The Savant — Roleplayer Guild

Ⓐⓢⓣⓔⓡⓘⓞⓝ ⓐⓝⓓ ⓜⓔⓝ

𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖘𝖚𝖘
🅖🅛🅨🅓🅔 🅐🅝🅓 🅒🅡🅔🅦

A dash of music

Sitting in his public office of the skyscraper, Asterion was leaning back in a chair and glancing out the window. It was so odd that Krish was not answering his phone — no one could find him. Everyone was looking everywhere and he checked his room after Hailey left. Nothing. Couldn’t be found anywhere. What happened to his dearest friend? Was he dead? Everyone was beginning to come around again, get cocky, and overly confident. There was a heaviness in his chest as he thought about it — Could he be dead?

No… I should not be thinking like that, he thought while staring out into the daylight while the others talked and sat around the office as well. Elara left Krish a voicemail, a semi-angry one, Varek tried his best to look for Krish around all the regular hangout spots, but no one could find him. It was unnerving that he disappeared sometime during the night right before an invasion was going to happen. An important one at that. 

A slight tapping of his fingers began while he glanced at everyone for a second or two as he thought. Could Flint be up to this? Since he held Hailey and Reid. No, he doubted the man would have done that since Krish disappeared sometime in the night before Hailey was released. Maybe it was that odd police officer that he met at the gym, no, he doubted that. Could it have been Emilia? It might have been Emilia,” the thoughts continued to run on the train tracks trying to figure out where Krish could have gone or who could have taken him. There was no reason to continue dwelling on the fact that his friend wasn’t around since the Kairo Empire had more to do. They had to continue without him. 

“I will assume that Krish did not leave on his own accord. Whoever took Krish, will pay, but we have to continue the invasion without him,” Asterion broke the half an hour or more of silence while Elara, Zarek, and Varek gave him his attention. There was no reason to have June or Kaela here. They needed to stay out of the crossfire of taking over another district. 

Everything felt uneasy from the team since they wanted Krish to be there. He knew that and he wanted him there as well though they could not have their way. The men that he needed for the invasion were already suiting up and getting ready for the attack. Preparations were coming together this morning and they were finalizing as Asterion sat there. Everyone was ready to march to Yellowbrick.  Plus, he was going to do his best to have the least civilian casualties possible so his men would be flooding the streets and forcing people to leave the areas that they were attacking… sadly, he knew not everyone would be willing or they would support Glyde and his men. Possibly fight back. There were orders to exterminate with reason. 

In the middle of the office table, there was a large paper of a drawn out building. At least the outside. He didn’t send any of his men or Kaela to scope out the inside of the building since he didn’t want her getting caught and put into trouble. She was a wildcard that he was not ready to expose. Not yet. Standing up, he touched the paper while looking at it, “There are five exit points to the building including the garage door. There are twenty-two windows as well,” he began to explain to his team which would go on to explain it to the men as well. 

“I want our use of flammable liquids to block all windows. Smoke them out like cockroaches. As the windows are being blocked with flames, men will be there building them up, so the windows will be blocked by fire meaning the only way the rats have out is those five exit points. I want to impede the front door and the garage door because it’s the largest escape route with the most leeway for movement. We will block those off with fires or whatever else. The three other doors, we will have men placed strategically so they cannot just get shot down but whoever is trying to come out will not meet a fate they want to,” Asterion explained. He wanted to keep everyone and everything in line. 

Asterion rolled his shoulders back as he thought about it, “We want the least amount of casualties possible on our side though we need to succeed in this. We will do whatever we can to make Glyde and his men surrender or run out of Yellowbrick with their tails in between their legs,” he confirmed that he was not going to stop until Glyde surrendered or ran away. He was going to have Yellowbrick. 
Once everyone was on the same or a similar page, the man ordered them to go catch their men up to par with the ideas and strategies that they would be using. Before Elara left, she stopped with her hand on the door, and looked at him. “I think this is really stupid,” she admitted in a plain sort of way that said she was indifferent with a tinge of worry. 

“You think everything I do is stupid, Elara,” the man protested slightly to her statement as his eyes looked up and locked onto her. 

There was a slight pull down to the corners of her lips, not quite the resting bitch face she usually has, but a slight sadness to it. “Because everything you do is stupid, Asterion,” a punch of emotion was in her voice before she slammed the door on her way out. 

Asterion stood there with his one hand in his pocket and the other touching the drawing on the table. He stared at the door in thought. There was a piece of him that wanted to yell and tell her to come back here. That she didn’t have to be a part of any of this and could stay out of it. That she wasn’t being forced to go on the rampage. Biting the inside of his cheek, he only was pulled out of his thoughts when he tasted a metallic-coppery taste, and loosened his jaw and his teeth to stop clenching together. “God… she pisses me off sometimes,” he growled those words out while standing up and going over to the window to stare out of it. Running a hand through his hair as he looked beyond his city limits into areas that couldn’t be made out. The horizon. “Where are you, Krish?” he whispered those words out with a sigh. 

