Tumultuous Pandemonium

The 24th, 3:34 PM, two days prior…

Leo, Andrew, Faust, and Luke all exited a small car in the outskirts of the city. Leo was given a heavy, black duffle bag from the driver before they left. The group all gazed towards a small building which was a safehouse for them to set up for their mission. They all went inside and looked around.

The building was towards the outskirts of the city but that was okay because Myer's Munitions wasn't too much further into the city.

The building itself only had a handful of small rooms. The floor was coming up slightly in spots and the ceiling's paint was patchy as parts were slowly peeling off. The refrigerator reeked of old food and there was a dead animal head in the oven.

It was decomposing and it caused Faust to throw up in the nearby trashcan. While his head was in the trash, he noticed a large family of maggots. Needless to say, he threw up some more.

Before they did anything, Leo quickly threw everything out because even Andrew and Luke seemed a bit nauseous. This caused Leo to roll his eyes slightly, but he didn't think much of it. He just got rid of the immediate gross things and moved on.

He took the large duffle bag they were given and opened it on the table in the kitchen. He looked through it slightly as he pulled everything out. It was a mass of intel, a shortsword, a handgun, and a knife for Leo, a handgun and assault rifle for Andrew, and a handgun and a knife for Luke. Faust got a lantern, which he didn't need, and that was it. There was a note that said it was hard for them to get the weapons required into the country and city.

Faust, annoyed by this, walked over to the cutlery and pulled out a rusty knife to use. He waved it around some almost cutting Andrew in the process.

"H-hey! Watch it!"

"Oh, uh, sorry. Heh."

After that was settled and the gear was handed out, Leo started looking over the intel.

"So… What should we do boss?" Luke said while laying lazily in a chair.

"Boss?" Leo asked while still sorting through the intel.

"Yeah, they put you in charge, so, boss. It's a simple as that."

"Just call me by my name."

"Mmm'k. But still, what should we do?"

Leo was silent for a bit as Andrew inspected the weapons they were given, and Faust tried not to touch anything gross.

"Alright, I think I got it." Leo said while rubbing his chin slightly, "We split up and search for these four people. Rather than having to deal with Avery Jr. and his security, I think one of these people would be better targets."

Leo separated four different files. They were employees from Myer's Munitions that had a large amount of access to the company, but not much security.

On the list was the lead-scientist for a project under wraps. They didn't enjoy being followed around nor having anything extravagant so even their house was small. This meant they were a relatively easy target to follow.

Next up was funnily enough a security officer, then a janitor, and finally an accountant. They were much like the scientist and didn't like being followed. The janitor was the only exception, he wasn't worth the company following him.

Leo decided to try and find the lead-scientist and he let the others choose for themselves. Andrew decided to find the accountant, Luke decided on the security officer, and Faust was last, meaning he got the janitor.

"Once we find them, try to figure out their general schedule. Then we'll follow them to their house and whenever we've learned enough, use them to enter Myer's Munition. Maybe even use them to bring over Avery Jr."

The others agreed with the plan, and they all quickly left after memorizing their respective file's important details.

Once they left Leo quickly made his way over to Myer's Munition to scout the place.

"So, you and this squad of yours was assigned to kill Avery Junior?" Max suddenly asked, stopping Leo from retelling what had happened to him.

"If necessary, but they wanted us to just kidnap him and bring him to the drop off." Leo answered.

"I see…"

At the same time, they were speaking, a group of three entered the alley from the opposite end of the two. They all wore delicate masks making them seem like porcelain dolls.

The one in the lead stared at Leo from behind her mask. She turned to the people behind her and spoke, "You go put it in the trash can in the café. And you go bring the car around. Afterwards head back to find the other three."

The two people she spoke two nodded and quickly left. After which, she walked back to the entrance she came from and disappeared from view.

Leo then started recounting his story to Max once more.

Once Leo made his way to Myer's Munition, he quickly walked around the entrance scouting the place. Myer's Munition was a large plant surrounded by a barbwire fence. It was in the industrial area of the city, so it was pretty barren and lacking in places to hide. That, of course, was only true until he reached the facility past the fence. Once he made it there, there were plenty of places to hide.

