>Last time on Hunter x Hunter quest

After meeting another contestant named Vanilla Clayton, Derrick and Etheline decide it’s time to finally reach their objective, the train. By going north, where it’s most likely hidden.

Seeing merit in a temporary alliance, Vanilla joins the Duo in their journey to the North.
On their way to the north, Derrick examines the strange gun given to him by Rea for use during emergencies.

During his examination, Vanilla discovers the weapon on Derrick and examines it for herself, only to detect White Phosphorus within the weapon and warns Derrick not to trust Rea, as she may have given him the weapon in-order to sabotage him.

He was then told that he should give the gun over to her and have it disposed before it can do any damage.Derrick refuses and states that he will bring the weapon with him regardless of the danger, in-order to question Rea himself and find the truth.

Before he could receive a response from Vanilla, They’re attacked by a horde of magical beasts that had been stalking the area for any approaching humans. They manage to fend off the horde of beasts and stay on path to the train. Unfortunately, the horde was only the beginning of the attack, as a strange beast ambushes Derrick and separates him from the group.

Bloody and despondent, Derrick attempts to escape from the stealthy monster and reach his allies before time runs out, but he quickly realizes that the beast won't make it so easy.

It continues to attack him suddenly from his blindspots and nearly kills him several times while he attempts to escape. Desperate for a way out, Derrick retreats into the trees and watched the area for the beasts movements.

That's how he realizes how to track the beasts’ location and attack pattern. The beast attacks him once again, this time revealing its true form to Derrick as it attempts to kill him from below, destroying the tree he stood on, causing them both to fall.

As they fall to the ground below, Derrick and the monster exchange looks and see one another's true intentions. Derrick wishes to escape the beast and reach the train and promises to do it no matter what.

And the beast promises to hunt him down and kill him, no matter what.

Who will come out on top? The true battle begins here.

And so the story continues….!

File: Colossal Bubbaraus.png (552 KB, 1056x568)

552 KB PNG

You fall whilst glaring into the monsters’ eyes. You look deep within those eyes and see what must be years of surviving the harsh and merciless environment of the Moonlight forest.

Years counting years of hunting and being hunted in turn, within the world of nature, there are no second chances, no mistakes to be made. Natural selection dictates that anything incapable of adapting quickly is doomed to fail and die painfully. Typically, at the hands of a superior species.

Nature will grant the right to live and prosper to the strongest creatures that live within it. And you can tell by just looking at this beast. It’s one such beast.

It’s overwhelming size and strength paired with the ability to itself from other creatures nigh completely makes it almost makes it impossible to beat or escape, you wonder how many ecosystems this thing has ruined. Feels a little unfair if you're being honest.

But that’s what being superior to all other creatures means, Supremacy is supposed to be unfair. When the birds had suddenly fled from their attack on you earlier, it was not due to your display of brutality towards their comrades. But rather, because they had realized that this beast had joined the hunt and they didn't want to end up its prey.

That’s proof that this creature more than likely stands at the top of the food chain. The Apex predator, there's not a creature within this forest that would dare stand up to this beast, not unless it was insane or suicidal.

And now you have the personal pleasure of having that same monster put all its effort into hunting you down and devouring you, you almost wonder how many puppies you must have stomped in a previous life to deserve this.

File: Moonlight Shower Forest01.jpg (295 KB, 2000x1250)

295 KB JPG

But you digress, now’s not the time to be wondering about ancestral puppy genocide. Instead, you try and come up with a plan as to escape this Apex predator and reach your objective.

Okay, first step of the plan. find a way to land without breaking your neck. You have no idea how you’re going to escape or make it to exam if you can’t stick this landing.


it’s too bad that you lost your duffle bag and bow when this bastard attacked you, you may have been able to use an arrow to pin yourself to one of these trees climb your way back up from there. But You were an idiot and let your guard down; you won’t let it happen again.

With what little time you have left, you take a hold of your situation. Time almost seems to slow as you analyze your predicament. You look in front of you as the beasts’ ungodly maw begin to open again and quickly close in on you mid-fall. You come to realize that you’ll be in some pretty deep shit if you don’t find a way to dodge this soon. Your eyes dart about the place to see any good opportunities.

You could grab one the branches and try and retake the high ground, or you could hop off one of the trees and make some distance between you and the beast. Or you could be a really crazy bastard, and lock horns with the huge scaly bastard and do a little damage before you run away.

What will you do?

>Maneuver through the branches: It may have reached you the first time there, but now that you know the beast can’t fly, all you need to do is find a path in the canopy and escape.

>Jump through the trees: Your ultimate objective is to escape, making as much distance as possible within as short a time as possible is your best option.

>Buck some horns: All this running away is pointless if the bastard will just chase you anyway. This bastard has another thing coming if it thinks being an Apex predator means it can hunt you down unchallenged.

>>2080616
Maneuver through the branches: It may have reached you the first time there, but now that you know the beast can’t fly, all you need to do is find a path in the canopy and escape.

>>2080902
Seconding escape through the brances

>Maneuver wins

You turn your body away from the beast and stretch out to grab a large branch behind you. Your hand grabs the branch. You then pull your legs together and you use your momentum to swing yourself up onto the branch, all in one fluid motion.

The beast attempts to shift it's mouth up to bite down on you like before. But you pay the beast no heed as you look up and see a series of branches above you.

You jump off the branch as the beast bites down upon your foothold and watch as it falls like a meteor towards the ground below. You grab another branch above you and fling yourself off it to land on the next tree. You hop off the tree onto the next branch you see and repeat the motion .

You stop once you land on a sturdy branch 50ft above the ground and watch as the beast crashes into the ground legs first and skids across the ground before loudly crashing into tree.

The tree shakes violently from the impact but doesn't even budge from the force you take a second to appreciate the unbelievable sturdiness of these trees and there branches. The beast however is less than happy to make the sane realization as it howls loudly from the intense impact and staggers around for a few seconds before recovering.

It looks up angrily at you from below but it doesn't move in to attack you this time. It's leg are powerful enough to jump 25ft in a single leap, however it seems 50ft is a bit much for even this monster.

Good, looks your idea was right. You look around a moment and realize that the branches are getting fewer and fewer as you ascend. These trees go up to 150ft in height so you don't have to worry about the beast chasing you, instead you have to worry about the lack of a skeleton you'll have if you make even one misstep up here.

Well you can't stick here forever, you're running out of time.

