AN: As of December 2022, I've made an account on Archive of Our Own where I'll be posting my fanfic stories there as well. As it is still in progress, I have yet to upload all the chosen stories onto the other platform. So whoever is using it or fearing that this website would end up in more trouble than before, search for my name on AO3 (it's the same nickname I use) and this story will be right there!

And now, I'm finally back to working on my current stories. Had a good trip in Malaysia while editing and working on some of my stories. Hope you like this chapter!

Chapter 10

I initially thought that the Weasel Bandits would have a clear escape plan. They broke through the ceiling and must have used that to their advantage before dropping down into some random restaurant. However, given what they were wearing, they wouldn't need to as they could blend in the crowd easily. Though, if they thought that would work when running away, they sure didn't expect people to be chasing them for being a bit recognizable.

Though, the three Weasel Bandits barely stopped to pull out any tricks or try using the grappling hook gun. Either they thought that it would be easy to escape in a mall filled with busy shoppers or they wanted a chase from two G.U.N agents.

"You three, stop right there!" yelled Molly, brandishing her gun. "G.U.N personnel!"

Molly looked like she REALLY wanted to blow the Weasel Bandits' brains. Guessed that energy kicked in when we started running. They weren't even too fast as we managed to catch up to them. Both animals and humans alike dodged out of the way, not wanting to be involved in the chase. I thought I saw a few people lifting their phones and facing them at us for some reason.

Chasing these robbers brought a lot of memories from time me and my former squad chased down other criminals. While this time was me in the position of being the cop, the whole experience made me think as if I was back on the hunt. Hunting for rivals and taking the treasure from them. And with at least someone accompanying me for the ride, it felt like the good old times of hunting with friends!

I smiled to myself. This might not go well in case the bandits escaped, but I found myself enjoying this.

On the other hand, Molly didn't seem to enjoy the chase that much. Especially when the Weasel Bandits entered a larger area of the mall. To me, it nearly looked like the platform was split into two narrow parts on different sides with a large gap in the middle. One bandit jumped right into the gap before the rest of the two decided to follow.

Molly stopped near the gap, bumping right into the fence. I thought she was gonna jump off from it, but she remained there as she lifted her gun up to aim. Down below, the bandits regrouped before running off again.

The purple cat nearly pressed the trigger, but she quickly jerked it away.

"Wait, what are you doing?" I said.

"I-I cannot shoot here," she said. "It's too risky."

"But you got them right there. Why stop there?"

"No, there are too many people here. I just realized I could accidentally shoot someone with a bullet."

Well, that was gonna be a problem. Guess that we have to tone down using these kinds of illegal weapons. I nearly had thoughts of using my ruby, but that might appear suspicious to the shoppers, not to mention the limited power I could use thanks to the rings. As I tried to think what Molly could arm herself with, something that could subdue the Weasel Bandits without severely hurting them, I spotted a nearby store.

It looked like those kinds of pop-up stores being carried around in the market at different spots with food hanging on display. This time, it was selling a couple of jewelry, bracelets and little toys. Wait, why were they selling jewelry so finely like this? And why did they look cheap?

My eyes fell on the toys section of the store, some of them looking like guns. I grabbed one and gave it to Molly.

"Is that a Nerf gun or a water blaster?" she questioned.

"...I think it's some kind of gun," I said.

Molly only gave me a blank look, glancing back at the shiny pink gun in her hands. "You seriously think I can shoot with this thing?!"

"I've seen these kinds of things in the black market before," I insisted. "They should be effective despite having non-lethal ammo!"

The purple cat groaned. "That's ridiculous, jackal. This won't work!"

And then, she spotted another toy hanging on display. A grenade-like toy with a couple of rubber bullets poking out from the holes to reveal their black tips.

"...well, but the bomb ones are more surprising!" she said, gingerly taking it.

I grinned. "That's the spirit!"

Molly rolled her eyes, laughing. After she quickly tossed some money at the closest staff, we ran off to find the Weasel Bandits. At first, I was nervous that we lost them, but we quickly caught up to them, finding them still running on the floor below. Guess that they must have gone into their own run-in due to strangely being covered in bras and undies.