He called the others, and they were investigating the houses of the people they were following. Andrew had actually caught the accountant leaving his house, so he started following them. Leo happened to be the only one without the home address of his target.

Finally, at around eight at night, Leo noticed someone who matched the profile he was looking for exiting the building with a weary expression. They walked to their car and got inside.

Although the car was parked behind the barbwire fence and it was dark, Leo clearly saw the man punch his steering wheel with an angry face. Leo then heard a muffled scream coming from the car as the man clenched the wheel and shook it with all of his might.

"Someone's having a bad day…" Leo mumbled slightly while tapping his fingers on his crossed arms as he leaned against a tree.

Leo looked towards the security gate and noticed a steep dip to get onto the road. He quickly started formulating a plan in the back of his mind.

Soon after, the man started the ignition and left the parking lot. He made his way to the security booth and the guard was fast asleep. The man got out of his car and manually pressed the button to open the gate. Even when the large metal gate screeched open, the man in the booth did not wake up.

The man quickly left, and his car bounced massively in the dip before he turned and left.

"Well, that simplifies things." Leo thought to himself with a sigh. He then opened his phone and messed around with it a bit before calling his squad mates.

Faust didn't find much with the janitor, and Luke's security guard apparently got fired around a week ago. Andrew on the other hand, had bad news and asked Leo to head back to the safehouse to discuss it.

Back at the safehouse, Leo was sitting in a chair waiting for Andrew who wasn't there yet. Upon seeing him with a panicking expression, Leo quickly stood up.

"Mathias, we've got a problem, I followed the accountant on a 'commandeered' bike. After a while, he stopped around Myer's. Now, I didn't think much about it at first, maybe he was heading back to work but he got a message on his phone or something. But then he got out of the car and started waiting around." Andrew said urgently.

"…" Leo remained silent and waited for him to finish.

"Then another car pulled up. It was the fucking scientist, the guy you were watching for."

Leo's face hardened slightly but he didn't understand why it was so bad. After all, they did work at the same company.

"He was pissed, he practically launched himself at the accountant. Luckily they were in the middle of bumfuck nowhere and he didn't hold back on his choice of words."

"What do you mean by that?" Luke quickly interjected.

"I mean he was loud as all hell. But that's not what's important. What's important is the fact that they're trying to fucking kill Avery Junior! Who the fuck doesn't have it out for this guy!" Andrew said while pulling at his hair slightly.

He continued, "They hired the Eagles but then were turned down with a 'change of allegiance.' The Eagles are apparently protecting Avery Junior's ass now."

Leo sat down and started thinking about what to do. He then looked up at Andrew and asked, "This just happened?"

"Yeah." Andrew nodded.

"Alright, then we kidnap the scientist tomorrow, take him into the facility after its closed and make him call Junior."

"Why not the accountant?"

"The accountant doesn't have enough pull to bring Junior over after hours. He might not even have enough pull to do that in normal hours either." Leo said confidently.

"Makes sense, but how are we gonna do that with all this shit?" Luke asked as he motioned towards the crappy gear they were given.

"I'll take you to my old house, I stashed some stuff there that might help."

"Stashed some stuff? When?"

"When I left like a year ago."

"What?"

"I used to live in the city, remember? I couldn't take everything with me, so I hid some stuff in my old house."

"So, we're just gonna break into some random person's house?"

"Most likely, no. There is the slightest of chances, but I doubt anyone took over my old place. But maybe don't think about the ethic's too hard when we're kidnapping someone."

The rest of the squad was silent for a moment, but they agreed. They decided to further observe the accountant and the scientist and head over to Leo's house a couple of hours before the scientist leaves work.

"Alright, I think I'm following. So, all of this shit that happened yesterday was because of that Avery Jr. guy?" Max cut in for a moment to ask a question.

"Yes, we weren't the only people looking for him." Leo answered.

"So why are all these people gunning for him?"

"I don't know Max, that's above my paygrade." Leo said with a slight shrug.