>Roll 1d100 to maneuver the branches.
>DC:70

Rolled 43 (1d100)

>>2081344

>>2081344

>>2082658
Type "1d100" in the options bar.

>>2082680
Woops thanks

>>2082690
It may be because im on my phone but it doesn't seem to work

>>2082701

>>2082815
I'll roll for you.

Rolled 5 (1d100)

>>2082839

>>2082854
...Seems like waiting on a third roll might be best.

Rolled 55 (1d100)

>>2081344

>>2082906
>>2082701
>>2081354

>Rolled 55

>Sorry Toruc, not this time.

You look up and try and pick out a pattern from the branches. You notice a series of branches heading to the north to your right, however you can't make it to them from where you are now, so you look for some path to reach them.

You look around and notice that the only way up is to the left where there are more branches, seems like you'll have to climb up and jump down from a higher branch to reach that one.

You waste no time and jump towards the branch to your left. As you fly through the air and extend your hand to grab the branch but before you can grab on, you hear something coming from behind. It sounds as if it's violently tearing through the air, you turn your head to see it and see a large rock barreling towards you!

The rock is about the size of your upper body and yet it's flying towards you as fast as a bullet. You almost didn't have enough time to react as you bring your fist down and smash the hard stone into a pile of dust.

You manage to block the attack successfully but you fail to grab the branch and begin to fall. You see the cold hard ground approaching fast and begin to panic. It's by sheer luck and instinct that you extend your hand out and grab a branch with your right arm, you feel extreme recoil as you grab the branch suddenly, nearly causing your arm to give out.

But you grit your teeth through the pain and pull yourself up, you examine your surroundings as you hold your right arm. You realize you fell around 20ft just now, meaning your about 30ft in the air right now, just barely out of range. Your lucky you still have your Combat gloves, breaking hard stone with your bare fist would have left unable to use your right hand, But where the hell did that rock even come from?

You question is quickly answered as you hear another rock flying at you from below, you dodge it by the skin of your teeth and see that the beast is picking up rocks and throwing it with its teeth. That scaly bastard really wants to kill you huh?

Well too bad, so sad. Because your about to...

What will you do?

>Head back up: it's flinging rocks at you because it's desperate. As long as you stay on your toes, you can head back up to the canopy and escape.

>Go down there: That's enough running around, you've spent enough time trying to get away and analyze. The quickest way through this is to just hurt the big bastard a little and get away while it recovers.

>>2083044
>>Go down there: That's enough running around, you've spent enough time trying to get away and analyze. The quickest way through this is to just hurt the big bastard a little and get away while it recovers.

>>2083079
Sorry, my internet went out for a whole day, time to get back to it.

>Time to kick some dino ass!

File: Derrick Holums29.png (130 KB, 1920x1080)

130 KB PNG

You feel a vein on your forehead prop up with rage at the annoying beast below. You don't know where the hell this thing gets off thinking it can attack you just because it's the head hancho around here.

You wanted to get away as quickly as possible considering the time limit, but this beast clearly wants to learn what happens when you piss off a real Apex predator.

You watch the beast creep around, head to the ground as it searches for objects to lob in your direction. You kinda want to give it props for being smart enough to pick some rocks, but maybe grabbing a rock or two and going down to meet it will a good enough response instead.

>Roll 1d100(+5) to give a good response.

Rolled 57 + 5 (1d100 + 5)

>>2086977

>>2087099

>Rolled 62

>DC:60

>Nice one.

File: Derrick Holums01.png (359 KB, 769x612)

359 KB PNG

https://youtu.be/UDTGFaC9SZA

Through your blindsiding rage, you feel an idea pop into your head and you decide to act on it.

You watch the beast closely. It may searching with its head down, but that doesn't mean it won't detect if you just rush at it like a angry fool. You crouch down and watch the beast's movements carefully...

The beast turns away as it spots a good rock to grab a few meters away. That's your chance. You silently climb your way down the tree and then dash your way into the bushes and follow the beast as it moves over to grab the large rock. you weave your way through the trees like a shadow. Carefully maneuvering your way through the deep dark of the forest using the fireflies to keep sight of the monster.

Once you manage to close the distance to 30 meters away from the beast, you watch the for the moment the beast drops it head to grab the rock, that's when it's neck will be exposed for attack. You tense your legs and pull your gloves tight on your hand as you wait.

The beast lowers it's head and moves to bite the rock, as it bites down on the rock, you move.You launch off with all the force in your legs and pull your right fist back as you attempt to drive your fist into the beast neck. As you fly towards the monster, you notice that it's eyes shift over to you.

It's eyes widen in surprise for a moment than it immediately calms itself again as it drops the rock and shifts it's head in attempt to bite you out of the air. Exactly as planned. You smirk as you lower your fist and bring your body down to the ground in a roll just before the beast bites down.

You dash as you land and slide underneath it's large body where you bring yourself up with all the force in your legs to deliver a ground-shaking uppercut to the beast's gut. You feel it lift of the ground for a moment and use that opportunity to dash away.

(Continued)

File: Apex Predator.jpg (205 KB, 1126x800)

205 KB JPG

You slide away from the beast as it falls the floor, causing the ground to rumble slightly from it's weight. It gets up rather quickly and glares at you with eyes filled with hungry and hate. That last attack was meant to knock it out cold, but you're not surprised it endured it, the beast has some thick scaly skin with a ton of force absorption, the worst kind of enemy for a blunt force-type fighter like yourself.

But you notice something more to the beasts skin, as you look at the glove you've struck it with. You notice a strange rainbow-colored, sticky fluid clinging to it. Now you understand, this is how it kept pulling that disappearing act on you. It's coated it's entire body in bubble fluid.

Clever, it using the bubbles to refract the light around it's body and make it self less visible. Typically that would just make the bastard transparent, but with what little light there is in this the Moonlight Forest, being a little transparent is the same as invisibility 'round here.

(Hunting info gained: Bubblaraus's invisibility!) (+5 to all rolls against this species)

It also means that the oversized snake is a real slippery bastard, can't hope to grab him or hold him down. However knowing the trick behind that little magic act will make escaping it a bit easier now.

The beast turns over to you and let's out a shrill noise that grates at your ears, afterwards it crouches down as the strange purple hairs it has all over it's underbelly begin to shake and jostle at a rapid speed. A sea of bubbles appear from underneath it as it suddenly disappears from sight.

You quickly jump back and crouch down, watching every angle for possible attack. This is exactly the situation you didn't want. Welp, you dug this hole, now you have to hope you don't get buried in it.

