11-05-2017, 10:12 AM
Giving their few remaining spectators – who apparently really had had absolutely nothing to do all day except follow around some random EPD guys out of some sort of hero-worship complex – one final wave, Hijiri and Leon turned and headed through the double doors at the barracks' entrance.
They had used the shallow cut on her neck as an excuse to escort the woman they'd saved to the nearest half-decent hospital (yeah, it turns out that even on Tier Five there is actually the occasional medical establishment which really will treat its patients, as opposed to just overdosing them on painkillers and selling their organs on the black market) and then dropped her off there; foisting the responsibility of looking after her on to someone else, whilst still appearing to be doing the right, considerate thing. Genius.
At that point their crowd had still been fairly large, but through a combination of their constant assurances that nothing else was likely to happen today, and the 'unfortunate' reality of their patrol; that this area was much less affected by crime than other parts of the tier, due to its proximity to a stormtrooper base, the majority of the audience did eventually go back to what they'd been doing before encountering the pair. By the time they were done with their circuit, less than a dozen people remained; a vast improvement, in their opinion.
Of course, those two teenagers had stayed right up to the end, despite silver-eyes' obvious dislike for Hijiri and Leon. The Rabbit assumed they didn't have jobs and were skiving school, in which case they probably didn't really have anything more pressing to do. It was a shame that the education system here was in such shambles, but Hijiri was no teacher; he had no solutions on that account, except to do his best to cleanse the city of these degenerate gangsters and hope that the problem would sort itself out at some point...
The moment the twin doors closed behind them, Leon sighed, his cheerful expression falling, “Well, that was a huge pain in the ass.”
“Totally.” the Rabbit agreed, “Still, we got some decent exposure from that whole event, so Iechtelsteir should be pleased.”
“Exposure, huh? Snagged a few pics of that hostage girl yourself, did you?”
Hijiri rolled his eyes, “Don't be an idiot, Nash. You know what I mean.”
Those civilians had all seen what they did first hand, and some of them had even got it on video as well, so between the Dataverse and word of mouth, it was likely that knowledge of their exploits would continue to spread... sure, Kroll's idea of having them all recognised on sight across the length and breadth and depth of Coruscant was still a long way off, but at least in Northside, it seemed fairly likely that in the coming days or weeks, most people would learn of their achievements.
“Yeah, yeah. Anyway, I'll leave the reporting to you, corporal; I'm off to see if Priya's back yet.”
“Of course you are...” Hijiri replied dryly. Letting Leon go wandering off towards the section which held all their sleeping quarters, Hijiri headed for what had become Davion's office ever since his promotion, when Kroll (and by extension, the rest of them too) had insisted he get himself one, like a proper officer should...
Only to find it empty. The lieutenant shouldn't be out on patrol right now – honestly, he shouldn't have been going out on patrol at all at his rank, but Davion being Davion, he had bluntly refused to even consider sitting around here all day doing paperwork whilst his troops went out and risked their lives – so he must be around somewhere. Hijiri checked the indoor training section next, thinking that he might find him there, working out... that was something he was fond of, after all.
No luck their either. He did run into a couple of the noobs, though, who had just come back from their own patrol recently and were practising their aim with some sort of hi-tech, floating, AI-controlled targets, and they suggested trying the canteen, since they'd noticed a few of the veterans hanging around there, and thought he might have went to join them.
Hijiri doubted that, since Kroll had been trying his best to put some distance between 'his' group and the lieutenant, though there was always the chance he'd find Davion giving them all a lecture for lazing around when they could be training, so he headed across.
Through the steel corridors and mechanised doorways he went, until he reached the final one before his destination, tapped the sensor panel in the wall to open it, and stepped through.
“-her hands slid down the bulging muscles of his chest as he pulled back slightly, breaking their kiss. Each of them bore a fine sheen of sweat glistening upon their skin, and they stared into one another's blazing eyes. His passionate gaze lit a fire in her heart, as he smirked wickedly down upon her. Reaching below their sheets, she caressed-”
“Just what the hell are you idiots doing?” Hijiri demanded, the bewilderment plain on his face. Jallus glanced away from the trashy novel he'd been reading aloud, Trevor turned to face him, and Priya and Brandon looked up as well.
They were out of uniform today, which could only mean that Davion must have left the barracks after all, since there was no way they'd chance being caught like this by him during work hours.
