44 Danev

I was in the courtyard with Luke. He had already told us what he knew. The camp was south of the lake. It was a miracle to know it even existed. Riu already sent Aden and Meeko to find a breach in the wall that we could get through. I knew it wouldn't be hard. The lack of maintenance the wall got pretty much assured a loose panel here or there. Goni would be going to. He was out on the streets looking for anything that could serve as a weapon. We knew what we were up against. Actual soldiers. Riu was probably the only person alive in Citadel who had actually taken on Fire Nation soldiers and won, still breathing to tell the tale.

That bullshit the rats did and what we used to do wasn't shit in comparison. Riu had actually killed a Fire Nation soldier and had earned his reputation in the slums of Citadel. He bled for his renown and he didn't intend on losing it. While Goni, Aden, and Meeko prepared in their own ways, I was getting ready for the actual fight.

"Just hold the stick like it's a spear and charge at me." I called out to Luke.

"No. That's fucking stupid." Yelled Luke from across the courtyard as though his intelligence had been questioned.

"I know its fucking stupid, but that's the dumb shit soldiers do."

He made his distaste known with the roll of his eyes before doing as I had told, and charged me.

I sidestepped before him and the stick, grabbing the "spear" with two hands before using his momentum to swing him forward, pulling the spear from his grasp and spinning around, using the stick I held to knock him from his feet.

"Oh wow." He said sarcastically as I gave him a hand to help him up. "I definitely didn't see that coming."

"That was good" I said, tossing him back the stick. Let's try that again."

It seemed dumb, but this felt like it. Was just what I needed. I had seen Fire Nation soldiers fight before. They weren't like us. Meaning, they weren't as desperate as us. To them, soldiering, security, scouting, it was just a job that they got paid for so they could return home with a hefty pay check. People from the Earth Kingdom, Water tribe, even just slum rats like us, we fought to survive. We used every thing we could to stay alive a second longer. We didn't fight for food, money, family, any of that shit. We fought for life. As miserable as it was.

Luke could shake his head all he wanted, but he went right back to his corner, preparing to charge again. I was thinking that this time, instead of grabbing the spear from him, I would step to the side and trip him with my foot or at least get him to stumble. Then I could tackle him. Or maybe, I could try ducking under the spear. No. No. He was smaller than me. I should've asked Riu, but he busy. Luke wouldn't be able to mimic an actual Fire Nation soldier as hard as he tried. It wasn't his fault. It was just his size that made it tough.

Before I knew it, he was charging. I shifted my weight from foot to foot, ready to make m move when he got close enough. He was at that perfect distance away where he couldn't change direction. I stepped to the side, but instead of going with his momentum with the spear, he ran as he should past me, but threw the spear at my face. I raised my hands to block it from hitting me head on. While my hands were raised, blocking my field of view, I could heard his feet come to a skid while I assume he was stopping, but when I next saw him, he had changed and was mid tackle. I couldn't stop him. He already had his arms around my waist and had knocked me to the ground flat on my back. I felt all the air leave my lungs as I tried to piece together what had just happened.

"What the-" I coughed. "What the fuck was that!?" I yelled between breaths.

"That was-" he coughed too. "That was motherfucking fighting."

"Fire Nation soldiers don't fight like that, dumbass."

"Oh let me guess. They all fight exactly like the dumbasses they send in the walls to escort convoys, well guess what. You're not fighting a one trick pony nor are you fighting brain dead retards. You're fighting trained soldiers, who, believe it or not, have working brains. Just because they're not as desperate as us, I doesn't mean they don't know how to fight."

"Luke, the fuck are you on about?"

"I'm sick of you thinking you know exactly what you're up against, because it's going to get you killed. You're barely 2 years older than me s why do you seem so much more ignorant. You're constantly underestimating what you're up against and that's gonna get you killed. Don't fight like you're fighting a statue. Fight like you're fighting against someone who has just as much if not more to lose than you. Then, if it just so happens that they're what you prepared for or even worse, then you'll be prepared, but you have to be prepared for the worse." Once he had finished, he seemed to realize the extent of the speech that he had just given. "Wow. That was a fucking mouthful wasn't it?"

