[I will rarely ever put a trigger warning for anything in this story. This chapter is an exception. This chapter implies something that some people might not be comfortable reading about.]
Leo stood before the surveillance cameras, watching their output. He thought quietly to himself with a blank face. He tapped his leg for a moment before turning around to look at the carcasses littering the floor. Leo walked forward and tossed his useless gun somewhere and looked around the room for a usable one.
Luckily, someone had pulled a gun on him during the fight, so it wasn't that hard to get one. He pried it from their fingers and checked everything. The man hadn't even been able to turn off the safety.
Leo holstered it and began scavenging for ammunition from all the bodies. Luckily, they all carried the same guns, if they were wearing any at all. Leo grabbed two of the handguns and as many magazines as his pockets would carry.
"Hey, when will I be able to use magic?" Leo suddenly asked Grey.
"I've told you this before." Grey responded immediately.
"I know, but if I force my body to adapt, when will I be able to?" Leo was referring to using magic nonstop, despite sustaining injuries to his body. If he did that, then eventually, Leo theorized his body would get used to the vast amount of power, just very slowly.
"You most likely won't be able to do it through that path, you'll have to figure something else out."
"But could I do it that way?"
Grey sighed and thought for a moment, "…Yes. You could do it that way, but compared to the way I'd like you to, it is wildly inefficient, and it will almost always cause you immense pain. Just don't do it young master."
"Well it's not like someone is helping."
Leo stood from scavenging the piles of the dead and left the room. He hopped down to the bottom floor from the balcony. He started quickly shifting through the crowd, whenever a guard got near him, Leo would start dancing slightly to blend in.
When the guards left, Leo immediately continued his walk. He ventured ever closer to the stair's leading to Montague, but he first made a quick stop at the bar. While there he discreetly stole a bottle of clear alcohol. He then kept creeping his way towards his destination.
When he reached it, he didn't head towards the stairs, instead he found the window leading into Montague's office. It was to allow Montague to overlook his club whenever he felt like it. Leo looked at it for a moment and there was a large number of partygoers beneath it. Leo walked over to one of them.
"Hey man, you've got a light?" Leo asked someone.
"Huh?" They turned and looked at him, "Oh, yeah man, here." The man took out a lighter and flicked it open, revealing a flame.
"Can I borrow it for a minute?"
"Why?"
"It's for my drunk friend, he needs the light, I don't smoke." Leo replied.
"Ah, alright then."
Leo thanked the man and walked away, back towards the window. He ripped off a portion of his shirt and unscrewed the cap to the alcohol. He stuffed the cloth inside it and pushed it into the drink. He waited a moment for the alcohol to seep into the cloth.
Leo looked up at the window and slightly smiled. He took out the stranger's lighter and ignited the rag sticking out of the bottle. It quickly attracted eyes and they backed away. Leo didn't mind them and threw the bottle up to the second floor.
Montague opened the suitcase his assistant gave him and looked inside it for a moment. He closed it again without showing the other's its contents.
"Gentlemen, your suitcases." Montague said calmly to the Brett and the guards.
Max eyed them and prepared to spring up in case they attacked him.
The men placed their suitcases on their laps and opened them slowly. Inside were large packages of liquid drugs in little vials. They took the suitcases over to Montague and he pulled the packages out and started inspecting them with his assistant. Brett and the guards stood in front of Montague's desk as they did so, watching the process.
The assistant opened one of the packages and inspected the drugs within very closely. He placed the vial back in the package and resealed it. He tossed the bag to someone nearby with a large scar on their bald head.
The assistant spoke, "Give those to Kyle."
The man who received the bag nodded and walked away. The room turned quiet for a moment as Montague and the assistant discussed something in whispers.
Montague looked back towards the room and got up from his chair. He walked around his desk and stood between Brett and the guards. He leaned against his desk and rubbed his temples.
"Hello Max. It has been while." Montague said roughly.
"Indeed, it has."