Jallus sat on a table with an ankle crossed over his knee, casually leaning on one arm whilst holding his paperback in the other hand, and wore a black suit with a trench coat of the same shade, all of which he probably thought made him look really cool, though actually he just seemed like a total edgelord. Priya had on a long-sleeved grey crop top and denim hot pants, and was lying draped over a table, groaning softly. Trevor wore dull, grey-blue overalls and was in the middle of mopping the floor. Brandon was dressed in a dark green silk tunic and even darker green leggings (as always, still preferring that 'fantasy-esque' clothing to more modern outfits, despite all his time spent living in Coruscanrt), and had been lounging in one of the canteen's cheap metal chairs browsing the Dataverse when the Rabbit entered.
Kroll was also present, though he didn't look up from what he was doing, which seemed to be more or less the same as what Brandon had been up to, except that he was clearly much more focused, whereas the elf merely appeared bored. The 'sergeant' wore an entirely white tracksuit. He also had in a pair of earplugs, which explained the lack of attention.
“Ah, he stopped talking... we're saved...” Priya moaned as she raised her head, her long hair falling in front of her eyes, “have my ears stopped bleeding yet...?”
“Your ears are just fine,” Jallus commented smugly, “and you were the one who wouldn't stop pestering me about what I was reading... I was only trying to answer your question thoroughly.”
She groaned, still speaking to Hijiri, “Fifteen minutes... fifteen minutes...”
“Uh, yeah, sounds real rough.” the Prime commented sceptically, then turned away, not being particularly interested by the contents of Jallus' personal library. He gestured towards the oblivious Kroll, “Look, Dodson, you're closest, hit him with that mop.”
“Huh? Wh-what? Are you-”
“Do it!”
“Y-yes, sir!”
Dutifully, the snivelling coward swung the shaft of his mop down at their boss' head. At the last moment, Kroll shifted slightly to the right, and the pole harmlessly struck the table in his stead. Standing in one swift motion, he kicked his chair straight back, taking Trevor in the chest and slamming him hard against a wall. The idiot collapsed in a heap.
Kroll calmly pulled out the earplugs and turned to Trevor, as relaxed as if nothing had even happened, “Yes?”
The battered trooper groaned and raised an arm, pointing wordlessly towards Hijiri.
“Oh, Takanomiya, you're back... hmm... and where's Nash? No bad news, I hope.” the others all straightened up at this comment, suddenly more serious. Priya was the most obvious, though, going from lying sprawled over the table to bolt upright in a fraction of a second, and suddenly having turned rather pale... apparently now under the impression that his uncaring response to her anguish had not been merely his usual terse attitude, but something much more serious...
He turned to gaze straight at her for a moment, in utter silence.
“No, no...” she started to shake her head slowly, but never broke eye contact, so he could see for himself when her tears started to well up, as she came to her own conclusions. No matter how blasé she might like to act, they all – or, perhaps, all but Leon – knew full well how hard losing her sister had hit her. To then lose him as well, who she considered practically her little brother, would possibly break her beyond repair... he wondered how long he should wait before letting her know the guy was totally fine? Five minutes? Ten?
He turned away, back to Kroll, and started speaking, slowly, so as to drag this out, “We were on patrol and had attracted quite a crowd of... admirers, I guess... we thought you'd be pretty happy, since they all seemed impressed with what we'd accomplished the other day. We wasted a lot of time entertaining them... but then, we heard a scream nearby. We were trying to act like heroes, remember, so we went off to investigate... into the narrow alleyway...”
“No...” Priya muttered again, on her feet now and with a hand covering her mouth. She was well aware just how easy it could be for a gang to set up an ambush in one of those alleys. Whole squads of stormtroopers could be gunned down like that, never mind just one man.
“We approached the sound, and saw three men ganging up on one girl. We continued to advance, thinking to rescue her, but just then-”
“Hey, has anyone seen Priya about?” Leon stepped into the room, glanced about, and noticed her... though apparently not the looks of shock on the faces of them all, aside from Hijiri, of course. Priya hadn't been the only one assuming him lost. “Oh, there you-”
“Leon! You're alive!”
“Uhh... yes?” he looked confused, clearly not yet having put two and two together to realise what the Rabbit had been up to.
“Damn, you totally killed the atmosphere, Nash.” Hijiri commented, though he smirked as he said it.
“You bastard!” Priya suddenly yelled, the look of elation which had momentarily crossed her features upon seeing the crimson-haired trooper alive and well wilting and dying, being replaced by a visage which was positively wrathful, “You let me think he was dead!”
