Almost an hour later Rick re entered the room finding Ray bandaging Sly’s palm, he sighed and scratched his beard “I’m sorry Kid…”

“Don’t be, I was too dense to even think of it.” Replied Sly waving him off “You have a family to care for, I cannot ask you to come with us.”

Rick simply nodded sadly, half of him wanted to go but the other half didn’t allow him to.

Sly stood up from the couch and glanced around “We’ll have to do. I have a contact inside, they’ll show us in.”

“What about Trike?” asked Tell.

“Forget Trike, his explosives could only help us through one way.” Sly sighed as he glanced at Rick “We’ll have to go through another way.”

“Which way? What were you planning with Trike then?” Asked Shelbert.

Sly grimaced as he closed his hand “I was going through the main door at first but without Rick’s firepower…We’ll have to take the backdoor.”

Zey snorted “That place has a backdoor? Says who?”

Sly smirked “The tunnels.”

Colorado’s eyes opened wide as he realized Sly’s plan “You want us to go through the Cold districts!?”

“The oxygen supply is turned off but all the other systems should be active, all we need is breathers.” Sly explained “Can you handle it?”

Colorado’s eyes shone briefly as his surprise turned into a grim grin “Can you get us in?”

Sly snorted “Let’s find out.” He took out his phone and opened the chatroom, tapping a button he made it so all in the room could see.

[Reyrey0] has joined the room.

Reyna;

Seeing that she had joined he thought over a way to mask his question before typing it out

[Reyrey0] has joined the room.

Reyna;

Sly;

He wondered if it was too much for her to understand but the quick response that came after answered that question.

[Reyrey0] has joined the room.

Reyna;

Sly;

Reyna;

“Fucking hell Kid can you be any more hopeless than that?...” exclaimed Tell after reading the message “Billions of kinds of codes and that’s how you ask the fucking question!”.

“Well you have your answer do you not?” said Sly with an annoyed grimace as he closed the chat and put away the phone “Rick can you get us breathers?” he then asked turning towards the short man.

Rick nodded “I’ll put it on your tab.”

Sly nodded back then turned to Roy “Can you take out the border guard?”

Roy raised a brow “What do you think?” then gestured at Shelbert with a wicked grin “If he’s our distraction we can.”

Shelbert glanced between Roy’s grin, Sly’s expectance and Ray’s sneer “Fine…but you’re buying me a new arm if shit goes wrong.”

Suddenly a loud crash echoed through the entire building originating from down stairs followed by several mechanical ones.

“The fuck was that?” asked Tell as he glanced out of the room.

“Customers.” Said Sly as he grinned and walked past him “I’ll deal with them.”

“Deal with them!?” exclaimed Rick as he had already ran down half the stairs “That fucker blew up my door!”

Sly walked down the steps and followed his gaze to see that the door had actually been blown off it’s hinges, standing in the doorway was a single man covered by a brown cloak. Several turrets had appeared out of the walls, each one aimed directly at his head as he stood there with his hands up.

Sly chuckled “You could have knocked.” He told the thug while descending the last steps and walking towards him. The cloaked man was paler than paper as he stood there staring at the six automatic security turrets waiting for a single motion to fill him with holes.

“Yo Rick handle your hounds.” Sly shouted back at the short man.

Rick grumbled something under his breath as he tapped at a screen on his wrist watch, the turrets re entered the walls after which closed up as if nothing was even there.

“So…” Sly approached the thug as he carefully lowered his hands and took a few steps back and out of the building. Sly noticed two corpses laying on their back on either side of the thug right outside the door, it seemed like they hadn’t been smart enough to stop moving like this one had.

Sly smirked as he pushed the thug out of the way, the man tripped over his comrade and fell to the ground “What can I help you with?”

Over three dozen more thugs stood around the alley way, each armed with an automatic weapon or explosive launcher, each covered with a light brown cloak and hood and all aiming directly at Sly.

“You wished for a word with me?” asked a cloaked woman at the head of the group of thugs, her face covered by a metal mask except for a few dotted holes by the mouth where a single electronic cigarette lay.

“So you must be Check.” said Sly when a sudden projectile shot past his ear and hit the wall to his left.

Check had taken out a long barrelled pistol and fired within a matter of seconds, moving her aim slightly more to the right she spoke again “That I am, now what would a dead gang want with an officer of one of the top three remaining? Cause I have to say, I am quite perplexed.”

“I want to make a deal.” Said Sly as he glanced around at her gang members tensing as the rest of his stepped out of the blown up doorway.

Check chuckled “A deal? Boy what could you possibly have to offer that you can afford anything of ours?”