Everyone was suited up and ready to head out on Asterions’ command. Everyone had the KAIRO name across or on their gear somewhere. Stitched into the uniform to make it clear who everyone was dealing with. The only difference between Asterion’s gear and everyone else is that he wasn’t wearing a uniform that said KAIRO on the front or anywhere on the style — his purposefully was different — JUMPER. That was his nickname that Krish gave him when they first met. Krish described Asterion’s power as if he was literally jumping into people. Street kids. Street names. 

With the confirmation that everyone was ready to headout and everyone understood the assignment. A hoard of Kairo’s men including him were heading into Yellowbrick. However, Zarek was informed to take another route — he was encouraged to take a single group of personnel and undo the power to Yellowbrick while they were in it. All electricity would be cut so things that relied on it would not be able to be used during the invasion such as lights. 

It was all being setup and timed accordingly so it would be more of a surprise than anything. Asterion was hoping that he could get an upper hand on Glyde and his crew. It was starting to come to a quick climax as they approached the inner parts of Yellowbrick — Asterion’s men shouting at people to move along and clear the area so they wouldn’t be in the crossfire. 

Other men were starting to surround the building — Glyde’s Police Department Station — all weapon heavy and armored. In perfect stances to read their guns at any moment, command, or need-be to shoot down anyone through the windows or doors. A group of individuals were picking up five gallon tanks with bundles of burnable items. Beginning to throw that in front of the windows, douse the fabrics and burnables in gasoline, and stepping away while throwing a match on it. 

People in the back spilled the tanks over and lit the spills on fire to deter people from using the garage door and the same was happening at the front door. Asterion was not wasting any time with this then he looked up and behind protective glasses his brows furrowed. PARLEY was stated in front of the police station. “Dammit… how did he know?” the man whispered with a chuckle. “Fuck your parley and fuck you,” he commented where only he could hear himself or maybe the one or two people who were around him could hear his words. 

“BURN THEM OUT BOYS!” Asterion shouted while small tanks of gasoline were kicked over in front of the main entrance, allowing the liquid to spread under the door, and into the entrance of the place before they would throw matches to light the fire. 

Shaking his head, “I did not come here to talk,” it was somewhat unbelievable to him that Glyde thought they would talk. Why would they? That could give him more of a chance to kill him off so the whole invasion would stop and the Kairo Empire would go down hill. There was no chance that he was taking chances with Glyde and his men. 

The lights shut off, fire surrounded the building. At least their rifles had flashlights, and their walkies had batteries. Glyde spoke into his, glancing back at Krish in the darkness.

”Someone get to the front with the mic, put me up against it.”

”On it, sir.”

A few moments later, a window cracked open, and a megaphone was stuck neck to it  and a radio was stuck next to the mouth piece. Glyde's voice echoed across the front of the building. 

”You bastard. We got your boy Krish. So you better stand the hell down, or he's dead.”

Meanwhile, some of the soldiers had moved forward with fire extinguishers, tackling the fire that seeped in under the front door.

Hearing the scratchy echo of a voice that was thrown through too many microphones, Asterion wanted to cover his ears, but he didn’t. Hearing the threat. That is where Krish went off to, he thought with a chuckle. No one should have known Krish was gone except the higher ups in the Kairo Empire, so he knew that Glyde and his crew had the man. 

Some of the men started calling out to others that the fires were being attempted to put out. Asterion shook his head, “Keep the fire going,” he called out to his men. Gesturing for others to start making molotovs which they gladly and quickly did before handing them off to others so they could throw them at the building, specifically the windows, and attempt to break the windows and get the inner rooms. 

Asterion smirked, “GLYDE!” he called out to the megaphone. “If you can hear me. I think you would know it is not smart to threaten me in such a way!” his voice projecting easily as he began to walk towards the front doors of the building. 

“If Krish is in there or not, I am sorry, but I know Krish would not want me to negotiate with terrorists and I would never consider it!” Asterion shouted at the building while standing near the flames of the front door. Grabbing a bundle of burnable material before throwing it to the front door and it quickly catching on fire. “You might want to consider abandoning ship!” 

That was when two molotovs broke into the Sergeant's office window and the administration windows. Beginning to get the fire into different rooms of the building and having it burn from the inside. 

Then another one of them smashed through a break room window and began setting the bed and materials in that room on fire. 

Just as swiftly as the molotovs were thrown, the fire doors to the administration wing were swung shut. As well as the fire doors to the squad wing.  More fire extinguishers were used on the fire at the front to keep it at bay. And the bunk room was also sprayed down with fire extinguishers.

Glyde narrowed his eyes at the Kairo Boss’ reply, before snapping his head at Krish in his cell. ”He made a mistake. And he's gonna regret it.”

With four officers watching the holding cell door, he entered, watching Krish tied down tight in his chair. They had no use for the bomb, no. But perhaps the Kairo Boss would move at the sounds of death?

Holding his walkie's talk button on, he pulled out his combat knife. And, in one simple motion, he applied pressure to Krish's neck. He cut through the first layer of skin, and then some muscle. Going slow enough so Krish would have the chance to scream, before he was slowly, slowly slit through…

Whatever noises Krish would make were amplified through the megaphone.

