Yuri: Dad... Could you please give me some money?
In a Russian apartment where an almost normal family lived, a very peculiar scene was taking place. A father was sitting on a chair at the end of the dining room table reading a newspaper. His face was sunken and he looked tired. The man removed his reading glasses and looked up at his son, his eyes immediately filled with sadness.
Fourteen-year-old Yuri was already consumed by drugs.
No one knew exactly what had pushed him down this slope. But the result was there.
The young boy had not gone to school for months, rarely left his room and always at night. His smell was similar to a corpse, as was his appearance. He looked very unwell, and kept scratching his left arm.
The father looked at him saddened.
Although saddened would not be the best word.
In fact, no set of words could describe how broken the father was at seeing the state of his son who was killing himself little by little. And what could he do to get him out of it?
Viktor was just an ordinary man and parent, completely overwhelmed by the turn of events and had no idea how to act properly in the face of this.
He put his newspaper on the table and took a deep breath.
Viktor: And why do you want this money?
Yuri: I'm going out with some friends in town...
The boy took a few seconds to answer, which prompted another question from the patriarch.
Viktor: Who are these friends?
A question that was just meant to make him face his lie.
Yuri was a very unsocial person. His shyness, mixed with his great susceptibility, his disgusting appearance and his habit of believing himself to think too differently from others, had put a stop to every beginning of friendship. In addition, he no longer went to school and hardly went out except in secret.
The young boy gritted his teeth in anger.
Yuri: It's not important, I just want some fucking money.
The father suspected why Yuri wanted money.
Viktor: No.
Yuri: What...?
Viktor: You won't get any money Yuri, you don't need it, what you need is to be healed.
The young boy gritted his teeth even more.
Yuri: Fucking hell, all I'm asking you for is some fucking money, so stop bothering me and give it to me!
The father of the family got up in anger at his son's brazenness, knocking over his chair.
He was much taller than Yuri, who was still very small despite being fourteen years old, but the young boy was so angry that he didn't seem to be intimidated in the least.
Viktor: Watch what you say young man! I'm not going to give you money so that you can go and buy your fix right after!
Yuri: What do you care what I do! Stop acting like you care about me and give me some money!
Viktor: Can't you see that this shit is eating you up! Stop this bullshit! We can take you to the doctor!
Yuri: Shut up! You don't know how I feel!
The young man tried to flee from the confrontation and headed for the front door but was quickly blocked by his father's body.
Viktor: You're going to stay here until your mother comes home and we're going to have a talk.
Yuri: Let me fucking go!
The tension rose between the two and the young man with green eyes ended up pushing his father roughly. The older man, although much stronger, did not expect such an act so he fell backwards hitting the table and screaming in pain.
He remained motionless, wiggling a little from the pain and Yuri froze completely.
Terrified by the fact that he had just hurt his father quite seriously, the young boy had tears in his eyes.
He turned the door handle and ran away, as far and fast as he could.
*knock knock*
The giant suddenly got up from his bed covered with sweat because of the nightmare, the stress and the panic made him take his pistol that he hid under his pillow to point it at the door of his hotel room.
But when the logical and sensible parts of his brain could take over, Sebastian felt very stupid.
He put down his handgun and punched himself in the face for his stupidity.
Nightmares about his past always put him in this state.
That dark period of his life that he himself had caused...
In a way, he was glad that Yuri was dead. For Sebastian was born from the best part of his ashes.
The good giant stood up letting the sheets fall from his almost naked body if not for the boxers he was wearing, he quickly put on his pants as the knocking started again.
Sebastian: I'm coming!
Because of the residual tiredness and the light hangover, he did not succeed in concentrating his hearing enough to know who knocked at his door, he approached quickly and opened the door to see who was there.
Immediately his eyes met Angelina's who was about to knock again. The giant began to smile as the young vulpo lowered her eyes slightly and began to blush before quickly looking back into his eyes.
Angelina: 'Oh my god these abs! Is there a mistake on the goods? He's not a doctor but a bodybuilder!
Sebastian: Hey Angie.
Angelina: H-hello d-doctor we were about to leave and I just wanted to see if you were awake...
The girl was still as red as ever and had trouble speaking because of the embarrassment.
Sebastian leaned his head to look into the hotel corridor to see Irina a few meters away rubbing her eyes with fatigue.
Sebastian: Go ahead of me I have a few things to do. I'll meet you at the world's end.
The young woman's fox ears lay on top of her head showing her disappointment.
Angelina: W-well... see you later doctor...
The giant closed his door and left to take a shower while the vulpine woman crouched on the floor holding her ears in embarrassment.
Angelina: What have I done? I had to wake him up while he was sleeping and look like a weird girl now he'll hate me and-
Irina: Can you stop screaming like that in the morning...?
Angelina: Oh I... Sorry...
Irina: Isn't the doctor coming?
Angelina: No he said he had some things to take care of...
Irina: Too bad... Let's go. The others must be waiting for us at the bar.
In his hotel room Sebastian cleared his mind under the cold water shower. All those stories about the drug trade had brought back what he would have liked to forget about himself. He cleaned his skin to regain his composure, letting the water run down the grooves in his muscles.
Sebastian: I'm sorry, Dad...
He stopped running the water and dried himself before getting dressed to leave.
After all, he had to prevent others from falling into the same hell he had landed in.
Monday 8:27 am
Irina and Angelina arrive together at the world's end while the rest of their group was already there being surprised by the appearance of enormous boxes. Irina enters the bar with difficulty because of these boxes Angelina following her closely. Sora was sitting at a bar stool yawning heavily from boredom, Croissant was moving some of the crates with her strength to clear the way, Emperor was right next to the Forte listing the different logos on the military crates. Exusiai was sitting in front of a table, happily lying on it taking a rest and especially because of the immense headache she was feeling. Mostima was right next to her, stroking her back in the hope that the softness would make the headache go away... And Lappland and Texas were simply not there.
Irina: Hi...? What the hell is this?
Emperor: I don't know. When I got there it was already there...
The ursine looked at the emblems on the crates before frowning as Angelina waved to Exusiai in the distance who had looked up to see the new arrivals. Frowning as she saw that the doctor was not there.
Irina: Is this D.I.A. stuff...?
She asked, looking at the penguin for a few moments, the latter making a strange gesture.
Emperor: I just shrugged my shoulders.
Irina: Oh sorry... 'How am I supposed to see him?! He doesn't even have shoulders!'
Emperor: Not just from the D.I.A., there are agencies from all over the world with these logos...
Sora: Isn't the doctor with you?
Irina: No... He didn't leave with us.
As soon as she had finished her sentence, the door of the bar opened to let the man we were talking about pass. A bag in his hand and a cardboard cup holder filled with coffee cups. The giant looked at the ursine in front of him and frowned.
Sebastian: You got lost on the way.
The two young women looked at each other and lowered their heads.
Irina: Yes...
Angelina: Doctor, where have you been?
Sebastian: I went to get some croissants and coffee...
He said as he placed the bag on the table, which had an appetizing smell, and the coffees, taking one from the lot, which he placed right in front of the sanktah with a smile, seeing that she needed it badly. The young woman stood up, blushing slightly and smiling a little under the jealous gaze of some others.
Sebastian: But also some information.
He said while withdrawing a file of his coat which carried a logo of the DIA marked top secret in red ink above. He walked over to the corkboard as everyone started to look at it.
Sebastian: Okay, everyone's here- where are the wolves?
Mostima: Texas' apartment probably... We better not wait for them before noon.
Sebastian: Well... Never mind... Anyway, I know who we're dealing with.
He opened his file and took out some color pictures that he hung on the board. Four people could be seen in each corner of the board. There was a Liberi woman in the upper right corner, a vouivre man in the upper left corner, and two Kirin in the lower corner who looked very similar.
Sebastian: Ladies and gentlemen, these are the four pillars of the notorious underworld that infiltrated Lungmen and attacked you last night. The Blood Dragon Triad.
Emperor: Seriously...?
Sebastian: I don't get to choose the names.
He says, aware of the ridiculousness of the name.
Sebastian: We're lucky because they're already posted because of their business in Yen so I was able to get some information. They're originally a small triad from the imperial city. So they've been dealing with the big guys and they're experienced, but they've been knocked down and thought it was a good idea to move here where the land is almost free.
Exusiai: But how did they manage to settle in Lungmen without anyone noticing?
She asked, taking a sip of her coffee, made just like usual.
Emperor: I was able to find that out by asking around. You go first doc.
Sebastian: That little lady you see there is Liu Yandong, head of the nightlife for the triad. She is in charge of brothels, nightclubs, casinos but also human and organ trafficking.
He said while posing a photo of a decrepit building from which came out a rather old man with an expensive suit and a prostitute.
Sebastian: on the left we have Mr. Wang Huning, he's the one in charge of drug trafficking, weapons, and targeted assassinations. He's a bit like their armed wing, but with synthetic drugs on top of the cake.
With a movement that didn't even take a second, Sebastian connected the syringe marked with the red dragon and the man's picture with a piece of string.
Sebastian: And finally downstairs we have the Leji twins, Xi and Zhao. Xi runs everything that's pretty much legal in town. He's the one who does all the money laundering for them. His brother Zhao is the accountant... He's the one who handles all the transactions, bribes, and other logistics for the other three.
Mostima: So four people we already know? Let's go get them!
Exusiai: Please don't shout so loudly...
Said the sankta while rubbing her temples because of the headache.
Emperor: It can't be that simple...
He says, noticing the empty space between the four big shots, who is their boss?
Sebastian: Good point. We don't know anything about the man in the shadows who pulls the strings of these four. Nobody knows anything about it. And yet they made enough noise in the imperial city that the intelligence services of Laterano, Columbia and ursus were interested in them, but they found nothing. This guy is a ghost.
Emperor: Which makes me wonder... Why the hell do you have a DIA file?! And what's with all the boxes?
Sebastian: Oh.
He pulled out his cell phone.
Sebastian: It's amazing what you can do with that little thing and a few phone calls... Did you know that the director of the D.I.A. likes to dress up as a giraffe to attend BDSM parties? Well, I did. And he didn't really want his wife and kids to know about it, and the whole country, so he sent me some boxes and files.
Emperor: It wasn't the kind of thing I wanted to know...
Angelina: You blackmailed the director of the Colombian secret service...?
Sebastian: So there you go... I not only brought back coffee and croissants, but also some gifts.
He took one of the boxes that Croissant had just put away with difficulty and put it right in front of Exusiai to open it and reveal some firearms.
A light machine gun, a 50 cal sniper, a shotgun and even a rocket launcher...
Exusiai: Holy
Emperor: fucking
Irina: Shit.
Everyone in the bar looked at the war arsenal with wide eyes. Especially when they knew the exorbitant price of laterano weapons. But Exusiai had stars in her eyes.
Sebastian: I warn you, consider them as if they were lent to you because at the end of the week I have to return them. But the other box over there is the ammunition and you can consider it as given.
Sora: My goodness! But how did you get all this stuff doc? Did you blackmail me again?
Sebastian: I just asked politely...
She frowned and realizing that the young woman couldn't grasp it he pointed at her face and the gears started turning in his head.
Sora: You pretended to be the archangel?! But that's even worse!
Sebastian: No, not at all, I told them that I'm just a fucking doctor in Rhodes Island, they send me letters since that stupid news report, considering me as their archangel, I can't help it!
Irina: If there is free stuff to pick up...
Sebastian: Don't move, I have something.
The military Santa continued to distribute his gifts. Another case of Laterano and another of Columbia.
He gave them to her and let her open them to reveal a pair of well-made Colombian swords and a grenade launcher.
Sebastian: Is everyone satisfied?
Emperor: There is enough material for World War V...
Sebastian: That's the point. I've done my homework, Emperor.
Emperor: Okay listen everyone, I had to dig around to get some information but I was able to find out that the triad has been here for two months now, keeping a low profile. It was four days ago that everything changed. They started to distribute their drugs massively and flood the market.
Sebastian: four days...? I went to the north side of the city to look around, it can't be only four days...
Emperor: They almost gave it away in some areas and in large quantities. They also did it at the festival four days ago.
Immediately Sora's face broke down.
Sora: There were many people who came to this festival just to see me...
Emperor: Hey, it's not your fault.
The giant looked back at the young lupo with a rather soft and comforting look.
Sebastian: The penguin is right, kid. You don't control what your fans do.
Sora started to smile, still a little embarrassed but at least reassured by the words of the giant and the rapper.
Mostima: Do we have a plan?
asked the fallen sanktah who was on her third croissant.
Sebastian: That's the question I was waiting for, congratulations Mosti you win a good point.
He pointed to the bottom right.
Sebastian: Normally we would go after the accountant first. Because we have to hit them where it hurts, i.e. their money, and also because he has all the information on the other three and probably on the big boss. Except that I'm out of luck. I don't have any useful information on this guy.
Emperor: Ah...
Sebastian: The only one we've faced so far is the general and his soldiers.
He says, pointing to the top left.
Sebastian: I have the address of one of his drug outlets. So we can trace it back to him bit by bit.
Emperor: And I know there's going to be a big delivery this morning on the old docs around 10 o'clock.
Sebastian: Well... So we'll split up. One team will take care of the docs, one team will take care of the point of sale.
Emperor: You're doing the point of sale?
Sebastian: Yep. Angie Exia, are you coming with me?
Angelina was startled when she heard that the doctor wanted her on his team, but she quickly nodded her head. Exusiai gave a thumbs up as she finished her coffee, sobering up completely.
Emperor: Croissant, Sora, Mosti are you ready?
Mostima: Come on boss.
Sebastian: And Irina?
The giant called out to the ursine who was examining her weapons.