"Your friend Mathias, do you know how much trouble he has caused me?"
"Of course." Max said confidently.
Montague's eyes narrowed and his brows squeezed together.
"Has Mathias ever told you his last name?"
"No."
"Well, I didn't know it either until an insane lady told me."
"An insane lady?"
"That crazy doll woman. Many of the humans around Lulo worship the angels. They are the naïve fools who've never met one. That crazy lady is an archangel, which is demon equivalent of a hunter. She is also an apostle, which number exactly, I do not know."
Max frowned as he recalled the woman with the scorching red hair and the doll mask.
Montague continued, "Mathia's last name is Doe. He's of the Doe family."
Max was silent.
"As in John Doe, the Lightning Demon."
Max clenched his fist slightly but took a deep breath, "That's fine."
"Is it?"
"Yes."
"…"
"…"
The room was silent.
"I thought I'd at least tell you." Montague said softly as he turned around towards his desk. He reached over it and grabbed the suitcase his assistant gave him at the start of the deal. He popped it open, and Brett, Montague, and the security guards reached in.
Montague turned and looked at Max while holding a gun, "Roderick sold you out. He told me that you were nothing but a tool."
Max remained silent once more.
"I've always hated that man, but today I hate him much more than I ever have. It is strange feeling."
"I know." Max muttered.
"Excuse me?"
"I said I knew. I knew I was nothing but a tool for him. He doesn't think I remember, but I do."
Seventeen years ago…
A young boy, around the age of two, sat in a cage. His limbs were scrawny, and his hair was in disarray. He was covered in small bruises and cuts. The cage he sat in dug into his skin, was dirty and covered by a thin blanket.
The boy sat there curled up in a ball, dried tears on their face as they listened. He couldn't understand a word being said, so he sat in silence, his eyes too tired to even cry.
Suddenly the blanket was lifted up, revealing a blinding light. The boy's eyes winced in pain and he covered his face.
"Show your face, get up." A man sternly whispered.
The boy opened his eyes slowly and saw a man in a sharp tuxedo. The boy looked around and noticed they were on a stage in a large auditorium. The lights prevented the boy from seeing into the crowd.
The man who sternly made them show their face, suddenly yelled, "A pure angel boy! Perfect for a great deal of things! If you're willing to wait, their magic is undoubtably going to be amazing! If you can't wait, well, a young boy has other uses!" The man raised their head with a disgusting smile.
The boy shuddered and hid themselves in a ball once more. The man started shouting out numbers and pointing towards audience members. This went on for quite a while before the blanket was thrown back onto the cage.
The boy felt weightless for a moment, indicating that he was being moved somewhere. He clutched his legs tightly and tried not to think of anything. He tried not to be scared. He would be lying if he said he wasn't.
Three hours later and the blanket was lifted revealing a dark room. On the floor was a bowl filled with some slop and a small wooden mug with water. The boy crawled out of the cage and started scarfing down the food. A moment later, they looked up and saw an aging man, seemingly ordinary in every way.
Maybe, in that sense, he was fairly unique.
The man looked at the boy for a moment with disgust and spoke, "Your name is Maximillian Overture."
Max stopped reminiscing and looked towards Montague, "Do you know why I stuck around Mathias?"
"…"
"He's a horrible person, he's killed plenty of people and robbed more. He was the one who pulled me out of the darkness that consumed my life. He made me realize how much more there was. Mr. Whittemore, Mathias is my light…"
As he said that, the window behind Montague glowed a soft orange hue. Then a loud shatter and the window was destroyed, flames pouring in. The flames landed on Montague's back, as well as the others.
They all screamed out and started trying to put out the flames. Max quickly jumped up from his chair and people started firing at him as he hopped over the flames and through the window. Max landed with a roll to find the crowd screaming and running around madly.
He was shoved around multiple times and almost fell, but a hand grabbed his shoulder and kept him in place. Max looked behind him and saw Leo, Max gave Leo a nod and the two started running.