I was worried about him. Ever since he got back from bringing us the information about the Fire Nation camp, he had been acting distant, until now that is. "Luke." I asked. "Are you all right?"

He walked to the wall of the Hive and slid down it into a sitting position. "I am, it's just that." He sighed. He took a few seconds to prepare himself to say the next part. "I spoke with Reek again. For some reason, it was worse than the last time I had spoken with him. Last time, it was at least like I knew where we stood, but now I don't even fucking know. And now, you and a quarter of what's left of the Hornets is going out on a practical suicide mission and I'm being forced to sit here, twiddling my thumbs, waiting for something to happen."

"You fell useless, don't you?" I asked as I moved to sit down next to him.

"No. I was going to say that I felt wasted, but thanks a fucking lot for that. You're really helping."

I laughed. The thing I was going to miss when I went out tonight was good humor. Aden and Meeko were assholes and Goni was brain dead. If I had my way, I would've brought Luke along just for the comic relief, but I'd be lying if I said he was bad in a fight. Compared to his state when I had first found him in the slums of Citadel, he had learned a great deal. I've seen him in street fights before. When things were really desperate in Citadel, before the nuns had come along, I saw him tackle a kid twice his size just for a piece of bread. He tackled the poor sod from behind, knocking him to the ground and when he had a harder time than expected grabbing the kid's bread, he bit his fucking ear off. That got his arms loose and Luke grabbed the piece and ran. There were worms in the bread, but he shared it with the Hive anyway.

"That's pretty much how I felt when I first joined the Hornets. It was just Riu and I back then. I was 10. He was 12. It was right after the whole Fire Nation recruiter incident."

"I've never heard the full story about that. I know what everyone else said, but that's about it. What more is there?"

"No. What you hear is pretty much how it is."

"Really? Recruiter tries to recruit Riu so he kills the recruiter."

"Yep."

"Pff. What a load of horseshit. I know there's more to it."

"Look. I said. "We'll talk more about it another time, but not here. Not now. Anyway. It was after the recruiter incidents and it was just Riu and I. Riu did all the work. He kept us safe and fed and warm. It was around winter so warmth was fucking scarce and never more important. This was before the rats or hornets and it was when the Black Eyes were still the biggest gang on the streets."

"Yeah. I remember the Black Eyes. They killed a friend of mine."

"Mini, right?"

"Yeah. Mini."

I had heard about Mini and Luke long before Luke became an information broker. They were some of the best "break-and-entriers" in the city. Before the buildings were redone in stone, however. There wasn't a building that could keep that dangerous duo out. Then the buildings were redone, the Black Eyes and their dumbass leader, Greeti didn't understand this and killed Mini when he failed to break into a stone house. They took a few feet off of him and hung him by the neck in the slum plaza.

"Well. Did I tell you how Greeting was killed?"

"Didn't one of his Black Eyes do it?"

"Nope. That was Riu. The Black Eyes had been picking on me and Riu told me he would handle it. Well, turns out, he snuck into their little hideout, slit Greeti's throat, put the knife by his number two's bed, tapped the head scout on the shoulder to get him waking up, took the number two's knife and stabbed the head of security in the stomach and snuck out. By morning, the Black Eyes had all killed each other."

"You're fucking kidding me."

"Nope. Watched it all from outside and Riu filled in the blank spots for me that I couldn't see inside. Funny thing is, I miss that Riu. That was Riu before he had a reputation. When he was still free. He didn't kill the Recruiter for street rep or the Black Eyes for that either. He did it for me. His family."

"Wait. The recruiter too?"

"What?"

"He killed the recruiter for you?"

"What? No. I-. Look. We'll talk about this another time, alright?" I got up. "Alright. Come on. Let's practice some more. And this time, give me everything you got."

When he got up this time, the devious grin on his face couldn't have been more obvious. "Oh. It would be my pleasure."

Before we knew it, it was already evening. Goni had come back a few hours ago and Aden and Meeko had just come back with news that they found an opening in the wall leading to the outside.