Glyde only paused for a moment, holding the listen button, to see if Krish's scream of death would awaken something in the Boss. If not…

Meanwhile, eyes stayed on the remaining exits of the station. There was some shuffling of movement, as soldiers moved something from the armory to the front of the building…

Hearing the man’s scream caused him to close his eyes behind the protective glasses. He could feel the small shaking begin to hit his nervous system. How his adrenaline system was kicking into overdrive hearing Krish scream in pain. “I am sorry,” he whispered out before looking at the men near him. “I know it might be too late but go get June and her team,” he commanded while a group of men did just that. They were heading out to go get June, speeding off in vehicles. 

Through his communications, he pressed the button, “Shoot out the windows and fill them with smoke,” and without much time in between that command. Bullets started ripping through all the windows, causing them to shatter, and a few screams, and commotion could be heard from the command. “A few of you go through the west entrance,” he stated.

Asterion walked away from the area and grabbed a molotov for himself as he was scoping out the windows, trying to figure out which one Krish was in, or if he could even hear him in the building. His men were starting to throw molotovs through all the windows and a few of them began to kick the door into the west entrance. Ready to disperse smoke bombs and tear gas. 

It was exactly what Glyde wanted. The moment a foreign foot stepped into the corridor of the west entrance, there was a shift of metal on metal, and an eruption of bullets from the battling gun, set up in the middle of the corridor, just outside the armory. It fired down the west hallway, killing foreign men in the corridor and past the door.

And it was to Asterion's disadvantage, shooting through the windows. The only windows that Glyde's men had access to now were the ones by the bunk rooms. Only a single man was shot, crumpled in the hallway.

The kill was reported. Glyde's vision darkened. He gave a long look to Krish, blood trickling from his neck. In that moment, he wanted badly to kill him.

But he wasn't a mobster. Not like the theives here.

So instead, he threw Krish back, retracting his knife as Krish's chair fell backwards. The cell door slammed shut and locked.

Glyde, with his men in the processing room outside the holding cells, formed their next move. Glyde raised his walkie. ”Alpha Plan.”

In that next instant, everything changed around the man wearing the ‘JUMPER’ outfit. He was obviously the one calling the shots. And so, Team Alpha made their move.

Anna, Darian, and Snow phased up through the pavement just behind Asterion's feet. Once on ground level, Darian and Snow became corporeal. Darian created a circular energy shield around the group with Asterion inside, protecting them from enemy fire. Snow, meanwhile, attempted, with the use of surprise on her side, to pull Asterion into a headlock, purposefully staying behind him so he couldn't see her. And she pressed her pistol to his head. Darian too, was facing the men outside the shield, and purposefully avoiding Asterion's gaze.

As Phade disappeared back into the pavement, Snow growled out to the Kairo men surrounding the shield. ”Drop the guns or he gets it!”

Outcome 12 - Fail 

Everything happened so quickly but he still tried to reach for his knife. Which was something he couldn’t do when the woman wrapped a single arm around his neck and held a pistol to his head. He chuckled, “They will not listen to you,” his voice sounded amused. His eyes glanced at the pistol that she was holding. 

Outcome 7 - Fail 

Asterion tried to break loose from her grip but he could only make it so she couldn’t choke him out. That was when his hand reached up to his communications, “Play tag. Do not stop even if they kill me,” he ordered before continuing to struggle with Snow and trying to get her off. Taking off his protective goggles in the process to reveal his eyes. His men continued to focus on the building and they started to throw flash bangs and smoke bombs into the building through the windows. 

Then he glanced at the molotov that was in his hands. How the flame was still active. A smirk appeared on his lips, “I hope you enjoy burning,” he used all his force to smash the bottle right under their feet. 

”Shit-” Snow cursed, eyes narrowing
 The flames caught quick, but Jumper must have not been aware - she had been through hell, and this would be just a flesh wound. She didn't move an inch, keeping herself in the flames as much as Jumper. Perhaps this would cause him to beg instead.

Her free hand moved quickly, pulling out and throwing away his knife and his gun, both which clattered against the shield's inner wall. If he wouldn't call his dogs off, it was no matter. She wasn't a Specialist for no reason. 

Spiritual energies twisted and dug into Jumper's brain, attempting to overload him.

(Proof 1Proof 2 Snow: 17 Asterion: 17
Re-roll
Proof 1Proof 2 Snow: 15 Asterion: 13)

The energies seized his mind. And, all at once, Asteerion would feel a thousand needles stabbing and twisting into his brain. Setting his brain's nerve endings on fire. Immediate fatigue would overtake him, and he would lose sight of his men, instead seeing visions that were entirely fake.

In the stir, Snow threw Jumper roughly to the ground, away from the flames. She slipped a ziptie around his wrists and fastened them behind his back. 

Protected behind the shield, Snow, Darian and Jumper were shielded from the worst of what came next. Appearing perched on two adjacent rooftops, Anna and Sylvia shouldered heavy RPGs on their shoulders. They were fired off and reloaded efficiently and quickly, decimating and tearing apart the crowd of Kairo men in front of the station.

