(Iris) No Fenix, you can’t go!

  (Luke’s thoughts) Wait…

  Still having his eyes covered, Luke immediately dropped his knees to the ground, instantly feeling the hard gravel road that he was accustomed to.

  His breath trapped in his lungs, not a trace of air came out from his nostrils, his throat parched from just simply not swallowing. Having his head lower than the bluish shield that protected them, Luke didn’t dare take a peep as he remembered the middle-aged woman with the blinding power.

  (Luke’s thoughts) Why does it feel like … is this part of my blessing? I’ll try to come up with a conclusion ter.

  Feeling a firm hand cmp down onto his left shoulder, a warm breath soon molested his ear. Perking his ear upward, he also puckered up his lips while stiffening his body as someone’s chest grazed his upper back.

  Causing his face to turn a slightly bright red.

  (Iris) Do you have anything at your disposal, Fenix?

  (Luke) Uh … I-I-I don’t know…

  (Iris) Any gadgets that can be of use?

  Trying to ignore the chest that grazed onto his back, Luke swayed his head back and forth as he looked down to the ground with closed eyes. Hearing the sounds of footsteps already creeping in, Luke moved his face to the direction of where Iris faced him.

  Pcing both of his palms on the road, he then cleared his throat, his face and hers merely inches from each other.

  (Luke) I have something that I could use, but promise that you’ll be ready for it.

  (Iris) I could handle anything.

  Lifting up his hand, Luke then pced it inside his leather jacket, his knuckles being bruised by the many other metallic junk that he had inside. Grabbing a metallic device hidden inside of his pockets, Luke hovered his thumb onto a red button that was mantled on the top.

  (Luke’s thoughts) Didn’t say I didn’t warn you.

  Which released a plume of expanding smoke.

  The force of the plume caused them to sm their backs against the barrier, every inch of their body that had loose clothing soon collected a vast amount of unfiltered ash. Opening their eyes, smoke molested down onto their windpipes, making them cough out whatever liquid that situated in their lungs. Mucus and saliva littered the gravel road, most of their nostrils began to bleed out as the taste of iron and metal caressed their upper lips.

  (Iris) cough cough … What was that!?

  (Luke) It’s the opposite … cough cough … of a dust sweeper. It creates a plume of smoke.

  (Iris) I hope that … cough cough … makes it so that woman don't blind us.

  Standing up, Luke barely noticed the barely conscious Miles who still had his right hand on the center of the road. His eyes flickered like he was possessed, the stream of blood from his shoulder began to cease as Hope managed to sew his arm with her heavenly light.

  Sweat drenched her neck and throat, her breath began to fasten as 75% of Miles’s arm was sown.

  Turning his head toward where the two Zirardges were originally positioned, Luke aimed down his Uzi onto the mencholic smoke that partially dented his vision. Iris, who only wielded a simple Thompson with her right hand, aimed it along with Luke.

  A reverb service bell dings yet again.

  (Luke’s thoughts) Now I can sense it.

  In just a split second, Luke pushed his heels to jump to the left, just as a trench gun gunshot pierced the right of him.

  Aiming his gun in the direction of the gunshot, Luke caressed the finger on the stinging trigger, sending a mag of bullets in the said direction.

  While he lept to the left, he got out of the zone of the smoke, seeing in front of him two angry-looking middle-aged people. Their faces wrinkled and scrounged up, the barrel of Doug’s trench gun immediately aimed at Luke.

  (Doug) There you are!

  Shooting another round of bullets, Luke sprinted with the continuing fmes from only a foot to the left of him shining his skin. Pointing both of his uzis onto Doug, he then only returned the exchange as another mag of bullets came forth from his weapons.

  But there was also the woman who extended both of her palms forward. Unlike st time, Luke closed his eyes.

  Like riding a tumultuous rollercoaster in pitch bck, the piercing wave of bullets grazing his skin and clothes was only felt. All hairs of his body seemingly sticking up in unison, Luke stopped as his blessing told him to do, with another bullet grazing the tip of his nose.

  All of this happened in the span of only 3 to 4 seconds.

  (Doug) All those rumors about you are starting to come true…

  Reloading his trench gun, all of his attention was on the wooden yet metallic gun that he wielded, as it released a chamber of used bullets. Pcing buckshot bullets into the chamber, Doug aimed down his sights on the—

  A tsunami of bullets pierced the air.

