intro: brick by boring brick, Paramore

31

My decision to make

"This has to stop!" Nara seethed as she paced back and forth, burning a hole in the clinic's floor.

King stared worriedly at his wife, then turned his focus onto Maya, who was standing in the doorway, glaring anxiously outside.

On one of the cots, Rockie was laid back asleep from the medicine he was given.

Triton sat on the cot next to his, looking pitifully at the ginger with a band aid glued to his knee.

In the back, a tall figure was at work mixing together herbs into a balm in a wooden bowl. He then mashed it together before smearing the gooey salve onto a long leaf.

The Doc was a tall man, standing well over 8 feet and was skinny more so resembling a walking skeleton covered in a layer of dusky skin. His skin was covered in black tribal tattoos and his face was painted in intricate markings. He wore only a brown loincloth that wrapped around his waist.

"What's that, Doc?" King asked, tilting his head indicating the leaf.

"This is uh healin' salve me made. Is dried menshoo an calmin' berries spread on juju leaf. It help with burnin' and vision repair." Doc explained as he raised the leaf and walked it up to Rockie, then laid it over the boys blotchy eyelids.

The boy seemed to release a sigh in relief once the ointment began working.

"Dis is called the Holy Moly. Strong enuff to heal uh severed limb. Not head though." Doc continued, then gave the parents a smile. "Our Rockie will be just fine."

King sighed and Nara stopped her pacing with a relieve gasp. King then turned to watch his hot-headed daughter. "Well, at least he'll be okay." He said, however received an angry grunt from her.

"That's good. The kid will live. Now, let's go and find Esther." Maya stated determinedly.

"No!" Both parents said.

"What?" Maya gasped out in confusion. "What do you mean no? She's one of us."

Nara stepped up. "She's your friend and that's just it. You're our only responsibility."

Maya fumed were she stood. "King?"

"Oh no, I'm with your mother. We've been in too much mess already." King stated.

"Fine. To you Esther might be nothing, but to me she's a sister. All of our life we've had each other backs and I'll be damn if I stop that now."

"You better watch it, sugar." Nara voice was hard as steel while pointing at the young girl with the mama face 1000. "Mind your manners when you're talking to us."

"You just don't understand." Maya said with desperation. "Esther is innocent. It's all because of her dad's gambling problem-"

"Gambling?" King interrupted as he stepped back with a tight chest. "Then hell nawl, you ain't going. This is out of our hands."

Maya made a face. "No, it's not. We have the upper hand."

"We do not start wars, Maya Evans." King stressed sternly. "Especially when the beef has nothing to do with us. This isn't a game. Those are dangerous territories."

"The answer is no." Nara stiffly said and was done with it.

Maya let out a sigh, then dropped her head.

"When we were growing up, you would always tell us to protect family and that if one hurts, we all hurt." Maya started speaking, then raised her head defiantly. "That no enemy is bigger than family, because we are Hindentts and Hindentts mean family. Family leaves NO ONE behind." Tears gushed down her cheeks while her eyes hovered at King. "Without family, we. Are. Nothing. So, with your permission or not, I will go and find Esther because she is my family." Maya finished standing tall against her parents.

King glared at the child for a minute before he suddenly let out a hum and rubbed his goatee with a nod. "Okay."

"What?!" Nara and Maya both squealed in shock and disbelief.

"Well, our daughter made a valid argument. She cares dearly for the girl and let's be honest honey. No matter what we say, she's gonna fight to get her. You know I'm not gone let her do it alone." King said. "I'll go with you, however, we ain't fighting. We'll try negotiating with them. How much they got him for?"

"Um, I." Maya started with a snivel. "I don't know."

"I guess we can discuss that when we get there."

A grip around his bicep had him looking over to his wife, who wore a worried face.

"Are you sure about this, King?" She asked him.

"It'll be fine babe. I promise you that. Besides, Rockie can't seem to stop getting hurt so I'm used to handing out ass whoopings." King said with a laugh.

Nara rolled her eyes.

"Let's figure out where the villain is." King stated then exited the hut.

Guild main hall...

King gathered the Doves together and the lot sat around the guild hall.

"Alright, listen up." The master said, gaining the floor. "A friend of Maya's has gone missing and the only intel we have is that the father is a gambler and he owed somebody a lot of money. We need to find out who these guys are and where they're from."

"Well, what did they look like?" Pretty Boy asked.

"They were tall roaches wearing suits." Maya answered, stepping up from where she was leaning against the wall.

"ROACHES!" The floor gasped out.

"Wait a sec," Alche blurted out as his face scrunched in thought. "That sounds a lot like Sweetness."

"Sweetness? Who the hell is Sweetness?" King asked lifting an eyebrow.

"He's a nasty loan shark. Known for collecting any debt on time by any means necessary." Alche's face was stiff as he spoke. "Opposite to his name, the man is nothing to play with."

"I bet he is." King said, his tone almost sarcastic as he peeked over at Maya. "So, where is his hangout?"

"Whoa, wait a minute." Ricky said. "You're thinking of going in there?"

"Well, yeah. Don't plan on fighting. Just to talk."

"That'll be a problem. I heard Sweetness doesn't do negotiations." Alche said with a stern face. "He runs an underground ring right under The Hot Spot casino. I frequent the place. If you borrow anything from him, you better be ready to pay up. His blood bargains are strong."