“You have the muscle I require, I on the other hand have the best fucking heist you could ever imagine.” Sly announced loudly for every thug around to hear.

Check tilted her head slightly to the right “You have my attention…”

“We’ll provide the way in and out, you take 70% of the spoils while the rest goes to what remains of us.” Sly offered as he gestured at the others to either side of him.

“A Job? This street rat thinks he can hire us!” she announced causing the surrounding thugs to chuckle “After you butchered nine of ours, what makes you think any kind of job you can offer will be enough?”

Sly glanced around at the thugs, Liliana’s blessing was still flowing mana and he could very well kill each one present here but he wasn’t anything if not persistent “I lived in these streets for years, walked in the same boots ya’all have been walkin in.” His accent coming out in full he spoke loudly “Thieves, the lot of us but even thieves have a way to go about things.”

His gaze fell upon Check “Let’s be truthful here, those nine didn’t and don’t mean jack shit to your gang. None of the shits here do, probably not even you.” Check untilted her head and steadied her gun hand “I know how these streets work, the last brother hood died six years ago. Ya’all don’t give two fucks about the next guy over, all ya care about is what he may or may not have in his or her pockets.”

Sly chuckled “Now I didn’t just call you here, Check. I called you because I knew others would follow, like cockroaches following after the rat. I’m not offering this job to you or your damn gang. I’m offering it to anybody willing, anybody wanting. 70% pay out and anything your damn pockets can hold, spread the word because we’re raiding the Cold Districts.”

Sly turned away giving them his back “Gather around Lester’s” He took out his phone and checked the time “By 9 sharp, cause the Fourclaws are back motherfuckers and we’re hirin’.” Gesturing at the others inside they walked back into Rick’s home, briefly Sly glanced back and at the busted door.

Sly flowed his miasma into the door and engulfed it with aura, focusing entirely on raising the slab of metal from the ground. Using his aura he reshaped the door, bending it back from the blast and reaching out with some tendrils bringing back the smaller parts that were blown off. Using lightning summoned from his miasma he welded the parts back into the door as he placed it back into it’s doorway.

“Good as new.” Said Sly as he slapped Rick’s left shoulder, stopping in his tracks as the door fell forwards and slammed to the ground.

“I could have fixed it…I could have…” said Rick as he stared at the badly welded parts on it’s side.

Spirit Realm Of Chaoz

Crystal Kingdom of Kori

Kyle’s eyes lay wide open surrounded by a dumbfounded expression as he stared at Karnage standing in front of him “The hell you…doing here?”

Karnage smiled awkwardly “Ah…haha…I might of…messed up.”

Kyle quickly glanced around looking for Soren “Where’s…What did you…How are you…” before staring right back at her “What…” looking completely confused.

“I kind of…hijacked his seat?...” She asked more so than answered.

Kyle just stood there still looking confused as a crowd began to gather around them, suddenly Celica appeared behind him “There we go, had a few things to finish off bef-” she glanced at Karnage then looked around “Kyle isn’t your friend a tad…taller? And the wrong gender? Wait is this your girlfriend?”

Kyle’s ears trembled “No auntie, go…go on ahead…”

Celica glanced between them once more “You sure?...”

He looked at her with the coldest expression he could muster “Go on ahead.”

Celica shrugged “I’ll…wait at the library…” she said while pointing forwards and walking in the same direction.

Kyle slowly turned to look back at Karnage, his eyes still wide and expressionless except for a slight twitch “You…hijacked Soren’s seat?...”

“Well not exactly hijacked!” she protested trying to correct herself more than him “I kind of switched spots with him in the teleportation! Didn’t know where you were going so I didn’t have a choice! You just strode out of there giving me almost no time to catch up! I mean not that you should have…You could have! After all that crap about the dark fox mons-” followed by an almost impossibly quick explanation that Kyle had to stop her mid way.

“Stop stop, let me get this straight…You hijacked Soren’s spot as we were teleported to the Spirit realm, another dimension?” He asked her again while gesturing at their surroundings, the Crystal Kingdom laying in all it’s wonder.

Karnage glanced around at the crystal buildings and Spirit beasts “I…Yes?...Maybe?...”

“So where is Soren?...” he then asked her with a raised brow.

Karnage briefly stared at him then glanced to the side “The target is left knocked out and mana less…” she replied as if reading off from somewhere.

Kyle held his face with his right palm “What…were you even there for?...” Looking back at her as she stood there in awkward embarrassment he asked “Why did you follow us?”

She stared back at him with her mouth opening and closing over and over as she wondered the same thing.

