Corresponding Price For Failure

Arthur, Damian, and Mark entered the black CUV. Mark sat in the driver's seat, Damian sat at the front passenger's seat, while Arthur sat in the middle rear seat.

"Are we ready?" Mark softly asked.

Damian just faced front, keeping his usual calm and apathetic composure and expression.

Mark inhaled and exhaled repeatedly –expressing his anxiety– and moved forward to twist the car key that was already inserted into the keyhole.

With a 'vroom' sound the engine started, then intensified as Mark pressed down on the accelerator and removed the shift lever from 'park'.

They were currently located at Cranberry street –which was the location of the apartment building– and they had plans to go to Brooklyn City Hall Subway Station then move north, making them arrive at the abandoned Worth Street Subway Station.

In total, it was supposed to be at most a 7-minute drive, following Brooklyn Bridge.

Damian handed the driving over to Mark because he felt police officers learnt to drive professionally to aid them when trying to catch runaway criminals.

Mark drove carefully out of the basement of the apartment building after manoeuvring through other parked cars but was stopped at the exit by the boom barrier.

The security post was empty and the slim, rectangular equipment that was red and white –used to stop cars for the security guard to inspect and maintain security protocols– was down.

"I know I don't need to tell you what to do," Damian said while looking away as he leaned on the car door.

Mark grunted then reversed the car a little then stepped on the gas with force, causing it to burst through the boom barrier and destroy it.

The streets were how they were before, eerie and silent.

Those weird winged creatures flew about seemingly randomly and destinationless.

Cars were parked in a disorderly manner on the road. Mark drove slowly and scaled through.

Due to Mark's slow driving and the obstacles, they got to Brooklyn Bridge in 10 minutes. It was originally supposed to take them less than 3 minutes from Cranberry street.

The bridge was even worse than the roads.

Skinny mindless demons moved about doing useless actions.

One was banging on the windows of a car and another was climbing the pipes holding the bridge to get to the top where other demons sat; although it had wings. While the rest just flew about.

Mark sped up and quickly manoeuvred through the disorderly cars.

Damian was calmly observing the skinny demons and concluded, 'Hmmm… they don't attack unless provoked.'

Mark –who was restless and anxious– noticed this too and skillfully avoided getting too close to them; who knows if it might trigger them.

Getting to the end of the bridge, Mark made a detour to the Brooklyn City Hall Subway Station.

"Phew… finally," Mark managed to calm down a little.

Mark opened his door and got down and so did Damian and Arthur.

Suddenly, Damian heard a notification sound come from his phone.

'Did it revert to normal?' Damian tensely retrieved his phone from his pocket, hoping its former OS came back and the notification signified a message from TheGingerbreadFriend.

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[Messages and Notifications (1)]

– The 1st phase has come to an end and corresponding punishment for failure will be carried out immediately.

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Damian quickly looked at his watch and he realized he lost track of time.

According to what he planned, they should have had at least 10 minutes to off-load and start heading for Worth Street.

Mark had already gotten to the back of the car to start off-loading their supplies.

"Mark, we've got to be quick! We don't have time," Damian said as he ran to the back of the car to help Mark.

Before they left, they arranged everything in a way three of them could carry everything they needed. Although they'll be tired, they'll still be able to carry everything.

Mark quickly removed his backpack. It was green and it was large to the extent it got to his knees. He was the strongest so he had to shoulder the most burden.

Damian wore his fairly large backpack and carried two coolers then turned to face Arthur who was staring blankly at the sky.

Damian and Mark were directly behind the car so anything above the car won't be seen by them but Arthur was at the side of the car and still in their vision.

"Arthur, stop staring and come carry your backpack," Damian said. Since Arthur was the smallest and weakest it was fair he carried something corresponding to his size and strength.

Arthur didn't answer Damian for about 5 seconds that felt like hours, then he slowly raised his hand to the sky. He was pointing upward to the sky.

Damian walked forward with his baggage and looked at what Arthur was pointing at.

Five red-skinned demons floated out of the giant portal in front of Brooklyn Bridge City Hall Subway Station.

The one in the middle moved majestically with its hands behind its back. It wore a pitch-black armour that couldn't stop one from noticing its muscularity but no helmet, making its three horns that were fairly equal in height very easy to notice. Its long tail with a triangular head was curved right behind it, with its black featherless wings

The four that stood right beside it –two on the left, two on the right– also wore armour but had no horn in the middle of their forehead and were with helmets. They looked a bit slimmer than their muscular leader.

Their facial features spelt the word 'ugly' and the feeling they gave off was pure evil. The type of evil that could kill newly born babies along with their parents and everyone that layed their eyes on them with absolutely no remorse.

Damian looked upon them in complete terror.

Mark was already fully packed and walked to where Damian was, "What are you guys looking---"

Mark suddenly lost his voice. He couldn't complete his question as his gaze shifted to what was a few metres away from him, up in the sky.

Damian quickly recovered from his shock and handed the coolers to Arthur then proceeded to carry the remaining supplies.

"Let's move! Quick!" Damian yelled at the stunned Mark.

They didn't even bother to close the boot of the car as they ran… no, limped to the stairs leading underground.

Damian was relatively slow due to the weight of the things he carried and from the corner of his left eye, he saw a ball of fire –about the size of a tennis ball but slightly bigger– above the hand of the three-horned demon.

He didn't need the warning to know that he had to summon all his latent strength and quicken his pace.

Mark and Arthur were already close to the stairs when they turned back to look at Damian exactly at the same time a ball of fire hit Damian's CUV.

Boom!

The blast force of the explosion caused them to lose balance and stagger but made Damian trip and fall.

He quickly recovered himself using all his strength and zoomed down the stairs, where he saw Mark and Arthur pant.

He dropped the supplies and quickly unfurled the special gate that could extend and contract and pushed them to each other. The large mechanism that was in half, made a click when the two halves came together.

Damian wasn't sure what to do but it was obvious he wasn't to stay in the same location knowing those demons could come searching for them.

"There's no time to rest. Let's move."