125: A Company of Fools: Shapers Market X

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND!" Nate bellowed in my face.

"No but I'm definitely deaf now! Thanks!" I snapped as I rubbed my ear with my palm. Nate was standing behind one of the broken counters with Jade and Bo behind him glaring angrily at me and Sin. Understandable, considering everything that has happened so far.

"Nathan, honey I need you to calm down." Jade said. Nate turned around to face his wife so fast I was surprised there wasn't a smoke cloud where he was originally.

"Calm down! Jade you were just kidnapped and held for ransom, that man js the second in command of the gang that did it. I'm pretty sure my level of hysteria is appropriate!" Nate exclaimed.

'Is this how I sound when I freak out?' I asked myself as I stared at the agitated shop keeper.

"Yes and now I'm home safe and sound. What's more the red dragons that kidnapped me are dead." Jade said calmly.

"You say that like it's better! Now the red dragons are going to come looking for their members in this neighborhood and if they figure out we had anything to do with their deaths we're all dead!" Nate exclaimed.

"Don't forget about all the ones that are dead in that warehouse that Chase destroyed…" Bo piped up.

"Or the ones that you and Bone-lasher killed." I added. Nate looked like he was about to blow a gasket as he looked back and forth between Bo and I until Jade placed a hand softly and his shoulder. Nate suddenly froze and looked over to his wife. She had a vicious glare on her face that sent a chill up my spine.

"Nathan. Calm. Down." She said in a frighteningly cold voice that was on par with Jane's. Nate huffed loudly but stayed quiet. Jade turned to me and flashed the same glare. "Chase, explain."

"His sister is being held by Draco, the leader of the red dragons. It's why he's served as the second of the red dragons. I decided to help him get her back and destroy the red dragons." I said. Jade frowned and crossed her arms.

"That's a quick explanation…" She said.

"It's the cliff notes." I said with a shrug. Jade shook her head with a sigh and then looked to Sin. She stared at him in the eye for a few seconds. He stiffened slightly at the intensity of her stare, obviously uncomfortable. Jade then looked to me and motioned to the rest of the shop.

"Make yourselves at home. It's not much thanks to the red dragons, but you can use it to plan what you are going to do next Chase."

"Jade!" Nate exclaimed.

"He saved both my life and Bo's, we can't just throw him out. Plus, thanks to someone we're a part of this mess with the red dragons whether we like it or not." Jade said glancing down at Bo, who looked off sheepishly into the distance.

"Thanks…" I said, then pulled the map that Sin handed me earlier. Then, he walked over to the smashed counter that Nate and the others were standing behind. Sin followed me and looked over my shoulder as u looked it over.

"Hey, Sinner, out of all these targets, which one is the one that would hurt the red dragons the most?" I asked. Sin frowned at me.

"Sinner? You know my name is Audin, not Sin or Sinner, right?"

"Yeah, but Audin is the name of the second in command of the red dragons, Sin is a splicer just trying to get his sister back. I'm helping Sin, not Audin." I replied.

"Gotcha…" Sin said, then pointed at a mark on the map in the bronze city. "…This is a lab for the tired dragons. It's where they make all the drugs they pour into the bronze city. Without it, they'd lose control over their neighborhoods real quick in there."

"That would be good for a secondary target but not exactly what I'm looking for. Are there any targets on here that are Draco's baby, something he's super proud of, so attacking it would-be like attacking him?" I asked.

"Super proud of?" Sin repeated then scratched his chin. Bo started jumping in place and raised his hand.

"Ooh! What about the evo fights down in Harishuva meadows!" Bo exclaimed.

"Bo!" Nate exclaimed and grabbed his son's collar.

"What?" Bo whined.

"We don't need to be getting mixed up in this!" Nate hissed. Jade placed a hand on her husband's arm and shook her head.

"Honey, that ship has sailed." Jade said.

"Well, is there an evo Fight Club in Hari-whatever?" I asked. Sin nodded, then shrugged.

"Yeah if I remember correctly Draco got his start fighting with his evos in that circuit until he eventually took it over but it's not really a money maker anymore or a way to control the populace like the drug lab is so why would Draco care if anyone attacked it?" He asked.

"Because it's a symbol. Where there is fighting, there's drinking, where there's drinking, there's gambling, and where there's gambling, there are loan sharks. Booze, money, and violence, three things that make one gang stand out from the rest." I said with a smirk. "Plus, it's a where Draco got his start and earned his reputation. You can bet your ass that it'll puss him off if someone goes and trash the place!"

"How does breaking up one evo fighting ring save my sister or destroy the red dragons?" Sin asked impatiently.

