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And All The Sinners Saints (A Family of Anti-Heroes)
Second Sin: Little Red and The Wolf (Part 6)- Quickly Made Plans Tend To Go Awry

Second Sin: Little Red and The Wolf (Part 6)- Quickly Made Plans Tend To Go Awry

Second Sin: Little Red and The Wolf (Part 6)- Quickly Made Plans Tend To Go Awry

--- Bell ---

She wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about the role she’d been given.

On the one hand she really did not like using her powers if she didn’t have to, but on the other she also didn’t like just being dead weight waiting on everyone else to finish risking their lives while she sat on the side lines.

She knew why Scarlet argued for her to stay behind, always worried about her well-being but, (we’re not that… fragile…)

A chill ran down her spine as the shadows of the night seemed to grow darker.

Mercer had given her the final say in whether she’d stay behind or help DeWolf with collecting the kidnapped children, and while she did want to help, she didn’t want Scarlet to be distracted by the knowledge that she was nearby and might be in danger if things go wrong.

Not when she’d be fighting who knows how many Deviants to lure them away from the children and Romulus for DeWolf and Mercer to have easier paths to their objectives.

What’s more by staying behind if something went wrong and Scarlet was hurt (we can drag them all into the abyss…)

She shivered once more wishing she’d brought a jacket.

--- Scarlet ---

She rolled her shoulders, her eyes briefly drifting to the edge of the roof where Mercer was watching, waiting for her to kick things off by attacking the entrance so that he could sneak in. (Pretty much the same thing we did with the lab.)

It wasn’t something she had a problem with, not in the way she knew Bell did.

Whereas Bell abhorred violence and shied away from using her powers, Scarlet reveled in it only ever holding back when her overly cautious otherself felt that the violence was too much of a risk with too little of a reward.

She knew this wasn’t exactly a good thing, mostly because it’s what those (fuckers) at the lab wanted from her. To be violent, to be destructive, to rip, tear, burn, and eat anything in her path.

If Mercer wanted the same from her then she had no problem throwing herself against whatever crossed him, especially if it meant he would keep Bell safe from those that would hurt her.

Her blood began to burn as her otherself spiked her blood full of Malice, forcing their transformation as her fingertips burned, her teeth itched, her heart begged to be set free of the bones that caged it.

She inhaled deeply, feeling the heat building up in her lungs before unleashing it on the front wall of the building, melting through the metal and brick work that stood between her and her (prey.)

--- Mercer ---

“Oi, Kennedy, you there?” He asked as Scarlet set things off with some fireworks.

“Codenames while in the field.” The hero told him.

“Got you, Kin-Ken.” He nodded, checking between the various glass panes in search of a decent entry point. (Not this one, too many guys.)

He couldn’t help but smirk at Kinsley’s sigh of exasperation.

“What exactly do you need?”

“Letting you know I’m here at the warehouse, but someone else seems to be in the middle of going after this guy.” He explained, knowing he couldn’t cover up Scarlet’s involvement in this but that he could cover up her involvement with him. (Hey, think of the bitch and there she is!)

“Do you need back up?” Kinsley asked with a touch of concern. “There are kids on the line so don’t give me your lone wolf act.”

“Nah, it’s just a teenage Deviant, probably the older sibling of someone who was kidnapped.” He answered honestly, just in case the shelter had cameras Kennedy could hack to get eyes on the situation. “Oof, she is doing a number on these assholes… Needs to learn that there’s a better angle to break kneecaps though.” (I’ll have to remember to show her that later.)

Kinsley was silent for a moment before asking, “Is this you trying to cover things up so you can kill Romulus and blame someone else?”

“What? Does that sound like something I wou- Ha-ha-ha, I’m sorry I just, I-I couldn’t.” He laughed before shaking his head. “No, no. Some kid is attacking the place, and like I told you I’m not going to kill Romulus unless he is actively hurting a kid, right now.”

“Remember we’ve enough data on you to know if you kill him.” Kennedy warned him.