Sebastian: Will you say hello to your sister for me?
The girl's red eyes met the emeralds and she smiled.
Irina: Of course.
Sebastian: Okay, girls, let's take off. Our target is not far.
He started to walk towards the exit, waving to the others, while Exusiai followed him with a light foot, Angelina also following the good doctor.
Monday: 9:13 am
The three members of the makeshift squad had already been walking together for several minutes in silence as the streets of Lungmen became quieter and quieter as they made their way through the less favored corners of the city. And it was the giant who broke the silence as he loosened his tie slightly.
Sebastian: Hey Angie, where are you from?
Angelina: Palermo... Why?
asked the curious young woman.
Sebastian: I just wanted to know more about you, after all we just met.
The vulpo started to blush a little under the look of Exusiai who was frowning.
Angelina: There's not much interesting to say about me... I grew up in Palermo, I wanted to be a surgeon... Then I got infected and had to run away...
Sebastian: What the hell are you all doing the same thing ?
Angelina: Huh?
Exusiai: What thing doc ?
Sebastian: Can't you romanticize your past a bit and make it interesting instead of just giving me three sentences every time?
He says while shaking his head left and right.
Angelina: Eh eh... Sorry doctor but there's really nothing interesting to say about me... I'm just a normal girl who had bad luck when an originium pipe blew up...
The giant stopped abruptly in his tracks and looked the girl in the eyes.
Sebastian: Listen to me, there is no such thing as a normal girl. Everyone has their own story to tell.
Exusiai: He's right you know, if you were a "normal" girl you wouldn't be caught up in a little gang war...
Angelina: I guess...
Sebastian: For example, what do you like about your job?
Angelina: Oh... this might sound weird, but for me there is no better feeling than the one I get when I look at the dawn from the top of a skyscraper or when I fly between buildings with my powers... It's one of the only times I feel really free... Like I can still do anything I want... It makes me forget about those damn things...
She says, pulling her shorts down a little more to hide her oripathy crystals on her thigh.
Sebastian: And now I want to go back to Rhodes Island even more...
Angelina: Huh? Why? I realized last night that you hadn't been for a while but I saw your land cruiser when I passed over the docs...
Sebastian: Just one hell of a bitch move by the head asshole Wei Yenwu, so I haven't seen some people I miss a lot in over a month, and I haven't been able to do a bit of research for the cure.
Angelina: A cure? So Rhode Island is really working on a cure for oripathy?
Sebastian: Of course we are, why didn't you believe in it?
Angelina: It just doesn't seem possible even for the biggest medical companies in the world who have been working on it for years... So a company as small as Rhodes Island...
Sebastian: Don't worry, every week we're making progress and doing everything we can to finally put an end to this shit. Who knows. Maybe one day you'll be able to enjoy your youth without having to worry about these crystals.
He says with a smile and puts his hands in his pockets.
Sebastian: And that day will come even sooner when I return to Rhodes Island...
The giant turned to take another street that would lead them to their destination but he seemed to sniff something in the air and immediately his face became much more distracted. The two young women looked at the buildings to see that they had just entered one of the streets dedicated to lust where many Lungs were going out and coming back from seedy establishments. Sebastian felt more and more uncomfortable in front of the interpellations of the Lung women and their hungry looks as if they were lions seeing a juicy steak which was walking in front of them.
The two young women who accompanied Sebastian were soon also victims of the same things but from the Lung males this time. And soon the whole group started to speed up.
Angelina: What are we doing here...?
Sebastian: Sorry but this was just the shortest way... We better hurry...
Exusiai: I'm glad I don't have any seasons as a sanktah...
Sebastian: And it's even worse at night... That's why the city is even more in chaos these last two weeks.
The doctor seemed increasingly distracted and uncomfortable and Exusiai, seeing him, raised an eyebrow.
Exusiai: Is something wrong doc?
Sebastian: N-nothing...
He says a little embarrassed.
Sebastian: It's just that the problem with having a nose as developed as mine is to be able to smell the pheromones that all these lungs emit and it confuses my mind...
Exusiai thought for a few seconds until she began to understand the doctor's sentence.
He was getting excited because of the sexual pheromones that surrounded them. She started to blush intensely and the doctor was even more embarrassed and accelerated his pace to get out of the street.
Once again it was a matter of a few brief minutes of walking to arrive in a street which was even more ill-famed but much less active. The doctor saw his target about ten meters away and pointed to the building.
Sebastian: This is it. I'm warning you, we're not doing anything subtle here. We're on a one-two punch.
Exusiai: Copy that doc.
The sanktah instinctively looked around and saw that the roof opposite gave a good view of the outlet building.
Exusiai: Are you giving me hand? I could easily cover you from up there.
He nodded and placed himself at the bottom of the building with his hands together, planning to send the young woman a few meters high. Angelina raised her eyebrows and tapped her scepter, Exusiai began to levitate with surprise, the vulpo pushed her very slightly as the sanktah reached her destination and touched the ground gracefully, though she felt extremely strange having experienced the absence of gravity for the very first time. She pulled herself together, summoning her brand new sniper rifle with her arts before landing against the ledge with a finger on her earpiece.
Exusiai: I'm in place.
Sebastian: Keep your eyes wide open, there is no way the police are not coming. If things go south.
The giant approached the door of the building, stroking the top of Angelina's head to thank her for the use of her arts in passing, and seeing that it was closed decided to simply smash the lock with his hand opening the way.
The vulpo next to him widened her eyes at the doctor's grip. She had been told he was strong... And she hadn't realized it at the time when it looked like he was about to almost throw Exusiai over a roof.
But now she could see it, he was really strong as an ox. Between that and the embarrassment she felt after being fondled by Sebastian, she hadn't even seen what she'd walked into, the hallway of the building was unsanitary as can be, not to mention the fact that there were three junkies armed with military crossbows staring at the two intruders.
A second passed in silence, and the first one put his hands on his crossbow, but the drugs had made him too slow.
Sebastian put a hand under his coat and soon the junkie's hand was planted on his crossbow. Like his skull against the wall... or his comrades'.
The giant looked behind him.
Sebastian: Are you okay?
Angelina: y-yes... I just had my mind elsewhere...
Sebastian: Worst time for that...
He walked up the stairs with the vulpo behind him and stopped in front of the door of the apartment with a seven on it.
He took a deep breath and drew his gun before looking at Angelina.
Sebastian: Cover my back.
He huffed and puffed as his muscles began to fill with oxygen to multiply his strength.
He rang the doorbell and heard footsteps approaching and the eyelet opening.
Sebastian raised his pistol straight up to the eyelet of the door and fired, exploding the skull of whoever was standing behind it, then lifted his leg to kick the door in, knocking it off the frame and causing the corpse behind it to fall to the ground even faster. In front of such a commotion, which however had not lasted a single second, all the drug dealers who were standing in the apartment riveted their eyes to Sebastian who entered the apartment.
One of the fastest ones tried to grab a crossbow but unfortunately for him he was standing near the window on a chair.
*BAM*
His head disappeared in front of the power of the caliber he had just suffered.
A man approached Sebastian with a machete but the giant punched him in the heart, crushing his vital muscle and killing him instantly. Unfortunately, he did not see the man right behind the man with the machete, who stabbed him with a kitchen knife, thinking he was aiming for the heart.
Sebastian grabbed his enemy's left arm and raised it to clear a line of fire on the dealer's knee. He fired, knocking him down and clearing a line of fire at another dealer who was about to throw a pipe at him. The poor fool not only got his skull punctured by a bullet from Sebastian's grizzly, but also caught fire when a blue ball of flame fired by
Angelina hit him head-on. Sebastian directed his hand downward and fired a bullet into the head of the man who had stabbed him in the chest.
Angelina: right!
Sebastian's lack of attention caused him to be tackled by a forte man who charged him to his right and slammed him against a table to his left, causing him to lose his handgun. Destabilized, Sebastian managed to dodge the machete blow that was aimed at his skull within a few centimeters. Fortunately, a well-placed shot from Exusiai instantly killed the man who was attacking the giant.
Sebastian could see a man standing in a windowless room who had just raised a crossbow at him, so without thinking he took the knife he had stuck in the chest and threw it at the man's skull to kill him. The latter went towards the window probably with the idea of jumping and escaping but Angelina fired a fireball at his legs which made him give a heart-rending cry and fall to the ground.
Immediately, calm was restored except for the cries of pain from the last dealer still alive and the heavy breathing of Sebastian and Angelina. The giant after a few seconds pushed the body which lay on him and got up to go to recover his weapon. Angelina, because of the panic, had misused her arts and consequently felt her crystals burning. She was getting tired and looked up at the giant.
Angelina: Are you really a doctor?!
Sebastian: I sometimes heal people...
It was at this moment that the vulpo finally noticed the wound that was beading the blood of the good doctor, she opened her eyes and approached him quickly.
Angelina: Oh my God, you're hurt!
Exusiai: Doc, no more movement on my side. Are you all right?
Sebastian: Nothing at all.
Angelina: Exusiai, it's terrible, the doctor has been stabbed in the heart and-
Exusiai: He will be fine.
Angelina: 'But why am I the only one who is worried?!'
Sebastian: Keep an eye out, I'm about to interview a survivor.
The doctor took a slight second to look around and ignored the massacre to see that the apartment was decrepit and just looked like the clichéd drug dealer's hideout from the movies or TV shows with the added bonus of a huge table in the middle of the apartment with chemistry kits and what was needed to fill the injectors. He approached quickly and could see that they were the famous injectors marked with the red dragon, some were full and others empty. He walked over to the last remaining dealer and put his hand on his dagger to use his arts to heal his burns to make sure he survived, but before he could even speak Sebastian took his handgun and shoved it into the dealer's mouth.
Sebastian: You scream, I'll kill you, you don't answer me, I'll kill you, and finally, you lie to me. And I kill you. Is that clear?
He took the gun out of his mouth and let him talk.
Dealer: Y-yes...
Sebastian: You were making drugs for the Blood Dragon Triad?
Dealer: Yes...
Sebastian: Who is giving you your orders?
Dealer: I don't know...
Sebastian drew back the hammer of his sidearm and pointed the barrel under the chin of the man he was interrogating.
Sebastian: Wrong answer...
Dealer: I don't know! We get the instructions and ingredients in a trash can next door every week! And we have to pay them half of the money we make!
Sebastian: So you're going to tell me you don't know who your boss is?
Dealer: I told you I don't know so please don't kill me!
Sebastian: What are your instructions?
Dealer: We were just supposed to make the drugs and sell them... Or sometimes go out and fight rival gangs... Like those guys from Glasgow or something...
Sebastian: Glasgow...
Dealer: Bastards from Victoria... Well look the leader here was Jackson he got captured by them! If you want answers, he's the one to find! Just please let me go!
Sebastian: Where are these Glasgows?
Dealer: Victorian neighborhood! The old apartment complex!
Sebastian: Thanks for everything.
He stood up, and shot the dealer in the head spraying his own face with blood. Angelina took a step back and widened her eyes, shocked at the doctor's action, in front of what seemed to be a pure execution.
Angelina: Doctor but why?! He had surrendered!
Sebastian: I wouldn't let anyone leave this place alive.
She raised her eyes and stared at the doctor's emeralds. His usually warm face seemed cold and implacable like a machine.
Angelina: But... we could at least have given them a second chance...
Sebastian: If you want. I don't think they deserve it with all the things they're destroying.
Angelina frowned in incomprehension. After all, it was the first time she had seen such ambiguous morals. And from whom? A man she thought she was in love with?
With the incident that had happened to her last night, it was time for the second big slap in the face of reality for Angelina.
Superheroes didn't exist, and the man in front of her was certainly not one.
The two turned in the direction of an apartment door when they heard the sound of a toilet flushing. The door opened and out stepped a man with a headset on his ears. A blond feline with black spots. He and Sebastian looked each other in the eyes. Then with a deafening speed the feline took out an object from his pocket that looked like a small bag containing pills. The dealer swallowed one of them thanks to his speed at the same time that Sebastian shot him in the arm.
The man fell to the throne and began to convulse for a brief second. Until Sebastian raised his handgun and shot him. But as if his opponent's speed had been multiplied when he fired, the opponent got up and dodged the bullet. The shockwave of the supersonic crack shattered the windows as Sebastian was thrown against a brick wall that miraculously did not break. Angelina was thrown to the ground as the doctor began to cough up blood from the pain.
Sebastian: Okay... now I'm pissed.
He cracked his knuckles and dropped his cloak and sword, the feline cheetah started to howl like an animal and charged towards the doctor at a speed that almost surpassed any mortal being on this planet. Exusiai tried to shoot him from the roof, but he was simply too fast to be hit.
Sebastian dodged the man's punch by moving his head slightly and hit his opponent with his fist with the objective of crushing his sternum. Unfortunately, his enemy was much too fast and jumped back to dodge.
The giant threw himself forward with his fists, taking a kick with his forearms. He felt his bones crack and he clenched his teeth cutting his nervous system in his arms.
But he continued to move forward and gave an impulse in his arms throwing the feline backwards through one of the walls of the apartment. Angelina who was still on the ground and in bad shape managed to have enough spirit to raise her staff and shoot the cheetah with another fireball. And seeing the position of the giant and his opponent she had an idea, she shot her projectile yes, but a little bit beside its target. The feline dodged of course, but on the side of the giant who was now close enough to hit him. The doctor threw a monstrous left hook to the side of his opponent's skull that sent him flying and exploding to the ground next to the table that supported the miniature drug lab. The feline grabbed a gas canister that was used to heat the various devices and threw it at the giant, the latter did not think and tried to parry the attack by sending the projectile somewhere else, but the sparks generated by the metal torn by the giant's arm made the gas explode under pressure and there was just enough left to send the giant against a wall.
