In a compact, dark-wood bedroom, the four friends gathered. The air was stale and smelled of mahanoy after a rainstorm. There was a tense stillness between them. Not one created by fear, but rather anticipation. In all honesty, the catalyst for mutual feeling between them was Fang’s sudden demeanor shift.

“We need to talk,” Fang said, their face neutral and hardened with serious intent.

“That’s correct,” Zander agreed, “we do.” He then looked at Eliot and Vincent, then back to Fang. “Care to explain what is going on?”

“Yeah, Fang,” Eliot added, “those are some dangerous friends you have.”

“Alright, alright,” Fang conceded, “but you have to hear me out. This is a serious conversation.”

They then walked over to one of the two beds and sat down on the edge of it, resting their arms on their knees. Their eyes never faltered nor did they lose their edge. Zander and Eliot followed suit by sitting on the other bed, while Vincent chose to remain standing, leaning himself against one of the walls.

“Libra,” Fang started to explain, “is in fact a criminal organization—a mob, if you will.”

“I kind of figured, considering that esteemed gentleman,” Zander sarcastically said, “introduced himself as the godfather.”

“Archard?” Fang rhetorically asked. “Yeah, he and Lawrence are the two that I’m mostly familiar with. Larry is probably the one I know the least about.”

“Larry?” Zander asked.

“Another member,” Fang answered, “but that doesn’t matter.” They then slightly adjusted their posture, looking up towards the ceiling. “It was about five years or so ago when I came here. Like I told you all before, I wanted to travel the world and experience as many cultures as I could.”

“And you chose to see British culture?” Vincent asked, a bit repulsed.

“Yes?” Fang answered, cocking their head slightly sideways.

“He was a thing against Britain for some reason,” Zander said, answering Fang’s look.

“We still don’t know why,” Eliot added.

“Anyway,” Fang continued, “I came here about five years ago, and I stayed for about a month. Long story short, sometime during my stay, I heard muffled conversation and sounds of distress coming from an alleyway. I followed the sound and ended up finding a man—who I would later find was named Lawrence—trying but failing miserably to help a bleeding out man named Archard. Because I’m certified in first aid, CPR, emergency medical assistance, and I’m a registered nurse, I managed to help stabilize him. However, he refused to go to the hospital and instead asked for my help. And so, I spent the next week nursing him back to health in his own home. From there, he repaid what I did by welcoming me into the family without any strings attached.”

“Damn,” Vincent said, “that’s some serious luck.”

“I don’t know if it’s good or bad luck, though,” Eliot added.

“Neither,” Fang answered.

Zander then stood up and said, “So let me get this straight.” He then rubbed his chin with his hand. “You just so happened to stumble across the godfather of a mob who was dying, and because you just so happened to be a nurse, you managed to save his life? And then he invited you into the family…and you accepted?”

“Pretty much, yeah,” Fang answered. “But to be fair, while I did accept it, I don’t actively participate in it—it’s more like a friendship than anything else. And they help me out or take me to nice places whenever I’m in the city.”

“Hmmm, I see,” Zander flatly replied.

Vincent could see Zander’s skeptical eyes from a mile away. He had seen them all too often, especially when Zander was seeing through one of his many lies he told. That being said, Zander also looked like that wherever Vincent said anything, even when he was telling the truth—he knew that Zander was untrusting of most things.

“Which leads us to where we are now,” Fang concluded. “Any questions?”

Eliot raised his hand like he was in a classroom. Fang looked at him and called on his name.

“Since you're friends with them, why don’t they just help us go to the obelisk? Isn’t that what friends do?” Eliot asked.

“Normally, yeah, you’d be right,” Fang answered, “but it sounds like things are a bit different right now. It sounds like this country is in shambles and there are dangerous fights going on between all of the gangs and mobs—which I know almost nothing about.” They then rested their head on one of their hands. “So Libra can’t risk the lives of their people for nothing. But it sounds like if we just do one task for them, then he’ll be more comfortable with helping us.”

“Sounds good to me,” Vincent said, propping himself up from his leaned position.

“I don’t know about this…” Eliot said.

“I’m firmly and adamantly against this,” Zander stated. “I will not be working with violent vagrants, who not only skirt around the law, but actively work to dismantle them. I will not be working with criminals.”

“Who cares?” Vincent retorted. “We’re just doing one thing for ‘em and callin’ it a day. It ain’t like we’re joinin’ them.”

“I know that,” Zander replied, “but it’s the fundamental fact that we’re helping a group like that that I don’t like. We can think of a better solution than this.”

Vincent walked over to Zander. “But why? We literally have a solution right in front of us. There's no point in lookin’ for another one.”

“There’s plenty of reasons to look for another one!” Zander exclaimed.

“Well…” Eliot softly chimed in. Everyone stopped talking and looked at him, expectantly. “Usually I would agree with Zander, but this seems like the safest and best way to see the obelisk.” He then took a composing breath. “There’s no way we can take on an entire enemy mob, and I don’t want to see you guys get hurt. Besides, it seems like these guys are the good guys.”

“Good guys don’t break the law,” Zander matter-of-factly replied.

“What about what we did in Egypt?” Vincent countered. “We had to have broken at least a million different laws and shit.”

“That’s…that’s different,” Zander replied. “We were trapped there. We didn’t have a choice.”

“Who’s to say that they do?” Vincent said.

Zander didn’t answer right away. He just looked at Vincent and narrowed his eyes and bit his lip. Seeing this, Vincent continued his thought.

“You heard what that Archard guy was sayin’. The whole police and government and crap just up and left. Their tryin’ to fight against the those violent mobs and gangs.”

Finally, Zander replied, saying, “But there’s a difference between them and official law enforcement. Libra is just a militarized force that asserts control through establishing a monopoly of violence, and then justifies those horrid acts in the name of peace.”

“What the fuck do you think police are?” Vincent countered with some intensity behind his voice. “You literally just described ‘em.”

There was no response from Zander.

Vincent then walked up to Fang and said, “Anyways, I’m in on helpin’ them out, even if it’s something small. Once we’re done with that job, we’ll see the obelisk, get what we need, and head out to the next location. Simple.”

“It’s never that simple,” Zander mumbled.

“So, who’s in?” Vincent announced.

“If you’re in, then I’m in,” Fang replied.

“I…” Eliot started to say, “...I’m in.”

Everyone then shifted their focus towards Zander, who only stared at Eliot.

“Eliot…” Zander said. He then lingered on those words for a while. “I especially don’t want to see you get hurt.” He took a few seconds to say anything else. His facial expressions shifted and changed multiple times throughout those seconds, as if his mind was waging a war with itself. Finally, he sighed. “Fine, but only this one time.”

With that, the group had come to a consensus (no matter how hesitant it was) and decided to visit Archard’s house first thing in the morning. They were ready to get done with the next leg of their journey as soon as possible, and it looked like that’s exactly what was going to happen.

And so, they each drifted asleep, completely consumed by their dreams and the darkness that overtakes the night. Vincent, in particular, had the most extravagant and unrealistic dream out of all of them.