He couldn’t help but roll his eyes at that. “Let’s be honest, that’s not really going to change anything if I decide to kill him or not. Your options here are simple, believe me and let me handle this, or don’t and call Safeguard or Swansong to intervene at which point I will be obligated to upload a terabyte of kinky malware infested fetish porn onto your supercomputer where we both know all of the Vigils will see it.”

“Wait, that was you you motherfu-” He killed his com link as he found a room with a glowing violet spell circuit in it.

Pulling out the knife he’d ‘borrow-(I-totally-stole-it)- he began to cut a hole in the pane so that he could slip inside and start dealing with this mess.

--- DeWolf ---

Working with Mercer was always a rollercoaster, and as much as he may’ve liked the guy and what he was trying to do in the Way, it was a rollercoaster he would happily stay off of if he could help it.

Unfortunately, if he wanted to find her he needed Mercer and his resources. And given how quickly Mercer had found this place he regretted not asking for help sooner.

He froze as a couple guards rushed past towards the scent of smoke, ash, and blood.

(Of course any kid he hangs out with is just as scary as him.) He sighed, knowing that just off what he could hear and smell he’d have had to go all out if the mess between him and the redhead had come to blows. (And if I did that there’d be no telling how long it takes me to come down.)

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Shaking his head he gave the air another sniff this time picking up a far more familiar scent and started making his way towards it.

Despite this Romulus asshole having been here for who knows how long the animal shelter still had a number of cages, some of which were giving off the scent of old blood and other things.

(So help me, if these assholes have been keeping the kids in cages I’m going to tear them all apart with my teeth.)

His skin began to feel too tight and he forced himself to take a shuddering breath to try and make himself calm down. (Come on, you’ll be no good to anyone if you lose control now.)

Part of him felt it would have been better if he’d gone with the Malcontent girl to tear through Romulus’s men, but the larger part knew that this way he could make sure she was safe. And if not, well…

The joints on his hand popped and cracked as his hand spasmed at unnatural angles.

(I’ll make them regret touching her.)

Eventually he made his way to a door where the scent he was tracking was strongest, and began working to open it. A feat he felt he would’ve struggled with if his… condition didn’t give him more strength than the average man.

Inside he found a number of children all of whom barely reacted as he walked in, as if they were all dazed (or drugged.) He frowned, before his eyes locked onto one child in particular.

“Ruby!” He ran forward grabbing the dazed girl by her shoulders. “Are you alright? Did they hurt you, did they… Damn it.” He cursed realizing she was as out of it as the rest of the children.

“Ah-ah-ah.” A voice said from behind him.

He quickly spun on his heels and found a grinning man aiming a gun at him.

“You really shouldn’t curse in front of the brats.” The man cocked his gun. “You also shouldn’t be trespassing.”

His pupils contracted as the sound of a gunshot echoed through the room and pain tore through his chest.

--- Mercer ---

Using his grappler he began slowly lowering himself into the room before pausing half-way down as he heard a loud howling-roar echo throughout the warehouse. (Going to assume that means shit is hitting the fan.)

Shaking his head, he began twisting his body to make his line swing before dropping onto a nearby walkway and retracting his grappling hook as the Spell Circuit began to spark with violently violet electricity.

(Damn it, the Spell Circuit is about to trigger.)

His eyes darted around the room and the small handful of men inside of it in search of the man he’d come here to stop before eventually landing on the face of a square jawed man with graying brown hair. (There’s Romulus.)

He glanced between his target and the glowing Spell Circuit.

(I’ve only got time to deal with one of them. I can capture Romulus but let the rest of his goons set off the Spell Circuit or I can knock down as many of their men as possible and hope it disrupts their spell but that’ll give Romulus a chance to retaliate.)

(Unless I take him out in one shot.)

Killing Romulus and then getting a couple of pot shots at his allies would both take him off the board and stop the circuit, but it’d also be breaking his promise to Kinsley and would prove she couldn’t trust him.

But he could live without her trust. (Had been living without her trust.)