Sebastian was trying to regain his composure as he crouched against a wall that looked like it was about to collapse. Angelina had been knocked to the ground by the shock wave.
The feline took an iron bar that the corpse of one of his friends was holding and he approached the giant with the only thought of smashing his skull.
Déjà vu...
Sebastian threw a flash grenade that he had pulled the pin when his opponent took his weapon.
The enemy was blinded and Sebastian got up before approaching and brutally lifting his leg with all his strength.
With the effect of literally exploding the balls of the cheetah.
The cheetah backed away paralyzed by the immense pain. Sebastian raised his leg above his head and gave a hammer kick so strong that it decapitated the cheetah.
Blood spurted from his neck, forming a puddle on the ground.
Sebastian: Angie are you okay?
He heard her cough and get up.
He had to admit that the multiple explosions, the fierce fighting and all that had been a bit too much for the young woman...
Angelina: What the hell was that?
The good doctor's eyes fell on the plastic bag that still contained some pills so he took it and put it in his pocket.
Exusiai: Doctor, are you okay?
Sebastian: We just ran into a slightly bigger guy...
Exusiai: You have to get out of here and fast! The police are coming!
Sebastian: Holy shit... Go down the fire escape, we'll meet with you down there.
The giant retrieved his coat and the rest of his belongings that had fallen off before running to the gas stove in the kitchen, opening all the gas outlets before approaching Angelina.
While the vulpo expected the giant to reach out to her she was surprised when he began to carry her bridal style before going out, stepping on the door he had broken down and crushing the guy underneath even more.
The young woman felt at the same time a little embarrassed by this proximity, but at the same time she said to herself that there were probably 132 more important things which took place at the same time that just her which felt a little more like the princess of a fairy tale with her charming prince.
But suddenly the young vulpo realized that the giant was running towards the roof of the building, she did not understand why, and her heart began to beat faster and faster as he ran to the edge where he jumped into the void.
But that said he still had enough energy left to jump from one building to another...
He let go of the young woman and finally took the time to catch his breath. Worried the young woman put her hand on the back of the giant. Touched by this emotion he raised his head and began to smile at the young woman.
Sebastian: Welcome to my world.
He stood up completely and walked to the fire escape, as the police cars arrived at the bottom of the building at the same time that a gargantuan explosion resounded in the dealer's apartment, throwing small debris on the police cars and making the vulpo's hair stand on end as she still hadn't gotten used to the sounds of the explosions. Shaking her head, she went down the stairwell.
Now that was an adventure...
Rhodes Island Land Cruiser 9:54 AM
A young ursine approached the boarding area to see a large bay on the side of the vehicle where normal people were entering and exiting in contrast to the strange people who were the operators. But as Irina approached the controller she began to stress, reviewing each of her papers to see if she could see any mistakes on them. Then it was her turn to arrive in front of the counter. She looked at the man behind and gave as natural a smile as she could.
Employee: Hello, is this your first time in Rhodes?
Irina: Oh yes, some friends of mine helped me to get here...
Employee: Well, then I'll need to see your authorization file, as well as your identity papers.
Irina took the envelope containing the file and handed it to the man along with his brand new passport.
The man looked at it for a moment and then began to speak.
Employee: So you're joining the security branch?
Irina: Yeah... I was told I could get a job there easily...
Employee: Hm, that makes sense. You have the head for the job... No offense of course...
His eyes went down to where the name of the person who had given permission for a new employee was written and he widened his eyes.
Employee: Wow, you have the authorization of one of the big three... Well, everything seems to be in order and you can go, Miss Irina Antipova.
Irina: Thank you very much bye...
She walked away from the counter and finally took a breath of relief.
Employee: Wait a minute!
The bear turned around, breathing heavily in panic.
Employee: I forgot to give you something...
Irina: 'Fucking idiot, he scared me...' Really?
The man put down a small circular object with blue crosses on it.
Employee: This is an Oripathy monitor, it will identify you as an employee of Rhodes Island. Your branch manager isn't here so you better go get your medical checkup and get it synchronized.
Irina: Okay, thanks for all the info...
She quickly clipped her monitor to her left ankle before quickly leaving, the blue crosses on the object quickly glowing. As she left in the corridors of Rhodes Island heading towards what was indicated as the center...
?: Well if you'd look at that here?
Irina turned her head as she felt her blood run cold to look at a person she knew well who had just stepped out of an elevator in the hallway...
The ursine looked W in the eyes, the sarkaz having a big signature smile on her face.
Irina: W...
W: Skullshatterer... I guess I shouldn't call you that anymore?
Irina: Traitor...
W: You call me a traitor? And yet here you are... With this nice choker that says you are a member of Rhodes Island... Who is holding your leash? The dear doctor?
The bear looked down slightly. That feeling she had of having betrayed her cause had not completely disappeared even though the good doctor and his entourage were doing a wonderful job of making the young woman forget it...
Irina: Shut up... I'm just here for my sister... You're the one who joined them as soon as you saw them.
W: I'm just a mercenary not an ideologist, I work for whoever I want.
Irina: Leave me alone and go away... I don't even understand what you're doing here if you hate Sebastian so much...
The sarkaz frowned. Not at the ursine's remark, but at the fact that she called the doctor by his first name. Which was definitely a sign that she had gotten closer to him. Irina obviously noticed immediately the sudden change of expression of the sarkaz.
W: Have you seen the doctor lately?
Irina: Just this morning what do you care?
W: 'I hope he's okay, I haven't seen him for a while and he's all alone there, poor guy, he must be lonely...' I have a deathly desire to piss him off.
The sarkaz finished her sentence but internally she was in chaos. Why had she thought that in the first place? Why had she even asked the question?
She had spent the better part of a month squirming in bed, feeling her body burn, because she couldn't get the doctor out of her thoughts. The only thing she wanted to do to him right now was to coil her tail around his body, hold him tight and-
No !
She wanted to beat the crap out of him and finally stop thinking about him, finally stop suffering the effects of two parts of her mind that were at war with each other.
The sarkaz put a hand on her forehead and Irina saw this but decided not to care.
Irina: Now that you've annoyed me enough, maybe I can go...
The ursine left the ex-leader of the reunion to her business as she hurried to the central area of Rhodes Island. And by hurrying enough it was rather short to join this place which left an immense surprise to the young woman who found herself in what seemed to be almost a park inside the cruiser. Her eyes snooped left and right until they landed on a young girl sitting on a bench. An ursine, blue-eyed girl with white-gray hair... And oripathy crystals on her legs. She didn't have a pale and sickly complexion like a month ago, just like the flesh on her bones that signaled that she was no longer malnourished...
Irina began to smile and almost felt the tears come to her eyes as her gaze fell on her sister. She hurriedly walked over to her and soon Misha could sense that something was there. The child turned her head and could finally see her sister. At first she seemed almost incredulous, but eventually she got up from the bench and ran over to her to give her a big hug. With a slight sense of déjà vu the two sisters hugged each other. But this time, they never going to be separated once again.
Misha: Irina! I'm so happy to see you again!
Irina: Me too, sis...
Misha: What are you doing here?
Irina: It's okay, I can finally stay with you... And for good...
Misha: Is that true?
Irina: Hm... I'm going to join Rhodes Island Misha.
The younger girl pressed her head into the neck of the older bear and Irina felt her scarf getting wet with tears.
Misha: We are finally going to be together... I love you Irina...
Irina: I love you too, sis.
The younger one suddenly stepped aside with a smile.
Misha: Come on, I've cried enough! Ify said that you should always smile to make others happy!
The younger girl walked to the bench where she took a paper bag she had next to her and gave it to her sister who was wondering who this Ify could be.
Irina: What is this?
Misha: Madame Gavial gave it to me and told me that dad wanted me to give it to someone who would come to see me this morning in the park... So I guess I have to give it to you...
The former leader of the meeting took the bag and opened it to see that the bag was full of treatments for oripathy. No doubt for her and the other members of their small temporary gang who were infected...
Irina: Dad?
It was only now that Irina was pointing this out. Misha gasped and looked uncertain...
Misha: I-It's what I call the doctor... It's because Ify was doing the same and then he's kind of like a daddy to me and...
It didn't take a genius to figure out that she was uncomfortable... Of course, she knew that Sebastian wasn't her father... The father that she and Irina shared. The father whose death Irina had joined the reunion to avenge in the beginning.
Irina looked at her sister, at her face that seemed to come out of a mirror.
Then her eyes fell on that scar on her eyebrow... It was recent, that was easy to see, but identical to the doctor's.
Acceptance hit Irina softly.
Misha was not her. And she didn't have to be.
She didn't have to feel the same things, think the same things, and do the same things.
As much as they looked like twins, they were not clones.
Sebastian wasn't very old on paper, but Irina could easily tell that he would be able to be a good father figure to Misha.
And all that mattered to the older ursine was that her sister was happy.
Her hand rested on Misha's head to reassure her, as she looked mortified with fear.
Irina: Hey, it's okay.
Misha stopped panicking instantly and listened carefully to her sister.
Irina: And the doctor takes good care of you? So you can call him whatever you want...
Misha: He hasn't been around for a long time... I miss him...
Irina: He thinks a lot of you too. He told me this morning.
Misha: Why doesn't he come back...?
Irina: He still has work to do in Lungmen.
Misha: But you're going to stay, right?
Irina: I'm going to help the doctor for just a week, then I'll come back with you, okay?
Misha: Oh... I just want you to stay with me...
Irina: I owe it to the doctor, Misha. Don't worry about it. Next Monday, first thing in the morning I'll be there with you. I promise you that.
Misha: Can you stay with me for a while?
The former leader of reunion smiled. Maybe she could stay for an hour with her sister, to catch up on her life and get a taste of the future life she would lead.
Irina: Okay, just a little...
A few meters away a certain perro was watching the scene. At first her hands went to her radio and whip, but she decided not to use them, when she saw the ursine and her mini version.
She empathized in a way...
Word's end, Monday, 11:46
A young ursine walked into the bar surprised to hear nothing inside, a smile due to the good mood printed on her face. When she entered the bar, however, her gaze quickly fell on the occupants who were already there. First Angelina was sitting with a tea in her hands at a bar stool, looking pensive with her two fox ears lying on top of her head. Then her gaze fell on one of the bar couches. Sebastian was lying down, eyes closed, his head resting on Exusiai's thighs...
The two young women looked into each other's eyes, the sanktah quickly starting to blush.
Irina: You didn't tell me that you two were a thing...
at her sentence the sanktah gets a face as red as her hair.
Irina began to smile, but inside she felt almost disappointed, because embarrassing the sanktah just didn't provoke that little spark, that addictive feeling she felt when doing the same thing to the doctor.
But intrigued, the ursine approached the good doctor and leaned forward to look at his sleeping face. Even though he was extremely close the doctor didn't bat an eye, showing that he was heavily asleep...
She snapped her fingers over his face, but the doctor continued to breathe softly, she even began to lightly touch his face with her fingertip, but nothing seemed to wake him.
Irina: Is he dead...?
Exusiai: He was just very tired...
The ursine stood up and looked at Angelina.
Irina: But what happened?!
Angelina: Oh umm... We were up against someone very strong... The doctor put up a good fight and as soon as we got here he laid down and said he had to rest...
Irina: He sleeps so peacefully...
Exusiai: I know.
Irina: But last night he was screaming all the time...
She says, looking at the vulpo.
Angelina: It's true, a few minutes after he fell asleep here too, he kept squirming and grunting... He must have nightmares easily... But he calmed down when Exia got closer to him.
The ursine was even more intrigued and looked at the good doctor's guardian angel;
Irina: An explanation ?
Exusiai lowered her head and looked at the giant's face, gently stroking his hair.
Exusiai: You keep this to yourself... But he already told me that he has a lot of trouble sleeping alone... it terrifies him...
Irina: Really?
The ursine seemed to have little faith in this... It had to be said that the good doctor was a man of one hundred and fifty kilos for two meters with enough strength to cut a part of the city in two and make a mountain disappear with his fist.
Exusiai: I know... You wouldn't think so, but he's actually terrified of many things... I guess that makes him human...
The sanktah raised her head to meet the eyes of the ursine and the vulpo.
Both were thinking the same thing...
Angelina: You're really close to him...
That and the fact that she seemed obviously in love with him.
Exusiai: Yeah... I joined Rhodes Island the day they got him from Chernobog, so even though it's only been three months I'm one of the people he's known the longest. And we hit it off right from the start so I guess that helped.
Angelina began sipping her tea again, her ears lowered even further on her head.
How could she even hope to win this man's heart after all?
She was just a child, and he was extremely attractive to many other women - she didn't stand a chance when women like Exusiai had such a head start.
Irina: And have you ever kissed?
The vulpo almost spit out her tea and Exusiai jumped, revealing her other eye, usually hidden by a lock of hair.
Exusiai: Why are you even asking ?!
The ursine crossed her arms with a slightly mocking smile.
Irina: That means no. Well listen I just wanted to know if he was really your boyfriend or not and if you had sealed the deal. But obviously not yet... 'Good...' You're going to have to go for it if you want to catch him! Make him fall back to a corner, grab his collar and then shove your tongue down his throat !
Exusiai's eyes spiraled as she didn't know if she was listening to love advice or the words of an optimistic boxing coach.
The fact she imagined herself doing this too didn't helped...
Until she came to her senses.
Exusiai: I'm not going to take dating advice from you snot-nose you're ten years younger than me!
Angelina frowned and Irina's smile faded...
Irina: Wait... But you're actually old.