Before the Prime could so much as come up with a witty retort, she was right up in his face, and immediately struck him with a mean right hook. Stumbling backwards, he managed to straighten up just in time to take a blow from the left that knocked him to the floor. In a real fight, he would have tried to put more distance between them after her first strike, but in this instance he hadn't actually expected her to continue after that point.
She would have kept on at it after this as well, if it weren't for Trevor and Leon grabbing her and hauling her back...
After that, she stormed off in a huff, with Leon trailing helplessly after, leaving Hijiri to fill in the others with a much more detailed account of how their patrol had actually went. To begin with, Kroll seemed almost as pissed off as Priya, clearly not appreciative of his winning sense of humour, but by the time he'd finished recounting the story of their 'heroic' rescue of the fair maiden, all was forgiven, and the wannabe tactician was practically beside himself with glee.
Ultimately, he was so pleased that he even announced that they could now go ahead and launch the next stage of his grand plan. 'Phase Five: Aggregation'... a recruitment drive.
***
Elsewhere...
The two boys stepped into the alleyway which they'd hurriedly vacated hours previously, as soon as they'd realised that a couple members of that squad were headed their way. The 'mural' which one of them had been spray-painting lay unfinished yet undisturbed, exactly as it had been when they left.
Crouching down to peer behind a large, metal trashcan, the dusky-skinned boy pulled out the few cans of paint he had left there, and began working immediately, seemingly paying no attention to his partner. For a few minutes, the pale one simply watched, with a small smile, but at last he spoke up, “So, what did you think of them?”
“I thought you seemed really interested in them both.” the answer he received was rather terse, but the blond boy with the plaited hair simply laughed. He stepped forwards and wrapped his arms around his silver-eyed companion's waist, leaning up against his back.
“As much as I love hearing all about your utter lack of faith in me, I meant something more... you know... vital? Do they seem competent? Can they pull it off?”
Still painting, without even glancing back at Neil, Hughie remained silent for a few more seconds before making his reply, “Possibly, yes, though it won't be easy for them... if they think they've faced the worst of what the wolves can throw at them then they're in for a huge shock.”
“And what about us? Is all this really the best idea?” Neil stared at the graffiti as he spoke.
“If they think we might be planning to move in on their turf then their focus will be split. If the wolves pulled out all the stops then they could surely crush all those 'elite' swine no problem... but if they think we're planning on going after them if given the slightest opening, they might be forced to keep just enough of their forces in reserve that those wannabe heroes actually have a chance.”
“Okay, sure, but why pretend? Why not actually attack while they're distracted, rather than just hoping the Empire can finish them for us?” Neil pressed.
“We can't, and you know it. Our modus operandi is arson, not proper combat; most of our members are just ordinary teenagers who like starting fires, after all. If we fight, we'll suffer losses. We may have some tricks up our sleeves, but we've got to be smart about this... many of their bases are hidden, while stormtrooper barracks are not... so it shouldn't be too hard to take care of that lot afterwards.”
“'Modes opera-die', huh? Yeah, let me just pretend I have a clue what that means...”
“You know fine well that's not what I said.” Hughie stopped painting, observed his work for a few seconds, then tossed the cans in the trash, “Anyway, I'm done, so let's get out of here.”
“It's beautiful.” Neil told him, and kissed the side of his neck. At first, Hughie merely grunted sceptically, but when the other kid slid his hands under the hem of his hoodie and began exploring the muscles of his chest, he turned to face him.
“Seriously, Neil? I get that I'm totally irresistible and all, but we're not far from an imperial barracks, deep in Wolfpack territory, and standing beside a wall covered in freshly-painted and blatantly obvious NSP graffiti... this really isn't the right time or place.” so saying, he gently freed himself from his boyfriend's clutches.
The blue-eyed teen laughed at that, though at least had the deceny to look somewhat abashed by his antics.
Hughie sighed, “Come on, let's head home.”
***
They left hardly a moment too soon. It was barely a minute later when four others, dressed in the customary grey-on-white of the NSW, turned into the alley, only to stop dead at the sight that met their eyes; the painting of the inferno stretching from one side of the wall all down the narrow passage to its opposite end... and in amongst those flames writhed the burning bodies of dozens of wolves. As far as messages went, it was a pretty obvious one.
It seemed the Pyros were indeed growing bolder.
“Ya see guys? I told ya I wasn't kiddin'... though... I coulda sworn it wasn't finished when I saw it earlier.” the foremost member of the little group commented in a whiny voice, as he fidgeted nervously.
