Chapter 017:

“So you’re telling me…that in the entirety of the shop, they didn’t have hoods in any other color?”

A hushed whisper asked.

“Y-yeah, sorry,”

“Y’know, I don’t mind as much actually. Hey boss, the mark’s at the door,”

“It’s just weird, you know? I mean who would even use pink hoods? Well whatever, are we all clear on the plan?”

“Plan?” Kiara whispered with a scoff.

“All clear, boss,” Rafiel replied earnestly.

“Then let’s go,”

………………………………………………..

The bar was rowdy as always with everyone either laughing, grunting, or yelling. Beer flowed freely, flooding their drinkers’ senses, and greasy food was being swallowed without much care.

It truly was just another night in the Blue Rock Brotherhood’s main headquarters.

Curly sat in his usual spot, by the door as a bouncer of sorts. In truth, it was a dull job but he always managed to keep himself amused; tonight’s entertainment was provided via the poker table, where a commotion arose when one-eyed Eddie accused Pete of cheating.

“Idiots…” Curly said with a sigh and wry smile as he raised his cup to his lips.

“Fuck,” Only to then curse with a disappointed frown as he realized that it was empty. Intending to right this mistake at once, he got up but was interrupted by a frantic knock at the door.

“Ughhhhh!” He wanted to ignore it but the boss had important guests with him tonight so he couldn’t really not do his job.

“Yeah, yeah, who is it?” He asked with righteous impatience once he reached the door.

“It’s me,” A panicked voice came from the other side.

“No shit; who is you?” The bouncer spat back as he slid open a slit in the door, allowing him to see outside.

“Oh, it’s Moe, you look like shit! How are ya’ now” Curly’s expression eased up immediately as a smile coated with schadenfreude spread across his face.

“Shut it, let me in!”

“Ok, ok, just give me a second, you know how annoying this fucking door is,” Curly gave in, closing the slit, and he began the arduous task of wrangling the hunk of metal open.

A labored screech sounded out as the door opened at last.

“Aight, I got i-” The bouncer paused mid-sentence. Instead of Moe, what greeted him at the entrance was two figures in pink hoods.

Apprehension seized Curly and he began stepping away from the door as he questioned out loud: “Who are you fucks? W-what have you done with Moe?”

“Moe’s busy,” One of the hooded figures replied. From the sound of her, it was clear that she was young.

This eased some of Curly’s tension.

‘So it’s just some kids,’ he thought as he lowered his guard. But still, what the young miss had said kept him on edge.

It was then that he noticed how hot it was. ‘Hmm, weird, the weather hasn’t been this war-’ His thought was unfortunately cut short as a burst of fire exploded before him, sending him flying through the room.

Immediately after, silence descended in the once rowdy bar as Curly’s burning body landed on the poker table, causing its collapse.

Evidently, the silence was but a momentary affair as every single patron immediately rose to their feet with solemn looks on their faces.

“Tell the boss,” one-eyed-Eddie, a particularly threatening-looking member, spoke while putting out Curly’s fire. Thankfully, the bouncer was still breathing.

Every man currently in the bar- a solid thirty, was clearly on edge. Wisker users always commanded a degree of solemnity; no matter how weak, they were still freaks of nature. Luckily it seemed like this particular Wisker user was fire oriented which matched poorly against their boss’ Wisker.

“I got it,” Young Allen replied as he immediately headed toward the staircase. Meanwhile, the other members started cautiously approaching the door.

“It’s really not us you should be worrying about,” The pink hooded figure with the Wisker spoke calmly and matter-of-factly.

His words caused all the members to look toward him, even Young Allen, who paused midway up the stairs.

‘He’s just bluffing,’ He thought before once again making his way upward.

Unfortunately, just after he turned back toward the staircase, his face was caved in by a sudden fist, sending his body tumbling down the steps before coming to a horrifying stop.

Standing amid the crowd of goons, the recently accused of cheating: Pete, peeled his eyes away from the Wisker-wielding figure in pink and turned toward the abrupt commotion behind him.

His eyes widened as he spotted a third pink hood standing at the top of the stairs.