Meanwhile, the smoke was beginning to thicken in the holding area. Glyde clicked his tongue dismissively, before gesturing to one of his men. “Patch Krish up.”

The soldier nodded, and, with three other soldiers taking point, he entered the cell and applied basic first aid to Krish’s neck. Then the cell was shut again.

Zarek showed up with the personnel that helped him cut the electricity to the district. Looking at the chaos going around, his eyes sharpened, “What the actual fuck?” Asterion said this was going to be a surprise attack. This didn’t look like a surprise to him. Then his eyes fell onto a group of men talking near the front door before one tossed something and they all ran. An explosion happened at the front doors and he crouched down a bit just out of reaction. That was when he opened his eyes again and noticed Asterion on the ground being bound. 

Outcome 5 - Failure 

The man went to use his ability and his hands tingle. Looking down at his hands as if they betrayed him, he should not have gone overboard by shooting his own electricity through the box. He would have to get closer and try again. 

“Grenade!” One of the soldiers within cried. Men dove out of the way, but the gattling gun could not be saved. It took the brunt of the attack, knocked off its hinges with the explosion, and out of commission. 

”Retreat to the holding area, men. We’ll hold this area while Alpha engages.” Glyde spoke in his walkie. Obediently, the soldiers retreated from the corridor to the holding area, rifles aimed to secure the area.

Varek was one of the men that was near the others when the grenades were thrown — he gestured with his hand while speaking over the communications, “Flood main entrance with smoke bombs,” That was when two canisters were thrown into the entrance and rattled around before spraying off. The smoke began to flood the entrance. This was when one of the groups opened up the west door and tossed a grenade in for good measure plus they didn’t care to keep the police station in one piece. 

The skinny man with tattoos was looking at men entering the building, “Hey, dumbasses. Asterion is dying over here,” he hissed out over the communications which got Varek and Elara’s attention. 

Elara ran over, “I didn’t even notice,” she called out while trying to break the shield. Her vines wrapped around the shield though nothing changed at all. 

“I think your vines are useless in this situation,” Varek caught up. 

That was when Varek ordered a group of men to come over. A few of them surround Darian and Snow along with Asterion. Asterion looked like he was seizing from all the damage that his body was going through though the mental pain was way worse than the burns that formed on his legs. 

Zarek glanced at the guys, “You four, do you have grenades?” he asked while one shook his head yes. The electric man went over there and held out his hands. The man grabbed a few grenades and tossed three of them at a few guards. Everyone seemed shocked that he was being so loosely with them. 

“Pull the pin on my call. You will pull the pin, set it down, and run,” Zarek shook the grenade a little bit. 

Elara tensed up, “Stop! That is not a toy, Zarek you can blow us all up!” 

Zarek waved her off then went up to the shield, gesturing for the other guys with grenades to do the same. 

Varek sighed, “I am putting in for backup. This is going way worse than what we thought it would go. How the hell did that bastard know we were coming? Didn’t Asterion make that deal just last night?” 

“Yeah, so the only ones that knew were him and Flint Weathersteel and whoever else was in that room when they spoke. Vale. I think her name was,” she commented. 

“Someone sounds jealous. You didn’t care for how Asterion commented on her?” 

Elara rolled her eyes, “Shut up,” 

That was when Varek grabbed Elara and began pulling her away from the shield. Zarek and the men pulled the grenades and set them down. Zarek bolted away from the shield before the timer of the grenade went off. 

”Shi-”

BOOM!

The grenades rattled the ground as smoke and fire went up. And, as the smoke cleared, Darian glared, sweat pouring from his face, as the shield fell, despite his efforts, piece by piece, until it was simple, glowing splinters on the ground. 

”Any good news on your end, Specialist?” Darian said in a low whisper to Snow. 

Snow's face hardened, ”I'm counting at least two gyfts. You know I have to work with them differently…”

Darian cursed again, staring out at the men that surrounded them, and, slowly, raised his hands. Snow did the same.

Sylvia and Anna watched from the rooftops, and, both disappeared.

Meanwhile, it was chaos in the station. With all his men collected in the holding area, Glyde gave the order.

”Everyone out!”

All personnel that could fit in the two patrol vans sat in the loading bay were loaded up. And, revving the engines, both burst through the garage door at the same time, driving through the fire outside, aiming to escape out of the parking lot and down the street.

That only left Glyde with Krish. And, dutifully, he pulled a grenade from his belt, pulled the pin, and stood there with his hand held out for easy visibility, hand pressed on the lever, begging for a reason to be released. If he was going out, he could at least take his hostage with him. However, that entirely depended on how the Kairo men entered the holding area…

When the vans bursted out of the garage and began to drive away, men began firing at the vehicles, as they continued to go. Having no main goal except for filling the vehicles with lead, if possible, and continuing to do so until they were out of range. 

The group of men that went into the building were beginning to scout out through the smoke and slowly moving. Beginning to check rooms. 

Zarek covered his ears while his back faced the explosion and Varek held Elara behind him. The explosion went off and the dust stayed up in the air. “Do the men know to be careful? Krish should be in there,” she added. 