"It doesn't, not by itself, at least." I replied then pointed to the map. "Show me where that fighting ring is on this map."

Sin reached over me and pointed to a spit that wasn't even on the map. I frowned at him for not putting it on there but looked at the surrounding area. The fighting ring was deep in red dragon territory in the bronze city and was one of the few places on the map that had multiple points nearby.

"What are those marks on the map that surround the fighting ring?" I asked.

"A evo smuggling depot, weapon smuggling depot, and a brothel." Sin called out each location as he pointed to them.

"Weapon's smuggling depot?" I said with a hint of interest. Sin narrowed his eyes and looked at me with apprehension, and nodded slowly.

"The red dragons started smuggling illegal weapons into the city about a year ago. Right after they took control of the bronze city." Sin explained.

"Some of those weapons wouldn't happen to be guns, would they?" I asked. Again, Sin nodded. The look of apprehension grew on his face as I smiled deviously at his response.

"Guns are illegal here in Egypt, plus the only ones that use guns are normies. It's basically just a stop over to hide the guns for the red dragon's connections until they can be moved to another location in another city." Sin explained. I smiled even wider as I heard that.

"That's perfect!" I chuckled. "Are there any weapons there right now?"

"If I remember correctly, we have a bunch of shipments of rare weapons sitting in there right now until the heat dies off of them."

"Perfect…" I said, flashing another devious smile.

"I don't know why, but that smile scares me…" Nate said softly.

"Me too…" Sin said.

"What's the plan?" Bo asked as he crossed his arms and puffed his chest out. Nate grabbed the back of his neck and yanked him back behind him.

"Whatever it is, we're not getting involved!" Nate exclaimed.

"But they're going to destroy the red dragons, dad!" Bo whined.

"Two people cannot destroy a gang of thousands of normies and dozens of splicers by themselves! This is the real world, not a comic book!" Nate yelled.

"Well, they wouldn't be by themselves if we helped!" Bo yelled back.

"We've gotten in enough trouble with the red dragons already! And do I need to remind you that it is all your fault for running off like that!"

"We were in trouble with the red dragons long before any of this. Sooner or later, they would have come and destroyed the shop or killed all of us!" Bo snapped.

"Enough you two!" Jade yelled. "Bo, go wait in your room for now, and don't you dare try and sneak out again. You are already in more trouble than you can possibly fathom."

Bo looked like he wanted to argue with his mother, but the look she gave him made his face pale slightly. Bo turned and left for the back room without a word. Jade then turned to Nate.

"Honey, I need you to just listen and think about what I'm going to say. Whether we sit back and do nothing while Chase and…Sin, fight the red dragons unless they succeed, there are only going to be problems for us in the future. The red dragons will come back more brutal and desperate than before. If I'm being honest with myself getting kidnapped and sold off in a splicing trafficking ring while you and Bo were left unharmed would be the ideal outcome of that scenario…I don't even want to think of what the alternative is…" Jade said.

Nate stood still for several seconds. The gears in his mind visibly turning as he digested what go's wife gad said and started coming up with a rebuttal, but he suddenly sighed and dropped his head.

"I can't protect you and Bo…" He said. The pain and anger in his voice as he vocalize that realization tore through me. He clenched his fists and then looked up at Jade. "…so you want to what? Take Bo and go fight the red dragons?"

"No, I don't want to! I'd rather just sit back and do nothing, but doing nothing will only get us killed later on. Plus, you know Bo…" Jade said.

My vision blurred as Bone-lasher shared his senses, and a small pulse left my body. I saw Bo on the other side of the door with his ear pressed to it and Gadget standing on his shoulder. I frowned and walked over to the door while Jade and Nate were talking and pulled the door open, revealing Bo.

"Surprise, he's not doing what you told him to do." I said. Jade and Nate turned to look at their now sheepish Bo. Nate sighed and shook his head.

"Just promise me you'll help me keep Bo safe." Nate said in a defeated tone.

"Of course." Jade replied.

"Wait, so are you helping or just hiding?" Sin asked. Nate looked at Sin and crossed his arms. He looked a lot more formidable and determined than he'd seemed earlier, but if Bone-lasher was to be believed he was a lot more dangerous than he seemed.

"Helping, though I want it said I am only doing this because we have no choice." Nate replied to Sin.

"Noted." I said, then yanked on Bo's shirt and pulled him back into the room. Then, he walked back over to the map, flashing everyone a devious smile as I walked. "Now for my plan! We're going to be attacking two targets, Draco's pride and Draco's influence. The first target is Draco's influence: the weapon smuggling depot. There are two advantages to attacking and destroying this. One is I can get a few guns which I can then collect…I mean conduct experiments on and the red dragons probably already have buyers for all those weapons so they'll be a lot of blowback on them for losing them."