“Evening gentlemen,” He said mildly. “Sorry for the abrupt entrance, but I have business with your boss,”

“Get him!” Pete hollered before rushing up the stairs himself. His brothers did not disappoint as they too rushed upward noisily.

“My, my, you are quite a noisy lot,” The intruder remarked as he started crouching slightly.

Just as Pete began questioning the lunatic’s actions, he was surprised to discover that he could no longer see anything as his field of vision was covered with two shoes.

“Agh!” He grunted in pain as the intruder’s feet connected with his face, hurling him back and into the group of people behind him, causing a mini avalanche of human bodies.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

The intruder, on the other hand, was completely unharmed as he had used Pete’s face as a springboard in order to jump off the stairs’ railing.

“Eat this!” A thug screamed as he swung a bat at the intruder who had just landed, hoping to catch him by surprise.

“Whoop” The intruder sounded casually as he ducked below the attack with expert agility before slamming his fist against the thug’s jaw, knocking him clean out.

The approaching men paused in hesitation after noticing how dangerous this intruder was.

“What are you fucks waiting for?” An abrupt voice asked loudly. It was Curly, who had just regained consciousness, “They got Moe and Larry!” He cried with tears in his eyes.

This seemed to light a fuse as the group of men attacked with renewed vigor.

“That’s more like it,” The intruder mocked as he noticed a group of men surround him, hurling curses and wielding bats.

………………………………………………..

On the second floor of Blue Rock Brotherhood’s headquarters, Dominic eyed the stack of papers on his desk while holding back a tired yawn.

Behind him, he heard his secretary yawning, causing his brow to twitch. ‘Oi, you were the one who told me how important this meeting was! So why do you look so bored?’

Thankfully it seemed like their guest did not mind her rude actions.

“As you can see then Sir Dominic, the optimum time to strike would be high noon as by then, the auction would be at its most hectic. But aside from that obvious fact, we really should more closely study the paths of escape I’ve written out. I've only found 46, but maybe with your help, we can raise that number to an even 50 as it is a much prettier number,” Charlotte Newgate spoke quickly as if trying to get everything out of her mind before her next breath.

Dominic had the urge to snap the little girl’s neck in two. It wasn’t that he hated her, he just wanted to stop her from prattling on any further.

And with how little restraint he had (according to his secretary, Cherry), he might have very well done so, if it weren’t for the scary swordsman standing behind Charlotte.

He stood stock still behind the little lady with a blank look on his face, but Dominic wasn’t fooled.

‘The Newgate family’s famed demonic swordsmen, Cornwell,’ Dominic grimaced as he recalled the information the currently yawning Cherry, had provided him with.

It is said that this very same swordsman had once cut through steel two feet thick with a simple flick of his wrist.

Blue Rock’s boss shuddered at the idea of testing the swordsman’s skills using his Wisker as Cherry had so cruelly suggested previously.

“Blah blah blah blah blah,” Charlotte continued but Dominic was too busy spacing out to listen.

He was preoccupied with the fact that his little brotherhood had caught the attention of the Newgate family.

‘Also this auction…it’s a celebration of the new academy that’s about to open, so the king might attend, can we really handle this?’

“Blah blah blah blah blah, so anyway if you do live through this, we will go further into detail but for now, Cornwell and I will be making our exit,” Charlotte said as she stood from her spot and made a cute little stretch.

Her movements brought Dominic back to reality and he heard the tail-end of her last sentence.

‘Live through this?’ Dominic tilted his head in confusion as Cornwell unsheathed his sword.

“Wait, what?” Dominic said with a shriek as he hurriedly activated his Wisker. A brilliant flash of blue light appeared above his head as an orb of free-flowing water materialised, announcing its presence proudly.

In less than a second, his entire body was covered with a thin layer of flowing liquid.

Fortunately, his actions seemed to be for naught as Cornwell paid him no mind and even turned his back toward him.

With four casual swipes, a large, door-shaped hole was made in the wall of Dominic’s office.

“Your Wisker is really so pretty,” Charlotte remarked to Dominic as she allowed Cornwell to pick her up in a princess carry.

