Author's Notes: Hey, late chapter kind of, but it happens. So quick note here, this is where the story picks up and starts getting very serious. That being said I believe I'm going to stop at chapter 13, call it a season finale or whatever, after that I'll be taking a bit of a hiatus to structure the next "season." Hopefully it won't be too long of a hiatus, but until then enjoy this and the upcoming chapters!
What It Takes
Chapter 9: Kindling
Cole stood over a table in the center of the room. He wore the same black suit and tie that he wore on the night they broke Roano out of prison. He adjusted his bowler hat and looked over the map on the table. There were red dots at certain locations, some of which were crossed out. The ones that weren't had arrows coming off of them, saying things like, 'Too secure' or 'Too far.'
As he pondered over the map, Roano entered the room. He was clad in a long, black trench coat with black, baggy jeans and brown boots. His hammer was slung over his back and didn't look like it encumbered him at all.
"You asked for me," he stated in a growling voice.
Cole turned to face him, "Yes, I did. Have a look."
Cole motioned for Roano to join him at the table. Roano positioned himself across from Cole and looked at the map.
"What's all this for?" he asked.
Cole smiled evilly, "This is our plan," he replied, pointing towards the dots, "we need to eliminate these targets in order to infiltrate the Schnee Dust Company in Vale."
Roano grunted in reply, "So what am I doing?"
"You and Coralia are going to destroy the homes at these coordinates," Cole answered, "they are the homes of hunters that are part of the Schnee Dust Company."
Cole walked over to Roano's side, "With these people out of the way, we will have no trouble taking what we want."
Roano looked questioningly at Cole, "And what do we want?"
Cole smiled again, "All in due time Roano, but first, you have to take care of the houses."
"Fine," Roano growled, not appreciating being left in the dark.
"Great," replied Cole, "now go grab Coralia and get going."
"So, you're saying that Cole put you in charge of this mission?"
Roano and Coralia were in the airship, heading toward their destination.
"Yes," Roano replied gruffly, "he told me that we gotta decimate certain houses to get what we need."
"Well I certainly hope he trusts you," voiced Coralia, pushing her hair behind her ears. She was no longer wearing the police uniform from before. Instead she was dressed in an orange cheongsam, a silk shirt with a floral pattern, with a long, black skirt and orange wrist pads and a red satchel at her waist. On her left hand she wore a small blue ring and on her ears were two black dagger earrings, one for each ear. Her steel fans were tucked away inside her shirt so that no one would see them.
Roano frowned; he didn't like the fact that Coralia was challenging his trustworthiness.
"Why?" He asked, "'cause you don't?"
Coralia shrugged, "You're new to the group, you're bigger than all of us and you were, or still are, a member of the White Fang. So, forgive me if I don't fully trust you."
"So you find me intimidating then?" inquired Roano.
Once again she shrugged, "I see you as a threat and a liability to the group, so let's focus on the mission and worry about trust later."
Roano was about to protest, when the airship started to descend to where they needed to be.
Roano and Coralia both jumped out and landed in the middle of the city square. The square was dark, the night sky was littered with stars, but there was no moon. Coralia looked around, there was no one around for miles, as expected, nobody would be up and roaming around at this late hour, but still they had to be careful.
"So," spoke Coralia, "where's the first stop?"
Roano merely pointed in the direction of the houses and walked. Coralia followed, amused at Roano's silence. They walked for a bit longer down one of the main roads before Roano motioned for her to stop. He pointed at a wealthy looking building to the left.
"That's the first hit," he voiced quietly.
"Then let's hit it," Coralia stated with a violent gleam in her eye.
Roano walked over to the house, drawing his sledgehammer from his back.
"What are you doing?" whispered Coralia viciously.
Roano turned toward Coralia, "Cole wants the buildings to look like they had structural damage dealt. That way it looks like an accident."
Coralia rolled her eyes, "Yea 'cause a sledgehammer will totally not look man made," she replied sarcastically.
Roano ignored her, and smashed one of the walls of the building. Taking another couple of swings at the other walls, Roano was satisfied.
"Alright," he said with a grunt, "light 'em up."
Coralia grinned as she took out her two steel fans. Opening them slightly, she activated the red dust in them, and fired. The house was hit by the blasts and immediately caught fire. The crackling sounds of the fire could be heard in the background as they went through a system of alleyways to get to their next target.
They reached the next house and repeated the process and then silently moved on to the third and final house on their list.
By now the sounds of law enforcement and firefighters were heard everywhere, attempting to reach the burning houses before it was too late. Roano and Coralia stood in front of the final house on their list. It was a middle class house that was two stories tall. It was painted white with green shutters on the windows. Coralia saw flashing lights out in the distance, the police and the fire fighters had reached the other two houses already.
"We should hurry," Coralia whispered, "they've already reached the other houses."
"Cole wants special treatment for this house," stated Roano calmly, "set it on fire."
Coralia charged up her fans again, and fired. Her dust immediately set the building on fire, the flames erupting from where the dust hit the building. After a few minutes, Roano took out his hammer and switched it into its mini-gun form.
"What are you doing?" asked Coralia angrily, "we're supposed to make it look like an accident."
"Not this one," indicated Roano, and he opened fire on the house, letting loose a stream of bullets across each floor to make sure he got every room. The house was now in shambles from the outside, and it collapsed in on itself, crashing to the ground.
"Time to leave," declared Roano as he put his weapon away.
Coralia followed him as they went back the way they headed carefully back to the airship.