So much for them being called 'harmless'.

"Ah, I don't think we have a good shot up here," growled Molly. "We need to get down there."

That was answered once we saw an escalator. To me, it more looked like some kind of infinite staircase with the steps moving either up or down. It nearly made me think that it was due to magic. Having an idea, I leaped upwards on the handrail and grinded my feet right onto it.

To my luck, I found myself nearly slipping off. Looking down, the handrail nearly appeared to be slipping off as if it was just a covering! It probably even led to me nearly losing my composure, my tail wagging and accidentally slapping those on the stairs. Once I got down, I noticed the angry glares they were sending me.

From above, Molly just noticed. There were a few sweat drops rolling down her face. She looked at the handrail with a tempting look in her eyes…before quickly just using the stairs to get down, though she gently pushed through the miffed customers on the escalator.

Fortunately, this didn't cost us too much time as we found where the Weasel Bandits were. I got to say that this floor was more crowded since the bandits switched over to pushing people aside. I considered stopping to help, though almost everyone realized what was happening and came to their assistance. Molly immediately whipped out the toy gun and fired a few rounds at the bandits.

To my surprise, the bullets didn't even make it that far! From a distance, they nearly reached the bandits' feet, but the rubber bullets just flew backward once hit. I bit my lip when I noticed a few people staring at us with weirded looks.

Guess that toy blasters weren't really weapons here, oops…

At one point, the Weasel Bandits finally took out their grappling hook gun. One of them slapped it and the hook suddenly burst out from it. It crashed into the ceiling. Only when another bandit snatched the gun and pointed it at the floor two levels higher was when the hook work properly. With all three hanging on, they shot upwards.

Molly stopped and lifted her toy gun upwards. She fired a few rubber bullets. They only flew downwards after reaching the first floor. One hit one of the bandits' tail, but it bounced off harmlessly.

"You said that this would be a good weapon to use?" she said, glaring at me.

"You bought it!" I insisted.

"Whatever. Looks like we need to climb again."

In the middle of the room, there was some kind of playground set up there. This must be where they have the kids occupied while the adults shop. Wish there was sort of one back in my hometown instead of letting them run around until they were captured. Aside from the farm barn huts and the swings, there were small trampolines representing small ponds.

An idea came to mind since with the ruby, I could find an excuse to cover what I was gonna do.

I smirked and ran towards the trampolines, crossing my fingers behind my back so that Molly could see. Once I leaped onto one trampoline, I secretly twirled my fingers around and my feet glowed slightly green. To a good glow so that it wouldn't be easily noticeable. I was sent flying upwards, but the ruby's power helped me to fly higher than the usual jump you get from a normal trampoline.

One way to fool the people from thinking that I have powers and a way to amuse the children. Looking down, the children were in awe, cheering at how high I 'jumped'. I smirked, winking back. It suddenly felt good to show off like this while bringing a smile to those kids.

Though, I wished that I did this jump properly since I didn't use enough of my ruby's powers to get higher. I managed to grab onto the fence of the third level, fortunately, lifting myself up.

To my surprise, Molly was already there, apparently waiting for me.

"You know that there are still stairs around here," she said, twirling her toy gun in her finger.

"Where's the fun in that?" I sassed.

I just spotted the Weasel Bandits turning around a corner. Oh, they weren't going to get away this easy. We continued to follow them and it turned out that we led them right to a dead stop since they didn't choose to turn in the opposite direction. As me and Molly turned around the corner to find them, to my surprise, neither of the three was stopping.

In fact, they were slightly looking up as they ran towards the dead end. There was nothing else on the wall except for a few maps and murals painted all over. That being said, these paintings nearly made the vent hole blend in too well.

Neither did I notice a random chandelier hanging around on the ceiling.

The Weasel Bandits jumped upwards and used the chandeliers to swing across. Using it helped them to crash through the vent hole, making their getaway.

"Dang it!" said Molly.

"Where does this lead to?" I wondered.

"I don't really know! There's like a lot of vents that lead to who knows where."

"Hmm, I have an idea. Perhaps we can just take the vents to find where they went to."