>Roll 1d100(+10) to detect the beast.
>DC:70

Rolled 23 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>2087640

>>2087656
I shall permit one re-roll, if that fails than I wait till someone rolls a else rolls.

Rolled 60 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>2087879

>>2087889
Not bad.

>Writing

File: Apex Predator02.jpg (106 KB, 1191x670)

106 KB JPG

You duck down and wait. The beast is large but cowardly, it prefers to kill in one strike with stealth, exploiting your blindspots . Then if you want to defend yourself from it, you have no choice but to leave no blindspots whatsoever.

You focus all five of your senses. You try and grasp a deeper awareness of your area, you manage to keep a track of everything in your field of vision. You see each and every firefly in front of you so clearly that you could count them. You hear the rustling and shifting of leaves, you smell the scent of the wild beast all around you, dancing outside the field of combat in-order to watch the hunt in progess.

Now the hard part is telling which one of them is the creature your looking for. Is it the rustling of the leaves? No, that's the sound of birds and critters fleeing the scene of your skirmish, the monster you're fighting is too skilled to let it's presence be known that easily. Then is it the smell of beasts? No, when you closed in the beast earlier, you could tell the bubbles it produces are odorless, you can't sniff this beast out.

That gets rid of sound and smell. Which leaves sight and touch. You stand at the ready and watch the area before as clearly as you can with all this limited visibility. That's when you see a few bubbles fly around the corner of your left eye. You almost dodge to the right, but then as you shift to the right, you feel your hand catch another bubble and quickly jump forward.

You hear a loud *Snap* sound as you hear the beast nearly bite off the right side of your body. Clever bastard, he must have realized you figured out its trick. Goes to show why it's the apex predator, the snake can adapt to any situation with almost no issue.

But there is no beast more adaptable than the human being, you already proved that fighting it with your current equipment would be a losing battle. So your only choice to run, but how?

What will you do?

>Fake out: The bastard just taught you a good trick, if it can play the fake-out game, you can too! And when it let's it's guard down, that your chance to escape.

>Trap the bastard: If you can somehow get the bastard to stay in one place, escape would be easy!

>Screw tricks, Time to run!: You're running out of time and energy. If you just dodge the bastard long enough, it shouldn't take you more then 20 minutes to out run him and reach the train.

>Write-in

>>2088004
>>Fake out: The bastard just taught you a good trick, if it can play the fake-out game, you can too! And when it let's it's guard down, that your chance to escape.

>>2088004
>Fake out: The bastard just taught you a good trick, if it can play the fake-out game, you can too! And when it let's it's guard down, that your chance to escape.

>>2088013
>>2091584
Work has been a bitch, but i'm free now.

>Fake out wins
>writing

You decide the best course of action is to try and confuse the bastard and escape while it's caught off guard. But how? you can't go invisible like that slippery snake and you have none of your extra tools to help you out so what can you do now....as you wonder this, you see a few bubbles fly into the corner of your left eye.

You jump to the left as the beast attempts to bite down at you while you're thinking. You click your tongue and crouch down again, it seems the predator is getting impatient, if you screw around much longer you'll be missing much more than your train. You look around for another sign of attack, but instead you spot a pile of sharp sticks. Must have fallen from the trees above you, they're about as long and thick as your arms and probably just as heavy, having one these hit you in the head would probably knock you out cold if it didn't outright kill you.

As you take a moment to stare at them, an idea pops into your head and you flash a devious grin. You think you just found your way out.

>Roll 1D100(+10) to pull a fake-out

>DC:70

Rolled 16 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>2092069

>>2092093
You can re-roll once.

Rolled 41 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>2092192

>>2092230
I'll give it another 30 minutes for someone else to roll, if no one rolls then you failed this roll.

File: hehehehehehehehe.png (298 KB, 536x556)

298 KB PNG

>>2092333
Nearly been two hours now and no one rolls. What terrible luck!

This is going to hurt

>Rolled 51

You grab one of the sharp sticks on the grassy forest floor, as you pull the stick up, you truly feel the sheer amount of weight and girth that this single branch has. This thing must weigh 50 or so pounds as you and your hand can barely grip the entire branch, good thing you can easily lift over a 100 pounds or your plan might have been a bust.

You hold the huge stick close to your side and put your plan into motion. You jump from the area and begin to dash full speed out into the open, you dodge your way around trees and through thick bushes. You run in one direction without changing course or diverting attention, you don't even know if the way you're going is towards the objective or not but you no longer care, if you can tempt the beast into attacking you right now, you could figure out later if need be.

Your plan is a very simple one, you want to tempt the beast into attacking you from the front again like it did earlier but instead of dodging it's bite, you're going to toss this large stick between it's jaw and escape while it's in pain. The plan was the definition of high-risk, high-reward, if you manage to pull it off, you'd stun it long enough to make your escape but if you failed and it manages to somehow to see it coming before hand... you just hope the monster stomachs don't have high rents.

But by this point you were kinda getting desperate, and desperate times call for desperate measures. With that in mind you continue to dash forward mindlessly, you concentrate all your focus into your reflexs in the hopes that the second the beast reveals it self you'll be ready to hit and run with the prowess of a drunken driver.

You run for about 5 minutes before something finally happens, you see bubbles float by your face but you don't stop running, you can't rely on the bubbles to tell you anything since the beast could be faking you out, you'll have to wait until the very last moment in order for this plan to work, so you keep running. Eventually the bubbles disappear from sight and something else takes their place, in an instant faster than a second, you see the beast materialize into the visible spectrum, it's maw wide open, waiting for it's meal to jump head first into it. Oh it's going to be eating something alright.

You wait until the beasts' mouth is fully open before you break from your sprint and move into a slide, bringing yourself low enough to chuck the stick like a spear into the inside of the beast mouth.

It strikes true and pierces the inside of the beast mouth just as planned. As you watch the beast writhe and screech from the pain, you take amount to praise your own skill at being able to accomplish such a feat un-harmed.

The beast flails back and forth in pain, it's huge body colliding with the trees and rocks scattered about the place. As you move to jump back and dodge away from the stunned monster, out of the corner of your eye, you the beast tail collide with a large rock and knock it from the ground and into the air with incredible force.

Your eyes widen as you attempt to turn around and destroy it like last time but the rock has far too much momentum, before you can even turn all the way around, the large rock smashes into the right side of your torso pushing into your flank before it shatters from the force, you get sent flying into the dirt below.

