lepidope

Light of The Rebellion

Matias gulped softly. He really didn't need to hear that.

And they were off. The more Matias walked around, the more frivolousness he saw, and the more disgusted he became. He thought to himself, what ever happened to just having an office and being done with it? Was all this gold really necessary? How many people did they exploit to get all this? Millions, himself included. Disgusting.

This golden desert seemed to have no end. It probably took them a good five minutes to even reach the other end of the flight. What was the point? What the hell was the point?

Dante's voice interrupted Matias's thoughts.

"You're good," he said, squinting just to be sure.

Finally, a normal-looking room. A couple of chairs was just what he needed right now. He happily helped himself to one, crossing his legs as he made himself comfortable.

Light of The Rebellion

The hairs on the back of Matias's neck stood on end when the c-word approached them. Even when Dante stood in front of him, he peered over the man's shoulder, his eyes fixated on the nameless man. What little breath he had in him leaped right out when Dante was grabbed, and his face twisted in anger.

"Back off, asshole!" he hissed, pulling up his fists.

He practically readied up to throw a punch when the c-word did the same. Before he could throw it, however, the pair disengaged and strutted away into the golden void below.

"What gives?" he growled, his head whipping to Dante. "Why'd you let him do that?!"

Ban the Person above you

banned because your username rhymes with the bitch word, which is a no-no word 👊😔

Light of The Rebellion

Matias distracted himself by observing the scenery zooming past him. It was surreal feeling nothing but inertia while he was riding a vehicle. He missed feeling the ground underneath him.

He didn't bother looking back when Dante spoke; he didn't want to. He listened, however, though it was mostly against his will. An "mhm" passed between his lips and nothing else. Take it or leave it.

In truth, he couldn't recall the last time he came to the upper level, if he even came here at all. The sheen of the precious metals coating every inch of this place struck him as pretentious. Rich people and cops were on equal ground for him.

He took a moment to rub his brow when they arrived. This time, he looked towards Dante as he spoke. His expression was still anything but cordial, but it was a start in... something.

"Sure."

He hopped out with a grunt.

Light of The Rebellion

Matias rolled his eyes at the word "cop". Even pronouncing it in his head was enough to make him want to hurl, but he hid that bit pretty well. His glare was now focused on the crudely drawn poster. He had to laugh; it almost looked nothing like the boss in his opinion. Then again, he didn't know any other masked figures in his life... Not any that wore hoods anyway.

His eyes darted to the note in his pocket, and his hand slowly but surely followed. He had yet to take it out; he had to shoot one more glare at Dante before locking in his decision.

"So you never trusted me? Good to know. Not sure what else I expected from a self-proclaimed pig, but oh well."

He handed Dante the note in a firm hand.

"I'll go with you then," he grumbled, "I'm tired of arguing, and I didn't want to have come here for nothing."

Once again, he settled himself in the passenger seat, hoping that he could stay there this time.

"And trust me. I'll fucking remind you."

Light of The Rebellion

Matias's face almost met the ground when he was pulled out. He whipped around to try and get a hit on Dante, but before he knew it his back screamed in pain as it made hard contact with the speeder's steel body. With a deep snarl, his gaze bravely met Dante's. While his couldn't glow, there was definitely a fire in them that burned any ounce of patience he had left. Yet he listened closely, just as told. His eyes only unlocked from Dante's when he showed off his scarring, but only for that moment. When Dante finished, Matias didn't move from his position. His teeth were clenched behind his lips, and his fists were tightened until his knuckles were bone white. He would have made a perfect statue representing deep, pent up rage if he didn't turn around.

"So," he puffed, "don't think I belong here, ah? Just because I'm soooo meeeeaaan... Well, suck it. I have a damn right to be upset when you make it clear that you care more about your self image than your teammate. As for why I'm here..."

He dug in his pocket, quickly retrieved the folded note, and stuck it out for Dante to see.

"Because, apparently, someone really wants me to be here! I wouldn't have even known about you if this weirdo wasn't leaving these cryptic notes all over my damn house. As much as I care about what's going on– unlike you– maybe I would have been better off leading my own movement."