"You're sure about this?" asked Molly, surprised.

"Absolutely! A quick way to get them. Now, one way we can get up there might be simple: just bounce off the nearest wall, grab onto the chandelier, swing it in the direction of the vent, let go and do a full body swing and then grab onto the vent hole!"

The purple cat froze, slowly trying to understand this. "Wow. My body is NOT fit for this."

"Good, we're on the same page," I teased.

"What?!"

"I'm just kidding! How else do you want to get into those vents?"

Molly just shrugged. "I don't know. Perhaps just throw me upwards with the power of your ruby?"

I was more than happy to do so, quickly lifting her up and making sure that she balanced her feet on my palms.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" said Molly. "I didn't tell you to do it now!"

"I thought you want to do it immediately," I said.

"I was in the middle of talking. Doesn't that mean that you can…know what? Whatever. Throw me up there!"

Nodding and making sure that she was comfortable, I used my original strength to toss her upwards. She was a little heavy, but I put in my all to send her charging toward the vent hole. I noted that I threw her a little too high, but she took note when about to smack against the wall. Once she hit it, she spread her arms around it as if holding on before sliding down slowly and quickly using her feet to hang onto the vent hole, slipping her way inside.

I did my own planned method of getting in. Seeing that the fence of the platform surrounding the gap was the closest, I climbed onto it and leaped off it, grabbing the chandelier. Without needing the ruby's help, I swung the chandelier around until I could be able to be thrown higher. I didn't need to do a flip as it was the perfect momentum needed, landing right next to Molly inside the small vent.

"How long have you been practicing these kinds of tricks for?" she questioned.

I shrugged, wagging my tail as it kept hitting the side of the vent. "For as long as I can remember. Though, I thought that you would be acrobatic."

Molly blushed. "Uh…I don't really take ballerina practice. I'm a shooter."

"Well, that's a fact. Not helpful in comparison to those three bandits."

"I noticed," grumbled Molly. "I'm surprised that they are able to perform these kinds of stunts."

"Why do you think they're harmless?"

"Don't you know whom they work for? The club they came from?"

I shrugged. "I have no idea what the Lightning Bolt Club is."

Molly sighed. "Of course, you wouldn't know. Like I said, they're idiots." She turned around on all fours. "Come. We still have to find them. I'll explain on the way."

I was about to offer to use my ruby to track them down here, but Molly already found footprints. They must have muddy shoes. She pointed out that wherever they would have gone, there would already be a group of cops on the other side, waiting for them. And that we were blocking their way back in. Just in case, I decided to unzip my jacket a little to let my ruby illuminate the dark vent passageways.

"Geez," said Molly as we walked through. "This place is really cramped."

"It's a good thing that we're animals or we might not be short enough to enter," I said, trying to light up the situation.

The purple cat only growled. LITERALLY growled like a real cat. "Don't talk about our height there."

"Just saying. It's not too bad when traveling here as long as you got a nice light."

"I'm not so sure about this," said Molly. "Wouldn't you be freezing in this kind of thing?"

"Well, I'm not surprised by how many air conditioners you have to get the right temperature you want. The desert is really humid and I've been enjoying some nice ice-cold showers!"

"No wonder why you got a lot of fur on you."

As we crawled through, I stopped to see a large spider web hanging from the ceiling. Molly froze, slowly ducking her head. I took a closer look, noticing that it was abandoned.

"Are you scared of the vents?" I asked.

Molly's voice was strained. "N-No! Absolutely not!"

"I can smell your anxiety growing."

"N-No, it's not. It's just…anger and ready feelings of self-reflection once I shoot the Weasel Bandits."

"That clearly doesn't smell like fear."

"Yes, it is! It's similar!"

"You're worried about getting yourself dirty?"

"I can still wash later on by licking myself," said Molly flatly. And then, emotion returned. "Erm…what's the crawling on my neck?"

I raised an eye. "I think it's just gum."

"No, seriously. I can feel it moving!"

"It's just gum."

"Don't lie to me! It's something alive!"