You crash shoulder first into the hard dirt of the forest and almost feel it dislocate from the landing. You can barely breathe, you feel several of your ribs may have been shattered from the impact. It takes everything you have to turn over onto on your back and watch as the beast begins to pull and reach for the inside of it's mouth.

The beast is already pushing through the pain and getting ready to devour you. The damn snake really is a beast, good thing you stuck that stick in their deep, it gives you some time to recover.

>Roll 1D100 to recover

>DC:60

Rolled 100 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>2092761

>>2092846
FUCK YEAH

File: What......png (445 KB, 804x628)

445 KB PNG

>>2092848
......
>Writing

File: Derrick Holums14.jpg (81 KB, 448x500)

81 KB JPG

>Nat 100

>UNSTOPPABLE

https://youtu.be/YJ9OCb9Wi1A

You don't even waste a second on getting up. You push through the pain and use your right hand to lift your body from off the ground and stand up quickly. You feel the entire left side of your body aching, if you didn't have enough adrenaline to hype up an elephant right now, you'd probably be need a trip the emergency room.

But you'll all the time in the world to put yourself back together after you've gotten the hell away from this bastard. You look to the beast who is still trying to remove the stick you stabbed into it's mouth. But you don't even bother to process that as you dash with a new found speed down towards the direction of the train.

You've long lost track off where your teammates are but at least you know which way the train is and right now that's all that matters to you. You've probably got around 30 minutes to make a 20 minute long run, you have no other choice now. The only thing you can do now is run with all the determination and desperation you can muster.

The beast notices you running away and stops trying to remove the stick, instead it simply abandons all tactics and begins to chase after you at full-speed.

You've got a major head start but that beast legs move surprisingly fast, at this rate it will catch up to you and flatten you with it's huge body.

This is it, it's now or never.

> Roll 1d100(+5) to escape

>Hidden DC

Rolled 2 (1d2)

Don't mind this roll.

Rolled 1 + 5 (1d100 + 5)

>>2093014

>>2093018
You have gotta be fucking kidding me

>>2093021
>Rolls nat 100 in one roll
>Immediately followed by a nat 1

And so the universe's balance was restored and all was good again.

>Writing

You run with all the force your legs can put out, the adrenaline numbing any pain you might feel from all of the wounds you've received and re-opened. As you keep on your sprint, the sound of the beast chasing after you gets more and more distant.

You look behind you, the beast is gaining more distance by the second. You dare to crack a smile as you feel an overwhelming sense of relief wash over you, you can't help but mentally relax for just a second. Your mind and body have been working overtime to escape that deadly situation and finally you've done it. You made it out alive, if you had a champagne bottle you might have popped it open and danced with the cork.

However, you soon realize that, that moment of relaxation was about to be your last.

https://youtu.be/6RMQRHOOxoc

It was sudden, so sudden you didn't even realized it was happening until your face was already half-way to the ground, your head smashes into the hard mud face-first. It takes you a moment to realize, you've fallen over.

Huh? why? the beast didn't even catch up to you. You attempt to you use both hands to push yourself up but as soon as you try to stand, you simply fall over again, this time on your back. You look down at your legs and figure out what's happened. The wounds in legs have not only re-opened, they've expanded and are bleeding profusely. You didn't even notice with the adrenaline hopping you up, you can't move your legs anymore. All
the feeling in your legs is gone, It doesn't hurt or shake or do anything an injured leg's supposed to do. it's not that you feel numb, it's more like your legs aren't there at all, as if they never existed.

With all that jumping and running, you let your excitement over-take you and forgot all about your injury. This is bad, this is really bad. You have to get up, you've come this far, you can't fall over and lie down right here. If you just lie like this, your going to die, so you have to get up...!

You try your best to stand up on your bloody legs, but that only works to push even more blood out of them, causing you fall over before you even make half-way. A puddle of blood is forming at your feet, all this blood loss is making it hard to think, and move, and breathe.

Oh shit, you're about to die.

File: Spoiler Image (94 KB, 752x1063)

94 KB JPG

You just lie there, you can't do anything else, the blood loss is too severe for you to move. All you can do is gasp desperately for air or flail around and speed up the blood loss, this situation can't get any worse.

As you begin to grasp the direness of your situation, something even worse happens. You look up to see the beast materialize above you, looking down on you with calm but disappointed eyes. It seems you were mistaken when you'd believed you had out run the beast, it must have been planning to ambush you again after pretending you were about to out run it and ambush you, to keep the fight going.

But you're clearly in no condition to fight anymore, so the beast can only look down on you with a look that almost looks like a mix of pity and sadness. None of the hunger or hate it had earlier remains, just disappointment.

You'd feel pissed or frustrated about this beast looking down on you like this but you don't even the energy to do that, oh boy, this is it isn't it. Of all the ways you expected to go, this wasn't even on the list. Dying before you even had a chance to do achieve any of your dreams or redeem yourself for any past mistakes. What a horrible way to go.

The beast seems to recognize the sadness in your eyes and moves it's mouth, now free of the stick, to grab your head and put it between it's teeth. Ahhhh, how nice, it respects you as a fighter so it wants to kill you peacefully, At-least the beast has a sense of honor, though you could really do without it right now.

You see your life flash before your eyes, all your failures and successes, your friends and enemies, your objectives and dreams. It only works to make to want you live more, you can't die here you have too many promises to fulfill, you can't die here.

As the beast teeth close in on your neck, you muster the strength to utter your final words, " I....Don't...wanna....die.." you say weakly, almost silently.

"Then don't go fighting giant monsters you dumbass" you hear a familiar, depressing voice respond. And with it,

https://youtu.be/NpLpvLYa970

The sound of a rifle firing.

(To be continued tomorrow)

>>2093214
Damnit I was late. Glad you're still here God loving the quest

Monster Hunter in Hunter x Hunter. I'm intrigued.

Sorry to be late! Real life stuff got in the way but i'm free for the weekend.

>Thread resumes in thirty minutes

Sorry to be late! Real life stuff got In the way.

>Thread resumes in 30 mins

The sound of a rifle fire ring through the once quiet forest as shot after shot flies out toward the beast. You're too woozy to be able to count every single shot but you're sure that whoever's shooting is making a sniper rifle sound like an Sub-machine gun. however, despite the rapid fire, the bullets fly true and only two of the shots miss their mark by a small margin.

