“O.M.G such a drama queen! Whatcha closing your eyes off for?”

“A game of chess only ends when the king gets decapitated, doesn’t it?”

“I mean, technically, if we’re being fully accurate,” rambled Rohan who came back from literally nowhere, “a chess game could also end by flipping the board or a less aggressive way of giving up.”

“And we’re only keen on playing with the annoying fucktards!”

The laugh that followed made Tye feel as if his head was being split in two. That girl and her shadow’s voices whirled around in his mind to the point any worry for his own safety was discarded in favor of a sinking dread.

His doubts crystallized themselves when the last image he saw before the shadow covered his eyes was the talkative guy getting a hold on the bounded Jeremiah. Now, he could only hear and wallow in his inactions, gagged.

Rohan had no trouble breaking the weakened bindings that were still on his target before slamming him onto the coffee table. The shock awoke him but he was too weakened to really do anything. Therefore, his torture could proceed without any trouble. Rohan discarded the now-empty coach of those wannabe thugs, made sure his victim’s head was turned towards his comrades-in-arms and placed his fluorescent water bottle on that brat’s temple.

In parallel, Blair had grabbed a hold on Tye and sat him next to her to make sure he could hear every little comment she had to make. As she thought multiple times, Tye had nothing to fear. This would be a lesson to remember!

“B-rank. That’s a nice potential, you have there and your friend over there? I guess he could at least be a C-rank. That’s a pretty powerful squad you got out here. But why’s that? I deduce you do not find value in regular humans, or D-rank and below?”

“What… good would they… even do,” whimpered Jeremiah despite not being talked to, “Humans can work as information brokers or wallets… that’s it. Ain’t none of them… fighting the Invaders…”

“That is quite true,” mused Blair before standing up before patting Jeremiah on his shoulder, “I am quite useless against them, but believe me…”

“...you’re no such threat.” 

Jeremiah and Tye’s hearts dropped when they heard her words. Her voice had been condescending yet motherly for their entire interaction. However, something changed in her demeanor. A new person, under her friendly persona, was talking in her stead.

Tye had a hard time believing this was the same person but Jeremiah had the visual to confirm it. From the corner of his eyes, he saw what the older woman looked like.

A monster.

Human cruelty distilled into a single person, a single face, a single expression.

“Rohan, dear.” 

Both wannabes prayed time could stop. They prayed someone would intervene. They prayed at any form of escape from the fate that would befall upon them.

But they played their cards poorly. 

You don’t find yourself in this situation by chance.

“Certainly, Ms.Blackwood.”

He clutched his right hand.

There was no hesitation in his gesture. It was the logical conclusion to this story.

Thus, a dozen screams of pain were heard and bodies contorting into grotesque shapes far beneath anything a human could even resemble were seen.

“Tell me, who instilled this philosophy in you?”

Jeremiah stayed silent. His consciousness was fading in and out. The very little movements he could muster were spent shaking on the table. It was already over but him. How pitiful. Nonetheless, his lack of respect was still not properly punished.

And she’d get the answers she was looking for.

In an elegant motion representative of the craftsmanship she spent decades mastering, a hunting knife found its way in the side of Jeremiah. She asked once more: “Let me rephrase that: Does the leader of ‘the biggest gang in Dallas’ hold the same view as you?”

He screamed before blabbering an incoherent mumble powered by blood, tears and snort: “...make s…ense… makes…sense.”

“So you’re useless,” she spat before signing to Dora to free the mouth of Tye, “what about you?”

“Let him go! Please. He’s… he’s all I have!”

This did not answer her question which she made clear by twisting the knife fifteen degrees to the left, prompting a unique symphony to resonate within the warehouse.

“He’s-! We never met him!”

Typical. “Then who told you to act under the M.O.O.N alias?”

“A man in his thirties! Mustache. Probably Mexican. He called himself Cid!”

Makes sense. She never trusted that paranoid rat. She signed once more to Dora who pulled out a burner phone to inform their friend of the rat before binding Tye again despite his begging.