"OK, don't panic. I swear it's just gum." And I got close to see the big fat spider crawling on the back of Molly's neck. Without making a noise, I grabbed it and crunched it up in my hand. "It's gum."

"...that was a crunch sound," whispered Molly.

"Keep talking. Maybe telling me about the Lightning Bolt Club would ease your fear in here."

Molly thought for a while, sometimes needing to stop to think about what she would say. "Those guys, they're…two-bit crooks at best. They tried forming together to become some of the best villains. Maybe even getting to work with Eggman from all of their rants and public declarations."

"So they're trying to be a mercenary team of sorts?" I asked.

Molly hummed. "You're not wrong. Though, their efforts aren't really impressive. However, a few months ago, they popped up on our radar due to their increase in more offensive and dangerous crimes. Wild robbery of different items, whether valuable or not. Big vandalism to promote themselves." She stopped, looking over her shoulder. "And sometimes, they stupidly bring up their own plans of how they could take over the world, even at levels your Jackal Squad would have done before."

I snorted. "My squad never wants to take over the world. Well, fine, maybe Zero does."

"They weren't a problem for a while," said Molly. "I didn't believe that. However…I think I can see now."

"You mean the Weasel Bandits proving to be good at evading?"

She shook her head. "That they have the capability to actually hurt people. They did try to blow up a restaurant with people inside."

I grew quiet. It was mostly on criminals' talent in doing different tasks. Everybody tends to look up to them if they prove to take things seriously, even working with others without screwing things up. However, a fear factor could work to make criminals appear a bit more powerful. And that was their body count.

Five dead people on my name were enough to make people paranoid about me. That was still something I didn't enjoy from how many I killed, but it would be scarier to confront someone who had a higher kill count. The Weasel Bandits being more willing to hurt or even kill anyone without concern? That was a bit of a red flag. In fact, it made me think if they want to be monsters.

"Good thing that bomb they set off wasn't…too big," I chuckled nervously. "It's just smoke, right?"

Molly was uncertain. "I'm guessing that they aren't jokes anymore."

We finally arrived at another vent hole where the Weasel Bandits must have gone off to. There was some light in the room in front of us, so I switched off my ruby and zipped up my jacket. The two of us hopped out…and tried to shake the dust off our fur.

"We didn't think this through," said Molly, brushing her coat.

"You mean, I didn't think this through," I said. "Was I the one who came up with the idea?"

"I didn't stop to take off my coat!"

True to her word, both our jackets were coated in cobwebs and dust. It made the dull green and the pink colors lighter shades with a beige tint. It was a bad thing that our fur could be attached to nearly everything as there was no other way to shake the cobwebs off. I looked behind, seeing that I had it worse. My tail was completely covered in cobwebs. I tried thumping it on the ground, though not that much dust fall from it.

"If this place is hygienic," deadpanned Molly. "I wonder how often they clean the air vents."

My attention was directed away when my ears flicked up at the cool breeze inside this room. All I could was wood creaking and dripping pipes. It made me think if we were alone in the room.

This…dark room.

There was only one functional ceiling light, but that didn't brighten up the rest of the room. The light must be quite dim or the room was too big to fill with light. What I could see so far lacked any of the life or colors the rest of the mall had. There were even a few boxes and shelves around, displaying what looked like products from various shops. The only thing that was completely dark was the rest of the high ceiling.

"What is this?" I asked quietly.

Molly took out a long sniper gun. "Looks like it's a storage room. Think they are there?"

I closed my eyes and tried to sense if they were around. And from there, I could sense three people hanging from the shadowy ceiling, breathing deeply. The ruby felt really warm as a result of feeling their body temperatures.

Unless I use my ruby fully, I could easily track them down. However, that would prompt them to run away and I had no idea how fast they were.

I nodded and placed a finger over my mouth. She nodded, turning off the safety button on her gun. The two of us surveyed the room, making sure to check if there were any hints of where the Weasel Bandits might be at. The ruby kept humming as if we seemingly got closer to where they were hiding at. It was a shame that none of us had good flashlights since we had to rely on sound.

But given that the Weasel Bandits were getting more dangerous, all sounds could be deceitful.