(After all it’s not like she actually intends to trust me after everything with Vigilance, it’s not like she actually wants to go back and be-)

The light of the circuit reached its peak and he made his decision.

--- Scarlet ---

“Come on this the best you fuckers got?!” She yelled as one Arcane threw a bolt of lightning at her and another began making signs with their hands. “Oh, come on I’ve been getting worse shocks than that since I was ten!”

The Arcane who had been making signs slammed their hands into the ground and there was a blinding flare of light.

“Fuck!” She growled her eyes burning.

(Duck.)

Heeding her otherself’s instincts she dropped to all four and felt something pass overhead.

(Forward.)

She dashed forward moving on all fours before sinking a hand into the ground to force a hard turn as her otherself told her to (Turn.)

The spots from her vision began to fade and she was able to get a look at the creature the Arcane had summoned, a large Reptilian looking thing standing almost two meters tall on all fours with a number of spines along its back and drool leaking from its fanged maw that fizzled as it touched the ground.

“Not so tough now are you?!” One of the Arcane laughed.

Crouching low she shot forward, skittering along the ground as fast as she could before rising into an upwards slash as she left four long gashes in the cocky Arcane as he was sent flying.

“Pfft, this changes nothing.” She told the Arcane as she lunged forward and grabbed him by the throat. “Now dismiss the reptilian fucker before I rip out your throat.”

“Fuck off!” The Arcane shouted as he slapped her with a handful of electricity.

She barely moved but still found the act irritating enough to make her growl at the Arcane as he claws began to dig into his throat.

(Move.)

Dodging to the side she idly hoped the giant lizard's claws would finish off the downed Arcane, but found the creature had instead been trying to knock her off with its spined tail. Something she was pretty sure would tear apart anyone without a healing factor.

She began inhaling to torch the thing with fire but faltered as the boiling of her blood reached a changing threshold, one of the points where her humanity clashed with her otherself’s existence as their body tried to change in a way not intended by nature. A transformation that would leave her in agony unless she (fed) on something, (or rather someone…)

Her eyes drifted to the other Arcane she’d downed, as her otherself demanded she (feed) if it was going to give her any more of its power this fight.

Normally she’d have no problem gorging as much as her otherself desired for as much power as it was willing to give, but she also remembered Mercer promising not to kill to that Nightwatch lady earlier. Something she’d been avoiding doing as she pushed her otherself as far as it would go without eating anybody to offset the Malice flowing in her veins.

Given his nonchalance about her and her sister’s eating habits, she didn’t think he’d care if she ate somebody, but she did think he might care if she made him break his promise to an ally. And as much as he’d done and offered her and Bell she wasn’t sure if she was willing to risk it.

(Feed or run!) Her otherself growled.

She shook her head, knowing that those weren’t her only options. She had just enough control over their powers that she could keep herself at her current Malice Concentrate regardless of how much her otherself tried to force its way.

The only problem was she wasn’t sure if she was in any shape to kill the reptile as she was.

Her eyes met the giant lizard’s as it began to growl at her, its legs bending ever so slightly in preparation to pounce, before taking away whatever time she had left to think.

--- Bell ---

(Gunshots ripping through the air.)

(Fangs, claws, and hate.)

(Electricity cackling all around, murderers on all sides.)

She gasped as the visions her otherselves had pushed into her skull began to fade, leaving her panting for air as she tried to process everything she’d just seen.

“No, no, no, no, this is bad…” She whimpered, running her hands through her hair in panic. “They all need help but I… I can’t be everywhere at once…”

(Yes you can.) Her otherselves reminded her.

“No, no, I can’t trust you, I can’t trust you!” She yelled at herself as her eyes darted between all of the too thick shadows before clenching shut.

(They all need backup, DeWolf to save the kids, Mercer to stop Romulus, and Scarlet to fight that monster.) She thought frantically. (But, but can I really help, or would I just get in their way? I can’t actually fight, not, not with my otherselves like this, if I mess up I might get them killed! Oh, what do I do, what do I do?!)