Luke and I had only been out of practice for 30 minutes and I was still sweating when Riu approached me. "It's getting late."

"Yep. The rest just got here so looks like Ima get going 'bout now."

"Yeah. God, but we need to talk first."

Luke's eyes followed me as Riu led me behind the lobby in the center of the courtyard where we could talk privately. I had told Luke more than I had intended to. What he would do with what I told him, I don't know, but I was just hoping that he would keep it to himself, at least for the time being.

"What's up?" I asked Riu as he leaned against the wall of the lobby. "Do you think Reek was telling the truth?"

"Guess I'll find out. Worst comes to worst and I find nothing so I just come back."

"Worst comes to worst you get yourself killed. Look, you're going out there to see what you can find and bring what you can back, okay? I'm sick of relying on these fucking nuns."

I chuckled at that. "I'm surprised. Luke told me about your relationship with them. They practically worship you."

Riu shook his head at that. "They're naïve. And besides, if it took them this long to learn to love me, how long until somebody else's sob story sways them over and we're left to rot? I'm not waiting for that to happen if you don't mind me saying."

"Riu." I called to him, trying to bring him back into reality and out of his world where reputation meant life. "What's the matter with you? I've been trying to ask this for as while now, but when did it change?"

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that now with you, it's all about reputation. I remember when it wasn't that way. 2 years ago, you told me that we were brothers. You told me that after the recruiter and when you killed the Black Eyes. You told me we were family and I believed it. Then our family got a little bigger. Hedrick joined our family, then Ladle, Lannit, and-"

"Stop."

"And then this family became a gang and I was okay with that because you still treated us like we were family. Then our family started fighting Miro's family and we weren't a family anymore. We were thugs. We grew larger and it was your reputation that you valued above all else. I was trying to deny it, but when you killed Genji for fucking up then I knew this wasn't a family anymore."

"Danev."

"I'm with you, Riu. You're still my brother even if I'm not yours, but you're letting the desired image of yourself blind you. You're letting it get in the way of our survival to the point that people can get hurt or killed because of your pride."

"Look. If you don't want to go out-"

"No. I do want to go out. I want to go out because I know it will help us survive. Not to help your reputation. You've reminded me more and more of late that you're in charge. I know that, but we both know that you listen to me. I wouldn't question you in front of your men, but you know that you listen to me and that I've been helping you however I could and that I've been doing good with it too."

"Danev. Why are you telling me this?"

I sighed. "Fucking hell, Riu. Even if you don't see it that way anymore, The Hive is our family. It's your family and its my family. I've been trying my damndest to keep it alive, but if I die tonight, I need to know that you won't get them killed in the name of pride, okay?"

"Danev. The Hornets are my-"

"Okay?"

He bit his lip and sighed. "Okay." Riu was older than me. He was stronger than me and even smarter than me though he very rarely relied on his wits over his brawn, but I just had to see if I still was his family. Even if he denied it, he still trusted me. He still listened to me and he still respected me. This conversation was what I needed. I needed not only the assurance that he would keep the Hornets alive, but that he was still my family, but he made that very clear next."

"Hey Danev." He called out to me. I turned around to his outstretched arm. I took it and we embraced, patting each other on the back. "You're my brother, Danev. Now and always."

"Now and always" I repeated.

We let go of each other. I never knew my real father or mother. Hell. Maybe I actually had a biological brother out there somewhere, but they didn't matter to me. Riu, he was my family. He was my brother. And that's all I needed.

"Take care of yourself out there." He told me. "Don't, well, don't kill yourself." He said with smile.

I smiled back. "Thanks. I'll try to remember that."

It was with that that I gathered my crew and said one final goodbye to Luke before leaving. I'm glad Riu pulled me aside. I don't think I would've asked him otherwise, but before I left, I needed to know that he was still my family. I needed to know that there were still people who would remember me as family if I died. Right now, that was all that I could ask for. If I couldn't get what I wanted, then I could at least get a good death. And at this rate, leaving the wall for a fortified Fire Nation camp, that was coming. Sooner than anticipated, but you know what? I felt fine. I felt ready for whatever was coming.