However, that came to my mind how dangerous they really were.

Remember when Molly called them idiots? At least two times?

"Oh, hey, Molly," I said in a faux confused voice.

"Si?" she said.

"It's quiet," I muttered.

She raised an eye. "Yeah."

I gave her a look as if to go along with it.

She sighed. "Too…quiet?"

My ears flicked upwards again when I heard slight giggling from above.

"If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands!" I sang flatly.

Cue two claps and a body slamming right next to us.

One of the Weasel Bandits. Wearing a blue bandanna. It only took him until he whined from his back pain when he realized he was caught.

"Oldest trick in the book," I joked.

Molly pointed her gun at the weasel.

"Whoa there, mate!" said the blue-bandanna-wearing bandit in an Australian accent. "You wouldn't shoot a great bloke, would you?"

"Yeah, in the face," hissed Molly, looking dead in the eye. "Why?"

"Well, just thought that you are better off shooting-GUYS, LOOK! A PIGEON!"

"Ha ha, not funny," I snarled.

What neither the three of us expected was a familiar cooing. And pecking. And screaming from above. That must be the pesky pigeon who got its way into the mall, now attacking the two Weasel Bandits. Expectedly, they dropped from the ceiling. The pigeon flew away idly, losing interest in them.

Molly grinned. "This makes my job easier. Guess that we win."

"You know what?" said the red-bandanna-wearing bandit. "Enough hiding now. We got you surrounded, three to two."

"Perhaps so," I said.

Molly elbowed me in the ribs.

"Ow! What was that?!" I hissed.

"Don't give them any ideas," said Molly before turning back to the bandits. "Now, give up the rice cookers you stole. What do you even need them for?"

"That's none of your business," said the yellow-bandanna-wearing bandit. "How about we just cut the chit-chat to the action."

"It's kind of a lame thing to be stealing those things with an explosive plan," I muttered.

"I SAID CUT THE CHIT-CHAT!"

"So you don't want to talk about it?"

"We only need a few materials to scrap around here," said the red-bandanna-wearing bandit. "Whatever we find, none of your business."

"And you couldn't be bothered to just…buy it," I deadpanned.

"Wait a second," said the blue-bandanna-wearing bandit. "Isn't that one of the members of the Jackal Squad?"

"What?!" said the red-bandanna-wearing bandit. "THE very Jackal Squad?"

"Ironically, they seem to know you well," whispered Molly.

"Yeah, yeah," I said. "But they're not here now."

"Hold on…with him here, we can have another advantage!" said the blue-bandanna-wearing bandit.

"That's a horrible idea!" said the red-bandanna-wearing bandit.

"Wha?" I could only choke out.

"Oh, maybe you can join the Lightning Bolt Society!" said the yellow-bandanna-wearing bandit. "You know, a way to be able to rise to the top!"

"Being the best villains in the world without needing to join any other high-classed league," followed up the red-bandanna-wearing bandit.

"And you'll be taken seriously for once!" said the blue-bandanna-wearing bandit. "...OK, well, you already got a lot of respect, but…"

"Well, I sometimes more of an average…cool mercenary?" I said, grinning sheepishly.

"Nuh-uh," said Molly, clicking her gun. "No more deals. He's affiliated with G.U.N. Get on the ground right now."

Despite having their muzzles covered, the Weasel Bandits drooped in disappointment. One of them stared at me and I only cast a shake of my head. I nearly had thoughts, but I decided that it was best to go with what I got then with whatever they were doing. The three bandits glanced at one another as if communicating what they should do.

The blue-bandanna-wearing bandit snorted. "As you insist."

He slowly lifted his hands up and dropped to one knee. However, I noticed the way he got his eyes peeled at Molly's right leg, his feet moving the tips of his boots around on the floor and his fingers wiggling in the way of flexing them.

I gasped. "Molly! Watch out!"

But it was too late since the bandit was much faster. He quickly spun around and kicked Molly by her leg, tripping her over. Before I knew it, the other two bandits pounced on me with large sacks over their heads. I could only spin around and whipped out my taser weapon.