Angelina: Oh I know, sanktas usually age more slowly.
Irina: Really?
Angelina: Hm hm, that's why Sora is actually nineteen.
Irina: I thought so too... I would have thought she was about 15 or so...
Exusiai: Me old? And what else...
Irina came to sit on one of the bar stools next to Angelina; her bear ears twitching as she heard conversations outside, while the bar door opened to let in the rest of the Penguin Logistics group. Surprisingly it was the two lupos who entered first, Texas had a pocky in her mouth as usual and Lappland seemed to be in a particularly good mood judging by her big smile and her tail wagging left and right.
The rest came in and soon all eyes were on the good doctor who was still dozing. When it was Lappland's turn to see Sebatian asleep, her smile widened even more, to the smile of someone who really wanted to do something stupid.
She contracted her legs and made a gigantic leap forward, stretching her arms, Exusiai aware that she was going to take a lupo on the corner of face, moved away quickly by reflex, and finally Lappland reached her target, landing heavily on the doctor.
His sleep, which had seemed unruffled until then, was cut short when his instincts, which still considered Lappland too much of an enemy, combined with the stimulus he received when she jumped on him, made his eyes open wide. His body was traversed for an instant by a powerful electric current so strong that Lappland was ejected from his body. In the same second, it was the doctor who jumped to the corner of the room with his dagger in hand, looking almost like a hysterical cat ready to kill anything that came near him.
Exusiai: Seb! Please calm down!
Mostima: Wow doc calm down...
The gigantic man slowly came to his senses and stood up embarrassed rubbing the back of his neck.
Sebastian: Um... Hi everyone... Sorry about that...
Lappland slowly got up, smoking slightly from all the electricity she had just received.
Sebastian: And Lapp, don't do that in the future...
Emperor cleared his throat and walked forward.
Emperor: Well, I'm going to forget about what just happened... was it on your end doc?
Everyone settled down except for the penguin and the good doctor to prepare for the briefing.
Sebastian: We were able to learn several things. One of the ways that the triad produces their drugs. Apparently they have several sales and manufacturing branches, they send out instructions with ingredients that they keep secret and collect the money through a system of dead boxes.
He walked over to the board and pinned a bag containing a pill he had picked up there near the drug injector.
Sebastian: And this is the new thorn in our side. Another drug, but if you see someone taking it right away all of you rally against that person or run away.
Irina: Combat drugs?
Sebastian: And not the least, a guy who had taken one of his pills was fast enough to dodge bullets, and strong enough to break my bones with his punches.
Immediately a drop of cold sweat beaded on the back of everyone's neck... For if even their best asset could be in trouble against these enemies then they understood the importance of the situation.
Irina: Wouldn't it be so bad if we got some of those pills to make us a little more efficient?
Sora: Because I'm willing to bet that this stuff has some powerful side effects...
Sebastian: Exactly. Those who have to buy it may not know it, but taking it is a one-way ticket to six feet under. It alters the genetic code irreparably.
Mostima: So, disadvantages and no advantages...
Sebastian: Finally, their little stashmaster got captured by a Victorian gang called Glasgow. I was going to go and ask them some questions.
Irina: After your nap?
Sebastian: Exactly.
He hid his embarrassment, but Irina could feel it.
Sebastian: Your turn Emperor.
Emperor: It's been a hell of a ride... But we managed to catch one of the mobsters making the delivery. They're running the ingredients from an address we just caught to the old port and then redistributing them throughout the city.
Sebastian: And that's not all, I've also guessed the address of several of these dead boxes. We'll have to go and search them.
Emperor: What about Glasgow?
Sebastian: It's on the other side of town, it'll take a while to get there. I'll go alone, my enemy's enemy and all those things.
The good doctor took out a map of the city that he had put somewhere before putting it on a table and marking with a red marker all the locations of the so-called dead boxes.
Sebastian: Take pictures or notes. I'm going to the Victorian district and I'll take care of the ones on my way.
Irina: That reminds me. I ran into an ex-colleague on Rhodes Island...
Sebastian: Cockroach...
Irina: Yep. She said she wanted to fuck you up.
Sebastian/Exusiai: Classic...
Said the two as they went about their business, the ursine slightly surprised to see the sankta react to W's behavior... Maybe they knew each other well.
Irina: She also seemed really desperate to hear from you though.
The two Rhodes Islanders turned to look at her in shock.
Sebastian: That's not normal though...
Irina: Really ?
Sebastian: Yeah. She genuinely hates me.
Exusiai: Half the time... The other half they're doing pretty well with each other.
Sebastian: Hm. In your dreams.
Irina stood up and went to pick up her sword before putting it in a leather sheath behind her back so it wouldn't be a problem once she got to town.
Irina: Wait, I'll go with you.
Sebastian: No, you don't have to. I'm not likely to fight with those Glasgow guys if they are the triad's opponents. Stay with the others, it will make the research work faster. And just in case you can give a hand to the others if the assault on the place where the ingredients come from turns sour. You'll be a great asset Irina.
Lappland: And me ? can I come?
All turned to the surprised lupo at her question Texas, who was as usual inexpressive, frowned at her lover.
Sebastian: Even less.
He said as an obviousness.
Sebastian: Any other questions?
Croissant: There is one thing I don't understand... They could lose a lot of money doing what they do with their spy systems like that... They could make everything and sell it directly...
Lappland: The multiplication of intermediaries has a cost, but it also makes it more complicated to go step by step to the bosses of the organization as we are doing right now. It's a basic strategy for an early implantation in the city as long as they don't have bought the officials.
Once again the lupo stole all the attention.
The giant dropped the marker in his hand in surprise.
Lappland: ...What?
Sebastian: You are not stupid...
Lappland: Of course I'm not!
Sora: It's always surprising when Lapp has her flashes of genius.
Lappland: Really I won't be a burden, can I come with you?
The giant had of course a new impression of Lappland having noticed that she could be something else than a bloodthirsty brute but his answer remained the same. Even with the eager puppy vibes she was giving.
Sebastian: Nah.
Lappland sat back down disappointed.
Now Texas thought that something was definitely wrong with Lappland.
For one thing, it wasn't like her to be separated from her, and for another, Lappland always was hiding that she was probably the second smartest one in the room, but it almost never happened from her to break that illusion, and it never happened in front of anyone who wasn't a member of Penguin Logistics.
And most importantly...
Since when did Lappland ask for something?
The white lupo was acting contrary to all her habits toward the good doctor. But why? This Rhodes Island doctor wasn't so much hiding the fact that he was a gigantic piece of brutality, so if Lappland provoked him enough, she could probably get him riled up enough to get that fight she wanted so badly.
But it was just the opposite, in fact it looked like Lappland was trying to please the doctor instead of pissing him off.
...
Nah...
Texas thought she must have had the wrong idea.
Sebastian: So does anyone have any questions?
Mostima: When are we going to eat?
Sebastian: Really...?
Mostima: What, it's almost lunch time and I was thinking maybe you could make us some food... You know... As payment...
The giant sighed.
Sebastian: You're adults, you can do what you want, so if you want to go to a restaurant to eat something, that's your choice...
Mostima: What about my payment?
Sebastian: Okay you know what, at the end of this I'll make you a fucking feast.
Mostima started to salivate.
Sebastian: Oh and before I forget, I got some oripathy treatments here for you three.
He said looking at Angelina, Irina and Lappland.
The two first approached and listened to the instructions the doctor before taking their meds. But the third one was looking reluctant and fidgeting on her seat.
The doctor approached the lupo in the end who sat next to Texas. And the ice queen knew why her lover was looking so uneasy.
Texas: You're losing your time doc.
Lappland: I won't take that.
Sebastian: Do I need to precise how horribly you will die if you don't take that treatment, while slowly going weaker and weaker through the years till the point where you'd be unable to even give out a fight against a slug ?
Lappland: I know... But...
Sebastian: But what ?
Lappland: I'm.. *mutter*
Sebastian: You're what ?
Lappland: I'm afraid of syringes...
She muttered so lowly that only Texas and Sebastian heard. The lupo looking away embarassed.
And Texas left her pocky fall to the floor.
Okay, Lapp, definitely was acting strange. Never, and ever would she have said that to anybody, and the only reason Texas knew was because she spent all her early life with Lappland.
The giant started to laugh slightly.
Sebastian: Oh just that ?
Lappland: Don't mock me...
Sebastian: Hey, we all have our things... Don't worry, i'll get a way.
At the general surprise, even if Sebastian was uninfected he started to inject himself with her treatment in front of everyone.
Sebastian: Gimme your hands.
Uncertain the lupo rose her hand and the giant grabbed both of them softly. Their joined palms started to glow slightly and Lappland felt something rushing through her blood.
But also she started to feel...
Less...
Angry ? Crazy ? Obsessed ? Bloodthirsty ?
She now realized how much pain her oripathy was making her feel and how much it plagued her mind.
She just felt more at ease.
The soft glow continued for a while before it stopped and the giant removed his hands.
Sebastian: It'll do for now. But it won't suffice for long, the skin is much less effective with this technique, it's made for mucous membranes. The better is that you would take it with the syringes. If you feel like you can't do it, ask your lady right there. Or even me. I can take off the pain of the needle with my hearts, but not the feeling of it...
He rose back to his feet. Lappland flashing a smile.
A sane one.
The kind she had not, in more than a dozen of years.
He got looks because of how he was shining as a doctor.
Sebastian: Any other questions or request? No? Then let's break up...
Everyone got up and most of them gathered around to discuss how they were going to handle the task at hand, but Sebastian left the bar, grabbing his car keys.
5:13 PM Lungmen, Victorian Neighborhood
Sebastian: What a stupid idea... it took me 5,000 years to do this shit...
He got out of his car and approached the trunk to take out the various boxes he had put inside, straight out of the dead storage boxes of the triad. He was close to the old apartment complex so once rid of all these boxes he held out his hand and a crimson lightning bolt came out igniting the boxes and getting rid for good of the underworld's raw material.
He began to walk towards the old housing complex, the sun slowly setting on the horizon bathing the city in the orange lights of twilight, some of the holograms already starting to light up on some buildings.
Sebastian: Spring soon...
Alternating between the weather of the wastelands and that of Lungmen, the doctor had little idea that spring would soon begin. In fact, in a week's time, the spring festival would be held... Perhaps the most important festival in Lungmen... Although he hoped to finally leave the city by then. And finally, maybe return to Rhodes Island...
Sebastian arrived in front of a portal where a tag was embedded in the metal.
Sebastian arrived in front of a portal where a tag was embedded in the metal
Sebastian: I think I've arrived...
He began to knock against the metal of the gate with his fist as if knocking on a door.
A latch opened, revealing two eyes.
Sebastian: Do you have a Jackson of the Triad here?
The latch closed.
Gangster: Get out.
He knocked again and the gangster came back.
Sebastian: Please, I really need to talk to this guy...
Gangster: Go. Fuck. Yourself. Or I'll call my buddies and we'll come and beat the shit out of you.
The latch closed. He sighed.
He drew his arm back, but this time instead of a latch he put his arm through the steel at the latch and broke the metal with his hands to open the gate.
The gangster, a small feline who was a little further away, dropped the cigarette he had in his fingers as he saw someone pierce metal with force into his six-foot arm.
Sebastian: Look, I'm really sorry, but I need to see this guy.
The man drew the short sword he had at his belt and swung at the giant. Sebastian dodged with a simple rotation of the torso and threw a punch. With his strength poorly controlled because of what he had just used for the portal, his opponent flew into the sort of pass that led to a courtyard of the building complex. The poor feline crashed into some garbage cans creating a monstrous noise.
Immediately other felines came running with their weapons as Sebastian approached the courtyard.
Sebastian: Uh... I don't want to fight...
From his blind spot a gangster jumped on him, looking visibly unconvinced by what he had just said. But Sebastian kept his hearing and kicked the one who tried to attack him, making him fall heavily on the ground. Then, uncertain, the doctor raised his fists ready to fight with the rest.
The first to attack gave a horizontal sword blow that Sebastian dodged by bending down before hitting him on the chin with his left fist to finish by catching his neck with his right hand and throwing him on one of his colleagues to the left of the giant leaving both on the ground.
Half a second of inattention was all it took for him to take a sword blow between the vertebrae followed by many others in his back. An excess of anger overtook him and he threw his arm backwards sweeping the four who had just wounded him sending them against the brick wall and probably breaking some bones in the process but he did not kill them on purpose...
Another one ran up to him and jumped to stick a dagger in his neck, the giant screamed in pain but he grabbed the one who had wounded him to throw him with all his strength in the air, the man landing a few floors above through a glass window.
The giant found himself getting more and more upset by this, his instincts slowly starting to take over. He turned to where the majority of the gangsters were and let out a snarl worthy of a ferocious beast.
Slowly the members of Glasgow began to back away from the doctor, who seemed as strong and fierce as a beast, but not even bothered by all his wounds.
All seemed unsure of attacking him, until one person stepped out of line.
A feline again but this time the giant's senses went on alert as if to warn him that she was dangerous.
A young woman who seemed to have inherited the features of a white tiger and the same kind of scars as Hoshiguma on her face.
?: Oi, what the hell's going on..
Gangster: chief, an intruder, he already took down several of our guys
Gangster: chief, an intruder, he already took down several of our guys...
Sebastian: I haven't killed anyone yet...
He says to try to clear his name. Not aware of the bad phrasing.
But his anger and his body that took a little more the appearance and the sound of a beast made it seem more like a threat than anything else.
The feline who looked almost as bloodthirsty as Lappland began to smile at the corner of her mouth.
?: Because you think you can kill some of us? That's cute...
She grabbed two kinds of spiked brass knuckles hanging from her belt and assumed a fighting stance.