Suddenly a lady spoke from above the two on a nearby fire escape, "It's because he who controls Junior, controls Senior. And he who controls Senior, controls Myer's Munitions."

The two quickly looked up, revealing the previous woman who wore the porcelain doll mask. Her hair was blazing red, and she wore an impeccable suit.

Upon seeing her, Leo cursed, but his thoughts couldn't linger as his body was launched into the brick wall underneath of her, opposite of the café. The same café which was now drowned in flames.

Screams rang out from within as smoke plumed into the sky, dying it a dark color as the ever-present rain in Riftmoor failed to put the flames out.

Leo lifted himself with a bleeding head from the impact on the brick. He looked over and Max was slowly lifting himself too. Leo quickly looked up at the fire escape and saw the woman had disappeared.

Leo quickly turned and ran over to the café and kicked open the door, revealing flames quickly coming in from the café. Max limped after him and ran inside as well, the two quickly made their way up the stairs.

Once they made their way into the office, the smoke was quickly becoming too much for them and they started to get lightheaded. They ducked a bit to try and get under it and they searched for Faust and Cliff.

They found them in the corner and Cliff was on top of Faust trying to protect him from the flames that were now invading the upper floor. Max clumsily grabbed onto Cliff and pulled back. Then Leo scooped up an unconscious Faust.

When they turned to leave, due to their misfortune, the common fire cliché happened, and the door was consumed by flames.

Max hoarsely rang out with a parched throat, trying to yell loud enough to pierce through the deafening flames, "Window!"

Max wrapped his arms around Cliff and jumped through the window backwards, dragging Cliff with him. Leo quickly did the same and tried to protect Faust as he fell painfully to the concrete.

"Lady Elinor, please take the wheel." A man in a doll mask spoke softly to the woman with the red hair.

Elinor looked at the man who had just pulled up with their car and nodded. The man got out and quickly ran away, saying as he left, "I shall do my best to find the other three."

Lady Elinor, earlier that morning, around 6 o' clock…

"So… Arlo if I'm not mistaken, mind telling me who these kids you're watching over are?" Elinor asked through her mask.

Arlo, a proctor stationed to watch Leo and his squad, was now tied to a chair in an abandoned building. Blood slowly dripped from his face as he formed a smile with a few missing teeth.

The teeth were, of course, still near him. They laid in a tray next to him along with a pair of rusty pliers.

"Fuff! Fou!" He spoke, unable to pronounce certain letters anymore. That was okay though, Elinor completely understood his intention.

"Now, Mr. Arlo, that's not very nice of you." She stood, "We already have access to your tablet, it's just that we'd like more information. It's not like a burner device is loaded with information."

Arlo looked at her and spit a mouthful of his blood at her before chuckling to himself. One of the other people in the doll masks stood in front of Elinor and intercepted the blood in her stead.

Arlo rolled his eyes deeply.

Elinor gently pushed away the man who stood in front of her and walked forward. She stopped directly in front of Arlo and lifted his face, so his eyes met hers.

They stared like that for a bit and Elinor spoke softly, "Arlo, we don't need you alive. So just give us what we want, then we'll let you go."

Arlo rolled his eyes once more. He lifted his head and spoke as clearly as possible, "Fu fou remember our fphight?"

Do you remember our fight?

Elinor nodded, "You are a soul mage who can create small explosions. I've seen your kind before, nothing special."

Arlo unleashed an unhinged laugh when she said that, he muttered, "Nofing spefcial?"

"Correct." Elinor asserted.

"Damn, I waf jusf beginning to like fou." He said before he started rapidly leaking his soul realm. The others behind Elinor quickly jumped back but before Elinor could, she was caught up in the explosion due to being so close to him.

Her body was limply splayed out on the floor and her chest and above was completely obliterated. As if possessed, her body rose up from the floor, even without support from her arms. It looked as if someone was lifting up a marionette on strings, that is to say, it was unnatural.