One bandit tried throwing the sack over me and I dodged, only to get caught in another sack. All I know was that it was gonna take a lot more to tire me out before trapping me in a bag. I moved the taser forward, zapping the bandit, before pulling off the sack to wrap around the second bandit charging in. Without waiting, I threw the bag around and the bandit as well.

I missed the blue-bandanna-wearing bandit, but that only made him turn his attention to me after he ducked. This gave Molly a bit more time to attack back. She slammed her gun right across his face before aiming at his shoulder. The bandit dodged when she shot before pulling out a pistol gun of his.

Seeing this, Molly quickly got out of the way. Three times, she had to duck. I nearly thought that she was acting acrobatic, but briefly seeing her eyes showed that she was actually afraid of getting shot. I swore that she held onto her hat as if it was a shield on the third shot before she tried shooting back.

Once it was clear that neither she nor the Weasel Bandit could be able to land a hit, Molly quickly jumped backward and hid behind one of the shelves. The Weasel Bandit just stood next to a supporting beam, holding onto it as if needing to lean against it.

As both sides continued to shoot at each other, I was up against the other two Weasel Bandits. They decided to ditch the sack and instead use hand-to-hand combat. At first, I thought that they would be easy to take down. To my surprise, with every blow, there would be a block. With every fall, there was a quick comeback. Whenever I even tried to zap the two of them, they became a bit more resilient.

I wasn't sure if they were experienced, but if they were trained to be like this, then the Lightning Bolt Club must have gotten the best trainers of all time.

When they pulled out their own pistols, I decided to make this scenario an exception to use my ruby's powers. But before I could go forwards, I looked to the side to see Molly struggling with her opponent, even dangerously close to shooting close to her. The shelf wasn't the ideal place to hide behind due to the flimsy boxes being shot.

I decided to come back to her in case she got a quick plan of how to take all three down. She probably knew more about them than me since they could easily dodge and recover from our attacks, powers or not. Sliding next to her, I formed a bigger shield around us to deal with the bullets.

"You think you can take them out here with your powers?" asked Molly.

"Would it really work?" I asked. "As long as they are still running like this, we need to tire them out in case they have a few more tricks up their sleeves."

"Right then. I cannot get a good shot on them before we can lock them up. I just need to ensure that they are at least knocked out." Molly shuddered. "I wish you can use your powers now. This is…actually the first time I got into a fight like this."

"I'm so sorry," I said. That was when I remembered the bullet grenade Molly had. Without asking, I snatched it from her jacket. "How about we give them a surprise before the big one?"

"Oh c'mon!" exclaimed Molly. "I want to use it!"

The two of us tossed it right at the Weasel Bandits. Unexpectedly, one of them caught it.

"Hey, look!" he pointed out cheerfully. "I caught it!"

The sound of the grenade ticking got them to realize what they were holding. They all screamed as it exploded…the bullets just popping out and bouncing off them. They flinched, crying out dramatically and flailing their arms around. Though, they opened their eyes when they noted they were still alive.

And that was when I used my ruby to levitate a wooden wardrobe and sent it flying towards the distracted Weasel Bandits. It only crashed into one, probably enough to knock him out.

"Whoa, OK, that's too savage," said Molly.

"I-Is it?" I asked. "I thought that would be enough to take him-"

"NOW!" shouted one of the Weasel Bandits.

The two resumed, but with the extra time needed to get out of hiding and onto another spot, me and Molly ran across, avoiding many bullets that could have hurt us. Molly already got to work with one of the bandits, shooting a few rounds at him. He fired back and both sides were able to move out of the way or failed to aim.

I found myself against the only one standing in my sight. He hung his head before twirling around his pistol. Staring at it and back at the hot bullets left on the floor, it reminded me of how I would fare against these bullets with the ruby. It made me wonder why I had to put up a shield to protect myself in the first place.

As he fired, I rolled my eyes and charged forwards. Fortunately, without needing to think, my entire body turned transparent and the bullets went through, glitching green themselves. The bandit only got a few seconds to realize that I was invincible when I punched him in the face. The bandit stumbled back, but used one of his feet to retain his balance.