She sighed: “Well. You kids got played but I’m sure you’re aware of that by now. Still,” she added before directing her voice at Tye, “it’s a shame you care so deeply about this rascal. I was hoping you’d come out of this relatively unscathed given your competence.”

The crying mess on the table found a tingle of his bark back to the surprise of Blair: “Full… of… shit… you’re full… of shit!”

“No really,” replied the offended older woman, “after all he had the right mindset. With a bit of more preparation, some better use of his power and less overconfidence he would not have been defeated. Especially not by us.”

“...wh…at?”

“I mean, you were right. A crippled D-rank, an E-rank and a regular lady can’t do much against Invaders. It’s too bad you forgot you were simply humans.”

This information seemed to be received as well as an actual bombshell to the face.

“... liar…”

“Unfortunately not. You simply weren’t skilled enough to claim Houston.”

Tye remembered all of his claims, all of his feats for the past hour. No wonder none of this impressed Bla- Ms.Murdina or her bodyguards. He was nothing but a nuisance to people truly used to a life of crime. How could he have been so stupid?!

“I found it strange that people like you would engage with us. Every crime family is made of the same people, the rejects, the failures, the homeless, and those who lost even more,” she let herself hang on those last words, “We were left with no other option but to hurt those that ostracized us. That’s how our name grew so big and our feat so widespread. This caused a few idiots to be susceptible to getting riled up… and die. The funeral home has thanked the heavens for the free work, lately.”

Compelled by his imminent demise, Jeremiah felt like asking how they could pull such a feat:  “...how…? How…did that guy…?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” smugly answered Rohan before feigning to close his hand, “The only thing I can assess with certainty is that infecting your crew was the easiest job I ever had to do.”

His gesture constricted the top of the water bottle on Jeremiah’s temple, letting the poor boy guess what happened if he fully clutched it. “...puddles… manipulation…? That’s… pathetic…”

“It’s highly effective against humans though, after all I-”

Blair cut Rohan’s speech short with a motherly knife to his throat. They already lingered here for too long. The meeting was over and there was only one thing left to wrap up before leaving for the night. “Dear, I will take it from here.”

Rohan nodded and stepped aside, Dora still being there and empathetic for his troubles. “One day, you’ll get the right timing to gloat.” Kind words that Rohan smiled at.

“Frankly, I would have stopped here under any other circumstances but you must be aware of the consequences for trampling over our honor?”

Blair set aside Rohan’s water bottle while Jeremiah closed his eyes. His meaningless flashed before him. Despite his mishaps, he never felt more at peace. In a state of bliss, he muttered: “I guess…”

Before that woman’s hunting knife struck the inside of his ear causing him to have another gnarly outcry. Tye wanted to say or do anything but he was still completely powerless. Not content with stopping at a single ear, Blair flipped him over and reiterated with another precise strike that only allowed the kid to hear the sound of his own blood helplessly bubbling within his head.

When Blair came back into his view, she looked extremely pleased. Her voice was almost completely drowned out but he could vaguely make out what she was saying: “One strike for stealing my hearing aids. One strike for mocking my disability. Be grateful.”

Jeremiah helplessly nodded even though the pain felt unbearable. He kicked himself for ever feeling at peace with the idea of dying at the hands of this psycho. Everything hurt, his friends were dead, and he was made deaf by his own hubris. This was not how he wanted to go!

“Tye,” called Blair as Dora undid her power’s grip on him, “You have the instincts of a good leader. Keep tonight close to your heart and scramble back to Dallas. The guilt will be our only direct punishment directed at you.”

She tastefully left out that Reggie would probably have a word or two to say to them after their accidental impersonation of M.O.O.N but it was probably for the best. Tye completely ignored her and distastefully ignored his own injuries to crawl towards Jeremiah and make sure he was still alive.

The sight horrified him, but he stayed silent.

On his knees, his best friend crippled on the coffee table, and the rest of his friends on the floor, he already knew what it all meant. What he had to do.

