Chapter 26: Operation

Gove pours Ale for Marina while Bob heals patients behind. They left their armour behind and came in casual commoner clothing, although Marina still wears her long boots. Marina looks around the dingy tavern, noticing the chipped tables, broken floors and blood stains.

"Quite the establishment, Drac. I can see why you invited me." Marina sips her drink.

"I missed your bad jokes." Drac said with a cheeky grin. Marina blushes, sipping more her drink.

"She is here to help with the slave situation. She's good." Gove and Maki look at each other and back at Marina swinging her legs on the stool.

"If you say so."

"Anyways, what is going on here? Never seen a Tavern hospital before." Marina turns to look at the patients. Although treatable by Bob, some injuries were severe. A few were disfigured, one missing an arm.

Drac said dolefully "A brothel was attacked by a gang, The Bones." Marina frowned.

"And No. I wasn't visiting as a normal customer." Marina's face relaxes. "Went to save an old friend."

A woman, black curly hair tied back, walks from behind Gove "Hello. I am the old friend. Maki." Hand offered. Marina takes the hand and shakes with ferocity.

"Marina. And any friend of Drac is a friend of mine."

"'Drac'?" Maki looks at him.

"Getting called a number gets a bit grating" Drac answers

I prefer a better name. But 'Drac' will do for now.

I will not call myself Hood.

Tsk.

"Drac… it suits you." Maki smiles broadly. Drac felt a warmth he hasn't felt since his father.

Gove coughs out loud. "Well 'Drac', it's great that you wanted to introduce us to your lady-friend but We need to go downstairs and figure out how we are gonna deal with the Bones bastards."

"It's not like that. We comrades, geezer." Marina retorts

"Girlfriend, servant, I don't care. Downstairs. Now."

The group waits down the stairs under the tavern in front of a locked room. Gove gets out his keys.

"I wasn't expecting any visitors, So don't mind the dust, dirt and mess." Gove opened the door. Complete darkness until Gove lit up the lamps with a match. Maps fill the walls. Drawings of people marked complete. Parchment clutters the room like leaves of a forest floor. The guests enter the operations room, stepping between piles of scrolls. In the middle of the room is a large wooden table with a map of the city. All of Foushire districts are meticulously detailed. Their borders, gang affiliations, important location, all comprehensive. Familiarity brushes sense, the smell of ink so sentimental.

My handler brought me here a few times. Planned a lot of missions in this basement.

Drac walks around to the end of the table. The others joined. Marina, Maki, Gove by the map table waiting for Drac to hatch a plan.

Marina Speaks out first. "Who do I explode first?"

"Exploding comes later. You need to get caught up. Here the jist, Marina." Drac puts his hand on the table.

"I can speculate from what Gove told me, that the Bones and our buyer are linked to an organisation. The auction. And yes it's that type of auction. The girls that were taken from Glamour were kidnapped to fill the numbers because the stock was running low, due to our heroics. The attack was just an excuse. I surmise that the Bones are the auction's muscle men. Doing dirty deeds with the auction's backing. Gove, the Bones, that night?"

"Yes… It was them."

"Then, what kind of scheme have you come up with this time?" Marina asks

"I say we whittle the Bones into chips. It leaves the auction defenceless. Gove, where do bones normally congregate?"

Maki points at a spot on the map. "Here, at a bar and gambling den by the river; Paradice. Although there are many more locations that they meet around the southwest side, Paradise is where the Boss goes to release his stress."

Drac puts finger to chin, giving himself a moment to think.

"His Name?"

"Banner"

A target on our list.

"Aura User i presume" Drac asked Maki.

"Yes, it's possible that he'll give you a tough time."

Then let's work our way up the ranks.

"Maki, Give me details on every squad leader under him."

A man in Black stands high above the streets. It's a quiet evening. No one but the lamp lighter and the drunks wander the street. Drac looks down onto the street and finds his target. A middle aged man with light brown hair, harassing a store owner. After dropping the owner with a fist, the store owner gives the harasser a bag of coins. The target, smiling at how heavy the bag is, left his victim on the floor. A right turn into an alley and the target is surrounded by three story high buildings. Drac drops from the ledge. He floats like a leaf behind his target. And with a stab, the target is left on the floor breathing his last. Drac takes the coin pouch, and returns it to the nervous store owner.

Next.

By a tree, there is a couple. Drac's target, a man with prominent eyebrows, talks to a young lady. Clearly refusing his advances, the woman tries to move away from the tree. The target blocked the way with his arm. Drac walks up.

"Hey boy, move away. I am tryna have a conversation with my friend here."

Drac grabs his arm and pushes into the elbow. A snap then a loud scream.

"Run." Drac demands of the girl. She did as told.

Drac drags the target by his broken arm to a hidden corner. A neck slashed and Drac moved on.

Another.

Drac looks through a window of a home from afar, a family says farewell to the father. Kisses goodbye and the target leaves his home for his job. His target walks a path alone. Humming a tune. Drac walks along the same path. Drac bumps into the his Target

"Oh excuse me there." said with a polite smile.

The target continues walking, his legs wobble. Concerned, he looks down at his stomach. Blood dripped to his legs. The Target falls to his knees. He looks back to the sight of Drac walking away. His aura explodes in a fire. Dagger taken out. Drac turns around. Heilong unsheathed. The target screams as he charges with all his strength. Drac bends down to evade the horizontal slash. The target's right leg separated from the knee. Drac slashed up. Left arm cut off. The target crashes to the floor.

"Please don't do this! I beg of you! I HAVE A WIFE AND A DAUGHTER!" wimpers the target.

"Did the girls plead? Did they ask for mercy?" masked, Drac looks at the target with cold eyes.

The target's eyes widen as a sword enters his chest.

That's seven. What's next?