He jumped forwards and tried to land a punch, but I quickly dodged. I spun around to deliver a kick, though he grabbed it and try to use it to throw me around. Already familiar with this kind of attack, once he spun me around, I used my hands to pause crashing into the floor and using my other foot to kick the bandit in the chest. Impressive that he didn't give up as once he recovered, I ran toward him, but he blocked my punch.

The two of us traded punches, but nobody was able to get the upper hand for the next few seconds. Eventually, the bandit managed to do some moves of his own by quickly slapping his hat over my face. He proceeded to kick me in the chest and while I managed to jump back up thanks to my tail, it only led to a punch across the face once I removed the hat.

Growling, I spun around and swung my leg at him. It missed. At the same time, my tail whipped around as well. It didn't miss.

It slapped the Weasel Bandit in the face. Apparently, there was still some leftover dust and cobwebs on my tail despite most of the action brushing it off. This left the weasel's face slightly covered in sticky cobwebs.

"E-YAAAAH!" he screamed, hopping back. "This looks like cotton candy! And not the good kind!"

With him not keeping his eyes on me, I decided to deliver the final blow. I would probably need a stronger hit to take him down, so I formed a green energy-like glove around my fist and threw it at him. Powerful enough that the fist seemingly sent green force waves, sending him flying further away from me.

Meanwhile, Molly was having a bit of a hard time taking down her opponent. The numerous shelves around were good places for defending herself, but this went the same with the Weasel Bandit. She had to get moving every time the bandit get closer to her. And boy, he wasn't really holding back as he kept firing when close enough.

I didn't need to worry about her eventually since while in the middle of a shootout, Moly had an idea. She quickly ducked down as the bandit tried to shoot at her and shot many times at a leg from the shelf closest to the bandit. It would be worthless, but the leg eventually broke. This led the shelf to lean forward a little.

I wasn't sure if that shelf would topple over, but the products and boxes on the shelf did. The bandit let out a scream, jumping out of the way. However, once he came out in the open, Molly came in and slammed the butt of her gun right in the bandit's face. Hard enough to land a bump on his head, making him dizzy.

With all three Weasel Bandits defeated, I quickly formed a green energy cage around them. As they came to, they began grumbling to themselves, clearly exhausted.

"Give it up now," said Molly in a low tone. "You know that you cannot win this fight."

The blue-bandanna-wearing bandit just laughed. "You think that really scares us?"

"I mean, seriously, I'm serious. You know that it's a bad idea to be up against G.U.N agents here."

"Well…but at least the jackal would say that it was worth a shot robbing here, right?"

I shook my head. "No, it's not a good rob. Why bother for rice cookers?"

"Told you already. Not gonna say it twice."

"You're just making yourself pathetic."

He only laughed. "You two have no idea what we have in plan." He stood up, getting close to me. "And for the record, you wasted a really big favor. Most of the people we asked joined the second they connected the dots."

I shook my head. "I'm sorry. It's…not going to happen. Look, why bother being a criminal or…villain?"

The blue-bandanna-wearing bandit just shrugged. There must be a smirk underneath his mask. "It's what we do. Don't you know how many 'bad kids' are exactly running through the streets?"

I sighed. "But that might really be for the best. Wouldn't it be a bit much…simpler to have a good life? You guys seem to have it luckier than most mercenaries-"

"Or you missed the level of luck everyone else has!" shouted the bandit suddenly. He planted his face against the wall of the cage, pointing a finger at me. "It's about needing to really stand a chance here. It's all about learning; learning to be better. The Lightning Bolt Society is all about giving people a chance to have their names known than taking it the hard way. The way you so innocently think is the good and lucky life…"

I was shocked. His outburst was unexpected, coming from some street robber. And yet, I thought the most infamous criminals were more troubled than anybody else. However, this weasel saying that the club they belonged to give people a chance to have their names known? They really were ambitious in being known, no matter what they would do.

I was speechless about this.

Molly just glared at him. "The names related to you in my mind are this: 'prisoners' and 'corpses'. You're lucky that you haven't chosen to do anything more stupid or you'll end up in an electric chair!"

