Paige looked up to one of the crows, "Follow them."

"Aye, miss. Er... you DO want us to poop bomb these ones, right?" The crow asked, seeming uncertain.

"Absolutely. Shit on them, drop rocks on them, harrass them... make their lives constant misery." Paige was furious.

The crow cawed instructions and flapped his wings as he and other crows took flight. He was almost immediately replaced with what seemed to be a smaller, younger crow.

She was already walking to follow the men, but Levi grabbed her arm and stopped her again.

"Wait, me and Joe are with you. If you go running off, you'll just get yourself killed."

"Yeah, well, the longer we wait, the longer they do God knows what to the girls. I can't just sit here and do nothing."

"You also can't take them by yourself. You'll get killed, or worse, end up like Maddy's group."

"Well, if you want to sit around overthinking shit again, be my fucking guest, but someone has to do something, now, not later."

"Hey!" Joe snapped. "You're both right. Don't go getting yourself killed, Paige. And good thinking with the crows. We'll need the intel."

Joe turned his gaze to Levi. "Levi, Paige is right, though. We need to move quick. You were a Marine too, weren't you. You know that the sooner we move, the less they'll expect it. If we could go now, that would be best, but..." Joe's intense glare passed between Paige and Levi, making sure he had their attention.

"We need intel, and we need bodies. I've got this. I promise. But both of you pull your shit together, NOW, because I need you. Follow my lead, listen to me, and I promise you, we'll get those girls back. I need you to trust me."

Levi jerked when he heard Joe say, 'Marine, too.' He suddenly heard the Drill Instructor 'frog voice' behind Joe's rasp. He'd almost flinched when Joe said 'bodies' instead of 'fighters.' It made sense that Joe had been a Marine, looking back at things. Maybe that was why him and Joe got along so well, but Joe had never mentioned it.

Levi gave a single nod.

Paige relaxed slightly, "Yeah, I'll trust you. But I'm going, no matter who ends up coming with me. So, you better get on it fast."

"That's fair," Joe agreed. "Can you focus on intel for now? We have a huge advantage with your crows. I want to know where they are, where their camp is located, a head count on both their camp and the group that just left, and where the girls are located. Did you get all of that?"

"I think so." Paige said.

"Good, and learn everything else you can pick up, too. Classes, weapons, anything. I'll have questions. And tell the crows to wait to harass them. We'll use it as a distraction. Got it?" Joe's voice sounded more of a command than a request.

"Got it." Paige said with a firm voice.

Joe turned to Levi. "Levi. Save your over analyzing bullshit for when we have the intel. Sit with Paige. Meditate or something. I'll need your brain later."

Joe shifted to a third person. "Iara, are you with us?"

Iara was frozen, staring at the scene before them. Her eyes were wide, and she gnawed at her fingernails.

Most people were frozen. A lot had ran off in a panic. A small few had pulled the young man's decapitated head from the flames and were fruitlessly trying to heal him.

Agnis had fallen to her knees sobbing.

Kenny, sitting behind Agnis, glared down at the drumsticks in his hands, knuckles tight.

Some, like Hank, stood angry. Others looked lost.

And Iara hadn't even recognized that Joe had spoken to her.

Joe said nothing as he turned from her and stomped off.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Levi's gaze followed Joe, but... he trusted him. He knew Joe had dismissively told him to meditate, but he took it as at least something to keep him busy and useful. Levi also knew he was close to something. He wasn't sure what it was, but if ever he needed a breakthrough, now was the time.

----

Joe walked into the center of the crowd before saying anything. But when he did, it was in a loud, confident voice.

"Everyone, listen to me." Joe's gaze scanned around him. The chaos was dying but not quite dead. Only a few people looked his direction.

"I said, LISTEN TO ME." Joe's voice came out broken, somewhat froglike, yet commanding and sounding almost ethereal.

People paid attention then.

"I'm going after them. Me and a couple of others. I need volunteers. We're getting those girls back. And putting a stop to those psychos...whoever they are."

Joe looked around him, letting the crowd around him process his words.

"I need people willing to die to do the right thing. If you aren't, don't waste my fucking time. And I need people willing to kill tonight to do what's right. If you aren't, stay here and regret that later. If you're from the sparring pits, we need you most, but I need as many as are willing and I will take anyone."

A second of silence stretched into an eternity.

The first to step forward was David, almost plowing his way to the front. "I'm going to put an arrow in all of their necks."