He stuck the note back in his pocket, then pointed a shaky, evil finger at Dante.

"Know what? Since you apparently can't stand me, go with someone else to that stupid meeting. Or, better yet, go by yourself. Either way, it's better for my mental health."

He stepped a good five feet from the speeder before turning back around. Any closer, and he felt like he would fall risk to a hit-and-run.

"Go on. Decide."

Light of The Rebellion

Matias flinched from Dante's touch, almost immediately pulling away.

"Don't touch me," he hissed, his body tensing up like a cat raising its hackle. He nonetheless followed Dante outside. The stark contrast between the iridescence of the warehouse and the sunlight of the outdoors stung his eyes, only aggravating him even more. He opened one eye to peer over at Dante as he spoke.

"I said what I said back there," he growled, "We're not worrying about anything. Let's just do what we have to do."

He stepped into the speeder and made himself comfortable in his seat before clicking on his seatbelt.

Light of The Rebellion

Matias peered back at Dante with a look of pure befuddlement mixed with a dash of rage. He had to take a deep breath to even speak again.

"Seriously? Not one of you is wondering if they're even in the state to be running around right now? The girls saw what happened! Seriously, none of you?!"

A hand met his forehead as he let out a painfully hoarse "Dios mío..."

"Okay. Fine. Since you guys don't care, I won't either. From now on, pure apathy if anything happens to anyone in this god damn room. Including me."

His hands dug into his jacket pockets.

"So... The upper level... How're we getting there?"

Light of The Rebellion

Well. There goes his shoulders.

Matias flinched at the crash, his hand instinctively slapping onto his holster as he entered fight or flight mode. The sudden appearance of Scarlet didn't help matters.

"Jesus!" he barked, jumping backwards. "Was that you?!"

His eyes darted back and forth between Dante and Scarlet, unsure of who to focus on at the moment. Scarlet's speech clued them in, but Matias almost wished he didn't hear what he just heard. He blinked rapidly, his eyes going wide as he leaned forward.

"W... What the hell do you mean 'gone'? They died?!"

Yet another sound to focus on. Matias's gaze met Iris's descent, begging for an explanation. He got it alright, but it didn't lessen their confusion in the slightest. His jaw fell agape and remained so even when he faced Dante.

"How are we supposed to do that if we're literally missing our damn leader?! What a crock of–"

His head whipped towards Iris.

"Did they leave any traces? At all? Where could they have– aaaRRRGH..."

He clenched his hair by the handfuls.

"First the note, now this?! What a bunch of–"

Matias let out a slurry of profanities that were, to say the least, inappropriate for the current environment he was in. His gums and whites were in full display, and he might have spat a few times. There seemed to be no stopping him.

Light of The Rebellion

"Bye..."

Matias watched Scarlet soar off until he was hardly able to discern her from the stars. He glanced over his shoulder at the aforementioned bag still hanging from his back. Now that he was at it, he took a look around his yard, just to be sure.

Nothing.

Sighing softly, he left his backyard through the gate, locked that, then properly entered his house through the door he was supposed to go into. He walked straight past every room it took for him to get to his bedroom, a yawn escaping him at that precise moment. He felt no need to eat or shower at that moment; sleep would do for now. He threw off his jacket and jeans before tossing himself on the bed with a grunt. He was tired enough, so his eyes immediately began to close. He was so tired, in fact, that he was even able to ignore the soft, rhythmic clicking from what felt like outside.

===

"𝟻0.𝟽𝟿𝟾0𝟸, -𝟼𝟷.𝟸𝟿𝟻𝟻𝟺

𝙳𝙾 𝚈𝙾𝚄𝚁 𝙹𝙾𝙱"

That note met Matias this morning. Same crude handwriting and everything. It was currently sitting in his jacket pocket, neatly folded in hiding. He was now focused on what he considered his actual job, which was riding himself to the warehouse again. It went off without a hitch; no traffic meant no delay. He parked in more or less the same place as last time and hopped out. He took in a pint of fresh air and held it for a few seconds before letting it free. He felt the weight of the day on his shoulders, and he only knew it was going to get heavier as time went on.

He passed through the entrance.

"Anyone home?" he asked, looking around.