“But isn’t it a waste to be using it now? It only has an effective limit of about five minutes right?”

“I uh…” Dominic was at a loss for words.

“Well, we’ll be going now. If you do require our assistance, the price is the same and you can contact us through the communications crystal I gave you previously. Bye-bye!” And before Dominic could reply, she vanished along with Cornwell through the hole in the wall.

A moment of silence passed as the storm named Charlotte Newgate disappeared into the night.

“Haaahhh, I knew it, all Newgates are trouble,”

“Dominic, what should we do about the intruders?”

“I thought I told you to refer to me as Boss and not by my na-” Dominic paused mid-sentence, “Intruders?”

“Yes, the ones Miss Charlotte mentioned,”

But before Dominic could ask further, a loud crash startled him.

Turning toward the doorway, he was shocked to discover a mysterious figure donning a ridiculously pink hood standing in the wreckage of what used to be his door.

“Why is everyone wrecking my stuff today!!!!” Dominic asked with an exasperated roar.

“Don’t worry, this office won’t be yours anymore,” The hooded figure said casually before turning to Cherry, “I would recommend running,”

Cherry smiled politely before promptly leaving the office. On her way out, she gave her boss some half-hearted words of encouragement.

“Fucking bitch!” Dominic spat at her retreating figure. With his Wisker still active, he turned toward the hooded figure. “Explain,”

“...” The hooded intruder stood silently, occasionally glancing around the office, seeming all like a guest admiring the room.

Feeling as if he was beginning to run out of time, Dominic lost patience. “I don’t know who you are, but I’ve had a really long day,” He stood and stretched his back while rotating his arms, loosening his shoulders. “But in a way, it’s a good thing you came. I’m in need of a punching bag,”

Dominic said as he retrieved an axe that hung on the wall behind his desk. “Well, I say punching bag, but I more so mean target dummy,”

“That’s a nice axe,” The figure said calmly with his back turned to Dominic.

This made the crime boss laugh, “I’m glad you like it, cause it’s the last thing you’ll be seeing,”

“Doubt it, careful with my axe, don’t chip it,”

This prompted more laughter from Dominic, “Friend, you are a riot. Unfortunately, you chose the wrong person to mess with. You see this?” He asked as he pointed out the flowing water covering every inch of his body, “This is my Wisker, an impenetrable barrier of water which protects me from head to toe. Spears, swords, arrows are all useless before its might,”

Dominic even went as far as to strike his palm with the axe which produced a metallic screech as it came in contact with the water.

“I am Invincible!” Dominic said with a smug smile as he rapidly closed in on the intruder.

“That you are,” The intruder agreed as he tore off a piece of his robes and wrapped his hands up, “at least for the next 280 seconds,” His words ended as he turned and rushed in, approaching with haste.

Dominic was shocked into a state of stillness. Not only did the intruder know the fact that his Wisker had a time limit, but he also knew exactly how long that time limit was. Even Charlotte Newgate did not know the exact time; come to think of it further, Dominic himself was unsure of the exact length.

Uneasiness began to spread throughout Dominic’s mind. ‘Who is he, how does he know so much about me?’

“You are really easy to distract,” A sudden voice brought him back to reality and when he looked down toward it, he saw the hooded figure crouching beneath him with a palm barreling toward his chest.

“That’s pointless!” Dominic said as he took the attack head-on. He felt nothing from the blow but he was pushed back slightly.

Apparently, the intruder was not done yet as he spun in place immediately after the attack and sent a kick Dominic’s way.

Again, the attack was too fast to intercept but Dominic did not mind as he felt nothing from the second blow as well.

Taking several steps back, Dominic finally readied his axe and spoke menacingly, “My turn!”

It was then that he noticed two things: A slight breeze that tickled the back of his head, and the hooded figure’s posture.

‘The hole Cornwell made!’ Dominic realized.

The pink-hooded man was crouching so low to the ground it looked like he was about to lay down but Dominic was not fooled. He could feel the potential energy about to explode. He thought of how a cheetah must look a fraction of a second before it pounced.

“Shit,” Dominic muttered.