The smell of corpses was getting to his nose, and the lousy sun was at its highest in the clear sky, raining down beams of heat that dried all the blood, monsters and humans alike, spilled from the battle for survival. A daybreak in the ruined city was far from peaceful.
"Are you done?" Crimson asked in an irritated tone to the black-haired woman near him, wearing similar clothes as crimson, a member of 'spades'.
She just came down from the pile of bodies where she was sitting in a meditating posture, a necessary (not the corpses. She needed clear mind and concentration) to use her ability. A form Telepathy.
"Preparations? Yes. But I still can't confirm his position. Zeff is a meticulous one, not leaving a trace of his presence. But I'm sure he's here, the chaos I saw below proves it."
Spade was an organization that existed far before the apocalypse, albeit an Underworld one but far more complex than the regular mafia. The structure, operations, and hierarchical system, branches, and fake identities were secret even to their members.
Crimson was on a mission to Bring Zeff back dead or alive. who, before this whole fiasco started that made the world crumble down, was involved with them, before being thrown into prison. Crimson did know the man, but never liked him, it's been three years since he last saw him when he was thrown into prison. He was glad that he did, too. However, since he was ordered by his superiors to bring him in, he had to act.
His ability, The Flames of Cross, as he likes to call it, was a fire type that came to him during his awakening at the start of the apocalypse.
"Are there any other exits?"
"No. When I searched through memories of those soldiers, there seemed to be none." The black-haired woman, Mera, Replied.
"Good, then. I'll take charge, the first ten will follow me, and You too, Mera. Use your ability until you find him, stay at the back, and stay active. If you drag us down this time…"
But Mera completed his line. "you'll leave me to die?" she scoffed. "Yeah, right. I'll keep that in mind. again."
Crimson scawled at the Mera for a moment, before choosing his other team.
"The rest will keep a watch out here. If anyone other than us comes outside, show no mercy." Crimson started, his eyes clearly ordering them what to do if such a time came to pass.
'Kill them,' he did not need to say it aloud. Mercy was an expensive item in their eyes. Something that, if not spent wisely on others, it might cost you dearly. Between the predator and the prey, it was obvious what to choose for these kids.
"Yes," they replied in unison, a bit inconsistent, but.
After all, they did it all the time before this. They're trained to be killers from a young age.
They're used to it. Death, the stench of flesh and blood, it was nothing new. Just that, instead of greedy humans, they're dealing with animals that outgrew their horns, crocodiles with wings, and dogs on fire. The smell of the dead was all the same. Some kids even found it fascinating, but as non-awakened, they knew when to run and hide and when to fight back.
Crimson activated his ability, the tattoo on his wrist glowing orange, turning red until his entire right hand was red as magma, as he clenched it into a fist.
"If I'm right, This facility was built so it could withstand extreme temperatures. I wonder what's its limit?" he said, a hint of a smile forming on his face.
To 'Burn down' something. That feeling. He was starting to get addicted to his powers. But he never showed it in his expression.
He maintained his stoic expression as he saw the metal in front of him melting down. In fact, He made enough space for him and his team to go in. 'But something doesn't feel right.' he thought.
Only a small part of the giant 'Hatch' was melting. The entrance looked like a molten hole with hot
'As smart as Zeff is, he should have seen us coming. He knew we could come after him anywhere in the world, he couldn't escape the Spades. Then how…' Crimson pondered. 'Coming here is basically running himself to a dead end. Unless…'
He waved his hand for others to follow him.
'... Unless he purposely led us here…'
But only silence replied to his doubts. Crimson missed his chance to be surprised, because he was expecting something like this, 'is it a trap?'
There was a stairway below him. However, there was a lack of light, so the end of the stairway was not visible. Leading somewhere, but all crimson saw was darkness.
***
Bucky didn't know, at that very moment, new enemies were coming from above, the ones who killed Sands and all his retinue, along with all the others awakened, left wounded after the fifth trial, dead and not reachable.
Yet, he did not care. Not about his comrade who he lost contact with, the possible annihilation of the tenth of his entire forces on the surface, not the damage to the base.
Stress and fear clouded his brain, the thought of immense danger for what family he was left with, scaring him each time.
Then he heard a voice.
"... Brother?"
It came out of the distraction he just captured.
It might be a torrent of endorphins rushing in his mind at the time, or a mirage of what he wanted to see, but when he turned back, the face of 'Kai' was melting down. Like a fluid on a sand.
'!?' Bucky, surprised, took a step back to calm himself after taking the information he just did.
The illusion came off, revealing the busty appearance, wearing military clothes, of a red-haired woman who was seen behind the confinement.
It was Angelina. With whatever constraints restraining her coming off, both physical and facial changes included, the soldier removed her cuffs and chains one after another.
At the same time, The magic on the amulet (used as a medium for her transformation) was being overused by Zeff, transforming himself, his powers, appearance, to fight against Leo.
***
If you find any mistakes in the chapter, please comment below so I can fix them as soon as possible.