  Tilting his head upward, the trench gun that he wielded with both of his chubby hands soon dropped to the floor. The entirety of his chest, stomach, lower stomach, and crotch were pulverized by lead, blood soon escaped from dozens of holes that formed along the wounds that he was dealt with. With the bullets ceasing their fire show, Doug finally colpsed with both of his knees scraping against the pebbles that cut upon his thin yer of brown-colored khaki pants.

  And from out of the now loose smoke, was a dark purple-haired woman holding a thompson, her frown and gre as cold as northern ice.

  (Doug) gurgles …

  (Iris) Don’t try to force yourself, you’re as good as dead.

  Having his knuckles hovered over the gravel road beneath him, Doug soon began to look up at the cloudy night sky that was already blocked by smoke and ash. A stream of blood swept out from his lower lip, and his breathing soon began to cease, with his chest heaving up and down more and slower.

  Silence fell, his lower body already failing. His vision blurring, his upper body froze like a mannequin.

  Only the release of a long exhausted gasp came out from his now failing lungs. The woman next to him widened her eyes out of fear, and both her knees began to wobble her body right to left as if she was about to fall.

  (Iris) Now how about—

  (Doug) I’m not dying that easily.

  Without even using his hands or arms, only the use of his hind legs managed to pull himself back up from the ground.

  In unison, all the bullets that were lodged tightly inside of his body all came out, ringing as they danced with the rocks below. Taking a step back, Iris lowered her gun as the man who had blood seeping from his body soon patched himself like …

  (Doug) I never really felt death come for me yet.

  Like a vampire.

  His wounds were already patched, and his chubby hands began to reach toward the trench gun that he dropped previously. Iris, who continued to walk backward, dropped her gun as she also covered her eyes from the woman who began to extend her palms forward.

  Another rain of bullets crashed onto Doug.

  From his face down to his liver, bullets riddled against his body the same way as his front body was. Turning his head, another stream of blood flowed out of his mouth, as he only gred at the young man with his gun releasing a multitude of smoke.

  (Doug) I didn’t tell you to fight me, didn’t I not?

  Not dropping his trench gun, nor faltering his stance this time, Doug then shot a few shots toward Luke, who dodged them effortlessly by only moving his feet to the right and left. Clicking the trigger again, a high-pitched click soon sores his ears, making him drop his gun out of frustration.

  Betty, who finally returned to her senses, moved her hands toward Luke who raised his uzis to fire another round of bullets. Pushing her left lip to reach toward the bottom of her left ear, her saggy palms managed to encapsute the young man…

  As he stumbled backward.

  (Luke) No … d-d-no…

  Looking all around him, darkness surrounded him, but his eyes appeared normal.

  Seeing that Luke was in a bind, Doug then pulled out a homemade bck remote, as it only contained just a few buttons. Previously letting his trench gun drop, he raised the bck remote in the air with his thumb hovering over a blue button on the top.

  Clicking it, he let off a devilish smirk, his stare being directed now toward the middle-aged woman with dark purple hair. As Iris was reloading another set of bullets into her Thompson, she had her finger on the trigger with her left eye locked onto the remote.

  (Doug) So tell me, do you have anyone who holds a special pce in your heart by any chance?

  (Iris) What are you trying to get at?

  (Doug) Long ago, there was a kid that we sheltered in. He was like the little brother that I never had.

  Putting the remote back inside his leather jacket, the wounds from prior began to heal again. Another dance began down beneath Doug’s feet, he rubbed his chin with his chubby pale fingers.

  (Doug) I think you remember him. He most definitely doesn’t remember you, but he has ginger hair. Ring any bells.

  Her breath got caught in her throat.

  While inside of his pocket, the remote that he had tucked away was soon pressed.

  (Iris) What … do you mean take in…?

  ______________________________________________________________________________

  (Reverence 2, 59 / 8:01PM)

  Back at the Pacithiest adobe.

  Several hours before the raid on the ranch, a bunch of men and women were all sitting on the dining room floor. Their bottoms nestled themselves on the hardwood, nearly twenty to thirty of them all had their elbows touching against one another, as two Pacitheist soldiers stood right in front of all of them.