He did not turn around for his answer: “Thank you for your mercy.” The shivers paired with an abominable smile which disfigured his face were already betraying his feelings.

“Welcome to Houston darlings,” she smiled, he knew she was, “pleasure doing business with you.”

A single black and purple silhouette stayed by his side, it whispered to him: “Maybe it’s not too late, if you go back to Dallas. You could still be held as heroes for rating out the mole.”

Tye answered the creature with a bullet to the head that dissolved it in the darkness of the warehouse. No more games. No more ideals. If he had to answer to his crimes, he’d face them head-on.

He stood up.

Rubbed his eyes dry of any tears.

And the vision stunned him.

“Boss… what happened?”

They were all here. Jeremiah was not the sole survivor. Knocked unconscious but not mangled. It was a miracle or maybe…

Tye’s eyes drifted to the water bottle. Now that he was aware of them, the viruses inside were visible, too visible. On the sticker of the bottle the side effects were far more diversified than he gave credit to the less impressive of his opponents.

“Psychotropics,” he broke down into nervous laughter, “that unhinged bastard.”

If an E-rank with so little subtlety could bring to their knees people of higher potential through his sheer work, Tye would make sure he could do the same…

…and repay this trio for their kindness.

Outside, Blair asked Dora: “How is Reggie handling this?”

“Not too bad,” she answered while putting on a brave front, “They couldn’t catch Cid but nothing more than property damage.”

“Good.”

She clutched near to his chest the handgun Benjamin had told her to keep if she ever found one during their meeting. However, she could not hide how exhausted she felt, how sore her muscles were, or how her tachycardia made her heart feel like it was about to burst open with each beating.

Fuck this body.

“Do you want some water?”

“I’m never accepting shit from you, Rohan.”

“Fair.”

“Speaking of which dear,” called Blair while throwing her arm over his shoulders, “Would you care to explain yourself regarding that pitiful attempt at sneakiness?”

Rohan winced but stayed silent for a few seconds before bolting away from her.

This did not work. 

“Pull something like this again under more dire circumstances and I’ll rip your tongue out.” warned Blair as she lunged and tackled him to the ground in a matter of seconds.

“Noted…”

The rest of the trip was relatively peaceful.

Considering the city’s emergencies were already busy with other incidents happening around town, they came on foot. This had the advantage of granting them much more freedom of movement, so they took their time going back to the hideout. The cold breeze of the night was refreshing and for Dora who needed that pure air it was a blessing. She felt at peace, just letting herself be pushed by Rohan.

Meanwhile, Rohan wondered aloud:  “Didn’t we downplay M.O.O.N and Reggie a bit?”

“What?” 

“Tita, did you turn your hearing aids off again?”

“No” Yes. 10 minutes ago in fact. “What did Rohan say?”

“Uh…”

“I mean, we all know he would not get caught this easily by a mole in his organization,” continued the aforementioned man unbothered, “even if he was caught off guard, he is the one that taught Oscar how to fight so...”

Typical, sighed the older woman before turning off her devices again. “Of course, but we are the only ones aware of this fact,” answered Blair, “We already spared them. My charity has run its course. If they humiliate themselves by talking down to Reggie, it’s their problem.”

Rohan nodded but his mind was racing. Their reputation preceded them. Thank god Benjamin and Oscar were always so adamant about the procedure to stay incognito. Hopefully, the newbie and that failure won’t compromise their work ethic too much. This really was starting to get harder and harder to stay under the radar.

Regardless, this was a worry for another day, so he tried to not let his thoughts ruin another one of his peaceful nights.

Dora just contemplated the night.

And Blair already wiped her mind clean of tonight’s events. Maybe those kids would make something of themselves but until then, they were like the others she met during all her years of misery. 

She already had a family to care for in the Crew.

And the Queen did not need any more.

Thus concludes Murdina ‘Blair’ Hosmer’s night.

She could not wait to go back home and be pampered by her husband for a job well done.

Did you expect any further twist or complication during this meeting?

Why?

This is absurd because for her, regular human that she is…

...everything always goes as planned.