Chapter 25: Loyalty to the Grave
Back at the Bluestone tavern, everyone except Ana is seated at their usual table. She is still upstairs resting after last night’s attack.
Jace: “So, what’s the plan?”
Henry: “Aren’t you the leader? You’re the one that comes up with the plan!”
Jace: “Well usually no one likes my plans, so I was leaving it to the peanut gallery for once!”
Luke: “Our best bet is to return back to where we were last night and use the sunlight as a better guide.”
Jace: “Maybe. I like the sound of that.”
Mythril: “Can’t we sneak back up the elevator?”
Henry: “Noooooo. We’re wanted now, so Rozay is entirely off limits.”
Luke: “That’s right. We basically aren’t safe anywhere as of this moment.”
The main doors slam open.
???: “You’re damn right you’re not.”
The group looks back at the open door. Ren steps into the tavern and has a look around.
Ren: “Cool spot. Shame I gotta burn it down with you all inside.”
Jace: “I’m not letting you destroy this building. If it’s a fight you want, it’s a fight you’ll get.”
Ren: “Hmph. Meet me outside.”
Ren turns around and walks out with Jace soon to follow. They stand in the middle of the alleyway and eye each other down. The rest of the group rushes out to join the event.
Jace: “Why are you doing this?”
Ren: “Are you seriously asking me that? You killed my boss!”
Jace: “Wait! That wasn’t us!”
Ren: “Bullshit!”
Ren’s anger can no longer be quelled as he rockets towards Jace with a straight kick. Jace dodges to his left as Ren lands and skids back before standing up.
Jace: “I’m serious! It was these androids!”
Ren: “Androids? Do you hear yourself right now?”
Jace: “What the hell do I have to do to make you believe me?”
Ren: “I’ll believe you when you’re dead.”
Jace: “You really don’t wanna do this.”
Ren shoots off again towards Jace, but Jace extends his left arm out and uses Flood to counter and nullify the attack. Ren tumbles forward right next to Jace.
Jace: “I can perfectly counter you. Give up.”
Ren: “I…refuse!”
Jace: “Fine, then I’ll give you a real fight!”
Jace extends his arm out and switches from Flood to Burst as a blaze of fire spirals around him before calming it by placing the warm hand near his heart.
Ren: “Fighting fire with fire, huh? This should be good.”
Ren stands up, flexes, and releases his flames as well.
Ren: “Unlike your cute little motion, releasing my fire actually makes me stronger.”
Jace: “What!?"
Ren: “While Overheat helps me focus and increase my speed, Omegaheat here is for nothing else but pure damage.”
Jace: “You hit harder now, so what? I can always swap back into Flood if I need to take you down a notch.”
Ren: “Please. Try me.”
Jace smirks and swaps his arm back to Flood before releasing a cannon-blast of water towards Ren. Before it can come into contact with him, it evaporates. Jace’s face goes from confident to intrigued.
Jace: “Oh, this is gonna be a fight for the ages.”
Jace and Ren smile before dashing towards each other. Jace switches to Burst and aims his arm forwards. Ren counters by smacking Jace’s arm out of the way and throws a punch at his jaw. Jace stumbles back and spits up a bit of blood. Ren continues the combo by setting up a knee that connects with Jace’s ribs and sends him off the ground before placing his arms in front of Jace and blasting him away with a burst of fire. He rockets back and crashes into a few trash cans down the alley. Jace stands back up and grabs a trash bag before secretly filling it with water and hurling it towards Ren. He goes to deflect the trashbag, but it ruptures and spills the water all over himself, temporarily weakening him.
Ren: “You asshole! That’s not fair!”
Jace: “Just be glad it was a clean trashbag!”
Jace begins to sprint towards Ren. He pulls his arm back and swaps back into Burst for a final punch. Ren’s Omegaheat kicks back in as he goes to throw a punch as well. They connect fists as their massive, fiery Auras repel each other. They both yell with determination and rage before the fire around them becomes too unstable and self-destructs. The explosion booms across Bluestone, causing car alarms to go off and weak windows to shatter. The two fly away from each other and skid across the pavement. They both begin to try and stand up, but Ren falls back down. This fight goes to Jace. He walks over to Ren.
Jace: “We didn’t kill Ben Jr. We were framed by two androids named Dredd and Vayne.”
Ren: “He’s mentioned those names before, but nothing about them being androids…how do I know I can trust you all?”
Henry steps out in between the two.
Henry: “Ren. Trust us. I care about Rozay just as much as you do.”
Ren: “...fine.”
Henry and Jace help Ren to his feet before letting him go. The six crowd together to continue the plan to enter the city above them.
Ren: “Yeah, Rozay’s off limits. Your guys’ faces are all over the place.”
Jace: “Do we at least look good?”
Ren: “Absolutely not. They grabbed security footage of you all at Ben’s dancefloor. Not your prettiest looks.”
Ana: “How much is our bounty?”
Ren: “Everyone is roughly $20,000. All together you’re $150,000 if alive and only $80,000 if dead.”
Luke: “I am worth much more than $20,000.”
Mythril: “So, how are we getting to that city above?”
Jace: “Oh, right! As I was sayin-”
A man slams open the tavern doors and looks towards Jace and the crew.
Man: “You all need to come back inside and check the news.”
The group re-enter the tavern and make Ren’s allyship apparent before standing in front of the TV. On screen are one hundred deformed androids. Their metallic skin shines brightly thanks to the afternoon sun. A voice on the TV chimes in.
???: “This is no game. I require Jace Knight, Luke Holmes, Henry Grimes, Ren North, Ana Patino, and Mythril. They are to meet my androids outside of Rozay Rocks. If not, these androids will reduce Bluestone to rubble to find them.”
The tavern looks towards the group in both fear and resentment. If they don’t leave now, there’s gonna be hell to pay.
Ren: “Why me too!?”
Jace: “Alright, Pitied Party. Looks like we have a new mission.”