Coming from a dark corner, a small woman with unnatural blonde hair. She had baggy eyes and a woozy sight. Within her baggy eyes, clear signs of dried tears.

But despite all that, a wicked grin spread across her face. “He finally shut up for good.”

Everyone’s breathing tensed up. Despite their worriedness over their supposedly dead companion, they had to deal with Bloom’s murderous intent first.

Jane figured she had to be the first to talk. “What are you doing?”

“Cleaning up the mess.” She states matter-of-factly. “Too many men in this world, one less won’t be missed.”

“Is this who you really are? Thank God I stepped out when I did.”

The blonde aims her gun at Jane. “You know, yeah, it is a good thing. It opened my eyes to the world.” She starts walking slowly. “Made me realize everyone’s fake. You either use them or they use you. That’s it.”

“Really ballsy of you to say I’m fake after everything.” Jane’s temper was rising and fast. Yet, the situation called for calmness, which she was thankful for having right now, even if not a lot of.

“Oh, you more so than anyone else, hun.” She keeps shuffling through the room. “I guess I was right, you really are a whore for this guy.” She then aims her attention to Samuel, who was assessing the situation quietly from the side.

“You think I’m hot enough to un-gay her?” Samuel’s words, despite sarcastic and comedic, had their tone full of venom. If looks could kill, Bloom would be dead three times over. His smile was anything but a byproduct of nervousness.

He really just wanted to kill her right now.

The short woman looks at him from top to bottom. “You’re mid at most.”

She then aims her attention to the lingering body of the man she just shot. “Now, this ridiculous hunk of muscles, he’s the bottom of the barrel.” She starts laughing. “Like, what the hell is this mohawk? Who uses those nowadays?” She spits on the floor. “Looking at him makes me want to vomit. I hated his accent.”

“I never expected Deck to hire someone this unhinged.” Law speaks up, which gains Bloom’s attention.

“Is that so? And I’m guessing you’re Mr. Leaking Man in the flesh!” She now aims her gun at him, which frightens Cloud. “I’m sorry, who asked for your opinion? Do me a favor and shut up.”

Her attention then diverts to the girl behind him. “Ooo, what a cute little thing you have there. Your daughter?” She kneels down in an act of mockery. “So cute. Would be a shame if someone mangled her inside out.”

“Leave her out of this!”

The sudden tone change springs Bloom to her guard. “I do whatever I want, you retard. Speak up like that again and you’re meeting mohawk over here.”

She points her gun to Hawk, ever unmoving.

The short blonde then backs off to the same corner she came from, her figure harder to spot. “Now, what should I do with you little pieces of shit?”

Samuel looks to a window to his right with an unnerving amount of focus. “Better watch out for our backup.”

Bloom falls for the bait and tries to see what he’s looking at.

The single split second he needed.

He springs forward with enough speed to close the gap between them by the time she realizes it was a trap. Before she has time to aim and fire, his left hand holds her weak wrist up.

The gun is fired but the bullet harmlessly flies up through the roof. A struggle between the two begins, with the male of the two having the clear upper hand.

“Not again! Not again!” Bloom somehow has enough composure to shout before she’s overwhelmed by her aggressor, who uses his right hand to hold her collar.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

He then pulls her in for a headbutt, which makes everyone in the room wince. She immediately drops her gun with the pain but doesn’t have time to process it as a second, harder hit flies to her forehead.

Samuel lets her go and winds up a right straight to her torso, knocking her back on her butt. Not giving her a breather, he kicks her face, breaking her nose and shoving her against the floor.

Clearly out of his right mind, the usually calm Samuel jumps on top of her, taking a deep breath before exhaling. A moment of clarity shines through his face before absolute hate fills his soul.

Fists connect with Bloom’s face. Once. Twice.

“SAMUEL!!” The dark skinned woman shouts with a shaky voice.

Jane grew to look up to Samuel as if he was her own father. Never have she ever considered him anything beyond that. Not outside of self discovery related confusions.

His collected nature, his calmness during her biggest tantrums, his smile during her deepest frowns. It made her look up to him as an unmovable wall that she could cling onto no matter what.

That very same wall was crumbling down in a fit of rage never before seen from him.

Upon being called, his fist raised for a seemingly third blow, Samuel looks back to his lifelong friend with his ever unwavering and much more fitting smile. “Yes?”

Her breathing was hectic as it was too much for her to take in. He uses the moment to clarify himself. “Don’t worry, I’m perfectly sane here.” He looks back at his punching bag. “I just figured she deserved a good lesson.”

“You’re not the judge of that.” She points her finger at him. “You told me that yourself!”

“I know.” He chuckles menacingly. “I never said this was a judgement.”

Seemingly done with his beating, he takes a deep breath and stands up, leaving a bloody pulp out of Bloom’s face. She was still breathing but definitely not conscious.

“I feel good. It’s been a while now.” His smile was unnerving. It wasn’t natural, it wasn’t happy.

“Syndrome?” Crimson calls. “Samuel?”

He looks at her, chuckling in the process. “Sorry, sorry, I didn’t want you to see this.” He looks back at the target of his venting. “I, I promise this doesn’t happen often. I-”

He is interrupted by his best friend hugging him. “Tell me it’s gonna be ok.”

“I’m pretty sure-”

“Tell me it’s gonna be ok!” She yells, hugging him harder.

After a few seconds of collecting his own thoughts, Samuel takes a deep breath and pats her head, caressing it. “It’s gonna be ok, marshmallow.” He kisses her forehead, which prompts her to let him go.

He then looks at Crimson with a sad expression. “Sorry you had to see this.”

She sighs. “I guess we all cope a different way.” She rubs her arm, whispering something no one could hear.

During all this, father and daughter were watching, their opinions of all of them changed completely. But in the end, it was still a positive one.

“Maybe we should run.” Law points out, to which everyone agrees.

“But first-” As Jane was about to suggest something noble, noises are heard. What feels like sirens and footsteps outside soon are what’s in everyone’s minds.

Soon, they all find themselves surrounded. From outside, the same crispy voice from before. “Come out with our products before we take it by force.”

The urge to scream at the top of her lung’s burn inside Cloud’s throat but months of suffering did well in submitting her to being quiet out of convenience.

“Let me take it.” Samuel suggests, finally trying to rub the headache of headbutting someone away. Unsuccessfully.

“What? Why?” Jane asks.

“Because I want to feel like I earned something tonight.” He sighs depressingly. “If I don’t do something, this feeling will eat me inside.”

“Ok but you don’t have to go alone.” Jane interjects, to which he nods.

“True. But I want to.” And with no further inquiry, he requests for the backpack Crimson was holding, which she gives reluctantly.

“I don’t like this.”

“Me neither.”

With one last deep breath, he opens the door outside.

Dozens of personnel, some of which were holding lights, all of which were wielding guns, greet the man, who, after everything, seemed unfazed.

The older military official had a grumpy face. “Your group has been giving me a major headache this night.”

“Just let us go and you won’t have to hear from us again.” He hands over the pack. “Here, everything we took.”

“The girl and her father.” He demands while taking the pills back.

“I can’t give them to you. No offense.”

“Then I guess we don’t have a deal.”

“Then I guess we don’t.” Samuel agrees, already hearing some of their men readying their fires.

From inside the house, they couldn’t hear what was being spoken. Cloud was scared of what would be of her.

“Do you think they’ll get inside?”

“Hopefully Samuel will take care of things for us.” Law’s hopeful words weren’t sounding very optimistic.

“He has it covered.” Jane says with the utmost confidence. “He-”

Gunshots are heard.

Jane’s heart sinks.