Kyle sighed “Nevermind, now I’ll have to fix this too…” he mumbled whilst turning towards the long staircase down the street they appeared in.

“Fix what?” Karnage asked as she momentarily jogged to catch up.

“You, being here and Soren not.” He replied while continuing forward.

“Me? What’s wrong with me being here?” she asked seemingly offended.

Kyle briefly glanced back at her “Everything.” before looking forward whilst holding up a cold and collected expression.

They had just reached the stairs when Karnage suddenly rushed forward and blocked his path, looking him straight in the eye she spoke with a tone of annoyance “You don’t tell me what to do, if I want to be here then I will be here. I’m sick of your acting so drop it, don’t think I can’t tell. Just because you act cold and distant most of the time doesn’t mean I don’t know what you really are like because I’ve seen it when you’re actually being yourself.”

She let out all her frustration as she spoke keeping him quiet for the entirety “Where is he? The man that stood up to a Goddess? The guy that convinces Kings and rulers to aid him? The one that walked through a dungeon of undead like it was just another afternoon stroll? The one that successfully invaded the Dominion’s Citadel and left with barely a scratch? The person who against all odds managed to somehow convince Demons and Devils to join up arms with him and his group?”

Kyle simply stood there, calmly looking her in the eye waiting for her to finish before speaking “That guy was a fool, he almost died cause of it. You don’t understand, you don’t know what it means to…” he clenched his fists as suddenly he felt being overwhelmed by anger, closing his eyes he fought to hold it in and slowly the rage subsided.

“Then make me understand, how am I supposed to know what I should even be understanding if you won’t even talk about it?!” Karnage suddenly grabbed him by the collar with both hands, annoyance and anger making her expression alongside something else.

Kyle glanced down at her hands shaking as she pulled on his shirt “Then let me paint you a picture. A child no older than eight caught in the middle of a gang squabble is taken from his family and friends, held prisoner for days with only enough food and drink to keep him alive. He has to listen in as the people that took him plot against his father’s back, as they argue over how, when and where…”

Kyle’s tails begin to flow with an invisible wind as his ears rose to full height “The child snaps, in a fit of rage he tears his bindings apart, burns down the very ceiling that he was kept under alongside every single soul within. Then a boy only sixteen, his only friend days before lay in a bed dead from sickness. He has to listen as others badmouth his friend even as he lay in the grave, only to stand above them a few moments later. Two kids of the same age, burned, beaten and terrified of the monster that stood above them.”

Kyle’s fangs protruded out as his eyes opened wide with rage “Then a boy almost a man of eighteen, someone who for most of his life hid from the outside hating everything and everyone outside the walls he lived in. All but for one he held the most dear, the only one who was able to convince him to step outside. It was supposed to be a good day…just a few hours of fun…but the show didn’t last long and after it ended…after it was just me and her outside…”

Tendrils of white-blue flame began to ooze out of Kyle’s form “They surrounded us, people she knew and left behind, the lust and hunger in their face barely hidden. I tried to step in…I…they beat me…kicked me…She told them she’d go willingly.” Karnage let go of his shirt and took a step back “I lost it. I burned it all, every fucking inch within sight I burned it all.”

Kyle looked up and met her horrified expression “I killed them, I killed her.” Deeply rooted and cold hatred filling his eyes “All because that creature wanted power, all because it chose me to be it’s vessel. It fucked with my head and with every step I took it filled me with as much misery as it could without breaking me. It was my torturer but at the same time my chains, it tore me apart but also kept me together.”

Kyle looked down at his own palms, engulfed in white blue flames and changed as the claws formed out of his fingers “Those chains I tore off, it no longer keeps me together. At any given moment I could flip, at any second I could become the same damn monster that twisted my life to misery.” He looked back up at Karnage as his anger slowly subsided “You ask me where that man you knew currently is?” he held his right palm to his chest “He’s in here, torn asunder and struggling to remain whole.“

He stepped around her “If you know what’s best for you, you’ll go back without another word. Stay away from me, forget about me. Else you might just end up another corpse in my path.” He walked forward and began to ascend the steps.

“I won’t.” she responded.

He stopped “You could die.” he said without glancing back.

“I won’t end up another corpse, I won’t forget, I won’t stay away.” She walked past him “You sound like you’ve already given up, like you’ve already become this monster you’re afraid of. You think I’m scared because you might grow claws and a pair of fangs?” she glanced back with a smirk “You don’t know me very well.” And continued ascending the stairs without him.

Kyle briefly watched as she walked away, glancing down he watched as his claws turned back into fingers and nails “I’m surrounded by crazy…” he whispered to himself.

“I heard that!”