  One of the soldiers had a cowlick on the right side of his hair, while the other soldier had her hair styled in a bob cut.

  And along the end of the room, stood two women and two men, with one of the men having white spiked hair.

  (Christian) All right so here’s the pn.

  Taking out a minated brown paper, Christian pushed his hand to let the other soldiers see the dusted long-width paper. Seeing the outline, many of the soldiers looked at one another as the paper took the shape of an old map with tourist destinations.

  (Christian) I’ll return it to Sean’s room when I’m done, but we’re going here, to the Zirardge ranch.

  Everyone remained silent.

  Not even letting out a muffled voice or a whisper, some of the soldiers began to look down onto the dark wooden floor. As for the other half, some of them pced their hands on their foreheads, swaying their heads from right to left.

  Christian lowered his hand that held the map, having it brush his thigh as sucked in an abundance of air before blowing out.

  (Christian) I know you guys don’t want to go there, but my brother decided to go in on the strike force without my permission. I just need to get him back, so I’m only asking for your—

  (Pacithiest Soldier #1) Are we doing this for your benefit?

  One of the soldiers that sat right in front of Christian spoke out, his head still tilted downward with his eyes not yet seen by Christian.

  His hands staining the wooden floor with his petrified sweat, bits of his nails began to scrap against the wood. Puckering up a frown, the man’s voice barely held back a long growl from escaping, his vocals on the verge of grinding against the mucus yer of his throat.

  (Pacithiest Soldier #1) Why would we risk our lives for your brother… He’s the weakest out of all of us.

  (Christian) Jumbo don’t…

  The very map that he held with his right hand soon crunched up along with his fingers, followed by his left hand also balling itself into a fist.

  To the right of him, Pacifica began to grind both of her teeth while having her mouth sewn shut from her lips. Her knees slightly swaying despite there being no wind, she coldly stared at the bunny-human that resembled more of a human, his long brown hair reaching down to his lower back.

  Perking up his button nose, Jumbo began to tilt his head up slowly.

  (Jumbo) He has the lowest scores in terms of physical strength and mental capacity. He’s practically deadweight to us.

  (Christian) Please stop talking now…

  Christian began to lower his head, his right hand shaking violently with the crumbled minated map going along with it.

  All the soldiers around Jumbo soon began to move their bodies away from him without standing up, since they were all squashed like sardines. With hands pcing themselves onto the soldier’s shoulders, widened eyes and shaking heads only looked toward his way.

  He finally tilted his head upward to look at the barely-containing Christian.

  (Jumbo) And you want to save him? Sacrificing all of us just to save your brother? As repentance for what happened with your older brother?

  The brown map that already turned into a ball soon dropped onto the floor.

  Extending his left hand, Christian soon grabbed Jumbo’s colr, his eyes straining red as his right hand barely contained his implosive rage. Despite his right hand being pulled back, he kept it in pce as his breathing intensified, his chest heaving up and down in a fast arithmetic pattern.

  (Christian) Quiet!

  (David) Silence.

  David garnered everyone’s attention.

  Folding his arms, the front end of the hat blocked anyone from seeing his face, as the sun settled deep into the horizon. With no sun to shine on his face, the only thing that David did was straighten his back while holding his hands inside his jacket.

  And in that single moment, both Christian and Jumbo seemingly felt like two defted balloons, with Christian’s anger seemingly jumping out the window. Letting go of Jumbo, he slightly opened his mouth while the bunny-human turned his whole body toward the middle-aged man.

  (David) You guys are both adults so act like it. Now son, what happened to Manny wasn’t your fault, but care to expin to your soldiers more on your pn? They follow you, but they aren’t going to die for a soldier’s cause.

  Gncing to the right of him, Christian noticed a dropped metal wrench in front of Pacifica’s feet, with the metal denting the floor. A small sniffle came out from her, she walked herself to her corner, pressing her back on the stone-hardened walls.

  Slumping down, Christian gulped down whatever dry saliva he had situated in his mouth, csping both of his hands as he noticed the crumpled-up map below.

  (Christian) … There’s info on something in that ranch.

  Every soldier perked their heads up.

  Getting their attention, Christian looked at each and every soldier who had furrowed brows and pushed-up faces. Unable to walk back and forth since soldiers were sitting right in front of him, Christian cmped both of his feet together, keeping his legs straight and his knees unbuckled.