It was dark inside the Schnee Dust Company as Cole and Olivia snuck inside. The heat was turned off, so the room was fairly cool. Cole and Olivia were surrounded by endless rows of cubicles with desks and computers. They had entered through a window on the third floor so as not to set off any alarms on the first floor. On the other side of the room was an elevator that would lead them to the floor they wanted to get to. As they approached the elevator, Cole slipped on his brass knuckles. Olivia gave him a confused look.
"You can't be too careful," was his response to her.
Olivia nodded and drew her own weapons, two machine pistol that were equipped onto her ammo belt.
They reached the elevator and pressed the up button. The elevator arrived within minutes, opened, and let the two crooks inside. Cole reached down and pressed the number six. A scanner appeared and a voice asked for an ID. Cole reached into his pocket and pulled out an ID that Coralia had stolen from one of the employees. The scanner accepted the card and they ascended to the sixth floor.
The doors opened again. They entered a room with a lot of test tubes, monitors, and other various scientific devices and technological appliances. They walked among all of the appliances, looking around for something in particular. They eventually found it in the form of a small remote. Cole picked it up and examined it. The remote had two buttons, one was labeled listen, the other labeled stop. Cole pocketed this and looked down at the table he got it from. There were various blueprints scattered around on the table, as well as pieces of machinery and a couple of microchips. Cole grabbed the blueprints and the chips and put them all in his pockets.
"We're done here," Cole declared with a smile.
Olivia grinned back, "Alright then, let's get out of here!"
They walked back toward the elevator, when suddenly its doors opened. Cole and Olivia ducked behind a couple tables, as a couple of armed guards walked in.
I thought they were supposed to be on the first floor, thought Cole, how could they be on the sixth floor already?
His question was answered when the guards spoke.
"You sure you heard the elevator moving?" asked the first guard.
"Positive, it's not that hard to hear an elevator at this time of night."
The guards walked among the tables as they searched for what could've caused the noise.
Cole looked at Olivia and motioned for her to stay low as he moved to attack.
As the guard moved towards his position, Cole stood up and swung. His brass knuckle collided with the man's head, and he fell to the ground with a thump. The other guard turned and saw Cole, but before he could yell, 'freeze,' Olivia had switched her weapons into their melee form, kamas, two small cylindrical handles with curved blades at the end, and cut down the other man.
"Piece of cake," cheered Olivia excitedly.
Cole was about to respond when the elevator opened again, this time with eight new guards. They opened fire as soon as they saw the bodies on the ground. Cole and Olivia duked down again, as the bullets flew by them, shattering the windows on the opposite side. Pinned down, Cole transformed his brass knuckles into their compact pistol form; Olivia switched hers back to machine pistols. Nodding to each other, they fired from behind cover, hitting a couple of guards here and there. Unfortunately, these guards were aura trained and were not too phased by the gunshots. Realizing this, Cole ducked back down, as Olivia kept firing. He took out a tiny gray remote and pressed the blue button on it. He put the remote away and motioned to Olivia. Olivia, noticing the gesture, nodded in agreement as they kept firing at the guards. After a few minutes, Cole's actions paid off as their airship appeared outside the window. Cole and Olivia dove out from cover as the airship opened fire on the entire room. Beakers shattered, computers sparked and the guards were scrambling to take cover from the sudden attack. Cole and Olivia quickly ran for the window and jumped out. The airship turned sideways and caught the two jumpers. It then took off fast enough so as to avoid any shootings from the guards.
Cole and Olivia stood up and were greeted by Roano and Coralia.
"Thanks for the save," Olivia smiled cheerfully.
"Well, you are needed for this," replied Coralia with a smirk.
"Did you do what had to be done?" inquired Cole.
"Yes," replied Roano curtly
"Good," Cole said satisfied.
"Did you get what you came for?" asked Coralia.
Cole smiled, "Of course," he responded and took out the little black remote with two buttons as well as the blueprints and the microchips.
Cole walked over to the cockpit and approached the pilot.
"Bring us back to the hideout," Cole commanded.
"Yes sir."
"You need to explain yourself."
Cole was back in his chambers at the hideout. The map was still on the table, a few more of the dots having been crossed out. He sat in his chair as he stared calmly at the cold glare Coralia was giving him.
"I'm sorry," Cole stated, his expression blank, "I do believe I've missed something here."
"You let Roano, a brand new member, be in charge of a crucial mission," Coralia spoke angrily, "instead of me, who has been here for much longer and has proved her loyalty."
Cole sighed and hung his head, "The key word there is loyalty."
Coralia crossed her arms and cocked her head, skeptical about what her leader was about to tell her.
"Coralia, I know for a fact that you're loyal," Cole continued, "However, Roano has to earn his loyalty in this group."
"So you immediately just let him lead a mission?" inquired Coralia, fuming.
"Yes," Cole said calmly. Coralia was about to interrupt when Cole continued, "Coralia, time is of the essence right now. I had to gain Roano's trust quickly, and setting him up with what seemed like an 'important mission' was the best way to do that. The best way to earn someone's trust is to show that you trust them, especially a man like Roano."
Coralia unfolded her arms, "Alright, but what if he just turned and tried to kill me?"
Cole smiled a cold smile, "I wouldn't have put you on the mission if I didn't think you could take him out."
Coralia smiled back, "Alright, what now?"
"Now," Cole said sinisterly, "we get to work."
Basil was stunned. He was sitting on his bed doing work, when he received an email from his family. When he read it, he almost couldn't believe what was being said. His house was completely destroyed, and his brother, Cinereus, was dead.