“By the sounds of that scream, Krish is dead already,” Varek commented. 

Zarek glared at Varek and Elara. “Krish is dead?” His eyes instantly teared up. He knew they argued all the time but that wasn’t fair. Krish shouldn’t be dead. Then he glared at Darian and Snow while approaching them, pulling out a gun, and holding it to Snow’s head, “Is Krish alive?” he demanded. 

Snow stared up at him, her lips pursing into a thin line.

The men continued to slowly go through different rooms and check in them, the residue of tear gas, smoke grenades, and molotovs in a lot of the rooms and everything destroyed. “FUCKING TELL ME!” Zarek shouted. Krish and him were friends or at least he thought of Krish as a friend. Krish’s opinion didn’t matter in that.

A car pulled up and three guards got out with June and two other medics. June’s eyes seemed unsurprised. She has seen a lot of things being a medic but her eyes faltered when seeing Asterion on the ground but her attention was taken by Zarek who was pointing a gun at one of the individuals heads. This was when Elara uses her vines to restrain the two and keep them captive. 

Now restrained, Snow glanced up at Zarek. ”Listen, I'll call it in on my radio. You just gotta activate and put it close to my face.”

Meanwhile, Glyde was starting to feel the residue of tear gas in the air, along with the smoke. At least half of the building was on fire. Despite it all, he didn't weaken in his stance.

”Your man is here! And I am armed!” He said.

And, the vehicles that tried to escape, well, they didn't make it far. Riddled with holes, almost everyone inside died instantly or were slowly bleeding out…

That was when a few of the men went to check in the vehicles to see if there were any survivors. More men went into the building through the broken garage doors. Everyone heard a man call out and state that he was armed with the man — Krish — and that caused the footsteps to stop going closer. Everyone knew that Krish was important to Asterion. How were they supposed to go about this? 

Zarek was shaking with anger and he wanted to just shoot her, but he didn’t. He waved for Elara to loosen her vines, “Hurry the fuck up Elara,” he demanded while Elara did what he asked with such an offended face. 

“You can ask nicely,” she spat out. 

“Krish might be dead. He might not be. I am not asking nicely now stop being a bitch. This is serious,” Zarek grabbed the radio before the vines tightened and almost grabbed his hand with it. The man growled a little while looking at Elara before looking back at Snow, “How can I trust you won’t order to kill him? If he isn’t already dead?” 

Asterion gasped out of the hold that Snow once had on him, reaching for his head, and closed his eyes tightly because of the light. It felt like he was having the worst migraine of his life and while his brain was trying to process that. His feet and lower legs felt like they were on fire. It could have been worse if he wasn’t wearing the type of gear that everyone was dressed in. Except it did burn through the mid part of his lower legs and got the fabric to burn down to his ankles. The soles of his shoes were messed up but not enough where his feet were burned into rubber. Thankfully. 

June ran over to him, “Oh god. Are you okay? No, you are not okay. That’s a stupid question,” she began as she was trying to analyze Asterion to figure out what she should heal, what she could heal, and what she could even do. Her abilities might have been strong but she wasn’t sure the full extent of what he did to himself or others did to him. 

Lying there, he looked pissed, and flopped his head over to see Zarek pointing a gun at Snow with a walkie-talkie in his hand. Elara making sure the vines stayed secure. Varek standing there, uselessly in his opinion, and that was when he tried to get up and June pushed him down. “Hell no. You are not getting up. Keep your ass on that ground,” she demanded. 

That little push made him realize the extent of his injuries as he whined out but clenched his jaw to try and not make any noises. Bringing his hand up, it was shaking awfully and uncontrollably. “Fuck. Do not touch me right now. Everything hurts,” he put up his other hand to keep June away from him as if to tell her to stop.

Snow closed her eyes reflexively as Jumper spoke, returning back to himself. She was still hyper aware of the gun still pointed at her. Her voice was even and low. ”You have a gun pointed at me, and he has your man. We are currently even. If Krish is alive, he'll kill him, you'll kill me, Sarge’ll be pissed. I'm not gonna play any games with you.”

Her eyes squinted to peek at Zarek's hand, confirming if he had activated the walkie or not, and waited.

Zarek was negotiating which was something that Asterion did not care for, he vocalized it, “You need to sto —” that was when a gunshot went off. It didn’t hit Snow. It did not hit Darian. June jumped out of her skin. It landed right into Asterion’s lower leg, “Shut the fuck up, Asteiron. You are going to risk his life if you keep on your high horse,” Asterion covered his mouth but the muffled scream could be heard by everyone as his whole body tensed up. 

The white-haired man turned the walkie-talkie on, “There you go,” he extended it out to her. 

June looked absolutely shocked, “He is already in critical condition,” she shouted at the man. 

Zarek glared at June, “And he heals. He’s like a doll. And you heal. Put him back together, how about that? Isn’t that your job? My job is to make sure no one dies on this god forsaken crew and he won’t die from that, June.” June seemed to not know how to react to that. She seemed to tense up and kneel down to try and focus on healing the man or at least make sure he was stable. 