"How do you plan on getting into the warehouse?" Sin asked. I grabbed Gadget by his scruff and lifted him off Bo's shoulder. The little shit chittered and tried to squirm out of my grasp, but he couldn't. So he dangled in the air with his arms crossed in mild anger.

"This guy." I said.

"Gadget?" Bo and his parents queried.

"He's how you got into that human trafficking warehouse, isn't he?" I asked Bo. Bo nodded and looked away sheepishly.

"He's really good at picking locks, and he's really stealthy." Bo said.

"Bo's little shit can pick any locks we come across to get us into the warehouse. Once inside, we take out the guards and then start going through the stuff to see what they got and steal a few things, then burn the warehouse down." I said, then placed Gadget back on Bo's shoulder. The evo chittered angrily, then climbed into Bo's shirt and chittered at Mr while he poked his head out.

"Sounds simple." Sin said.

"Sometimes simple is best. Besides, I'm saving all the complex stuff for the second target: Draco's pride. The evo fighting ring. For this, we'll need a little to be a little dramatic." I said.

"Dramatic?" Jade asked.

"Dramatic! We're going to take the ring for every cent they own, then burn it to the ground!" I exclaimed striking a exaggerated villian pose woth my arms outstretchedand looking up at the ceiling.

"And how do you plan to do that?" Nate asked, seemingly unfazed by the display.

"Sin and I enter into the fights, under assumed names, obviously. While Jade and Nate work together to plant rumors in the crowd that one of us is working for the red dragons and will throw the last match between us. The patrons bet huge that one of us will lose while we bet a lot that we'll win and take the red dragons to the cleaners." I explained.

"Bet on ourselves with what money?" Sin asked.

I bit my finger and wrote the sigils for the shadow veil spell onto my forearm, then channeled mana into that arm and casted an axiom spell sigil. My shadow expanded along the ground, and my money briefcase materialized out of the shadow. I picked it up and opened the briefcase, then turned it to show Sin.

"This money." I said. Sin stared at me with his mouth open, and he pointed at my arm.

"Did you just cast a spell with your blood?" He asked, then the money in the briefcase registered in his mind, and his eyes bugged out of his eyes. "HOW MUCH FUCKING MONEY IS THAT?"

"Almost a billion, Think that will be enough?" I asked sarcastically.

"A b-b-billion?! With a B?" Sin exclaimed.

"Yeah…let's see if we can't double that." I said.

"You do realize that if we clean out the red dragons they won't let us leave right?" Nate asked. I smiled broadly and chuckled.

"Yes, and if we're lucky Draco will be there watching over things and will want to talk to us himself." I said. Sin's eyes widened and then he smiled devilishly.

"If he is there then we can kill two birds with one stone, kill him and rescue my sister. He'd have her with him to make sure she was secure and there was no chance I can mount a rescue." Sin said.

"And even if he isn't there he'll have no choice but to come once he hears his precious fighting ring is in flames." I added. Bo frowned then pointed at Sin.

"He can't enter the fights, everyone in the red dragons knows what he looks like!" Bo exclaimed.

"But he can change how he looks by swapping his appearance with someone else." I said then pointed to the weapons depot on the map. "Hence why we're attacking that first. Sin can change hos appearance with one of the goons guarding the depot and they'll be none the wiser."

"This plan seems risky still." Nate said.

"I'll be honest with you it is. A major component of my plan revolves around human temperament. We're banking on his pride and ego to bring him to us so we'll be in a position of power. Should that fail we'll have tipped him off that someone is going after him and make him more alert and cautious. We need to puss him off enough that he has no choice but to come after us himself." I said. "I know none of you have known me long but if this is going to work then I'm going to need you to trust me. This is my plan and that makes me responsible for all of you. I'm not going to lead you into a trap or run off the moment things get bad."

"You promise?" Sin chuckled in a amused and teasing tone. I turned and looked him in the eye. Sin stiffened a little but didn't look away, he returned my glare.

"The lives of those around me are not tools to be used and discarded. I'm not Draco or any of the other splicers you're used to dealing with." I said calmly. Sin stayed silent for several moments sizing me up then huffed and shrugged his shoulders.

"We'll see…Boss." Sin said. Sarcasm dripping from his voice as he called me boss. I rolled my eyes and looked to the others.

"We strike at sundown! In the meantime rest and collect anything you think we might need. I have some more items to enchant…"