King growled in disgust. "Blood bargains!? The lowest of the low."

"What's that?" Maya asked.

"It's like a contract sealed by blood. Blood strengthens the holder's order and makes sure that whatever they agree to is saw all the way through. Nobody can break a blood bargain, because if they try it'll set off some unfortunate catastrophic events." King explained.

"Which means your friend's in deep shit." Alche added in grimly.

"Her dad must've put her down as collateral when he borrowed from him." Ricky stated. "Story on the street is that Sweetness makes more blood deals with die hard gamblers. They gamble their lives away and when they come up short, he takes their life. Now, they are his until he's satisfied."

"That's why we need to go in and save her." Maya shouted with determination. "We're losing time sitting around talking about it."

"Whoa there, babycakes. We can't just run in there blindly." Ricky argued.

"I'm not going to sit back chatting about it so that I can lose her." Maya said with her voice heavy with emotion. "Now, I would run in for any of you, no questions asked. I expected the same for me."

The group got quiet as they looked amongst each other.

"Let's go save Esther!" Ivy cried out and floor cheered.

"Alright children, calm down. Here's the plan." King said, then started telling the instructions.

The Hotspot...

There were a few stragglers hanging around the entrance of the casino as Alche and Ivy stepped up. A homeless creature was stomping around jiggling a tin can while two hookers sloppily argued about some earnings.

"Quite the establishment you frequent." Ivy taunted, side-eying the older man.

"Hey, don't judge me. You gots to try their honey dipped tenders. Don't forget Thirsty Thursday. Them older women be throwing the action."

"Ew. You and Ricky belong here." Ivy grunted in disgust.

Alche waved her off. "Whatever. Let's get in here so we don't keep others waiting."

The two marched up to the door. After showing their ids, they stepped into the building.

Ivy watched in horror at the scene. Gaming machines littered the floor occupied by creatures throwing their money away. The smell of greasy food, smoke and ass fought at her nostrils as they flared in disgust.

"This place is foul!" She cried out, covering her nose.

"Shit girl, this is home." Alche cheered as he twirled around.

"Well, show me how to play so we can get this on a roll."

"Leave it all to the master." Alche grinned as he cracked his knuckles.

Outside...

King, Maya, K.O, Danny and Ricky crept stealthily around the building until they saw an upcoming huge gate. When they spotted some roach guards clinging onto the fence, they quickly ducked off behind some boxes.

If Alche's information was correct, the person of interest would be behind that gate, which he also stated was heavily guarded.

Now they wait for the distraction.

Inside the casino...

For a beginner, Ivy seemed to have a good luck spell. Every machine she sat at she was hitting in a good way. She was also gaining quite the entourage. Alche will admit, he was impressed.

Alche and the surrounding crowd stood around watching as Ivy was up 2,000,000 Yamchi's.

"Come on girl," Alche whistled, then shook her by her shoulders.

"Well, that's enough for me." Ivy muttered, then she tapped on the cash out button.

Weewoo

A loud siren sounded loudly, then suddenly a mob of bottle girls marched to surround them.

"For cashing out more than 10,000 yamchi's, we reward you a platinum membership for one month and a free tshirt. You also get to take a picture with our mascot Willie." One of the girls chirped broadly with a smile, pointing at a fuzzy ferret mascot doing a little dance.

Ivy just shook her head as she snatched her ticket and stood up. "Hard pass, darling."

"It's no negotiation. All winners must oblige by the rules. It's the policy." The girl countered, keeping her chirpy tone and smile.

"That's a stupid policy." Ivy stated raising a brow. "I demand to speak to the owner."

"The owner is very busy, but we do have someone you may speak with."

"Yeah, you do that. I'll go and cash my ticket." Ivy said, squeezing by the girls with Alche on her tail.

The two waltzed up the register. Ivy laid the ticket on the counter then slid it towards the robot running it.

"Cash us out." Alche said leaning against the countertop.

The robot grabbed the ticket, then stuck it into its mouth socket. It jolted with a little stream of smoke rose sparked from it and it dinged when it was done.

"Congratulations Ms... on your winnings. As the ... policy, there is a percentage fee which will leave you with 150,000 yamchi specks to take home."

"150,000!" Ivy shrilled in rage. "How dare you take all my money. I need all of my coins."

"Honey, the robot doesn't understand you." Alche chirped with a giggle. "Just get your ticket back and wait."

"Whatever you old coot." Ivy tried to get her ticket back, but the robot refused.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" She exploded, and let sand fly up into the ceiling. The sand got into everyone's eyes and started a commotion.

The roach guards hissed and started for the two.

Back outside...

The group sat and waited, then they noticed roaches on the fence antennas started going wild as they froze in alertness. Quickly they all scurried away leaving the area clear.

The group took this chance to run for the fence. When they reached it, King gave Danny a whistle and the boy lifted them over to the other side. Once they were on the ground, they noticed a manhole with smoke escaping the holes. Other than that, there weren't any other entrances.

"Well, that's a wild place for a hideout." King huffed with a mildly disgusted face.

Suddenly realizing King's hint, Maya threw her palms over her mouth with a gag, "Tell me he isn't in the.. the.."

"Sewers," K.O added with a tease.

Maya let out a squeak.

King summoned the metal lid to raise up.

"Now or never." King enthused, then jumped into the hole.

... brain break ...