?: Come on bring it on scumbag!
Sebastian: Look, I just need to talk to a guy you have imprisoned here...
?: like I'm gonna believe you. Come on boy, let's dance.
Sebastian: I swear I don't want to-
She spat on his face.
The giant froze.
He wiped his face with his hand, retrieved his sword from under his coat and stuck it in the ground, before removing his coat to reveal all his weapons.
But he cracked his knuckles instead of picking up any weapon.
Sebastian: You're fucking dead.
Sebastian lunged forward, his fist ready to shatter the skull of his target.
With surprising speed she managed to dodge the punch and hit with a right jab right between the giant's ribs, the spikes of her knuckles digging into his flesh. The feline knowing her strength did not expect to take a backhand from the right arm of the giant who did not even seem shaken by the blow he had just received.
The fighter was sent to a few meters but had enough experience to recover quickly. She returned to the attack immediately dodging a sweep that the doctor wanted to give her with a simple jump, but what she realized only too late was that it was a trap. Once in the air she had nowhere to run when the giant grabbed her by the back of the neck before tackling her to the ground breaking the concrete. He drew back his fist and struck her once in the face while keeping her on the ground, but when he was about to strike again, the feline lifted her leg with the effect of kicking the doctor in the skull who had not moved out of the way making him let go and giving the fighter an opportunity to get up.
She moved away from the good doctor and raised her fists again, a trickle of blood escaping from her mouth.
?: Not bad...
Sebastian: Shut up and get over here.
The feline threw herself forward again and pretended to miss her attack on purpose, so that the giant would move his head and dodge. But letting the young woman seize the dagger that he had planted in the throat to pull on it and slice his flesh even more up to the throat.
A spurt of blood spurted out, the young woman certain to have touched the artery. And yet emboldened by her semblance of victory the fighter did not dodge the grab of the giant who grabbed her arm again before grabbing her and lifting her up in the air to better smash her to the ground, chaining her with a kick to the head that she dodged by doing a roll to the side. She managed to get up just before the giant arrived on her, he struck in quick succession, the first blow hit, the second too, but the feline dodged the third.
And her knuckles started to burn with a purple flame because of the arts, ending in a Dantesque punch right in the jaw of the giant. Sending him backwards a few steps.
The feline finally seemed to be at the end of her strength and even more of her courage, when she saw that this man just didn't seem to want to die even with his throat cut.
The other gangsters were even more discouraged when they saw that the feline was in trouble against this mysterious intruder. They thought that if she couldn't handle it then they certainly couldn't.
The fighter's fist began to burn from her arts as she prepared to strike again deciding to use all her remaining strength to try and finish him. She reached out and struck, the giant doing the same. Their two fists collided and generated a shockwave that sent several of the gangsters to the ground and shook the windows.
The feline felt the bones in her arm being broken by the force that went through her, and the pain made her lose confidence as she was thrown into the same garbage can as the gatekeeper had been moments before. No one dared to attack her.
They were all too afraid.
A door opened and a woman emerged from one of the buildings.
She had a man under her arm and a huge hammer in the other.
This man was the one Sebastian had thrown out of a window moments before.
The giant's gaze fell on the young woman and he froze.
She was an aslan, golden hair gathered in a ponytail, wearing a black leather jacket, a white tank top with a claw symbol in black, and finally a red minishort.
She also had a lollipop in her mouth.
But what made Sebastian immobile and seized him was the beauty of the young woman.
She was simply gorgeous, a beauty like he had rarely seen before.
The other Glasgow gangsters began to cheer as if they were watching a boxing match.
And that's when Sebastian made his first mistake. Seized by the beauty of the aslan he was once again caught off guard. Sebastian took a hammer blow to the plexus with an absolutely astronomical force, sending him flying.
Okay...
This one was really good.
He reached out and his sword flew at him, landing in the palm of his hand.
Sebastian: I'm cursed to be beaten up by beautiful women all the time in this world...
He took his sword with both hands and immediately adopted a fighting posture reminding more of a knight than the street fighter he let show most of the time.
His opponent did not say a word.
Before throwing himself forward with such incredible speed that the giant only managed to position his sword at the last moment to parry the horizontal hammer blow. For a nanosecond the world before his eyes froze. He could see that the aslan's beautiful face had transformed into a ferocious beast as she struck, the lollipop in her mouth broken by her fangs.
Sebastian had his guard broken sending his arm backwards due to the strength of the young woman. She immediately gave another hammer blow with brutality to the vertical aiming at the skull of the giant. But this time the giant placed a hand on his blade and had more strength when he stopped his opponent's weapon. The young woman could see the opening so she gave a punch between the two arms of the giant reaching directly his face, keeping her other hand on her hammer.
The giant took a few steps backwards because of the pain, his brain freaking out in his skull, the aslan didn't waste a second and did a somersault with her hammer in hand giving even more strength in the monstrous blow she gave the doctor.
Sebastian crossed his arms to block the attack, he felt his bones crack under the crushing force of his opponent and felt himself flinch...
Sebastian: No.
What was he thinking?
Losing?
Certainly not...
He didn't want to know this feeling of defeat anymore, he didn't want to feel weak like he did when fighting the reunion, a wave of determination filled him. And his muscles contracted more and more as he gorged himself with blood all at once.
His supernatural change in mass generated an impulse that threw the aslan backwards.
The air seemed to heat up and the young woman felt a change in her opponent.
His bones, which she had broken with her hammer blow, still seemed to work and the giant did not seem to surrender or look ready to fall.
Sebastian gripped his sword tightly, ready to fight. The aslan swung his hammer again, this time more haphazardly than all the others, but with the same strength and brutality.
However, Sebastian parried the attack with his sword, exchanging roles and breaking the aslan's guard, he threw himself forward.
Still retaining some of her speed, the young woman stretched her fingers like a beast and clawed at the giant's torso but when her nails that were as strong as iron tore through his shirt but clashed against his skin, making the noise one would expect when scraping against metal.
Her natural weapon left not a trace on his skin.
The aslan froze for a quarter of a second, giving the doctor enough time to deliver a powerful kick to her torso, sending her crashing into a brick wall heavily.
She gritted her teeth and kept that bit of bestiality in her appearance.
She grabbed her weapon again and took a few steps forward.
The doctor too, the bear and the lioness began to circle each other like two predators ready to pounce on each other at the slightest sign to kill each other.
Sebastian feeling more calm than during his fight with the tigress took the time to analyze his opponent. And very quickly he found himself in front of a realization...
His appearance seemed to relax
Sebastian: An aslan... With golden hair... Employing the same fighting style as the Victorian Royal Guard... But with more brutality... And something more...
The hairs on the aslan's body stood up as he realized where he seemed to be leading.
Sebastian: Perhaps the famous fighting style of the royal family...
He stopped spinning, and sheathed his sword.
The aslan also thought...
This man was no ordinary assassin.
For one thing, he had an overwhelming knowledge of fencing... More than any assassin should have... ... He seemed to be more like a knight or a soldier than an assassin. But of course the strangest thing was that he sheathed his sword...
?: This fight is not over...
Sebastian: Excuse me. But I've done some terrible things in this world... And I'd rather not see 'injured a queen' on that list.
The aslan gritted her teeth.
He saw through it...
The members of Glasgow began to stress even more as the identity of their leader became clear.
The aslan pulled herself together and did her best to appear calm.
?: But who are you...?
Sebastian: Me? I am Dr. Sebastian... I did not come here to fight.
?: Oh really...?
She looked around to see the few who were on the floor knocked out...
?: Hannah, are you okay?
Indra: Fine... Just a bad headache...
The white tigress gave a thumbs up, with the arm that wasn't broken.
Sebastian: I avoided killing anyone... I told you, I'm not here to fight.
?: Then what are you doing here doctor...? If you're obviously not here to hurt us.
Sebastian: Do you have a Jackson from the triad here? I'd like to ask him a few questions.
?: And why? Do you want to arrest him? Get rid of a rival or just make sure he doesn't talk any more to cause you harm...?
Sebastian: Neither or the third. I want to get to his superiors and rip them to shreds, one by one.
The aslan seemed surprised by his answer, but the doctor's tone and face indicated that he was far from lying.
Sebastian: So do you have this guy or can I go buy another shirt right now?
The aslan took a second to look at the good doctor in more detail and she was shocked to see him looking so well...
While he had five swords stuck in his back, all the bones in mush, huge holes between his ribs and in his lungs, and a dagger that was halfway to decapitate him...
At least that was at the beginning of the fight... It was strange but these wounds seemed much less severe than they were moments before.
?: One last question... Why are you going after the triad doctor?
Sebastian: Because those bastards are destroying lives with their poison, and they dared to attack someone who is extremely valuable to me.
The venom flowed in his words giving only a small glimpse of his hatred.
The young woman seemed to relax completely. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a new, golden colored lollipop that she quickly put in her mouth.
?: So you're not an enemy...
Sebastian: Nah. Just a man looking for answers to kill assholes.
?: He's here. I'll let you question him if you don't kill him.
Sebastian: I won't even have to lay a hand on him.
The doctor approached the aslan as some of the gangsters put away their weapons.
He raised his hand in front of the young woman, and she looked at him before she realized...
Of course he had immediately understood who she really was, but he didn't seem that impressed with the runaway queen turned gangster... maybe that was why he held out his hand for a handshake instead of kneeling.
But also by the fact that she had forgotten the politeness of introducing herself.
Siege: Verna Victoria. Heir to the throne of Victoria... But you already knew that...
A/N: Don't shit on me with Siege's name cuz for me it's been verna, it is and always will be.
Siege: Do you need care?
She says while placing her heavy hammer on her shoulder.
Sebastian: I'll be fine, I've had worse.
He walked to the tigress who was struggling to get up and held out his hand.
Sebastian: Nothing broken?
She held out her twisted arm.
Indra: Almost.
Sebastian: Oh shit...
He put his hand on his sword and grabbed the feline's hand, few heard him recite his prayer, but all could see with wonder the light condensing around the giant's ebony-black blade to slowly dance along his arm around his shoulders, The light radiating from the wounds healed the good doctor slightly, until the solid strands of light reached the feline's arm mysteriously disappearing through the sleeve of her jacket, Indra felt the warmth invade her arm and slowly it returned to its normal form without her feeling any pain.
When she realized she was healed, she grabbed the doctor's arm and he helped her up.
Sebastian: No hard feelings?
The feline smiled and put her hand on the giant's shoulder.
Indra: Yeah, don't worry!
Siege: Follow me.
The doctor's attention was drawn back to the queen and he followed her to one of the cellars of the buildings where after a corridor he could see a man tied to a chair with a light above his head in the darkness.
Siege: There he is.
Gangster: Please let me go...
Sebastian: Jackson?
Gangster: What...
The giant reached into his medical kit and pulled out a vial and needle from his antiseptic case before taking the syringe from the vial.
Siege: What is this? I told you not to hurt him...
Sebastian: Truth serum, it won't kill him, he'll just have a bad headache...
She thought it was strange that truth serum would give you a headache, but after all, the only time she had ever seen it was on TV.
The man in the chair began to struggle.
But she soon understood when Sebastian approached the man's back, immobilizing him by grabbing the back of his neck and with immense force to stick a syringe straight into the back of his head, the doctor's surgical precision allowing him to do it without killing him and injecting the liquid for a quick release...
At the cost of a hell of a headache of course...
Sebastian: What's your name for starters... And what do you do for money.
Gangster: Jackson Brant! I manufacture and sell drugs for the triad!
The few who witnessed the scene were surprised at the formidable efficiency of what the giant had put in the gangster's veins.
Siege: We can ask him our questions once you're done making use from your serum...?
The giant leaned against a wall and crossed his arms
Sebastian: If you want... How did you become a dealer?
Gangster: It was just a guy who approached me and my gang in a bar!
Sebastian: So who is this guy! His name! Who gave you orders!
Gangster: I don't know! He gave me a phone and a voice gives us orders every time!
The giant gritted his teeth.
The trail was dead.
He could have asked for a description of the man who had approached them, but he doubted that a junkie in a bar could remember a man's face from months ago.
Sebastian: What orders did they give you?
Gangster: To make life hard for this Glasgow gang and to manufacture and sell the drugs...
Exactly.
Nothing.
No trace to follow anymore.
The giant grunted and rubbed his hand against his face.
Sebastian: Fuck it... I'll leave it to you. I don't have any more ideas.
The aslan was somewhat surprised that the giant dropped his interrogation so quickly, but she didn't complain. She looked at Indra and the two of them decided to conduct their interrogation as a formality, trying to find some questions that would interest them while the giant was out.
He landed outside and took a deep breath.
He just wanted to get this fucking city over with and go back home to Rhodes Island...
He missed everything about it...
Rosa's boundless charm and kindness, Dobermann's strict facade hiding a gentle heart, Amiya's affection, Blaze's friendship, Nightingale's calming demeanor, the sweet company Pramanix sometimes offered him, Kal'tsit and her demeanor so cold that the slightest kindness was a pure pleasure, the love that Specter devoted to him and made him think he was valuable, the warmth of Projekt Red when he woke up in the morning, even W he began to feel like talking to her just a little.
And of course, the one above all...
He picked up his cell phone and began to type in his code.
But then it suddenly started ringing and he saw Kal'tsit's number on the screen.
Damn it.
Sebastian: This is Sebastian.
Kal'tsit: ... I've been told that there was sighting of an ursin that looked strangely like Misha but older with red eyes this morning with the girl...
Sebastian: ...
Kal'tsit: Doc, reassure me for one fucking second, you didn't gave the ex leader of the reunion an access to Rhodes Island right ?