  (Christian) Info that may lead to something. Luke, the leader or commander of The Dark Angels, told me earlier today that he feels like he is being watched. If he feels like he’s being watched, then doesn’t that mean we could be being watched as well?

  Bits of sweat soon formed on half of the soldiers in the room, with almost all of them glistening under the single lightbulb hanging on top of the ceiling. As for the two women who kept watch over the old man who was in between them, the woman with monolid eyes and gsses puckered up her lips. As she pressed more onto her father’s shoulder.

  (Christian) It’s pretty clear that they were set up from the beginning, most likely the Zirardges, but like the Boss said; any friend of David’s is a friend to the Boss.

  Christian then finally knelt to pick up the map that had crumbled like a ball, picking it up with just his two fingers. Showing the clear full view of the country that they were birthed into, every eye and nose pointed itself onto that map.

  (Christian) You don’t have to do it for me, hell you don’t have to do it for Luke and his group, but do it for the Boss’s sake. By a raise of hands, who’s willing to accompany me?

  Silence only filled the room.

  Like a domino effect, one person raised their hand on the back of the group, then another person, and another. Slowly, two people, then four, then eight.

  Then the entirety of the group of soldiers, all having a little smirk tched onto their faces. Jumbo, who zipped his lips like a zipper, also slowly raised his hand hesitantly, keeping his face hidden from Christian.

  Putting his hands behind his back, he had them hold onto each other as he gnced at every soldier, even looking toward the back where Jenny, the Boss, Iris, and David were. While also gncing to the right corner where Pacifica smiled wryly from.

  (Christian) Thank you guys. I promise that we’ll help Sean get that info, and back up Luke and his group while getting back our comrade.

  (Christian’s thoughts) And if Sean is correct, there may be some info regarding the location of that cartel group.

  ______________________________________________________________________________

  (Reverence 1, 59 / 10:00AM)

  A day prior.

  Somewhere in a government office in Lagefor.

  The windows tched in a dark tinted state, the smell of cigar smoke and whiskey burdened the room with sin. Inside the room, a rge wooden desk held behind a chubby man wearing a ft cap.

  A man who had turquoise hair as well as a turquoise bushy mustache.

  (Doug) Welcome agents, please take a seat.

  Four men and women wearing bck suits and fedoras soon took their seats in front of the weird-haired man, with the man in the middle already folding his arms and putting his right boot on the desk.

  Having a side bang that covered his left eye, the agent had blonde hair with eyelids darkened like dark chocote.

  (Doug) I would like to give thanks in return for my bribe. You made my money’s worth.

  (Agent Briggs) Does it look like I did it for money?

  (Doug) I suppose you’re not a man who follows money; consider yourself lucky that you’re not cursed by it.

  Doug soon stood up from his rge seat, adjusting the bottom ends of his brown thin coat. Walking toward the door that led to the other room, Doug hovered the golden door handle with his right hand, as he turned his attention onto the group of agents that just watched.

  (Doug) Do you know what’s behind this door?

  The spartan next to him, a woman with tinted sungsses and long dark brown hair, had her right hand cling onto Brigg’s arm. Rubbing it back and forth, she used her other hand to pull her sungsses down to the lower end of her nose.

  (Spartan Alexandra) You know he doesn’t like surprises.

  (Doug) That I already know. But then again, everyone needs a good surprise once in a while.

  Doug finally grasped the golden handle, letting the door wide open for a person to step out. Upon seeing the person, all four of them jumped out of their seats.

  Having their hands hovered over their hips, not a single one of them lost their attention to the man drenched in all bck, whose face was recognizable to both Briggs and Alexandra. A bead of sweat rolled down his right temple, Briggs trickled his fingers onto the grip of a German Luger, the metal tickling his skin with its mencholic glow.

  (Agent Briggs) Care to expin what’s going on sir?

  (Doug) At ease men and women, it’s just someone I’m close to.

  The man in all bck had both of his hands inside his jacket, with his jacket colr reaching up to his jawline. Despite being slightly scrawny looking, it was clear that he was by no means weak.

  Since right in front of the four of them …

  (Agent Briggs) Expin yourself, Doug Zirardge.

  Was a middle-aged man with ginger hair, with two chainsaws tucked away inside of his jacket.