Snow heard the click of the button, and spoke, keeping her voice even. ”Sir, it's Specialist Frostfare. I've been compromised, as well as Private Slayton.

“What is the status of the hostage?”

There was a pause, before the walkie crackled. ”Alive. I've got a live grenade. My intention was to take us both out… But if they have you, I can't do shit. Let them know they can come in. There is a grenade that needs to be discharged safely. Then they can collect their man. 

“We surrender.”

”Copy, sir.” Snow said, before squinting up at Zarek. ”There's your answer.”

Outcome 16 - June has 34 healing points left. 

The woman sat there and put her hands on Asterion, near the sites with the most damage, which was his lower legs. “That hurts…” he growled. 

“I know it hurts. What happened anyways?” she asked with a side eye. 

“I tried setting myself and Specialist Frostfare on fire,” he was beginning to sit up the more June’s hands glowed. 

June looked at him like he was a mad man — which he is — “You are an absolute idiot. You know your legs are going to scar, right? You know when I heal you, your body will not get rid of the scars,” she stated as the bullet wound closed up as well along with forcing the bullet out in the healing process. This made him roll his eyes. 

Zarek seemed so relieved that Krish was still alive as if he was relieved in a way that said he didn’t fail or not yet, anyways. “We need to be careful,” he took the walkie-talkie away. “We cannot fully trust this man so we will have to be careful with that live grenade,” Zarek informed Elara and Varek. 

That was before he realized Asterion was already going into the building. June sounded out in frustration. Zarek turned on his heels to catch up with the boss. “He’s going to get us all killed,” the silver haired man stated while Varek took over watching Darian and Snow. June stood up awkwardly before issuing her two medics out to see who else might have needed medical attention. 

Asterion was in the building and noticed all the men stopped in a hallway, “Out now!” he ordered which everyone looked confused. They began to do so. Move out and away from where he assumed the live grenade was. 

Glyde didn't move from his position in front of Krish's holding cell. The grenade felt sweaty in his grip, but he thought of his crew. His grip only tightened, and he stared at the closed door that led into the hallway. Waiting.

Once everyone was out, Zarek showed up, “Get out of the building,” he demanded as he slowly moved to the door where he assumed Krish and Glyde were. 

“No,” Zarek replied. 

“I am not asking, Zarek. I am telling you. Get out,” his voice was more stern. 

Zarek paused for a second before his face showed more of what he wanted to say than he did, “Fine,” he began to move out of the building. 

Asterion stood on the other side of that door before lightly knocking, “Glyde, it is me. Asterion. I need you to trust me for five measly minutes. Okay?” The man called out. 

Glyde blinked, before his face settled again. The two leaders of their respective factions, here together at the end. How fitting.

”As long as you don't hurt Frostfare and Slayton, I trust you.” He said evenly. ”I'm not making a move. The grenade is in my right hand.”

Asterion opened the door and looked around the smoke filled room. As well as he could. The man was healed to stability but there was an uncomfortable movement in his step. Something was still wrong and it is because he needed his body to fully heal itself which June couldn’t do for him. He wasn’t normal in that regard. “I promise, they are safe and unharmed,” A deep inhale could be heard while he noticed Glyde standing there in front of the holding cell, Krish in it, and this caused him to want to throw up. It was upsetting to see Krish in such a state yet there was no emotion in his eyes to clarify anything. 

There was a part of him that wanted to kill Glyde but he knew that he needed to save Krish first — they could always fight another day. Kill each other when Krish was safe. “Do not tense your body,” he stated evenly while keeping his eyes on the grenade. 

Asterion got close to Glyde, putting his hand on his upper back and taking the grenade in his other hand but not pulling it away from the man yet. That was when he noticed two options — throw it into the garage where he noticed the door was wide open or throw it into the hall. The man then shoved Glyde really hard into the holding cell, closed the door, and whipped the grenade out the door into the garage instead of rattling around in the garage. It went out into the driveway where… not only some of his men were but Glyde’s men. At least they were not the important ones. 

The explosion caused a bunch of noise and a few screams and wails and Asterion stood there holding the door shut. “I hope you know I did not do that out of the kindness of my heart,” He didn’t open the door yet. “Now are you going to behave? Walk out of here willingly or do I have to be ready to put bullets into you?” 

Glyde's eyes when wide, before his face contorted, and he punched his cell door. ”You bastard! There was an empty hallway, why!?”

He fumed a little more, before shaking his head. ”I'm a fucking fool, that's for sure. I should have just blown us both up when I had the chance…”

A breath through the nose, a hand wiping over his face. Before he bit out. ”We'll walk. No trouble.”

Asterion looked absolutely offended by Glyde’s comment, “Statistically speaking, the grenade would have come back into the room way more likely than it would have with me throwing it out the garage door. Give me a fucking sob story, Glyde or Sarge. You are alive and all your important people are alive,” the man was so sassy sounding with the man trapped in the holding cell room. 

