So… how exactly do we advance ahead?" Blade was asking one of his fellow inductees.
"Advance ahead?" Jackal had overheard the conversation and began to laugh, slapping the table as he tried to stop. "You're kidding right? You don't advance ahead here, kid. You're a warlord. The lowest of the low. You're the scum on my shoe. No way you'll ever advance…" He yelped as Sabre Tooth smacked him violently upside the head. "You mean you'll never advance, Jackal." He said, his voice deep and cold. It sent shivers up Blade's spine. Sabre Tooth turned his one-eyed gaze to him.
"The way you advance, is to do everything you're told. You prove to Lady Byrne that you're trusted enough and qualified enough to advance to the next level, she will confer with her most trust advisors, the Zodiacs. They are the ones who decide whether or not you will advance."
"How many groups are there?" Mayhem wanted to know.
"There are seven groups." Sabre Tooth said, turning his gaze to the girl beside Blade. "The Hierarchy ranges downward from Lady Byrne. Her most trusted advisors are the three Zodiacs, Taurus, Scorpio and Gemini. Then come the Elements."
"Who are they?" Mayhem looked around the mess hall, trying to spot the Element group.
"You won't find them here unless under extreme circumstances." Sabre Tooth said. "They consist of the Firebirds. Their specialty is fire. You will meet them soon, Fire, Flame, Blaze and Inferno. Isis is the Ice Queen…"
"Ice Bitch, you mean." Jackal muttered, earning another hard slap upside the head from the larger man.
"She was the one who inducted you. Then there are the Water Misers, Thunder, Storm and Lightning. Their specialty is explosions. The last group of Elements are the Wind Riders. That's Cyclone, Hurricane and Tornado."
"You put them ear to ear, you have a wind tunnel." Jackal said, ducking another slap.
"The next group is my level, the Big Cats. That's me, Sabre Tooth, Panther, Cougar, Cheetah and Lynx. We're guards for the Elements, the Zodiac and Lady Byrne."
"Next comes us, the Fierce." Jackal said smugly. "I'd like to see you get up this far, Newbies."
"His group are like the knights on a chessboard." Sabre Tooth said, looking sternly at Jackal. "Though they do all sorts of jobs, including spying. They consist of Bronco, Foxie, Rhino, Wolf and Jackal. The next groups are the Birds and the Serpents. They're mostly informants and spies, but the Big Cats and the Fierce usually take one or two with them when they're going on a mission."
"The Birds are Hawk, Falcon, Phoenix and Condor." Nodded Jackal. "They're really good at scare tactics. And the Serpents – Viper, Venom, Cobra and Taipan – are specialists in the silent captures."
"I believe she asked me." Sabre Tooth glared at Jackal and made to slap him again, but the small man huddled in his chair. Sabre Tooth glared at Jackal and turned back to the new inductees. "And after the Birds and the Serpents, comes you. The Warlords. As well as you four, there's Tank, Fury, Militia, Shadow, Warrior and Battleaxe."
"Wow… there's more people here than I first thought." Mayhem said quietly. "So it really is a big organisation."
"Huge." Piped up Militia, who'd been listening quietly to the explanation. "We are the biggest Order to ever rule the underworld of Mexico City."
"And soon we'll be even bigger." Jackal said with a smile. "When we raise Death, tomorrow night, it'll be Hell on earth and one huge fuckin' party!"