As she stood up her chest quickly started rising again as skin, bones, and organs started appearing in their original spots. Then from there her face reconstructed itself as well. As if nothing happened, as her body remade itself, so did her suit. This entire process only took but a few moments.

When she regained her consciousness, a sigh slipped through her lips unconsciously. On the floor, there was a massive explosion of blood, adorning the entire area surrounding where Arlo used to sit. Obviously, Arlo was no more. Sadly, he didn't manage to kill anyone. Somewhat fortunately, he did manage to heavily injure a fourth doll mask with a stray piece of bone shrapnel.

Elinor rubbed her temples and turned to the others who were tending to their fourth squad member. One separated themselves and bowed to Elinor.

Elinor dismissed their bow with a wave and asked, "Did you get the report back."

"Yes, ma'am." They grabbed a tablet from a nearby table, "It seems that the people we are chasing are designated as Doe Squad."

Elinor raised her hand and interrupted, "That Doe? John Doe?"

"Not quite ma'am. I shall read out the report now. Comprising the squad is, Mathias Doe, as the dealer. They were the one who killed the most out of the party, although they primarily used a gun since we are in human territory.

"Next, we have, Andrew Griffith of the Griffith Royalty, they are the grim of the squad. He was the one who was on par with Mathias, but by my calculations, just short. It seems that he is the youngest in the family, but the information about the Griffith family is rather old and they are quite leak-proof.

"Then we have Theodore Faust as the soul mage. They have one living relative in Riftmoor but according to his file they have an estranged relationship. He was the one who took the bullet in the shoulder.

"Finally, we have Luke Sharpe. The-"

Elinor cut them off and said, "I know who he is. Give me the file on Mathias."

The subordinate hesitated for a moment before grabbing Leo's file and handing it over.

"What the hell is this?"

The entire file was left blank except for his name and place of birth. It didn't even have his date of birth or blood type.

"So, he really is John's kid." Elinor chuckled slightly. There was only a handful of files like this, John being the most notable example. She crumbled the paper and let it fall onto the bloody floor.

The only useful thing on the paper was the place of birth. That just so happened to be Riftmoor. And if it was Riftmoor, there was a chance an acquaintance of Elinor's would know something about him.

"Someone bring the car around, I'm going to go and see Montague."

At around 8 'o clock, the same morning, the 26th.

Montague, the leader of the Ivory Eagles was currently lying with his head down on his table, pressing an icepack against his head. He was an older, large individual with a scruffy appearance. His grey hair was short, and he had an untrimmed beard.

Seeing someone come into his office through the elevator, he could only groan.

"What the fuck do you want you goddamn witch." Montague said with a heavy accent while massaging his forehead.

"I'd like information." Elinor responded.

"Well, I am busy fighting off migraine and I know you will make it worse." He said, his language not entirely up to par with a native speaker.

"I'd like some information all the same."

"Bah. What the hell do you want to know then." He lifted himself off of the desk and glared at her with a snarl.

"Mathias Doe."

"I know a Mathias, and I do not want to talk about that asshole. I do not know a Mathias Doe. Do you have a fucking picture?"

Elinor reached into her pocket and took out a slightly obscure photo of Leo taken at some point without his knowledge.

"See! This is exactly what I mean! I knew you would make migraine worse!" He shouted and pointed at Elinor.

"What do you mean?"

"Of course, I fucking know that rat piece of shit! There is not asshole here who does not know him. That slippery dickbag just shows up, steals some shit or break some shit and disappears!"

"Tell me what you know about him, please tell me everything."

"What part of disappears, rat, and slippery, did you not understand?! He just fucking appears out of nowhere like ghost, fucks us in rectum, and poof! Gone!"

Elinor tilted her head slightly and just asked, "That's it? You don't know anything else?"

"All I know, is he stopped appearing for a year. I hoped his ass was in ditch! Imagine surprise I had when I saw him yesterday!"

Elinor paused for a moment and thought about yesterday's events. She easily connected the dots and understood that they would have met at Myer's Munitions. Before she left, Montague suddenly spoke.

"Oh! And he helps those fucking Wolves. In particular, he is friend of Max. The bitch leader's son."