This deadly accuracy is only emphasized by it's deadly effect as the 50.cal bullets pierce the beast thick skin causing to lurch and screech, making you fall from it's mouth and back onto the floor. You land with a soft *tuft* as the beast howls and retreats back into the forest before it becomes a giant piece of Swiss cheese. You would feel happy that you're head wasn't bitten off, but the blood loss is making it hard to feel much of anything right now, even then you still manage to turn your head to the directions of the sniper fire and find an old frien-, sorry, [I] acquaintance[/I] you haven't seen since your trip on the airship.

Noel Cromwell, you'd know that emo haircut and monotone voice anywhere. Your relationship with him so far has been nothing but a series of fights and clashes both verbal and physical (Though you hate remembering the latter). He's a quiet, depressing, apathetic sociopath and a generally unlikeable person, after you're last meeting with each other on the ship, you'd never thought you'd see him again, especially not him literally pulling you from the jaws of death. You can't tell if you're more grateful or regretful...

Noel strides over to you slowly, staring down at your prone form with that same unchanging stoic expression of his. he looks down on you as he speaks, "Pathetic." ohhh, you've truly missed this guy.

He continues, " After all that talk about 'getting shit done' and holding to your 'promises', you end dying before even passing the first hurdle." he kneels down and looks you right in the eyes as he speaks again, "You're lucky me and that useless trash bag of a teammate happened to be passing by. Otherwise your journey would have come to a disappointing end."

(Continued)

Huh? Trash bag of a teammate?

Wait a minute, now that you look him over, you notice that he doesn't have a rifle on him anywhere. It can't be. He made a friend while you weren't looking? You've heard of flying pigs but not social emos.

At the mention of a teammate, you see what looks like a blur of shadow dash from the trees and close the distance between itself and Noel in the blink of an eye. You can't quite make out what the shadow looks like from this angle, but you hear the sound of a woman's voice, "Useless trash bag? how harsh. What have I done to earn such a title young master." She says in a cold and professional tone.

[I]Young master[/I]?

"I counted four shots missed in that last volley." he states.

"I only missed two." she argues back.

"Do you take me for an idiot? Two of your shots were slightly off course and were on their way to collide with the tree behind the beast, but thanks to the monster being an even bigger jumpy dumbass than yourself, it dodged directly into your shot path and hit anyway." he says with a tinge of anger.

The woman goes silent for a moment and then speaks, "You are truly perceptive young master. As expected of the future lord of house Cromwell. Your eyes see through all." she pours flatteries from her mouth like a river.

"My eyes don't see through all, they just see through your bullshit easily. Next time I see a failure like that I'll have you replaced." he says without even looking at her.

The woman seems to flinch for a moment and then speaks, "I apologize deeply master, it will not happen again."

He doesn't even respond as he gestures for the woman to come over.

Young master? House of Cromwell? The hell does any of that mean? And jeez, this woman is his teammate and he treats her like sweat rag, gross and disposable. If you had the ability to move, you'd punch him. Too bad all you can do is whimper and moan as the world begins to blacken.

You feel extremely drowsy and numb, you're about to fall asleep as someone picks you up slowly. Noell speaks again, "Be extra careful, if you drop him or shake him too much he'll die of shock" he states, a prompt, "Yes master" follows.

(Continued)

Before the woman moves, she speaks again, "But master, it seems this man has already lost much of his blood. If we are to make it within the time limit, I won't be able to ensure his safety the whole way through." she says states.

Noel responds, "That question is as irrelevant and stupid as you are. It's your job to make sure he makes it through alive anyway. I hope that this question leads to an important one because that can't be all your asking me."

You feel the woman shiver a little as she holds you and responds, "You're correct young master. It is my life's work to make any of your wishes and commands come true no matter how impossible or improbable. So that was not my real question." She says, trying to flatter him again.

"I know that already dumbass, your existence would be meaningless without me. So stop with the garbage excuses and ask the real question already." he says in a causal tone, as if this how they talk all time.

The woman shivers again, this time more intensely. Poor lady, she got partnered with the worst possible person, this 'young master' thing must be something he's forcing her to say to please his ego. She's just some nice girl who got tricked by that nasty ass-hat. If you get out of here alive, you'll be sure to kick his ass (You were probably going to anyway, but now you'll do it with her in mind).

After the shivering stops, she continues, "The real question I have is that if this man were to die on my back while we are travelling, what I am supposed to do with his corpse?" She says calmly, as if she were just mentioning the weather.

Noel responds just as calmly, "My only obligation is to save him since I saw he was in trouble, my personal philosophy won't let me do otherwise. If I had a choice, I would have just left him here to die under any other circumstance."

"Then should I just drop him if he dies?" she asks.

"That would be a waste, if he dies, find some hungry animals or a dying tree and drop his body there. That way nature will be able to put his body to good use." he says with the tone of a man brushing off table scraps.

"Understood master, I will find the nearest set of starving animals when the need arises." she states coldly with a nod.

...Maybe she's not as nice as she seems.

(Continued)

Before continuing. I just wanna check how many people there are?

Anon roll call is a go.

>>2098960
here

>>2098963
I'm here on and off.

>>2099126
>>2098963
Well thank you for reading.

>Continuing thread

The woman hoists you up easily and carries you tightly. The two of them then dash off into the forest at speeds you never thought physically possible. They might be moving faster than even Muma which had the same hydraulics as a high-speed car.

You'd spend more time wondering about what the hell is even happening if you weren't halfway into fainting. So instead of thinking, you try your best to conserve your strength so you don't bleed to death on the way there.

As you’re carried towards your objective, time waning and life-force draining. You've been through too much in the last few hours and allowing yourself this one moment of respite might just give you the will to push forward.

With that in mind, you let your heavy eyelids close and feel a memory of the past come to you. You dare to hope that it’s happy memory, filled with your life with your Family and friends, but as you see the events play out before you, you quickly remember, there’s no such thing as hope and comfort in your life, just good old fashioned pain and despair.

Your oldest friends.

You open your eyes and see an old room, filled up with comic books, family photos and a few empty boxes litter the room in what seems like a random fashion at first, but as you feel the soft bed at your back and warm blanket at your front. You quickly come to remember where you are and what you’re doing.

Your name is Derrick Holums, you are 12 years old and currently preparing to sneak out. You didn’t go to sleep. You’ve just been laying here silently appearing to be asleep so your Mom doesn’t come in and check on you.

Mom was very lax when it came to you going where you want during the day, she said learning the streets and the places you should and shouldn’t go on your own was much better for you building a sense of character and Self-preservation.