The blue-bandanna-wearing weasel snorted. "Oh please. When do you, G.U.N, get to be righteous about this? I mean, why hire this jackal when you know that he's a REAL villain? Would you give HIM mercy when everyone else doesn't give as a judge or get to ask as the guilty?"

I was about to argue to defend Molly, but I found myself having no words for this. Thinking about the said, he wasn't exactly wrong. It made me think back on how lucky I was to be accepted as an agent to pay my debt…and then the comparison to the prisoners they locked up in those cells. It reminded me that they had the chance to chuck me right in their cells. When they knew that I was in dealings with a really well-known villain.

I felt ashamed. Right in front of those people who would likely be locked up while I get to go off scot-free. I know that I shouldn't worry since I didn't even know half of who they were, but the image of the prisoners scarred and deeply distressed…worried me.

Molly noticed the objection I wasn't able to choke out, stepping in.

"Look, I wasn't the one who decided this," she said. "If they have a good reason to pick any criminal for their line of agents, then they are not dumb enough to pick up random recruits. So I don't care! This is probably a different level of work you or I wouldn't understand!"

The Weasel Bandit just narrowed his eyes. "You're right. You wouldn't understand. You wouldn't care. At least we sort of do."

I shook my head, trying to ignore any uneasy urges to scream or run away. "We shouldn't be here long. Let's just 'cut the chit-chat to the action'. Where are the rice cookers you stole for no reason?"

The yellow-bandanna-wearing bandit laughed. "Mate, you really forgot about one obvious detail. We actually got where we need them to."

Something snapped from above and I looked up to meet the rice cookers up and personal. I cried as it crashed into my head. Why was it so heavy?! And Molly got the same gift as well, falling back. The rest of the rice cookers fell around us. And due to me being down, that deactivated the shield.

The Weasel Bandits quickly snatched all the rice cookers, laughing victoriously. Despite having a headache, I could faintly hear them saying that their trap definitely work by using old rope to carry the rice cookers from the ceiling. Once already packed, they made their way to the exit door.

But not before one of the bandits turned around and threatened us. With a rice paddle.

They shut the door, but a recovered Molly quickly shot at the knob's keyhole to ensure that we wouldn't be locked in. However, it didn't do anything in the end as by the time we burst out, the Weasel Bandits were gone. Running through a hallway and eventually entering the main rooms of the mall, we only saw the nonchalant shopping traffic of people walking around.

I clenched my teeth, trying to sense where they were at.

Molly growled, rubbing her forehead.

"Looks like they'll be more annoying this time, huh?" she asked.

AN: The idea of Molly briefly using a NERF-like gun with rubber bullets (and a grenade) came from a NERF video near the end of 2022 by Shiloh and Bros. I found it kind of funny, especially when I decided to explore a bit deeper into Molly's obsession with guns and weapons. On a less humorous note, there's also the fact that this is like her first non-training battle that includes fighting or shooting, so she would need to take a bit longer to see what she can do, only helped by thinking and luck.

The Weasel Bandits were a bit hard to write since I ended up writing them my own way. As members of the Lightning Bolt Society, they might be incompetent. Here, they are more competent...even if they're dumb at times. They work nicely as a team here, able to evade two G.U.N agents.

To those wondering, it will be explained in the next chapter why Obsidian didn't use his powers to quickly subdue the Weasel Bandits. However, I can say that due to mostly fighting with his own taser weapon and his own skills in the past, Obsidian isn't used or doesn't remember to use his ruby in the heat of a battle. And he's a little paranoid as while he could, he just met the Weasel Bandits and has no idea how strong they are. One way to put it is that he is more used to fighting like normal.

The words one of the Weasel Bandits said to Obsidian come as a twist to his chance of redemption and how seemingly 'easy' he got it. What do you think of the conversation scene before the Weasel Bandits escaped again? Let me know in the reviews.

Thank you for reading this chapter! If you enjoy this story, be sure to follow or favorite this story, so you can get updates about this story. If there is any feedback or constructive criticism you want to share, let me know in your review. It would be nice to hear open thoughts so that I can know what to improve.

Until next time, keep on rocking!