Malta began to use her stemata. Derris returned the favor by drawing his training pistol, but he was too late. By the time it was drawn, she was already in the vicinity. She zipped past Derris before he could even react and tackled me to the floor. As her body laid on top of mine, I could feel every bit of my confidence in my survival dropping by the millisecond. This is it. I’m finished. She’s going to rip me to shreds and walk away like nothing’s happened.

“Holy Blue! I’m such a huge fan!”

…Huh?

Derris slowly turned to face the both of us. I could tell from the listlessness of his movements, he was just as stunned as everyone else. It’s just now setting in for him that we’re no match for this person. This person and their skill with their stemata is on a completely different level from everyone we’ve faced so far. Malta is on the level of a CT. Maybe even a CT with a title. But something is off about her. Something changed.

That’s when she lifted her chest off of mine and revealed her face as she laid on top of me. Instead of twisted evil and bloodlust, it was genuine enthusiasm at seeing me. She truly thinks that I’m Holy Blue of the Holy Power Force. She truly thinks that I’m the silky smooth-voiced, handsome, flirt that’s the rival and best friend of Holy Red.

My mission is clear. I have to pretend I’m Holy Blue. Otherwise, every person here is witness to Malta’s slaughter and could simply be disposed of. I just have to get into the groove.

“A-are you hurt, milady?”

What the hell? “Milady?!” Holy Blue doesn’t say milady!

“I’m okay! Just wrapping things up!”

Just roll with it Rono…

Malta got off of me and as I rose to my feet, I introduced everyone else.

“As you know, I have some of the other members of the Holy Power Force here. There is Holy Pink.”

“H-Hello…” Anna said. I could almost feel her anxiousness.

“And over there is Holy Yellow.”

“Hey…” Derris said. I could almost feel his death glare.

“Wait a minute…isn’t Holy Yellow a girl?” Malta narrowed her eyes as she looked at Derris.

Crap! I need to come up with something fast. I teased him for it earlier, but I never thought such a small detail would come up. Wait, I remember! Issue #445!

"Don't you remember? Holy Yellow has perished, so who better to take her place than her BROTHER!"

…

"You know, that makes sense!" Malta's expression lightened up and with it, I relaxed a bit.

"So Malta, I have a question: You work for Lucien Shaw, don’t you? Did he order you to do any of this?" Anna asked Malta.

“It’s a coup d'état” She gave another menacing smile as she explained. “We’re ordered to wipe out hideouts A and B of the West Triad!”

Well that confirms it. Gutter lied to us. The question is though…why? If he wanted to tear down the West Triad and he already had the means to do it, why would he make us do it? Just to make sure? Regardless, Arno’s team was assigned to take care of the other hideout.

“Yeah, I wanted to wrap up here quickly as a warmup before fighting Don Matteo. He has a pesky stemata, so anything could happen.” Malta stretched as she explained.

Wait a minute…If he has an unstable stemata, then Arno is screwed. All he has is a training pistol and he can’t even use it. Maybe I can get Malta to go and help them.

“Malta, we may need to go help the other members. Holy Red is battling Don Matteo as we speak. If we don’t interfere, he might lose—”

“Holy Red won’t lose.” Derris said as he glared at me. “He’s my rival, after all.”

“Well that’s not right. Holy Blue is Holy Red’s rival! You gotta learn the pecking order, buddy.” Malta pointed at Derris.

“It’s fine! We want people in the force to be shooting for the stars because…”

“Not even the sky’s the limit!” Malta pumped her fist in the air and began swaying from side to side in excitement. It almost makes you forget that this girl geeking out over comics just annihilated a third of a crime syndicate.

Well if Derris believes in Arno, I guess I will too. But where does that leave us in the plan again? Oh yeah! We’re to meet at the train station.

“Well, we’ll be on our way! Good luck with your rebellion—”

“Wait! Aren’t you gonna help, Holy Blue? We could really use your help…”

There’s no way in hell I’m getting myself further involved in this BS! I gotta get out of here! She seems real set on having us come with her though. If I wanna avoid that chaos I have to pull something here. What would Holy Blue do at this moment? Embody that!

I walked over to Malta step by step, and once we were face to face I grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close to my own. This is a direct reference to issue #68. It’s when Holy Blue couldn’t bring himself to ask out his one true love, Holy Pink. So to give him the inspiration to do so, he did this exact motion and said these words:

“After all of this is over, I’ll tell you how I feel. For now, let’s do our best.”

Malta was speechless, her face growing red by the second.

“Whaaaaaaa?!” Anna was completely bewildered.

“Oh…my…God…” With each word Derris said, I could tell that his smile was growing wider and wider.

“A-anyway!” I turned around just as quickly as I performed that risqué action. “We’ve got other places in the world to take care of. I believe in you, Malta.”

“R-right! That makes sense…” It looks like she’s still flustered after that stunt I pulled. I didn’t even think that would work. Maybe confidence is key with the ladies.