But when it came night time, she wouldn’t let you or your brothers take a step outside without a really good reason to back it up, after the death of your older brothers, she had become very wary of her sons doing things when the sun doesn't shine. Some might call her actions paranoid, but considering the reason you want to leave right now is to go join a gang of thieves to challenge the same guys who killed her other sons. Needless to say, she had VERY valid reason to worry.

But even so, after your meeting with Austin, you anxiously waited until the weekend came and snuck out of your room when she finally fell asleep and ventured into the night for the location Austin gave you.

You followed the directions Austin gave you until you reached an abandoned warehouse where you see some faint lights shining inside the warehouse. You walked towards those distant lights slowly, just in case it might have been a random group of homeless people hiding out.


You approach the imposing steel door of the factory and give it a quick series of knocks. You must have waited a full minute before someone spoke from the other side of the door, “What’s the password?” it was clearly Austin using a generic thug voice to make things dramatic.

You played along, because why the hell not? “Opensesame.” You say with a mystical accent.

Austin makes *BZZZZZT* sound and speaks “Not funny, Try again.” He says in disappointment.

“Password.” You say.

“Do we look that stupid to you? Try again” he states, he sounded progressively more and more impressed with the stupidity of your answers.

You decide to give an earnest attempt this time, “Rolling Stones.” you say with confidence. If it was a secret organization that was about the development of the community by slowly but surely stealing from the Mafia, then the idea of a rolling stone gathering moss was pretty symbolic, right? Plus you love that band.

“*BZZZZZZZZZZZZZT*” he sounds.

“Really!? Not even Rolling stones!? Man, your group lacks creativity and taste. Maybe it was a mistake coming out here. I’m going home.” You may have sounded sarcastic but you weren’t kidding about leaving if they couldn’t respect good music.

“If I was in charge, I would’ve made that our password in a heartbeat. But un-fortunately, I’m kinda new to this whole thing myself and the group turns down any suggestions I make. But don’t worry, our leader happens to love old, dead rock bands. Just like you. Maybe you can change something if you discuss it with him?” he says, attempting to encourage you to stay.

“Rolling stones ain’t old. They’ve only been around for 26 years.” You state in an annoyed tone.

“Any band that doesn’t disband or change styles after 15 years is a fossil by my standards. Funny you say that though, Boss gave me the same answer when I said that to him. Though he was more….eloquent.” Austin responds.

“The hell does eloquent mean?” you ask in confusion.

“It means he speaks nice you idiot. I know your Mom can’t send you to school but holy hell, do some reading if you want to stop sounding like a gutter rat.” He responds.

“I’ll start reading when you learn how to appreciate good music.” You tease.

“If I have to go back to 50’s for music to be good, then I’d rather you stay illiterate.” He states.

“….What’s Illiterate mean?” you ask.

You can hear Austin faceplam behind the door as he speaks, “You know what, just keep trying at the password and we’ll leave this for another time.” He says tired of explaining.

After a few more comedic attempts, you give him a semi-serious answer, “Carpe-Diem?” the door slides open and you see Austin with a smile on his face, “We’ve been expecting you Mr.Derrick.” he says in an a serious sounding voice before giggling to himself and finally talking normally, “Sorry about that, our leader doesn’t trust anyone he doesn’t meet personally.” He says as he ushers you inside.

You walk in and head inside while Austin walks ahead of you, as you walk in the rust covered abandoned factory, you continue the conversation, “So what’s your leader like?” you ask.

“Real interesting guy.” He responds, “Wears glasses, looks like a coward at first, but he’s actually a decent fighter and an even better strategist, he’s smart and knows what’s happening on the streets, way better than you or me.” he says, the admiration clear in his voice.

“Hey man, speak for yourself.” You fight back, “I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but when I get serious, I can be a hell of a smarty pants.” You say confidently.

Austin gives a smug look and responds, “Sure thing Einstein. And I'm married to the queen of Kakin with two sons on the way.” He states, the sarcasm thick in his voice.

“But I’m not kidding! One day, you and everyone else who calls me an idiot will be calling me Mr.Derrick! That’s a promise!” You pout as Austin continues, “Yeah, yeah. Anyway, the boss is also the original founder of the group. You see Derrick, you weren’t the first crazy bastard to think about stealing from the mafia, in-fact you’re a bit late to the party.” He says while pointing at you.

“Our leader came up with the entire operation two months ago and at-least 20 people have joined since, some old enough to be dads, others young enough to be the sons they abandoned. It seems no matter how old you are, your will to survive doesn’t change. We all work together because of him, the craziest bastard of all us.”

You just can’t help but laugh as Austin continues speaking, “What’s so funny? Are you that happy to throw your life away with us?” he says jokingly.

you respond after laughing, “And you call me an idiot.” you said, “Who the hell would be happy to do this kind of crap? I was laughing because I can’t believe just how screwed up this city is that 20 people were stupid enough and desperate enough to make this kind of plan. You speak so highly of your leader, but he’s probably the most desperate idiot of all to start this madness.”

You reach a set of large imposing double doors, just like the rest of the factory, the steel that once stood as a testament to human productivity and advancement is now covered in rust and is clearly in decay, and yet it still holds firmly on its hinges. Austin opens the double doors with a strong push.

“Well, I wouldn’t call myself an idiot per say…. but desperate and mad might hit close to home.” A Calm and collected voice rang out through the warehouse as me and Austin enter the large room.

The warehouse itself was huge, but most of it was filled with rusty metal and space from when it was cleared out. The warehouse was near a pier so cold, chillily winds blew inside without pause. Many of the walls and windows had holes and gaps from decay in them, so it sounded like there were people whispering all around me.

A chilling cold and the sounds of whispers coming from every direction, to say it was disturbing or unsettling would be a terrible lie. Walking through the unlit halls of the factory felt like taking a slow descent into the underworld. And within that underworld, there was a group of people who were fighting the Mafia to get better lives for themselves and others. They were a group of warriors that devoted themselves to giving hope and a fighting chance for the living.

But as you looked around area, all I saw was a group of desperate men, women and children that have gathered to in a way meant to impersonate the appearance of brave warriors. And above the army of fools that made its base within the underworld, a strange young boy sat on the highest seat in the room a beautiful smile on his face.