"Well thank you for your help, Mr. Whittemore."

"You are welcome crazy witch lady, who I hate with passion."

Back at the café, 10:12 A.M.

"Is everyone okay?!" Max shouted as he looked towards his café that was now being consumed in full by the deadly flames.

His workers and customers died for the most part but some managed to make it out, albeit heavily injured.

The noise hadn't died down one bit. The screams from various people rang out through the city, barely being drowned out by the downpour of rain. The flames and crackling of the scorching wood were deafening to all those near.

Max slumped onto the ground before his burning building. He didn't like doing bad things, he did it because it was forced on him. The only time he ever went out of the way to do that was with Freddie and Tony. His café was his home, it was his refuge from all the crap he had to do.

He raised his hands and covered his face as the rain and fire obscured his figure. Leo watched silently as he held onto Faust. Cliff was making sure the two weren't hurt severely, and they luckily weren't. When he was done with that, he watched Max's figure, much like Leo.

The group was silent as the sirens from various vehicles rang ever closer. Leo slowly stood, carrying Faust and he stumbled over to Max. He spoke little words and Max had finally looked somewhere besides his café. He was watching Faust's battered figure, clutching onto life.

Max took another moment to himself and finally stood up. He took one last look at his café before turning away.

He grabbed his keys from his pocket and the group ran to the alley where Max had parked his car. The group all got into the car once more and they started to drive, the flames dancing off of the window's reflection. With a certain conviction, Max drove off quickly.

"Decent story man. I like it so far. It's got the drama, the suspense, the whole shebang!" Leo raised his hands as far as he could and did jazz hands. The handcuffs and chains jingled slightly as he did so. He, of course, was looking at Daniel.

Daniel frowned before turning his laptop towards Leo. "We have you ON camera! We have plenty of evidence! You can stop denying it, you are going to jail! There is literally nothing you can do. It's inevitable, Mathias." Daniel said with vigor.

"Nah, that's just not me, man." Leo said with a relaxed posture, "Would a guy who was in like, I don't know, a couple of firefights or whatever you said, look like this?" He gestured to himself.

"Yes. Yes, they would." Daniel said simply as he stared at all the blood covering Leo.

"Whatever... Hey, I gotta pee."

"No."

"You'd rather me piss my pants? I thought we were pals Danny!" Leo complained jokingly.

Daniel sighed. "Fine." He stood and brought in more security, all of which pointed tasers at him. Then he uncuffed one of Leo hands and pulled the cuff through the bar in the middle of the table. Leo waved lightly towards all the people aiming their weapons at him. After Daniel finished that, he cuffed Leo's free hand once more.

"Alright, to the bathroom. There's one right over here." Daniel said as he led Leo with his arm on his shoulder.

As they were walking Leo was looking primarily at the ceiling, but every time they made it to a hallway, he would take note of the rooms in every direction. But he complied completely with Daniel as they walked to the bathroom.

They made it to the bathroom and Leo had three separate people, including Daniel, watching.

"Hey, hey now, I can't pee if all of you people are staring at me. Its creepy…" Leo shuddered.

"Well, if someone wasn't someone who disappears with the blink of an eye, I'd let them look away."

"Well at least get them to look away, I don't care if you do."

"And why's that."

"Because I don't like you, and you don't like me. Meaning you'll have to watch me pee and I find that funny."

"Ugh." Eventually Daniel and the others looked away. When they looked back, they noticed Leo standing there like normal.

"Done?"

"Yep." Leo gave a slight thumbs up causing Daniel to groan. Leo washed his hands, and they left the bathroom. On their way back, Leo noticed a man with a familiar stature with a scar deep scar across his face, running across his nose. They stood with their police cap on, and their head was down, meaning it was almost completely covered.

They stood in the corner waiting for something while sipping on some water from a nearby water cooler. Leo quickly walked by them, and he and Daniel quickly made their way back to the interrogation room. Once more, the process of tasers being pointed and Leo waiting to be cuffed happened.

Once they sat down, Daniel spoke, "Let's begin."