“Well…let’s go team!” I urged everyone else to leave with me. This is the only chance we’re gonna get to leave, so we gotta take it. Thank goodness. That could’ve turned out ugly…

Arno

We all made our way back to the gas station and once we did, we changed into our normal outfits and traveled back to the train station we arrived at. At this point, it was nighttime and the train just came from zone one. The shopkeeper back at the gas station was nice enough to give us bags to hold the costumes. I’ll definitely never forget this experience. At this point, It’s all up to the rebels.

“Still not over the fact that you took Holy Red from me. Are you even a real fan?” Rono scowled at me.

“Of course I am! I started reading the comics when they got to the hundreds!”

“I started reading when they got to the tens you rookieeeeeeeeeee!” Rono grabbed my shoulders and started shaking me back and forth.

“Wow, Rono. If you were this passionate about your training, you’d be stronger than both Gollie and I combined!”

“Arno…you just crossed a core emotional boundary and I don’t even think you noticed, man…” Rono stopped shaking me and let go of my shoulders.

“What’s taking these people so long, man? I got places to be!” Derris tapped his foot in annoyance as some of the passengers from the train took their exit.

“Derris, you’re not as busy as you make yourself out to be.” Ori rolled her eyes.

There weren’t that many people coming out, but one of them stood out to me. It was a man with a large suitcase. So large that he had trouble fitting it through the train’s door. His two friends that came out before him sighed as they looked at his struggle.

“We told you not to pack so much, man. We’re only gonna be here for the weekend to help the governor.”

“Hey man now that I’ve got money, I’m seeing everything my zone has to offer! I used to live in a mine here, but now I’ve got money!”

“Of course. Being a counter-terrorist pays well, after all.”

That’s when I immediately turned to Ori and exchanged looks with her. She gave me a knowing look as everyone began to pass by the three CTs and step onto the train. Everyone except for Ori and I. When everyone noticed this, they all looked at us.

“There’s a problem that just came up.” I said as I averted my gaze to the three men that were now leaving the station and getting into a car.

“CTs just arrived on the scene.” Ori said. “Zone two’s fate has been sealed with their arrival. I’m sorry Anna, but this means that even the BCT sides with how Baxton runs things. That’s why we’re going.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Rono was speechless.

“I know that this is part of your grand plan Ori, but if any of us interfered now, we’d only end up getting killed. Even if you did survive, you would be an enemy of the BCT and to a greater extent, this country.” Derris tried to persuade Ori, but she just shook her head. She wasn’t hearing any of it and neither was I.

“I said it once and I’ll say it again: I leave my emotions out of the picture in favor of thinking of things within reason. There is one exception to that rule of mine, though. That exception is Arno.”

“It’s fine Arno. This is my fault for getting you guys involved. I’ll…figure something out!” Anna exited the train but as she ran past me, I grabbed her by the hand. She tried to break free from my grasp, but I wouldn’t let her. I won’t let her go.

“You’ve done enough, Arno! Please! I need to do something! At the very least, if they’re gonna die, I’ll die with them!”

“Anna…you’re a kind person. I’ve noticed that ever since you got your aptitude score, you’ve been holding back. I’m certain that with a score like yours, you could easily get an offensive stemata and thrive. But you don’t like hurting people, do you? Although CTs are surrounded by nonstop bloodshed and violence, you’re different. It’s gonna be a bloodbath on that battlefield…”

At that moment, I turned to her and gave a smile. I sure hope she can’t see it. The pain in my expression.

“But don’t worry! I’ve seen hell before!”

“Help me understand, Arno. Why are you so adamant on going on this suicide mission?” Anna asked in a strained voice. I could tell that she was like a teapot ready to boil over depending on my answer.

“It’s because I haven’t gotten there yet. I haven’t gotten to that breaking point…”

At that moment, I briefly remembered what Mr. Terrance told me back at his mansion that night we encountered Hives.

I don’t really know how to explain it, but there’s times in one’s life where they’re in such deep trouble, they have no other choice but to either improve or get crushed by all of the pressure. I’ve had that moment happen several times to me and when it did, I grew significantly stronger each time without fail.

That’s what he said… but I still haven’t reached that point. You think that I would reach it in my fight with Hives or Don Matteo, but I didn't. I had to either brute force those situations or have Ori tell me what to do next. This is my last chance.

“So you’re doing it for your pride, huh? I’ll respect it, Arno. If it helps any…I really do think you’re up there in terms of strength.” Derris gave me his blessing.

“Look man, I don’t care. I just wanna get outta here before things get crazy!” Rono waved me off.

“Arno…I won’t stop you from doing this. Good luck, buddy.” Gollie gave me his regards.

Seeing everyone else give in to Ori and I’s declaration, Anna threw in the towel too.

“Just…come back alive, okay? It would eat me alive if you ended up dying here.”

“We won’t. After all, we’re gonna create a paradise for parasites!” I turned around and started walking off with Ori in the direction the three CTs went.

I’ll have to put on the gauntlets after I’ve made it a safe enough distance from the train station. I’ll have to hurry, though. This is going to be one of the hardest battles I’ve fought yet.