To make the room a bit more comfortable, the group took the lighter and less dirty machines and made them into chairs. These pseudo-chairs were scattered haphazardly around the area, however they did have a kind of pattern to them. The majority of the group positioned themselves in their own corner of the room. This meant that most of the time, the group members don’t even talk to each other. They either talk to the people they know or do their own tasks while avoiding anyone they don’t have to talk to. I wondered how such an asocial group functioned correctly but the answer comes only moments after I entered the room.

The place was full, all 20 members must have gathered to see the newbie themselves as I could feel the intense, analytical gazes hitting me from every direction. I almost felt myself cracking from all the eyes pointed at me. Some were of excitement, mostly the children, as they love new people to talk to and play with. The others were analytical, tying to size me up for all my worth, those were the adults. The rest were the truly paranoid ones of the group, they looked at me deep suspicion and doubt as I waltzed right into the room.

File: Fernand White15.png (136 KB, 225x350)

136 KB PNG

In this silent conversation of intentions and eyes, only two people broke through the tense atmosphere and moved. The first was Austin, who couldn't see subtlety if it was a flying flaming dump truck.

The second, was the man that Austin pointed me to, after patted you on the back on and told you to introduce yourself already. He pointed to the one person you didn’t see, despite being right in front of you. Sitting on the tallest machine in the room, with his eyes closed he opens them slowing revealing a pair of blue eyes to match his blonde hair and glasses, he smirks and speaks in a gentle tone, “Welcome to our base Derrick Holums, we’ve been expecting you.”

He hops off the large machine and stumbles a little on the landing but quickly recovers. I couldn’t believe my eyes, this kid couldn’t have been any older than me and he was half my height, wearing a blue overcoat and a loose jeans.

He puts his arms behind his back and walks up to you as he continues speaking, “Austin told me much about you. He said you’re reliable, competent, that you’re worthy of my trust. Austin is one of newer members of the group, but he’s proven himself to not only be skilled in combat but have good judgment in regards to people. So when he came to me, singing the song of your praises, telling me to make you join and how willing you were to do it. I must say, after meeting you, I can see why Austin wants you to join so badly.” He says as he eyes you up and down.

He talked smoothly and graceful, his confident demeanor despite his short height and clumsy movements had left a strong impression right off the back. You turned to Austin and relayed that impression, “Who the hell’s this eloquent-speaking midget?”

I could almost hear the sound of the other members’ jaws hitting the floor, even Austin, whose famous for his almost apathetic lack of emotion, Let a shocked expression take over his face after he heard you.

However instead of getting offended, he laughed at the top of his lungs, “Oh my, Austin told me you were quite honest, but to think you were sassy as well! I have to say, I’m liking you so far Derrick.” He extends his hand outward and speaks, “I apologize for the late introduction. My name is Fernand. Fernand White, I’m the leader of Carpe-diem.”

You look at his hand and speak, “I came in expecting some old military vet or something straight outta a good action movie. Instead I found a stubby kid, who looks like he’d be first choice for the gay best friend role of a B-list romance movie. Sorry to say, but when I heard there was a guy willing to fight against the Mafia, I had high expectations.”

“Hey!” a larger man in with scars all over his face shouts, “who the hell do you think you are! How dare you talk down to our leader like that! I'll kick your ass for that kind of disrespect!” He says with anger in steeped in his deep, rocky voice.

“You gonna kick my ass for being realistic? Sorry If I’m not stupid off to think this little pint sized martini glass here is the leader of a gang of thieves.” You say back without hesitation.

“What was that!? Do you want to di-” He’s stops abruptly as White holds up a hand to calm him down, “I understand your concern Derrick. And I do appreciate your realism, it's a very good trait to possess. One shouldn’t readily trust what they haven’t seen with their own two eyes.” He pulls his hand back and reaches into his coat pocket.

You felt your eyes widen in fear when you saw what he pulled out, with a smile on his face, he slowly revealed a weapon you knew quite well. Its black deadly sheen with its simple yet intimidating design was a well-known look on the streets, after all, the weapon was a favorite for robbers and gangsters in a fire-fight. It was a gun, the Glock 17 semi-automatic pistol to be exact but back then, you would have called it your death.

I froze up, you couldn't do anything, you were just some kid who was way out of his depth. Bravado was a privilege of the young and you
learned how horrifying it was to have that taken away from you.

you wanted to say something, but the words wouldn’t come out and even if they did, it would just be some kind of panic-filled apology anyway since there wasn’t much else you
could do.

You shouldn’t have been surprised they were packing heat, it isn’t hard to find guns in Yorknew with the right amount of cash, which these guys must have had plenty of. It was a tense, heart-racing moment as White had stared me down with the gun in his hand. Usually, some kind of fight or flight response would kick in by this point, but my mind had already accepted that either option would result in a swift death and thus resolved the best option was to just stop moving entirely. But that was probably a good thing because that made
your mind was clear enough to reason out some kind of response, as
irrational as it was.

You're response was just as simple as it was desperate. You managed to move your eyes through sheer force of will and look White right in his eyes. You silently plead with your eyes, you try and tell him with the emotion of your eyes alone that you can't die here, not when Mom's waiting back home for you, it would absolutely devastate her if you died for something as stupid as this. Not to mention that you came all this way to find people who would fight against the people who hurt her and your brothers only to die by the same people you thought be your allies.

With that simple but earnest wish in your heart, you hope your eyes convey your feelings over to him. All your fear and frustration summarized in one gaze.

To this day you don't know whether or not your intentions got through to him or he was bluffing right from the get go to test your reaction. But the smile he gave you after you gazed at him seemed to that your desperate plan at least entertained him enough to keep you around as his personal jokester.

He lowers the gun and speaks, "You needn't stare at me so intensely, you've more then proven that your worthy of joining our battlefront. I can see why Austin is so taken by you, I might be a little [I] interested [/I] in you myself." He says with a certain deviousness to his voice, "Were this the ancient times, you'd make a grand warrior of legend" he finishes as he slips the gun back into his jacket.

You never really understood by that, back then, you thought it was just some high-class way of saying you had balls of steel but the way he phrased it was weird.

But to you back then, the way he said he was interested in you was more confusing.

Austin grabs your shoulder and pulls you behind him. He then speaks loudly, "The hell was that boss! You said this was going to be a greeting party not lame excuse for extortion, I thought you said pulling guns on people to get what you want is what common thugs do!?" This is the first time you've ever seen Austin so pissed. He looks like he's got a punch half and ready for Fernands' smug face.

