Right TLDR at bottom

It was the third time Rock had called today at Kain Heinlein's request - and at this point, Rock was getting a bit worried.

Of course, Rock knew in his head that there was no use worrying about Iori Yagami. He had concluded a long while ago that if Iori got himself in trouble, there was nothing Rock could do about it anyways… but Iori hadn't been picking up his phone calls while he knew the money was Rock's lifeline. Boss was erratic and absolutely nuts, but in really important life-and-death things like this, he was reliable. Hell, Iori wouldn't let him die… Iori had literally taken a bullet for him. This sort of thing was nothing to him.

Something definitely happened to him…

Kain didn't seem to care about Iori. All Kain cared about were the lack of cash wires, and as a result, his (fake) cheerful demeanor had been replaced with non-stop glowering. He had insisted that because the cash flows had stopped, Rock would need to personally participate in the raids until he could find some other source of funds. Claiming:

"You made an oath to supply me with money… and now that you can no longer do what you promised, what value do you have? Participate in the next operation or the mercenaries will begin to get disgruntled. You know what happens when mercenaries get disgruntled."

A thinly veiled threat, one that Rock had no response to. He could blame Iori all he wanted, but ultimately, it was his responsibility to bring the money in. Because Kain had expected continual, unlimited, cash flows, he had gone out of his way to hire the best mercenaries on the market. Rock knew - just by looking at them - they weren't to be trifled with. They were thirty of them, and all exuded a cold, vicious professionalism. They reminded him of IKARI's Leona, who could kill as easily as she breathed.

I'd die if I pissed them off...

And, perhaps, Kain knew he was in similar danger. The cash flows had stopped, and that put him in a tight spot. Thankfully they still had some reserved funds from earlier - but these men were being paid by the hour. They would need to speed up this operation and hit the next two locations in quick succession to keep costs down.

Dammit! Boss… why won't you pick up… ughh…

So today, on their expedited schedule, they would be attacking the offices of Attorney Gustav Hein - Geese Howard's legal arm. Normally, they performed these attacks in the evening when there was nobody around - but Kain insisted that destroying the building was not enough, and they needed to kill not only the man himself, but also as many of his coworkers and associates as possible.

Naturally, that didn't sit well with Rock. He was still vegan, for god's sake. Meat was murder… but murder was also murder. If he went out there and crushed the skull of a law firm secretary, then what would that make him?! He might as well eat beef as well!

Filthy Hypocrite…

Rock shook his head and sighed. He was standing atop the warehouse balcony with his elbows leaned up against the railing. Down below, Kain and some of the mercenaries were inspecting their gear. The willowy blonde man danced about on the lower floor as he tested the latest arrival of bombs and ammunition. He looked out of place. His glowing white suit and recently barbered haircut placed him right in the middle of a storybook. Instead, he was hunched over weapons of warfare expertely handling all sorts of scary looking firearms.

There were several other groups on the lower floor. There were a couple of men conditioning with the punching bag. Several were playing cards. The group in the corner were clearly drawing plans for tonight's operation.

And even with so many people packed into the space, Rock Howard felt incredibly lonely. He knew he was the youngest person in the group by far - and he similarly knew he was the least mature, simply by virtue of his experience. In most settings, he would be cut some slack for being young, but not here. In Kain Heinlein's base of operations, nobody was going to coddle him. Nobody here was his friend. They wouldn't even make the slightest effort to get to know him, much less comfort him or tolerate his prying questions.

This place was cold and brutal.

And Rock really wanted to see his dad.

Rocky...

…

Rocky shut the fuck up, and stop bitching.

Rock gritted his teeth and shook his head violently. Now was no time for weakness. He had set his mind on this, and couldn't run crying to daddy the moment things got hard… For fuck's sake! He was trying to fight the biggest organized crime group in the United States! It wasn't supposed to be easy, and everyone told him so. Some even said it was impossible. He should have been expecting difficulty…

But he was going to hold strong to his resolve.

Because with this coming operation, Rock was going all in. He'd be casting his lots with Kain Heinlein. Not because he was intimidated (although, he was) but because he'd recently gotten news that Adam Coleman's funeral was scheduled for the end of next week.

And if Adam's going into the ground… then I'll bury Geese Howard with him.

Things happening right now:
1) Kain & Rock group prepping to kill Hein and his Firm. Rock is going to be participating in person. (I gave Hein a first name cuz i'm getting confused between Hein and kain Heinlein smh)

2) Hein is currently in process of contesting the warrent to Raid Geese Howard's Tower. I he dies, the warrant will stand uncontested.

3) 4th Elder is still waiting for a call from Big. Wants SF

4) Terry and Mary are working together to try and track down Rock Howard before he does anything stupid. (Like killing a bunch of lawyers and getting caught on camera again. Recall that Kain actually wants Rock to get caught on camera b/c he's supposed to take the fall when the police inevitably catch up. The only reason Yag got caught was Rock got caught on camera, and the information was transmitted to Geese. Geese deduced that Yag was the funding.)

5) Yag's at the bottom of the ocean right now in time out.