Sebastian: Ah sorry Kal I can't hear you I'm going through a tunnel!
He says imitating the sizzling and static noises like someone who never heard those.
Kal'tsit: You asshole you could have at least asked me first-!
He hung up.
Sighing heavily again.
Well, the first thing he'll get when he gets back to Rhodes Island is a busted head from Mont3r...
His phone was back on the home screen with its personalized wallpaper. A picture of him and Nearl, side by side at the honey moon his right arm was over her shoulders holding her close, his left holding the phone to take a selfie. Nearl had her drink in one hand and the other was gently tugging on Sebastian's left ear.
Both had a smile that looked like it came from the end of a laugh.
He remembered when he had taken that picture.
It was an evening like many others, but the special thing was that Sebastian had received his phone not long ago, and his wallpaper was still the basic one.
Nearl: You know every time I look at you, it's funny but I get this little effect every time I look at you and I don't see any ears above your head.
She moved her hand with difficulty toward one of his ears, missing her target because of the alcohol that clouded her vision.
Nearl: Hey are you listening to me?
Sebastian: No, sorry, I was thinking about something else, you were saying?
Nearl: That I'm getting married.
Sebastian: What?!
The kuranta laughed, threatening to fall off her stool in front of the giant who had turned whiter than a corpse.
Nearl: Oh you should see your face! Ahahahahah!
The giant finished his drink and frowned, realizing that she had made a fool of him.
Nearl: What were you thinking?
Sebastian: Nothing, it's just that everyone has a wallpaper of something they particularly like or something personal, but I don't know what to put...
Nearl: I don't know, put one of the Rhodes Island promotional posters, it's your company after all...
Sebastian: I don't know... I don't want my work to be the only thing that defines me.
Nearl: Then put something you really love outside of work.
Sebastian: Something I really love...? Hmm...
He looked into her eyes as she took a sip of her vodka.
Sebastian: Come on over here. Let's take a picture
He activated the camera function and moved a little closer to the kuranta who was rather surprised.
Nearl: There now?!
Sebastian: Yeah, I could always change it later.
The kuranta looked at the man's ears again.
Nearl: I'm sure a pair of wolf ears would be fine...
As she began to pose, she tugged a little on the giant's ear.
Sebastian: I smell like a wet dog as it is.
They both laughed at his joke, which was so lame that one might wonder if it was a joke.
He took the picture. And to this day it remains his wallpaper.
Indra: Your wife?
The crouching giant looked over his shoulder to see the feline with a smile on her lips. Surely she had seen him staring at his wallpaper without moving for a while.
Sebastian: 'If only.' Nah, just a friend.
He stood up when he heard the aslan's footsteps coming up the stairs.
He looked at her and she nodded, forcing another sigh from the giant.
Sebastian: Damn it...
Siege: Do you want to talk for a while?
Sebastian: I-...
Siege: I think it might do you some good and exchange some information.
Indra raised an eyebrow.
It wasn't like her friend the queen to be so cordial or friendly... Even if the doctor did seem rather down in the dumps.
Siege: A drink?
Sebastian: Gouzougouzou, who's the big cat? Is it you? Oh yes, it's you...
Siege: *cough* Doctor...
The giant raised his head, looking around.
They were in a rather dark room, a kind of living room, several members of the gang were there around him, Indra was on his right and on his left were two other young women that he had quickly learned were the Glasgow strategist, Morgan.
They were in a rather dark room, a kind of living room, several members of the gang were there around him, Indra was on his right and on his left were two other young women that he had quickly learned were the Glasgow strategist, Morgan
And one of the royal knights he had learned was Dagda, who kept staring at him, probably because he had had a nasty fight with her queen moments before.
And one of the royal knights he had learned was Dagda, who kept staring at him, probably because he had had a nasty fight with her queen moments before
They were all sitting on the floor which was as comfortable surely coming from a Higashian family that was settled here before. Siege was in front of him, several glasses scattered here and there with a large bottle of mead that was shared.
But the point was that Sebastian was getting all the attention in addition to looking like a jerk...
Because he had the head of a real lion on his thighs that he was petting and playing with like a very big cat.
Two of Siege's other pet lions were watching the scene with apparent envy.
These lions who were cubs when they were given to the young queen had formed an unbreakable bond with the aslan. And even though they were domesticated they were still lions so no one but their mistress had ever petted them.
Except for the good doctor today. Who seemed to be particularly fond of animals...
The good doctor felt embarrassed to have shown this somewhat ridiculous aspect of his personality when left with an animal. He let go of the animal as he felt all eyes on him.
Sebastian: My apologies...
When he stopped petting the lion, the beast gently put his paw on the good doctor's face and rubbed against him, really acting like a big cat that wanted more petting. Then without saying anything he began to scratch behind it's ear giving his attention to Siege.
Siege: Doctor. We're going to be in Lungmen for a while, and we can't afford to have the gangs giving us a hard time. Like the triad is doing now.
He took the glass of his low-alcohol drink and took a big sip.
Sebastian: And why are they messing with you in the first place?
Siege: They tried to kidnap one of our members to make her a prostitute in one of their brothels. So we went up to one of their brothels and cleaned it up. And now they want to kill us.
Sebastian: I see.
Siege: And you?
Sebastian: Basically the same thing happened but with a stranger so I helped her, but when I went to my friends house to treat her they had been kidnapped by the triad and were about to execute them. So that and the drugs... that gives me enough reason for a good samaritan like me to kill every last one of them.
Siege: A good samaritan...?
Sebastian: Yes...
Siege: Need I say that you should avoid saying that the Queen of Victoria is alive and here in Lungmen...
Sebastian: I have absolutely no interest in doing that except to win 2000 lmd on a bet where I said you were still alive.
Indra could be heard laughing because of the doctor's tone.
Who obviously didn't give a damn about the fact that she was a missing queen...
Siege: Hm, good for us...
Sebastian: Did you get any information from the other jerk?
Siege: Nothing useful. But I think we will gain a lot if we share the information we already have.
Sebastian: Likewise.
A/N: You know what, I'm kind of lazy to write a long, boring expository dialogue that's already been done so we'll just skip it.
Siege: I see... that's a lot... Morgan, did you take note?
Morgan: No, don't worry, I'll keep that in mind...
Dagda: For God's sake Morgan, be serious once in a while!
Morgan: Stop bugging me Dagda!
Siege: Girls! Calm down...
Sebastian: And so. What information do you have to offer me?
Siege: That the triad is preparing to strike at all the other gangs in Lungmen. And this very night it's the city's native underworld that's going down.
Sebastian: The Lin family?
The doctor looked slightly panicked.
The rat king and his underworld had the primary objective of establishing a relatively healthy mafia for the city so that no other underworld would take the vacant place of the city.
Sebastian: When do they launch the assault?
Siege: Around 10 pm according to our information.
Sebastian: That gives me plenty of time to get there...
Siege: Satisfied?
Sebastian: For now, yes.
He started to smile and Siege held out her hand.
Siege: To our fruitful cooperation, doctor.
She said with a smile.
A beautiful smile on that beautiful face that hid those sharp fangs so well...
The doctor shook her hand.
Sebastian: I hope it will be beneficial for both of us.
The giant's gaze went to something that had just wiggled on the young woman's head. Those beautiful lion ears. Golden... bit floofy...
Seemingly soft... And warm...
It's been a while since he could take care of Rosa's or Dobermann's ears... Or Nearl's or Pramanix's tail...
Sebastian: 'Floof...'
He raised his hand and began to stroke one of the young woman's lioness ears.
He scratched lightly behind the ear.
Dagda was thinking of pulling out her sword, Morgan and the few standard gang members in the room stood still in shock. And Indra didn't know if she should punch the doctor, close her eyes to avoid getting his blood on her face or just continue to stare dumbfounded.
And finally Siege...
remained motionless.
She closed her eyes... And put her hand on the stick of her lollipop, breathing lightly and calmly her lioness tail wagging slowly left and right.
Sebastian took this as a good sign and moved his other hand to scratch Siege's ears.
No one paid any attention for the next few seconds as the aslan ended up sitting on the giant's lap, sticking her head against the doctor's chest who was still scratching her ears and even occasionally stroking the brown tuft at the end of her lioness tail a little.
Basically like a person petting his cat...
A huge cat with an equally huge fruit basket who also happened to be the queen of one of the world's greatest powers...
But hey, details.
The doctor continued to pat almost unconsciously.
Indra started to smile stupidly while watching the scene.
Indra: Hey look, the doctor has tamed a big cat!
she said, almost laughing.
The aslan suddenly opened her eyes and gave a murderous look to her friend who remained silent without saying anything more.
The big cat continued to be pampered, without saying the least word. Or let the slightest emotion filter through...
Lungmen: 19h01
He left the building with the aslan at his side and the feline.
It had been a while since he had come out of his floofy trance while being completely embarrassed.
Siege next to him had still not spoken about what had just happened.
Indra also looked uncomfortable, wondering who was going to open up about what had just happened.
Sebastian: I-if you ever want help call me on the number I gave you or come to the world's end bar...
Siege: Hm okay-
Her ears perked up above her head just before the exit door of the building, as did the doctor who raised his head and his human ears began to move almost imperceptibly to allow him to hear a little better.
Sebastian: Something's wrong.
Siege: It smells like blood...
Sebastian: I hear the sound of blades...
The giant threw himself forward, drawing his sword and kicking the door open. Siege grabbed her hammer, which she had left near the entrance.
The giant's eyes took a little while to adjust to the surrounding darkness, but in less than a second he could see what was in front of him in this very courtyard.
Some members of the Glasgow gang were dead, their bodies lying on the ground, others were fighting with difficulty against the strangest of people, assassins no doubt by their appearance, but their clothes were something eccentric, they seemed to have come straight out of a theater troupe or dancers.
But the kind that would have a slight taste for madness and massacre...
Sebastian recognized them thanks to his knowledge of history books among other things.
And Siege also seemed to recognize those men and women who laughed madly during their massacre.
Siege: The Crimson troupe...
Sebastian: Admirers?
Siege: I doubt they are here to thank my parents for annexing Gaul...
Sebastian: I see...
Siege: Do you have time to give me a hand?
He looked at his oripathy monitor to check the time.
Sebastian: It can be done.
Some of the assassins looked at the fighters who had just arrived, their eyes immediately landing on Sebastian, who seemed to be the most dangerous.
One of them lunged at him with both daggers ready to go into his lungs, but the doctor simply stepped aside and grabbed the assassin's skull and smashed it against the edge of a dumpster with the same difficulty someone would have in breaking a glass bottle, decapitating the formidable assassin.
Sebastian: The cool thing about these guys is that they don't train to take a beating, so you can shoot them down like flies...
Siege: We'll have to mop up the wall...
She sighed and threw her lollipop into the trash can as an assassin came towards her, she moved forward and did a leap forward accompanied by a somersault, allowing her to have more strength to reduce her enemy to a red mess.
Indra grabbed her brass knuckles and began to duel with one of the assassins exchanging blows and dodges. The other assassins began to approach the doctor so he began to walk towards them, the first on his left attacked with a one handed sword the giant used his left hand and all the muscles in his arm to strike directly at his opponent, slicing his sword and the woman behind, the second attacked with a rapier but he was too slow by a quarter of a second to have been able to attack at the same time as his colleague Sebastian grabbed the man's wrist and redirected the rapier towards the man's face to stab him in the eye and through the skull.
Taking advantage of the momentum of his sword, he took it in both hands and gave it a little more force striking in a wide area slicing the three men who were about to attack him in half.
He barely had time to breathe when he was attacked on his left.
He felt a slight sensation of movement in the air so he took a step back and a few hairs on his beard were cut short by a spear that stuck in the metal post of a swing set in the courtyard of the housing complex.
He raised his sword slicing the shaft of the spear and knocking its user forward, Sebastian grabbing the head of his opponent to impale her on the spear shaft that was still stuck in the post.
Feeling a slight heat he ducked, narrowly dodging a fireball fired by a caster who was immediately killed by Siege who broke both of the assassin's legs before crushing his skull with a hammer blow. The doctor turned his head just in time on the other side of the swing to see throwing knives coming at him. He raised his sword and parried them one by one with his sword as one man tried to swing his sword into the darkness, but hit absolutely nothing but a chain from the swing which he cut.
Sebastian grabbed the chain and wrapped it around his opponent's weapon as someone else approached from behind. A single swing of the sword and it was over, the doctor pulled on the chain getting the guy throwing knives closer to cleave his skull in half.
He tore off the metal chain to use as a secondary weapon as a man who had just received an uppercut from Indra sent him close. Sebastian swung his sword, slashing his throat and driving the blade into the metal post. One man impaled himself on the tip of Sebastian's sword after Siege kicked him in the face. One of the assassins started to run away from Indra but realized too late that he was approaching the doctor.
The giant took his chain in hand and wrapped it around the assassin's leg and pulled him back to him in one swift motion.
He left his sword planted and took a grenade from his equipment, shoving the grenade under the rib cage tearing the skin and making his opponent scream in pain. Then he grabbed the chain again and used it to launch his opponent into the air near where the most assassins were gathered, the chain having left his hand to be replaced by a grenade pin. But he noticed that Siege was in the path of the shrapnel.
So he grabbed his sword and ran towards her, cutting to pieces all the poor fools who were skewered on his blade.
The aslan wondered why the giant stood in front of her, but when the explosion sounded and his sword moved too fast for her to follow, she could hear the clanging and knew that the doctor was protecting her. The clanging stopped quickly and the giant began to breathe heavily as the surviving assassins rose up around the blast zone.
A man at Sebastian's back who Siege thought he had killed sat against a wall and raised a small crossbow to the giant's skull back.