“The boss ain't gonna like this.” another, larger thug grunted.
They had used the shallow cut on her neck as an excuse to escort the woman they'd saved to the nearest half-decent hospital (yeah, it turns out that even on Tier Five there is actually the occasional medical establishment which really will treat its patients, as opposed to just overdosing them on painkillers and selling their organs on the black market) and then dropped her off there; foisting the responsibility of looking after her on to someone else, whilst still appearing to be doing the right, considerate thing. Genius.
At that point their crowd had still been fairly large, but through a combination of their constant assurances that nothing else was likely to happen today, and the 'unfortunate' reality of their patrol; that this area was much less affected by crime than other parts of the tier, due to its proximity to a stormtrooper base, the majority of the audience did eventually go back to what they'd been doing before encountering the pair. By the time they were done with their circuit, less than a dozen people remained; a vast improvement, in their opinion.
Of course, those two teenagers had stayed right up to the end, despite silver-eyes' obvious dislike for Hijiri and Leon. The Rabbit assumed they didn't have jobs and were skiving school, in which case they probably didn't really have anything more pressing to do. It was a shame that the education system here was in such shambles, but Hijiri was no teacher; he had no solutions on that account, except to do his best to cleanse the city of these degenerate gangsters and hope that the problem would sort itself out at some point...
The moment the twin doors closed behind them, Leon sighed, his cheerful expression falling, “Well, that was a huge pain in the ass.”
“Totally.” the Rabbit agreed, “Still, we got some decent exposure from that whole event, so Iechtelsteir should be pleased.”
“Exposure, huh? Snagged a few pics of that hostage girl yourself, did you?”
Hijiri rolled his eyes, “Don't be an idiot, Nash. You know what I mean.”
Those civilians had all seen what they did first hand, and some of them had even got it on video as well, so between the Dataverse and word of mouth, it was likely that knowledge of their exploits would continue to spread... sure, Kroll's idea of having them all recognised on sight across the length and breadth and depth of Coruscant was still a long way off, but at least in Northside, it seemed fairly likely that in the coming days or weeks, most people would learn of their achievements.
“Yeah, yeah. Anyway, I'll leave the reporting to you, corporal; I'm off to see if Priya's back yet.”
“Of course you are...” Hijiri replied dryly. Letting Leon go wandering off towards the section which held all their sleeping quarters, Hijiri headed for what had become Davion's office ever since his promotion, when Kroll (and by extension, the rest of them too) had insisted he get himself one, like a proper officer should...
Only to find it empty. The lieutenant shouldn't be out on patrol right now – honestly, he shouldn't have been going out on patrol at all at his rank, but Davion being Davion, he had bluntly refused to even consider sitting around here all day doing paperwork whilst his troops went out and risked their lives – so he must be around somewhere. Hijiri checked the indoor training section next, thinking that he might find him there, working out... that was something he was fond of, after all.
No luck their either. He did run into a couple of the noobs, though, who had just come back from their own patrol recently and were practising their aim with some sort of hi-tech, floating, AI-controlled targets, and they suggested trying the canteen, since they'd noticed a few of the veterans hanging around there, and thought he might have went to join them.
Hijiri doubted that, since Kroll had been trying his best to put some distance between 'his' group and the lieutenant, though there was always the chance he'd find Davion giving them all a lecture for lazing around when they could be training, so he headed across.
Through the steel corridors and mechanised doorways he went, until he reached the final one before his destination, tapped the sensor panel in the wall to open it, and stepped through.
“-her hands slid down the bulging muscles of his chest as he pulled back slightly, breaking their kiss. Each of them bore a fine sheen of sweat glistening upon their skin, and they stared into one another's blazing eyes. His passionate gaze lit a fire in her heart, as he smirked wickedly down upon her. Reaching below their sheets, she caressed-”
“Just what the hell are you idiots doing?” Hijiri demanded, the bewilderment plain on his face. Jallus glanced away from the trashy novel he'd been reading aloud, Trevor turned to face him, and Priya and Brandon looked up as well.
They were out of uniform today, which could only mean that Davion must have left the barracks after all, since there was no way they'd chance being caught like this by him during work hours.