Opening up the door, Asterion ignored the man that could be considered a threat as he grabbed a knife and cut Krish loose without much effort. Hoisting the man up over his shoulder like he was a rag doll. Krish passed out from all the pain he endured earlier. A groan could be heard from Asterion on the weight, his body shifting a bit, and his eyes closing for a second. Putting the knife away. His hands were still shaking erratically. There was a clearness of him being in pain. Asterion glared at Glyde before turning and leaving, not waiting for the man at all, and moving into the hallway. 

Glyde didn't say a word, following in step behind Asterion. His eyes were already focused on the door, to where his soldiers were being held, his hope still holding on that they were at least treated better than the personnel.

When they came out, June, Zarek, Varek, and Elara would be standing in front of Snow and Darian who were in Elara’s vines — she did not add any thornes to their captivity either. Asterion walked out with Krish and everyone seemed so relieved while seeing Krish with Asterion. “Is he did?” Elara asked quickly. 

“No, he is not dead, and he will not die today. Varek take him and June back to Nickel. June, you know what to do,” Asterion ordered. Varek walked up to Asterion and took Krish from him and gestured for June to leave in the vehicle. Her medics followed as well. 

Asterion walked over to the individuals who were captured and smirked, amusingly, “I really like you,” he said to Specialist Frostfare. “Too bad that I cannot keep you like a pet. I do not think you would appreciate it or your boss would,” he chuckled a little. 

Snow's face immediately contorted into a scowl, but her eyes remained shut.

“Do not make that face. I am teasing. I do not keep humans as pets,” Asterion rolled his eyes while looking over at Glyde. “Even if I want to,” he admitted. Elara seemed offended, a light pink hue of jealousy crossing her face at such a comment from her boss, but she tried to hide it. 

He sighed, “I think you should clear out of Yellowbrick before something worse happens to all three of you. O… and leave everyone else. I have plans for all the others. I had plans for you as well, but I guess I will be nice today. You fought very well,” he glanced at Snow when he said this before looking at Glyde. “Now this area is mine.” 

Glyde's eyes narrowed, ”I have a right to know what plans you have for the rest of my men.”

Asterion shook his head, “No, you do not, but you and everyone else will see it on a live broadcasting. It is the price one pays for ever laying a finger on one of mine,” his voice was serious and almost void of emotion when he said this. 

Glyde stiffened a bit, but his training had him hide and stuff down his emotions. Asterion meant to kill the remainder of his men, didn't he…?

Glyde glanced at Snow and Darian. Acting out now would only seal their fates. And he wouldn't do that to them.

His eyes shut. ”If you'll unbind them, we'll be on our way.”

“I knew you would understand, thank you,” Asterion gestured and Elara listened. Unbinding them without any hesitation and stepping a few paces away from them just in case. He looked over to the two units and back to Glyde. “And Glyde, you would have made a very big mistake if you killed Krish. I do not have much humanity left and the little bit I have, you almost took away, and that would not hurt me like it would hurt everyone else. I would have not only made you suffer, but everyone else and would have made you watch,” Asterion smiled at the man, grinning, and it showed how far Asterion was gone from regular attachments and human emotions. Something was extremely off with him. How he spoke so casually about things and how his body language and eyes showed an indifference to everything he spoke about. 

Glyde stared at Asterion a little longer, before his face grew somber. ”Another cut-throat killer in Nocturnia just makes it colder. Not my business, at the end of the day.”

He nodded to Snow and Darian, who fell in line behind him. ”We'll take our leave, then.”

Asterion stood there and watched Glyde and his two units leave. Glancing at Zarek, “Collect all the living. We need to prepare the broadcasting so everyone can see my face and know that I will not tolerate being fucked with,” he said plainly. 

Zarek smirked, “On it,” he went to do what he was told. Gather the men that they still had to go collect all of Glyde’s men who were still alive or slowly suffering to make a point. 

There were a few men still alive in the vehicles, the ones who had tried to escape. And there were a number of men in the building, suffering from the smoke or the gas. All in all, they would be easy and no trouble to round up, about twenty men in total. 
Another cut-throat killer in Nocturnia makes it colder, he thought about that line again and again before shaking his head in the negative and whispering to himself. “Says the one that kidnapped an innocent man and began to cut his throat,” Asterion had plans to kill Glyde in the future for that but for now… having Yellowbrick would do him good. Now he was just going to have to worry about everyone else in the mixture of business in Nocturnia. 

Ready! Set! ACTION!

A live feed broadcasting turned on, overtaking all the T.V.s that were on and watching other programs. One could see a taller man, standing proud, and almost an eerie mysteriousness to him. Behind him were men who were all kneeling with their foreheads placed on the ground. No bindings. Nothing to hold them there while a few of them shook from what was stated off camera and others shook from the three men on each side that pointed guns at them. They could not run without consequences. The man stood there and looked at the camera, deadpan, and almost lifeless in a sense. Then a half-crooked smile appeared, “Good afternoon people of Nocturnia,” his voice rang out, evenly, and balanced as if there was no smoke and fire behind him and men being held at gunpoint. 

His posture was great, standing tall and proud, though there was something sickly about the way he moved a little bit — was he hurt? Dying? Pushed to the limit of stress? Something was gravely wrong with him but it was hard to tell without being informed of the reason. “Today, I wanted people to learn a lesson. That no one can escape consequences,” his voice was too soothing to a point that it might have made people uncomfortable with how casual he was being. 