The aslan spotted him and with her left hand smashed the man's hand with her hammer, making him scream in pain.
Half a second passed.
And she raised her fist to the giant's back, he raised his and tapped it lightly against Siege's in a friendly manner.
Siege: Well done...
Sebastian: Thank you...
Siege: I'm a little disappointed in them.
Sebastian: Me too, to be honest.
Siege came next to him and thanks to the explosion the rest of the gang could hear the real mess from outside and arrive first in line being Dagda and Morgan.
Dagda: My queen are you alright?
Siege: i'm okay dagda...
Everyone heard a laugh in the darkness and immediately the other assassins seemed calmer.
A woman's laughter, in an absolutely beautiful voice, echoed through the air.
Sebastian began to stare into the shadows.
?: Looks like it's my lucky day...
A figure emerged. A woman dressed in long black clothes, with a white mask on her face in the shape of a cat that tried to hide a beautiful face and piercing yellow eyes.
A feline obviously... But all the hairs on Sebastian's body stood up as he sensed the danger just like Siege did.
?: The demon of Babel being in the same place as the princess of Victoria... What a way to kill two birds with one stone, the customer will be satisfied...
Siege: Queen. Since you killed my parents, you bastards!
She whispered to the giant.
Siege: So you're Theresa's ex-henchman...?
Sebastian: That was a long time ago. Let me guess, That asshole of Theresis wants you dead?
Siege: Possible... You too?
Sebastian: Possible...
The giant walked forward doing his best to look relaxed.
Sebastian: There's one thing you don't seem to understand, beauty. It only doubles the difficulty of your contract.
He seemed ready to fight. The young woman came out of the shadows and slowly advanced towards Sebastian, her hands in the pockets of her suit pants.
The first thing that surprised him was that she was a tall woman. Just a little bit taller than Hoshiguma.
?: I may not be the best mathematician, but I know that two times zero is still zero.
She came right in front of the doctor and raised her head to look him in the eye and smiled amusedly when she saw him grit his teeth.
Sebastian: Can I have your name before I slaughter you?
?: Oh I've worn many... But my favorite is still Julie...
A second pass that seemed to last an eternity until suddenly Phantom gave a stab aimed right between the doctor's ribs
A second pass that seemed to last an eternity until suddenly Phantom gave a stab aimed right between the doctor's ribs. aimed right.
So fast that no one could see it.
Well, almost.
After all, the giant was quite capable of seeing what was going on while time was stopped. Instead of dodging he instinctively struck with his right fist hitting the young woman in the face while one of her daggers remained stuck in his chest.
The feline was thrown backwards while the doctor fell one knee on the ground spitting out blood and bleeding a lot from the chest...
Well done...
Phantom: Hmm I was right... The heart on the right... How strange...
She said as she stood up, another dagger having reappeared in her hand. The giant got up with a little weakness...
The feline managed to spot one of the giant's assets instantly.
Sebastian had his heart on the right side instead of the left like a standard human being, and this since his birth. This meant that many people who attacked his heart did not hurt him that much.
The doctor's shirt turned even redder.
Sebastian gauged his opponent and normally he would have given up his sword to match his opponent's two weapons by concentrating his blood in his hands to make them hard as steel.
But now that his heart was pierced he couldn't do that and if he tried he would just bleed to death and become even weaker.
The assassins who had regrouped began to march towards the rest of Glasgow.
The giant threw his sword into a wall and tapped his foot on the ground picking up his dagger.
The feline frowned at the sight of her weapon, she sensed something was wrong with the dagger, a certain aura of danger emanating from it for her.
She threw herself forward leaving the giant with the initiative for the first strike. Her right hand went to stab the doctor's neck but he dodged by pivoting his torso, the feline's left hand stabbing between the man's vertebrae.
Fortunately he was not subject to the laws of biology or else his legs would not be usable. He gave a wide stab towards the young woman who jumped backwards slicing through the scarf and the luxurious jacket of the young woman and even stabbing her skin a little. The feline laughed softly as she looked down at the opening in her vest revealing her chest and the space between her breasts that followed a large slash in her skin even though it was shallow, a small trickle of blood escaped.
Phantom: Not bad, cutie... It's been years since I was hurt...
Sebastian: 'Cutie...?' You talk too much.
He drew his handgun in a flash and the shots started to ring out.
The feline managed to dodge by throwing herself forward and doing a roll.
The giant would normally have continued to shoot, but he felt a movement in the air like a ghostly presence in his back. He reflexively thrust his dagger into what he sensed to be the head.
He was surprised when his gaze fell on a kind of solidified shadow holding a scythe in his hands, in the shape of a scarecrow.
Surely the arts of the young woman.
But what was even stranger was that the white crystal beads on her dagger began to glow and the human shadow began to writhe and scream before disappearing completely. The feline further away fell to her knees and screamed in pain, she looked up and looked at the giant's dagger again.
Something was definitely wrong with this weapon.
She was about to get up and throw her knife in the giant's face but she caught something in his. Siege threw his hammer at her and hit the young woman directly in the head and she fell to the ground.
Sebastian moved towards the assassin as the aslan, who was still in the middle of the battle, began to use the giant's sword, which had been stuck in a wall.
The feline stood up as the giant approached her, his blessed weapon in hand.
Phantom: All right, I've played enough.
She seemed to clear her throat, and suddenly her voice rang through the air. With a song.
A song that was simply out of this world...
Sebastian felt his mind fogging. His vision narrowed and he fell to the ground. All around him, people went mad with illusions, even the dancers and assassins of the troupe went mad with the song of the young woman.
It seemed that her arts had many faculties and that this mind manipulating song was one of them.
The young woman approached the giant who was breathing heavily with both hands on the ground, her chanting had stopped and yet it was still ringing in her ears. She crouched down in front of the giant and lifted his head with her fingertips to force him to look into her eyes.
Phantom: I'm sure we could have had a lot more fun just the two of us... You're the first one who resisted my singing for so long. I'm sure you liked my voice.
She said, caressing his cheek with her fingertips.
Phantom: Unfortunately you won't be able to listen to it any longer, I can make anyone do anything I want with it.
Sebastian: Once again, you talk too much beauty.
He said, raising his head as his pupils returned to normal.
Phantom's eyes widened in shock.
Sebastian looked unsettled, but the only thing that kept him grounded was his brain's analysis of the phenomenon.
This simple song had sound modulations that generated particular electrical impulses that were transmitted directly to the brain, allowing it to manipulate certain areas of the brain and thus to manipulate at will.
But the mind manipulation did not work on Sebastian...
as if his mind was too strong.
Or that he didn't have enough intelligence to suffer the effects.
Which was also a very likely option...
Sebastian had an excellent memory, but what few people knew was that no matter how many tests he took, his IQ never reached 100...
Anyway, details. Despite the pavement I just wrote a tiny part of time passed, the giant raised his head to look at the feline and because of the speed of the giant and her surprise she could not dodge a headbut in the face that because of the phenomenal strength of the giant sent her waltzing across the courtyard.
Sebastian got up, the wound in his heart having disappeared and the young woman wiped the drop of blood that escaped from her lips.
He put his fingers on her vocal cords and let an unearthly sound escape from her mouth.
Soon, the madness in Glasgow where the members of the troupe calmed down, their minds came out of the mist.
Phantom began to grind her teeth, angry... It had been a long time since she had had so much difficulty in a fight.
It was terribly exciting...
Siege picked up the giant's sword and threw herself back into the battle, cutting the assassins to pieces.
Sebastian: Out of aces up your sleeve?
Phantom: Not really.
She stepped back into the shadows and disappeared, Sebastian stopped hearing her heartbeat, feeling her body heat or the slightest movement in the air, as if she had vanished from existence.
The giant raised his head, unsure of what might happen, but he stood his ground. The shadows at his feet began to spread.
That's it, she was leaving no trace of herself.
The giant began to stare at the shadows, and he drew back his fist before slamming it into the ground shattering the concrete. The young woman's eyes widened in shock at the giant's ability. Under the shadows she was almost terrified to feel the doctor's hand tighten around her throat. The doctor's arm reaching across the plane of existence to her.
She may have hidden every sign of her physical presence, but she could not hide her soul.
Sebastian pulled her out of the shadows on the floor and looked into her eyes as he gently choked her.
Sebastian: That's a shame, beauty, I'm sure if we worked together we would have gotten along just fine...
The feline began to smile.
Phantom: You know what they say about Gaul's women?
He raised an eyebrow.
Sebastian: That they are the most charming on Terra?
Phantom: And also that they never let themselves be had easily !
To the left of Sebastian one of the shadow reapers began to attack him, he stabbed it in the face but yet another shadow attacked it from behind capturing its attention, Phantom took advantage of the distraction to kick the doctor in the face.
He released his grip and the young woman threw herself backwards.
She knew she couldn't win.
She disappeared into the shadows, but Sebastian felt her run up a building. He jumped to the brick wall, using it as a support to jump to the opposite wall and finally reach the roof with a third and final jump. Once up there he could see Phantom on top of a water tower watching him.
She took off her cat mask and started to smile, showing her beautiful face.
Phantom: See you soon cutie ! I'm sure next time we'll have a lot of fun just the two of us~!
She placed a kiss on the palm of her hand before blowing on it aiming at the good doctor who started to run towards her as the young woman threw herself off the roof into a street below.
The doctor followed her of course but when he landed in the alley she had disappeared completely, he didn't even feel the presence of her soul nearby.
Sebastian: Damn it...
He had lost track of her, what-
Strange cat: Meow...
He turned his head to see a cat sitting on a dumpster.
A beautiful black house cat, with beautiful blue eyes, but strangely two tails. And the little lady with the ebony coat also had a beautiful red ribbon.
Sebastian calmed his anger at the sight of the animal and raised his hand to pat it gently, the cat gladly accepting the giant's hand and began to purr.
The giant sighed and left the alleyway heading back to the housing complex.
When he arrived in the alleyway whose gate he had broken, he found himself in the back of the ten or so assassins who had regrouped and survived until then.
They did not seem to be so close to laughing...
The lightning started to run through his body.
Sebastian: Kuwabara kuwabara...
He began to charge like a battery and slowly put his hand on a steel pipe.
That one of the members of the troop touched with his blade without making intention...
The sound of lightning resounded, and the crimson electricity passed through each member of the group killing them instantly and burning their internal organs.
Sebastian stepped over the bodies and picked up Siege's hammer from the ground, his gaze fell on the aslan who was breathing heavily, resting on the giant's blade that she had stuck in the ground. She looked up at him and gave him a thumbs up which he returned, the young woman thanking him for having finished this business and in a hurry.
He handed her hammer to the young woman once she was close and took his sword.
Sebastian: This is mine...
Siege: It's a good blade...
Sebastian: Yeah, I know.
Siege: The assassin?
Sebastian: God knows where. Anything broken?
She was bleeding pretty bad.
Siege: Nothing much.
She seemed to catch her breath at last and turned to Indra, beckoning him to come closer.
Siege: What happened when she started singing... I feel like I'm having waking nightmares...
Sebastian: Apparently one of her abilities was to manipulate the mind.
Siege: I see... How did you get out of that ?
Sebastian: Because I'm deaf.
Siege: ...What ?
Sebastian: No I don't know why it didn't affected me.
Indra: Boss.
Siege: Report.
Indra: We have eight dead, eleven seriously injured and eleven slightly injured.
Sebastian, hearing this, took vials from his holster. Six vials of chlorophyte...
Sebastian: Give half of that to each of the severely injured. It won't cure them completely, but it will save them from death.
Indra nodded and began to distribute quickly.
Sebastian and Siege looked at the scene. All these wounded and the destruction inflicted on his gang... the aslan sighed.
Siege: Thank you so much doctor for being here. I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't been there.
Sebastian: You're welcome...
She raises her head to look him in the eye...
Siege: I don't understand you...
Sebastian: Really...? Why?
Siege: You're just a strange person... You come in, get stabbed, save people who wanted to kill you and all that for what? to be a good samaritan?
Sebastian: Basically yes...
Siege: Really? You do all that just because it's nice to be nice?
Sebastian: Yes? A man needs a reason now to do good? It's not my hatred that drives me to be here, or my desire to protect the people of this city from being poisoned by this shit in their veins, or the sense of duty I have to help a queen as beautiful as she is. No I'm here because my heart is telling me that I have to do what I do without thinking.
The aslan put a lollipop in her mouth and started to stare at Morgan and Dagda who were arguing over some trifles.
Siege: My father once told me that if you are a good person then you don't have to doubt what to do, and just listen to your heart to do good...
Sebastian: Are you implying that I am a good man Verna?
He said looking at the aslan with a small smile on his lips.
Siege: I would need to know you better to be able to tell you that.
She looked up at him and began to smile. It was the first time he could see her with anything other than ferocity or neutrality on her face.
Siege: But I would love to.
Morgan: Boss... we're in trouble...
Siege: I know, Morgan...
Morgan: If the troop knows we're in Lungmen then we can't stay in the city, we have to find another place to hide...
The aslan gritted her teeth, moving to another city was always a problem.
Sebastian: Can I suggest something?
Dagda: No. Why listen to him...
Siege: What doc?
Sebastian: Come aboard Rhodes Island.
The three felines seemed surprised, no doubt about it.
Sebastian: We're always on the move, and you'll be surrounded by people who are real war machines once you're on board. Safety-wise, it's hard to beat that.
The aslan bowed her head and thought about the opportunity.
Siege: And the cons?
Sebastian: Worst case scenario... I'll have to make you look like recruits in the operations branch and become an assault squad...
Morgan: Could be worse...