Jallus sat on a table with an ankle crossed over his knee, casually leaning on one arm whilst holding his paperback in the other hand, and wore a black suit with a trench coat of the same shade, all of which he probably thought made him look really cool, though actually he just seemed like a total edgelord. Priya had on a long-sleeved grey crop top and denim hot pants, and was lying draped over a table, groaning softly. Trevor wore dull, grey-blue overalls and was in the middle of mopping the floor. Brandon was dressed in a dark green silk tunic and even darker green leggings (as always, still preferring that 'fantasy-esque' clothing to more modern outfits, despite all his time spent living in Coruscanrt), and had been lounging in one of the canteen's cheap metal chairs browsing the Dataverse when the Rabbit entered.
Kroll was also present, though he didn't look up from what he was doing, which seemed to be more or less the same as what Brandon had been up to, except that he was clearly much more focused, whereas the elf merely appeared bored. The 'sergeant' wore an entirely white tracksuit. He also had in a pair of earplugs, which explained the lack of attention.
“Ah, he stopped talking... we're saved...” Priya moaned as she raised her head, her long hair falling in front of her eyes, “have my ears stopped bleeding yet...?”
“Your ears are just fine,” Jallus commented smugly, “and you were the one who wouldn't stop pestering me about what I was reading... I was only trying to answer your question thoroughly.”
She groaned, still speaking to Hijiri, “Fifteen minutes... fifteen minutes...”
“Uh, yeah, sounds real rough.” the Prime commented sceptically, then turned away, not being particularly interested by the contents of Jallus' personal library. He gestured towards the oblivious Kroll, “Look, Dodson, you're closest, hit him with that mop.”
“Huh? Wh-what? Are you-”
“Do it!”
“Y-yes, sir!”
Dutifully, the snivelling coward swung the shaft of his mop down at their boss' head. At the last moment, Kroll shifted slightly to the right, and the pole harmlessly struck the table in his stead. Standing in one swift motion, he kicked his chair straight back, taking Trevor in the chest and slamming him hard against a wall. The idiot collapsed in a heap.
Kroll calmly pulled out the earplugs and turned to Trevor, as relaxed as if nothing had even happened, “Yes?”
The battered trooper groaned and raised an arm, pointing wordlessly towards Hijiri.
“Oh, Takanomiya, you're back... hmm... and where's Nash? No bad news, I hope.” the others all straightened up at this comment, suddenly more serious. Priya was the most obvious, though, going from lying sprawled over the table to bolt upright in a fraction of a second, and suddenly having turned rather pale... apparently now under the impression that his uncaring response to her anguish had not been merely his usual terse attitude, but something much more serious...
He turned to gaze straight at her for a moment, in utter silence.
“No, no...” she started to shake her head slowly, but never broke eye contact, so he could see for himself when her tears started to well up, as she came to her own conclusions. No matter how blasé she might like to act, they all – or, perhaps, all but Leon – knew full well how hard losing her sister had hit her. To then lose him as well, who she considered practically her little brother, would possibly break her beyond repair... he wondered how long he should wait before letting her know the guy was totally fine? Five minutes? Ten?
He turned away, back to Kroll, and started speaking, slowly, so as to drag this out, “We were on patrol and had attracted quite a crowd of... admirers, I guess... we thought you'd be pretty happy, since they all seemed impressed with what we'd accomplished the other day. We wasted a lot of time entertaining them... but then, we heard a scream nearby. We were trying to act like heroes, remember, so we went off to investigate... into the narrow alleyway...”
“No...” Priya muttered again, on her feet now and with a hand covering her mouth. She was well aware just how easy it could be for a gang to set up an ambush in one of those alleys. Whole squads of stormtroopers could be gunned down like that, never mind just one man.
“We approached the sound, and saw three men ganging up on one girl. We continued to advance, thinking to rescue her, but just then-”
“Hey, has anyone seen Priya about?” Leon stepped into the room, glanced about, and noticed her... though apparently not the looks of shock on the faces of them all, aside from Hijiri, of course. Priya hadn't been the only one assuming him lost. “Oh, there you-”
“Leon! You're alive!”
“Uhh... yes?” he looked confused, clearly not yet having put two and two together to realise what the Rabbit had been up to.
“Damn, you totally killed the atmosphere, Nash.” Hijiri commented, though he smirked as he said it.
“You bastard!” Priya suddenly yelled, the look of elation which had momentarily crossed her features upon seeing the crimson-haired trooper alive and well wilting and dying, being replaced by a visage which was positively wrathful, “You let me think he was dead!”
Before the Prime could so much as come up with a witty retort, she was right up in his face, and immediately struck him with a mean right hook. Stumbling backwards, he managed to straighten up just in time to take a blow from the left that knocked him to the floor. In a real fight, he would have tried to put more distance between them after her first strike, but in this instance he hadn't actually expected her to continue after that point.