Joe looked at the man, someone who always put the wellbeing of others beyond any sense of adventure or gain. He caught David's eye. "Are you sure? Killing someone will live with you forever."

"Yeah," David said through gritted teeth. "I know. But it's Maddy. I think I'll be just fine with killing the sick fucks."

Joe gave him a nod.

After that, a woman around 40 years old stepped forward. "You don't know me, but I've heard of you, Joe. I'm Caroline. I'll go. I'll probably die, too, if I'm being honest. But I need you to know something." She pulled at the neck of her blouse. It was normal clothing. She'd never changed into her starting gear.

As her hand pulled the fabric lower, a tattoo was exposed above her left breast.

"You recognize this?"

Joe stared for a moment, trying to place it. "...Yeah, some of those men had tattoos like that," Joe answered.

Caroline nodded. "It's a gang tat. A prison gang. Those men... I saw several tattoos displaying their affiliations. They're dangerous. You need to know that. I'm pretty sure at least most have been to the pen."

"Thanks for the information. It helps, but..." Joe shrugged and waved a hand to the headless corpse of the young man behind him. "No shit they're dangerous. But trust me, we can be dangerous too."

Caroline gave Joe a grim nod and then stepped behind him.

Gage came forward after Caroline. "I-I'll do it." He said with a weak voice. His body was visibly shaking.

Gage had never even made it to the hard spar pits, though he'd been sparring with his sword and shield since the beginning. He'd never had the stomach for it.

Joe gave him a long, sad look. "Gage. You don't have to do this."

"I-I know. I know. But...this is a chance to be better. And this is the right thing. I have to or I'll die from the regret anyway." Gage's voice wasn't half as confident as his words.

"I'll find a place for you," was all Joe could manage to say with any honesty.

After that, two younger men and a middle aged woman from the sparring pits stepped forward. He recognized them, but hadn't ever gotten to know any of them. Joe didn't give them much more than an appreciative nod.

Then, Tony walked forward.

He was quickly followed by Craig, who was pulling at his arm. Tony kept jerking it away.

Craig was pleading with Tony. "Please. It isn't worth it. You're going to die. Tony... we can leave. We can go somewhere else." Craig had snot and tears running down his face.

Tony was almost dragging Craig, who kept trying to cling to him. But as he approached Joe, he turned and shook Craig off, pushing him away. "Let me go, Craig. This is pathetic. I thought you had a stronger spine than that. There's no telling what those girls are going through. And do you really want to be extorted for the rest of your life? This is what is right. If you want to be a coward, you can do it alone."

Tony said nothing to Joe, but as he stepped behind Joe, Joe caught his arm and leaned in to whisper, "Thank you for joining. We need you. But...if you really understand what you're stepping into, don't risk those being the last words you ever say to him. Not everyone has it in them to be brave. You both deserve better than that."

Then, the drummer, Kenny the Bard, stepped up.

Joe gave the massive boy his best intimidating stare. Kenny's angry face didn't so much as twitch under Joe's gaze.

"Levi said you don't like fighting," Joe challenged.

"I'm going." Kenny replied.

"You're going to have to hurt them."

Kenny nodded. "I know exactly what I'm about to do."

Joe pointed to Kenny's snare drum. "That's loud. It's going to give us away."

"I've got a few tricks for that, too."

"Look..." Joe started.

Kenny cut him off. "I SAID, I'm going."

Joe gave Kenny a single nod. "Just had to make sure."

After Kenny moved behind Joe and he saw Grace standing in front of him, he almost laughed. "What the fuck do you think you're doing, Grace?"

"Well, what the fuck does it look it look like?"

"Grace..." Joe started to argue, but Grace was pulling something out of her pack.

As she adjusted the tall, pointy black hat on her head, she glared into Joes eyes. "You know what I am, Joe, but more importantly, don't forget who I am."

A shallow, grim smile was the only answer he could give her.

Joe looked around the crowd. "If any of you change your mind," Joe's head turned back to the group behind him, too. "I mean anyone... make it fast, because there's not a lot of time."

Directing his attention fully on the group of volunteers, he issued orders, commanding voice seeming as natural as drawing in a breath. "Go grab everything you think you need. Potions, gear, and anything you can think may be helpful. Meet me in the savezone training grounds in 15 minutes. We'll strategize and plan the mission there."

Then Joe went to see what Paige had learned from the crows.