Dagda: We can't trust this foreigner!
Siege: Dagda, you know how much I like you, but I'd appreciate it even more if you'd stop being suspicious of anyone who isn't from the old royal guard.
Dagda: G-good my queen...
Siege: Alright doctor. We accept.
Sebastian: Very well. It's just going to take a little while for me to find a way to get you on board. I'll be pretty busy this week with this triad business. But I can give you a temporary hideout until this is sorted out in Lungmen.
Indra, who had returned to listen to the conversation, nodded.
He looked at the clock and widened his eyes.
Sebastian: I'll have to go, thanks for everything Verna.
He started to leave while the aslan thought about it.
He had done so much for her and Glasgow... And how had she repaid him? A few lousy tips and a glass of mead?
She had an idea.
Siege: Wait! Let me help you!
The giant stopped in his tracks and turned to her, raising an eyebrow.
Siege: I'll give you a hand. To thank you. And the sooner you're done with the triad, the sooner we can get to Rhodes Island, right?
Sebastian: You know, a glass of mead and the fact that i now know I actually won my bet is far enough for me...
Siege: Please. I hate the feeling of owing something to someone.
The giant grinned.
Sebastian: What about your gang?
The aslan turned to the felines, who were looking at her strangely, as her action seemed so thoughtless.
Siege: Dagda will protect them and Morgan is smart enough to keep the gang alive for a few days without me being around...
Indra: What about me?
Siege: Of course you're coming with me Hannah.
She says with a smile.
Sebastian: Wonderful... Any help is welcome.
Siege: Just... Doctor, call me Siege in the presence of people outside Glasgow...
Sebastian: Siege huh? I understand.
He took something out of his pocket and threw the object at the aslan who caught what she could see were car keys.
Sebastian: Take my car, it will be faster to get to the world's end. Wait for me here, I have to go help the Lin.
Siege: Won't you need help?
He looked up at the sky, the total darkness. The dark shadows offering wonderful hiding places at every corner...
Sebastian: Nah. I'll be fine.
He bent his knees and jumped onto the roof, seeming very eager to get there.
But just before he disappeared, he looked at the aslan one last time.
Sebastian: And I don't want to see a scratch on my car!
Once he was gone, Siege looked at the keys and sighed, giving them to Indra because she couldn't drive.
The tigress was finally able to let out what had been on her mind since she saw Sebastian.
Indra: God fucking damn it, did you see his pants, the ass it made him?
Dagda: Twenty-one out of twenty...
Morgan: If I wasn't sure he would break my arm if I did, I would have smacked that ass.
Indra: Ah and his pecs under his torn shirt! Man, I don't think I've ever seen a man that sexy. What do you think Verna?
the aslan breathed heavily, doing her best to keep his calm now that the giant was gone, her hormones having decided against all common sense to go into a tailspin.
Siege: N-not bad...
Happily the gangsters managed to keep under the table that their libido was through the roof...
Indra: I think he's promising...
Said the tigress knowing full well that Siege NEVER gave such a score to a man.
Lungmen 10:09 PM
Near the skyscrapers covered with neon lights and holograms illuminating the black of the night with pink and blue, one could find well hidden just at the border of the slums, a veritable mansion with its gardens in the purest style of Yen, the residence of the Lin. Usually well guarded by shady looking men, here the doors were kicked wide open, and men who looked so similar and yet the opposite of those who were usually there invaded the place.
In the mansion inside the office of the owner of the place, an old man and his daughter were standing next to each other, kneeling with their hands behind their heads, surrounded by other armed mobsters.
Yushia: They're smart... They've isolated us from a place where there was even the slightest grain of sand or piece of glass...
Whispered the girl to her father.
Rat king: They must have got some information about us...
Yushia: Why haven't they killed us yet?
Rat king: I heard them telling their superiors on the radio... They must be waiting for confirmation...
Yushia: I can't stand their animal eyes on me all the time... Father, do you think they will...?
She sounded desperate when she said that. She was aware of her own beauty and the dark soul of these people.
Rat king: They will try, but I promise you they will not lay their hands on you...
Gangster 1: Ting Nie, go and see if the others have finished outside?
Gangster 2: Why me?
Gangster 1: Just do it.
Gangster 3: Go ahead, it shouldn't take you long.
The third gangster sat down on a couch and lit a cigarette while the second one left with a sigh. But no sooner had he closed the door than a heavy object seemed to hit the door. The other two gangsters turned to the door, the first one panicked and started walking towards the door, he turned the handle but the door didn't seem to move, he tried to force it open but nothing happened except for a puddle of blood that spread under the door into the room.
The gangster was frightened and took a few steps back.
Gangster 1: Did you fucking see that?!
He turned towards his colleague, until an arm reached through the ceiling to grab his skull and shatter his skull, leaving the corpse to fall heavily to the floor in a pool of blood before disappearing. The last survivor took refuge in a corner, feeling the terror run through him. He turned the corner of the room into the shadows and disappeared from the sight of the two zalaks.
But he didn't let the slightest sound escape.
Yushia was even more panicked, while her father seemed calmer, although suspicious.
Rat King: Doctor, is that you?
A giant almost appeared from the shadows, walking straight towards the two zalaks.
The little blood on his face contrasted with the bright white of his brand new shirt...
Sebastian: Some friends warned me that you might be in trouble. Sorry I'm late, I had to buy a new shirt on the way...
Rat king: Good to see you...
Yushia: Doctor!
The young woman began to smile at the reassuring presence, despite its supernatural appearance.
He took his sword, which was completely covered with blood, and cut the bonds of the young woman and her father.
The two zalaks got up, the older one being helped by the doctor, his daughter giving him her cane.
Sebastian: Where are all your men?
Rat king: They launched an attack on our biggest casino, we had to send most of our men there... It was just a diversion to attack here...
Yushia: We need to find a way to get out of here without alerting the other guards and warn the rest of our men.
Sebastian: We don't have to.
Yushia: huh ?
Sebastian: I cleaned up when I got here.
He walked to the front door and pushed it open, dropping a mangled corpse into the room.
The two zalaks followed him out, and they both thought they were about to vomit from the disgusting slaughter that had taken place.
Sebastian had not left a single survivor, all the gangsters of the triad were cut to pieces, some cut up, some disemboweled, still some hung with their own intestines.
And a few seemed almost to have been eaten by a beast.
Yushia was almost shaking, he looked so kind and comforting there, and yet he had slaughtered a hundred men, as if they had been attacked by thousands.
When they got to the exit, Rat King could see many of his men coming back from defending their casino, panicked and asking what had happened.
Sebastian: Everything's back to normal... Any info on who attacked you?
Rat King: Not a single one...
Yushia: Probably some newcomers from Yen trying to settle here...
Sebastian: Then we know more than you do.
Yushia: What?
Sebastian: You just met the blood dragon triad... newcomers who want to clean up before they settle down. Basically, they're not very nice people.
Yushia: Have you ever faced them?
Sebastian: Just yesterday for the first time. They went after Penguin Logistics, they decided to launch their hit operations.
He held his cell phone in his hand, pointing to it quickly.
Sebastian: I've sent you the details... I've put together a team to handle it.
Rat king: Is it really that dangerous?
Sebastian: If we don't deal with them soon, we're all going to be in big trouble... They're smart, they've got money, and they've been quiet long enough to get a foothold.
Rat king: So you're going to need some help...
Father Zalak had an idea.
Maybe this was his daughter's chance to find her first good boyfriend.
Rat king: Maybe you would accept Yushia in your team?
Yushia: Dad?
The young woman seemed surprised, slowly starting to blush.
Sebastian: Hmmm your knowledge of the city and its underworld could be useful. If you'd like to come along of course.
She looked up and put her hands together looking at the doctor's emeralds.
THAT was an opportunity. She didn't felt strange about how much she found the doctor attractive, and she would have loved to get a chance to be closer to him. So maybe was it now ? Even though fighting gangs together wasn't really what she had in mind...
Yushia: I think I can help you doctor... It would be beneficial for both parties, wouldn't it?
Sebastian: Sure... Let's go to the world's end.
He says with a smile.
Yushia: The P.L. HQ ? It's quite far...
Sebastian: I can take you there quickly, but it might be a bit hectic.
Yushia: Really?
Sebastian: Do you like thrills?
Yushia: Well, yes...
She says, wondering what he had in store for her.
Sebastian: Then hang on.
She let out a soft yelp of surprise when Sebastian picked her up and carried her in his arms like a bride.
Rat king: Bring me my daughter back in one piece, please.
Sebastian: I will do my best.
He bent his knees, the rubble and dust levitating around him. Until he leapt with rocket speed, disappearing, the scream of the young woman in his arms echoing as if she were on a roller coaster.
Lungmen 22:17
The doctor approached the bar, hearing the music inside. Yushia was right behind him standing against a wall.
Yushia: I think I'm going to throw up...
She definitely took a blow to her pride...
Sebastian: Oh please...
He held out his hand making her face red.
Sebastian: Do you want a little help walking?
She accepted the doctor's hand, still red, and they went to the bar. They both walked in at the same time to find themselves in front of the eyes of all the members of their little shock squad.
And their eyes all rested on the joined hands of the doctor and the zalak. Some of the looks were filled with immense jealousy.
Sebastian: Is everyone there?
He saw Indra's and Siege's heads among the team.
She and her three lions.
Sebastian: Did you really took your pets?
Siege: I wasn't going to leave them alone...
Sebastian: And my car ?
Indra: In the same state as before.
Sebastian: 'How the fuck did she put in three lions in a two seat car...?'
Exusiai: Doctor...?
Her tone of voice was dark...
Sebastian: Exia, everyone, welcome our three new faces. Lin Yushia as well as Siege and Hannah, members of Glasgow who came to give us a little help.
The giant with a sweet smile that could have made anyone blush motioned to the zalak to get a sit while he went up to the bar and asking a drink from Sora.
Getting a look from Texas who was the closest one and yet he asked to her...
Mostima: It's not often that we see an aslan...
Siege: I know, I hear that a lot.
Sebastian: Okay. Emperor please tell me you have some leads...
Emperor: Nothing. It was an ambush. We got away with it though. Thanks to a certain someone...
All of the ones who were with Emperor looked at a deeper part of the bar where Irina was laying on a couch looking extremely tired to the point she only waved to say hello to the doctor.
Sebastian: And I don't have any more leads either. Everything is dead... The only thing I can do Is digging up on where and how they got their columbian military crossbows but i'll have to wait till tomorrow morning for that.
Everyone sat down.
Sebastian: Yushia... You are our only hope.
Yushia: Thank you for putting pressure on me.
If it was not for the giant talking to her, she would have kept her stern face and tone.
She said as everyone looked at her.
Sebastian: Do you know anything about even a simple movement in the underworld?
Yushia: Well, there is this casino that is having its grand opening the day after tomorrow in the evening. The construction site was guarded by armed men. The city's top brass is invited. Maybe it's that triad that wants to launch their new business.
Lappland: After all, it's one of the best ways to launder up money.
Strange... She was not next to Texas...
Sebastian: Here's some useful information... So I'll hit the casino. It's the only lead we have left.
Siege: And tonight?
Sebastian: Drink and rest. I think lots of us might need that.
He took a sip from his spritz and made that face from someone surprised and satisfied.
He looked at his barmaid and she had a smug on her face.
Sora: I thought you'd like it sweet.
Sebastian: Huh good guess. I'm more and more surprised by your talent.
Emperor: No, I think at least everyone needs a drink today.
As Indra and Siege shrugged they walked closer to the bar asking for some drinks like the rest of the tenants, as small talks to get to know each other were spreading. While Sebastian walked closer to Irina and kneeled right beside her.
Sebastian: How you feeling ?
Irina: Tired...
She said while not even doing much from restraining her ursian accent, showing just how drained she was.
The doctor took out his phone looking at the signals from her vitals monitor.
Sebastian: Hm. Lots of energy drained. Your treatment makes so that you can't use your arts to restore that energy and hurt your body more.
Irina: So it's actually good ?
Said the white haired woman.
Sebastian: Yeah. Want something ?
He said, looking genuinely worried. She felt touched, but she began to smile while looking at his face.
Irina: A kiss from you ?
The doctor began to blush abundantly and seeing that face she almost felt rejuvenated.
Sebastian: I just wanted to thank you for helping the others.
Irina: You're welcome... I owe you after all... But if you want to pay me back come on give me a kiss even on the cheek !
She said loud but not enough for the busy others to hear.
The good doctor looked left and right before pressing his lips on her cheek softly.
Sebastian: There. Happy ?
She was blushing a bit. She didn't thought he would do it.
Irina: Yeah.
She turned away immediately as not to show her blushing face. That slight tickle from his beard and those soft lips, it made her feel something in her belly... A strange feeling but how so nice...
At this time, no one could see how the ever serious ex leader of reunion was looking like the young girl she was.
Once the blush passed over, she stood up, the giant having joined the bar as soon as he gave her her reward.
Irina: That and a few shots of vodka and I'll be full of energy !
Sebastian carried her back to the hotel this night while she was begging for more kisses, while being rejected, something neither of them would remember the next morning.
Chernobog 00:29
Talulah was standing in front of a fireplace, Frostnova was close to her, not close enough for her cold to put out the fire. The draco who seemed to be in one of those moments where she was much softer than usual.
She raised her hand to look at the old scar of an arrow.
His dearest wish at that moment had been to set the world on fire.
And his wish had been granted.
Talulah: Yuri...
If only he had been with her... She wouldn't have had to go through this hell.
She hated the fact that she would have to fight him.
A tear rolled down her cheek.
Maybe when she had impaled her hand on that arrow she should have asked to be with him again instead of asking for power.