She would have kept on at it after this as well, if it weren't for Trevor and Leon grabbing her and hauling her back...
After that, she stormed off in a huff, with Leon trailing helplessly after, leaving Hijiri to fill in the others with a much more detailed account of how their patrol had actually went. To begin with, Kroll seemed almost as pissed off as Priya, clearly not appreciative of his winning sense of humour, but by the time he'd finished recounting the story of their 'heroic' rescue of the fair maiden, all was forgiven, and the wannabe tactician was practically beside himself with glee.
Ultimately, he was so pleased that he even announced that they could now go ahead and launch the next stage of his grand plan. 'Phase Five: Aggregation'... a recruitment drive.
***
Elsewhere...
The two boys stepped into the alleyway which they'd hurriedly vacated hours previously, as soon as they'd realised that a couple members of that squad were headed their way. The 'mural' which one of them had been spray-painting lay unfinished yet undisturbed, exactly as it had been when they left.
Crouching down to peer behind a large, metal trashcan, the dusky-skinned boy pulled out the few cans of paint he had left there, and began working immediately, seemingly paying no attention to his partner. For a few minutes, the pale one simply watched, with a small smile, but at last he spoke up, “So, what did you think of them?”
“I thought you seemed really interested in them both.” the answer he received was rather terse, but the blond boy with the plaited hair simply laughed. He stepped forwards and wrapped his arms around his silver-eyed companion's waist, leaning up against his back.
“As much as I love hearing all about your utter lack of faith in me, I meant something more... you know... vital? Do they seem competent? Can they pull it off?”
Still painting, without even glancing back at Neil, Hughie remained silent for a few more seconds before making his reply, “Possibly, yes, though it won't be easy for them... if they think they've faced the worst of what the wolves can throw at them then they're in for a huge shock.”
“And what about us? Is all this really the best idea?” Neil stared at the graffiti as he spoke.
“If they think we might be planning to move in on their turf then their focus will be split. If the wolves pulled out all the stops then they could surely crush all those 'elite' swine no problem... but if they think we're planning on going after them if given the slightest opening, they might be forced to keep just enough of their forces in reserve that those wannabe heroes actually have a chance.”
“Okay, sure, but why pretend? Why not actually attack while they're distracted, rather than just hoping the Empire can finish them for us?” Neil pressed.
“We can't, and you know it. Our modus operandi is arson, not proper combat; most of our members are just ordinary teenagers who like starting fires, after all. If we fight, we'll suffer losses. We may have some tricks up our sleeves, but we've got to be smart about this... many of their bases are hidden, while stormtrooper barracks are not... so it shouldn't be too hard to take care of that lot afterwards.”
“'Modes opera-die', huh? Yeah, let me just pretend I have a clue what that means...”
“You know fine well that's not what I said.” Hughie stopped painting, observed his work for a few seconds, then tossed the cans in the trash, “Anyway, I'm done, so let's get out of here.”
“It's beautiful.” Neil told him, and kissed the side of his neck. At first, Hughie merely grunted sceptically, but when the other kid slid his hands under the hem of his hoodie and began exploring the muscles of his chest, he turned to face him.
“Seriously, Neil? I get that I'm totally irresistible and all, but we're not far from an imperial barracks, deep in Wolfpack territory, and standing beside a wall covered in freshly-painted and blatantly obvious NSP graffiti... this really isn't the right time or place.” so saying, he gently freed himself from his boyfriend's clutches.
The blue-eyed teen laughed at that, though at least had the deceny to look somewhat abashed by his antics.
Hughie sighed, “Come on, let's head home.”
***
They left hardly a moment too soon. It was barely a minute later when four others, dressed in the customary grey-on-white of the NSW, turned into the alley, only to stop dead at the sight that met their eyes; the painting of the inferno stretching from one side of the wall all down the narrow passage to its opposite end... and in amongst those flames writhed the burning bodies of dozens of wolves. As far as messages went, it was a pretty obvious one.
It seemed the Pyros were indeed growing bolder.
“Ya see guys? I told ya I wasn't kiddin'... though... I coulda sworn it wasn't finished when I saw it earlier.” the foremost member of the little group commented in a whiny voice, as he fidgeted nervously.
“The boss ain't gonna like this.” another, larger thug grunted.
![[Image: Hijiri_Name_Sig.png]](https://image.ibb.co/k1H7Hd/Hijiri_Name_Sig.png)