Stepping to the side, to make way for the men behind him, the ones kneeling in a bow, and gesturing to them, “These men are the current head of Yellowbrick and 93rd which are both mine now. I do apologize for the change in leadership but I promise I will treat the people of these districts with as much respect as I possibly can. If they give me the chance and do not want to cause issues like these men,” he grabbed a hunting knife from a holder on his one side. Revealing the blade to the camera. “And that man cut the throat of  one of mine. Now I get to cut the throats of his,” he pointed the knife at the camera with an even smile appearing on his face and a lifelessness in his eyes. 

Asterion kneeled behind the first man, grabbed his hair, and made the man’s back arch before slitting his throat and dropping him. Blood was going over where he cut deeply and so easily. There was no hesitation in his form and no hesitation in his actions — he truly did not care about these men. Going to the next man and grabbing him by the hair and yanking him to stand on his knees before slitting his throat. That was when one of the men in the back stood up to run and a crack of a gun firing sounded out. This caused the man to fall to his knees but it was a shot that didn’t kill him, it wounded him, and made it so he couldn’t run away. 

The man that was cutting the throats of these men gestured with two fingers and someone off camera came over and grabbed the man that tried to run and dragged him to the side. Forcing him to kneel and watch. Every single man and woman had their throats slit and their blood covered Asterion’s hands. Then there was the last one, the one shot in the leg, and Asterion went over and dragged them out into the middle of dead or struggling bodies before slitting their throats and dropping them with the pile. Going forward towards the camera, his hand and forearms covered in blood, splatters of blood were on his face, neck, and torso. The contrast of red on such pale skin was sickly as he played with the dirty knife. Spinning it in his fingers like it was a toy. “Thank you for watching this video message from the Kairo Empire. We hope everyone understands and cooperates,” he smiled as if he truly enjoyed what happened. 

“Remember. Actions have consequences.” he added before the broadcasting cut off. 

A little more music

By the time he stepped into the skyscraper, his body was completely exhausted, but he had no thoughts about lying down and resting. He couldn’t. Going up the maze of stairs and elevators, he found himself higher up in the tower as he walked down a hall. Pain aching through his body but he forced himself to stand tall as his strides took him forward to a double door, he pushed the doors open, and Krish was lying there with closed eyes and looking so beautiful. The monitors he was hooked up to echoing faint noises into the room and that was when he bursted into tears. He couldn’t hold the emotions anymore. A gasp of trying to get his breath struggled in his chest as he walked towards Krish. 

Going to the man’s bedside and caressing his cheek gently, “I am sorry. I am so sorry. I should have backed off a little bit and none of that would have happened to you,” June and him had talked over the phone — she was able to heal Krish’s throat so it wouldn’t scar, but she was out of juice. She needed to rest for the night but she was scared that all the smoke that got into his system was going to make it so he would end up getting pneumonia. 

Cupping the redhead’s cheeks in his hands, he placed his forehead onto his brothers, and closed his eyes. Tears were getting trapped in his eyelashes as they blinked to push them away and not hold them into his eyes. He couldn’t control his crying. He was terrified that Krish was dead even if he didn’t show that on the battlefield. He couldn’t show that to Glyde or anyone else. 

His whole body jumped out of surprise when he felt someone touch him and his eyes opened up to see a shaking hand on his cheek. “We do not negotiate with terrorists,” the man lightly joked before starting to cough a little bit. Trying to hold it back because of how close Asterion was to him. Asterion put a hand over Krish’s and pressed it into his cheek more. 

“Would you say that if you were dead?” he plainly asked while his twilight eyes opened and stared down at Krish. 

Krish’s eyes were exhausted and tired looking. It was almost as if he wasn’t fully there. He shook his head. “What are the rules?” 

We do not talk to cops or cooperate with them.

We never make a promise that we cannot finish.

We do not negotiate with terrorists.

“And the last one?” 

“We do not cry over what is to inevitably happen.” 

Krish smiled weakly, “Exactly. I didn’t die. Did I? So why are you crying? I didn’t realize you were so emotional,” His voice teased before a hand raised up and he began to cough even harder. 

Asterion gave him space as they separated a bit. “Do you need anything?” 

“Water would be nice… it hurts to breathe,” his breathing struggled with each inhale and exhale. 

“June said you might end up with pneumonia because of all the smoke that was in the building and everything else in it.” 

Krish sighed, “We have been in worse situations. A little pneumonia won’t kill me,” he sounded light even if there was pain in his voice and discomfort. 

Asterion walked over to a mini fridge and grabbed a bottle of water before cracking it open and helping Krish sit up a little to drink it. “It can,” he argued. 

“What if it does? Everyone dies, Asterion,” Krish argued back. 

“I do not want you to die. Everyone else can die. You cannot,” Asterion’s eyes sharpened to his friend and claimed brother. 

Krish looked up at him and smiled a little, “I can’t make any promises but I will try a little harder not to die. Okay?” 

In Collaboration with @Estylwen
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The Savant Member

The darkening

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