The two advanced towards the entrance and Leo spoke, "Here. Take a lot, we'll need it. The building is surrounded by Wolves." He handed Max a gun and some ammunition.
"They really are cooperating..." Max muttered with a slight scoff.
Max accepted them and prepared the weapon. They ran in the crowd blending in nicely and made it quite far before someone finally pointed them out.
"There!" A man said and despite the crowd of civilians, opened fire.
Leo lifted his gun and decided to let a little of his grim classification shine through. He fired a single bullet through a sea of people, it narrowly missed at least ten people before striking the man in the face, making him slump to the ground instantly.
"Holy shit…" Max mumbled.
The two kept running and made it to the entrance, by now the crowd was mostly gone and they stood out much easier. They were fired upon as soon as they even got near the entrance so the two went into a side hall to find an alternate exit.
A few people followed the two and they fought. Max and Leo fended them off and slowly killed them but more kept coming.
"We should split up," Leo spoke.
"Yeah, alright." Max replied. The two counted down and when they reached zero, they sprinted as hard as they could in opposite directions, entering various room. Surprisingly, most of the Wolves followed Leo.
"What the hell? Why are you all following me?!" Leo shouted as he looked back.
"Boss's orders. He said you'd take action against him if you lived." A Wolf calmly responded as they closed in while firing their gun.
"What kind of bullshit is that? I haven't lived here for a year! I don't give a shit about Roderick!"
"Shut your mouth Mathias."
Leo rolled his eyes and raised his gun to his chest as he hid behind a wall. When the foremost man reached Leo, Leo grabbed his arm holding the gun and lifted it, the man fired a round into the air.
Leo rammed his gun into the man's chest, firing a round deep into their chest, causing them to cough up blood. Leo repeated this for his head, killing him a moment later. He tugged the arm slightly and blocked a bullet that was fired into the man's body by a colleague of theirs.
Max ran up to the second floor, and then the third. When he reached the floor, he discreetly made his way to the fire escape. He opened the door, hopped onto it, and looked behind him. There was only a single man still chasing him, causing his eyebrows to lift themselves.
The man quickly lifted his gun and fired a round. It stuck Max in the head as it tore across his face, cutting deep from cheek to cheek through his nose. Max stumbled slightly and fell off the rails into the alley below. The man who fired the round looked below and saw Max lying motionless.
He was about to head down when he heard the call for reinforcements over the radio. He hesitantly turned away and ran back into the building.
Max laid there, his body feeling absolutely crushed. He slowly tried lifting himself only to find his body nonresponsive.
"So, this is how I die huh…" He thought, even the voice in his head was weak. Then his dimming eyes grew determined. "No… No, I've got to help him."
Max's body then started glowing a soft light all around. His muscles constricted in pain, but a clear conviction appeared directly on his face.
Leo was fighting hard, killing people as fast as he could with his gun. He forced away their hands and killed them. He broke their stances. He maimed them. But they just kept coming.
For every man he killed, he was down at least a bullet, usually more, and then two more took the person's place. Eventually, Leo was struck in the leg by the inevitable.
A bullet shattered his femur and Leo fell to the ground and kept fighting, despite not being able to move besides a slow, painful crawl. Leo aimed for someone's skull and pulled the trigger. The bullet exited the gun, killing them, but his slide locked back, indicating an empty gun. Leo quickly searched himself for more ammo but found none.
"Cease your fire!" A loud voice yelled, causing everyone to freeze, including Leo. He looked up towards the voice that came from behind the sea of guards.
The man stumbled forward slightly, revealing a large figure.
"Ugh. Can't you just die already?!" Leo groaned loudly as he saw the burned Montague walked forward.
"Shut your mouth. You are going with the others."
"…Others?"
"Yes. Your friend Faust and Castille squad. We need information, and it is obvious who would have it."
Leo scooted himself back slightly as Montague advanced. It was for naught as Montague threw a quick punch to Leo's face, knocking him out instantly.