Fernand speaks calmly, unshaken by the belligerent Austin, "Don't worry Mr.Yardly, I would never shoot someone so close to you and especially not where you could see me. Leave such under-handed tactics to the Mafia, I just wished to test Derricks resolve, A test which he passed with flying colours."

Upon hearing that, Austin begins to simmer down and listen to White's sweet and smooth voice, "All those who enter place, enter here for a reason. Derrick is no different, his reason is a strong, one I'm sure he's even willing to lay down his life for. He will make a fine addition to our ranks and I will be glad to have him work with us. That is, if he's willing." he says, once again extending his hand.

What will you do?

>Reluctantly agree: You came all this way and you won't be going back after what you just went through. So you might as well just shake his damn hand.

>Ask a question (Write-in)

>>2099952
>>Reluctantly agree: You came all this way and you won't be going back after what you just went through. So you might as well just shake his damn hand.

>>2099973
Sorry to for the late delivery, I was preparing for the next thread and forgot to finish this one up.

I'll write this next set of posts and that will be the end of this thread. I have the next thread ready by Tuesday.

>The world's slowest handshake
>Writing

You look down at Fernands' extended hand and speak, "You put a gun in my face and yet you still expect me to join your rag-team of run-away orphans, angry assholes and anti-social losers, all of which are all being led by a fancy-talking midget?" you ask.

"Why yes, yes I do." Fernand states without missing a beat.

"Even though we're going to steal from the Mafia community? the guys who basically run the entirety of Yorknew? The guys who hunt down and kill anyone who screws with them, especially thieves?" you continue.

"Yes. Is there a problem?" he says, his hand still raised and waiting.

You go quiet for a moment and then speak, "You truly are the craziest bastard I've ever met. Are you sure they didn't drag from a mental asylum or something?"

"You can call me a madman, but I think that if you want to truly make change, then being insane is a pre-requisite. After all, only a madman would go stand in the face of certain death and march forward regardless." he says with a whole-hearted smile, and then continues, "Everyone here has given up their sanity because they can longer live in a world that would allow trash like the Mafia to kill and use the innocent with no chance for retribution or punishment for their wrongdoings." He pushes his hand forward and speaks once more, "Are you okay with such a world Derrick? Because me and army of madmen certainly aren't." he states with conviction in his words.

You stand there for what felt like an eternity, debating whether or not this was truly a good idea or not, but after a while, you smiled and grabbed his hand, "I don't know about being a madman, but I'll certainly join any army that would stand up to the Mafia. Consider me persuaded." you back with confidence.

Fernands' grip is surprisingly firm and tight as he shakes back and speaks, "Thank you for coming to a decision, my arm was beginning to hurt." he says in an appreciative tone.

You let go after a few more shakes and speak, "Guess that makes you my boss shorty. What's my job and how long till I get a promotion." you say right off the bat.

"Oh my. You waste no time at all. Not that's a bad thing. A wise man once said that "Ambition is the fuel that pushes life forward.". So I'd love if you kept that kind of attitude for as long as you work with us." he says with mild surprise in his voice.

"Now then, since you've earned my trust so easily, I shall give you a job befitting of your aptitude, one very vital to the team and very few are worthy of handling." he states, giving you a feeling of suspense.

Austin perks up and speaks, "Hm? Wait boss. Are you talking about that job?" He says with great surprise, leaving you in even further suspense.

"Oh yes Mr.Yardly. I believe this is a job that only Derrick could possibly handle. In the short time I've known him, he's proven himself to be a man worthy of taking on this role." he states with conviction, to which the everyone in the factory begin to grab at their jaws from surprise.

But before you can begin to hear what the others are saying, Fernand begins speaking again as he points at you, "Derrick, you shall be given the role of..." He goes silent for a moment, you begin to sweat.

You take a second to wonder exactly what role he's going to give you. If it's as vital as he saying it is then it's probably a very difficult job that requires great skill and intelligence to handle. The fact that he's handing you such a job right off the bat shows that you must have really hit all the right notes during that test. Whatever the job, you'll be sure to take it seriously and give your all into proving your worthy of it.

After a long, nail biting moment, he speaks "Retrieval and Construction Specialist."

You wait a moment and then tilt your head in confusion, "Retrieval and Construction Specialist? What's that? " you ask.

Fernand answers, "A job only you can do. You shall go out at any members' notice and retrieve materials for them. You will also be tasked with the construction of specific items under my command." he states.

How's that vital? The name made it sound so important, but the job description makes it sound like... It's then you hear Austin making some kind of sound behind you.

"*Snicker* *Snicker*" he holds his mouth with his hands. You then notice that all the people in the factory are doing the same thing. It only then that the truth dawns on you.

You look at Fernand and speak, "You just made the gang's errand boy right?" you ask.

The entire factory breaks out into uproarious laughter as the realization finally dawns on you
Fernand looks away from you and adjust his glasses, "Errand boy makes it sound like I just handed you a job no one else wanted. The Retrieval and Construction Specialist has so much more relevance in the team than that." He states.

"The way everyone's laughing at me says otherwise." You say, the humiliation slipping into your voice, "Just because you slap an important title on a job doesn't suddenly make it an important one. What was all that talk about being 'the only one worthy of such a role'. Are you saying I'm only worth being an errand boy to you." you ask.

Fernand adjust his glasses again and waits a moment before speaking. He suddenly turns away from you and heads to a door on the far side of the room, "Welcome to Carpe-Diem Derrick! I would stay to congratulate you with the others but I'm afraid I must retire to my room for now." As he says that, he basically dashes through the door and out of the factory at full speed.

That bastard just ignored you and ran away didn't he?

Austin suddenly grabs your shoulder and wipes away a tear from his eye and speaks, "Don't worry man. That's just how it goes, I was also thrown that job when I just got here but now I'm a part of the main team. And if you feel embarrassed about all the people laughing you, don't worry, because I'll never laugh at you " he states with loving voice of a friend.

He says that, but you're sure that he was one of the first ones to start laughing behind you while you weren't looking. "This can't be happening, I come all the way out here to fight against the Mafia and this is what I get. I think I would have been happier if Fernand just shot me."

"Now now, don't be like that Derrick" Austin says as he pats your back. "You'll be helping in your only small way. And if you work hard enough, you'll be let into the main team. So try to be the best errand bo-, I mean Retrieval specialist there is!" he says with a smile.

You look up to the ruined skylight of the factory and think to yourself. I want to go back to bed..

>Epilogue 3: An Army of Madmen, END