#just spent the last like four hours pouring over one of my modules that i know there's a test on tomorrow

[deepwoundsandfadedscars]

.

[buckyodinson]

Protector (Mandalorian x Reader)

Request from @the-mechanical-angel : Mando tends to overprotect the reader, which causes tension until one day he grows tired and sends her away, she does but there's an ambush and she's severely wounded. He manages to rescue her and rushes to a doctor and while she's unconscious he stays by her side and realizes he's in love with her?

Word Count: 2k

Warnings: some violence, nothing overly graphic though!

“It’s ridiculous Din! I can handle myself out there. I don’t need you to watch my back constantly!” You hiss at Din as you both walk back to the Crest, dragging the unconscious bounty between you.

“I know you’re capable, but if I’m there and able to, I’m gonna help when someone’s coming at you. You’d do the same for me, I don’t see what the problem is?” He sighed as he spoke, and despite the modulator, you can hear the annoyed tone he’s sporting.

“I get that, Din. I do. But you pushed me out of the way to take on all four of them yourself! Where’s the logic there? I wouldn’t do that to you, because I respect your ability to do your job!”

“I respect you too, it’s just-“

“Just what?!” You come to an abrupt stop and he turns around to face you, and you raise your eyebrows, expecting him to answer you but he remains silent.

You sigh, “It doesn’t feel like you respect me. I feel like a child when you pull shit like that! If that’s how you’re gonna treat me on hunts, why not just leave me on the ship with the baby?”

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

“Of course not!” You throw your arms in the air and give an empty laugh.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Anytime I think I’m close to understanding something about you, you close yourself off! We’re supposed to be a team, Din, but I’m feeling a lot more like a liability recently.”

He sighs again, “You’re not a liability. I just don’t want to see you get hurt.” You hear a little break in his voice, and you know he means well but you have to hold your ground.

“I can handle myself. I knew what I was getting into when I joined the Guild. Same as you... I’m tired of this Din.” After silence falls between you, you sigh again and turn around, starting to walk back to the town you’d just come from.

“Where are you going?” He shouted after you.

“I need a drink. I’ll be back in a while.”

He watched you go, angry at himself for not admitting the real reason he felt so protective over you. He dragged the bounty the rest of the way to the Crest and put him in carbonite before checking on the Child and walking back to the town to find you and apologise.

In the meantime, you’d hunkered down in a booth in some run-down cantina, and you were on your second drink when a man sat down opposite you and tried to strike up a conversation.

You made friendly conversation with him, but kept your hand under the table over your blaster, ready for any trouble. It didn’t come, however. After a few minutes, he simply wished you a good evening and left the booth. What you didn’t notice was the discreet nod he gave to someone else at the bar, who then followed him out of the cantina.

You finished your drink, and sighed deeply, worried about what Din would say once you got back to the Crest. You felt bad for over-reacting, but you really were at your wits end with his over-protectiveness. You briefly wondered if he harboured deeper feelings for you, and just wasn’t admitting them, but then you dismissed it simply as the rambling thoughts of your slightly tipsy brain.

You tossed a few credits to the droid behind the bar as you walked out of the cantina and into the cool evening air of the now quiet town. You were too busy looking at how beautiful the sunset was to notice you were being followed by the man at the bar and several of his accomplices, all with weapons drawn.

You only realised you were in trouble when you felt something being shoved into your back and you received an electric shock so strong you dropped to the floor, convulsing.

“...w-what the hell?” You stuttered as the shock slowly trickled to a stop and you sat up, looking at the men lined up before you.

“Make this easy for yourself and tell us where it is.” One spat at you, and you realised it was the man from the bar, and you sighed. Din wouldn’t let you hear the end of this. If you made it out of this alive, that is. You wished right about now that Din was here is all his protective glory, but it hit you that you were very much alone in this.

“If you’d waited a bit longer, I would’ve led you right to my ship, asshole.” You countered, not even bothering to pretend you didn’t know what they were talking about.

“Is that how you wanna play this?” He smirked back at you, and you stood up and put your hands on your hips, eyebrows raised, trying desperately to seem calm.

He nodded to one of his men, who proceeded to shoot you in the leg before you even had the chance to pull your own blaster. You fall to the ground once more, clutching the blaster burn on your thigh, hot tears staining your cheeks.

“Where’s your Mandalorian friend now?”

“I don’t need him, asshole.” You shuffle to your knees, subtly grabbing a flash charge from your belt as you do so.

“Are you sure about that? Seems like you could really use the help right about now.” He smirks again and you wish you could slap it right off his face.

“Oh yeah?” You set the flash charge off, blinding the men temporarily as you make a run for it, grabbing your blaster and landing shots on at least three of them as you go.

They’re much quicker than you because of your leg, and soon enough, you’re being tackled to the ground with a knee shoved into your back.

“Tell us where the kid is, and we’ll let you live.”

“I’m not telling you anything. I’ll die before I let anyone get anywhere near it.”

“So be it. He’ll come for you soon enough.” The knee is removed from your back but before you can stand, a blaster shot hits you square in the back and everything goes black.

Din was almost at the town when he heard the blaster fire, and he picked up his pace, knowing you had to be involved. When he rounded the corner, he was just in time to see you being shot in the back, and in his anger, all he saw was red. He grabbed his rifle and within seconds, he’d already disintegrated three of the men. The sight of those three just disappearing had a few of the others running, and it left the leader and two other men who tried to hold their ground. Din shot at the ones who ran away as he approached the three left.  Seeing you laying still on the ground brought out something almost feral in him, and he didn’t stop until all the men were dead.

He pulled his vibroblade out and made quick work of killing the last three, barely breaking a sweat as he did so. When he was satisfied, he ran to you and found you unresponsive with a worryingly low heart rate. The amount of blood pouring out from the wound had Din in tears behind his helmet, and he picked you up carefully and ran to the town doctor, practically breaking the door down in his haste to get help. He threw a handful of credits at the doctor and begged for her help.

The doctor did her best to fix the damage the shot to your back had caused. She was initially worried you wouldn’t be able to walk again, and the thought terrified Din, but by some miracle, the shot hadn’t actually hit your spine. There was some nerve damage, and obviously tissue damage, but you would survive.

It took you a long time to wake up, however. Din paced the small room all night, waiting for you to open your eyes, but you didn’t. The only time he left the room was to go back to the Crest and grab the Child, but he came right back and paced some more, at least with the Child providing a little comfort.

He did this for 3 days. The doctor was kind enough to bring food for him and the Child, and Din paid her generously for her troubles. He barely touched the food himself, too sick to eat (the Child was happy to eat what he left though), desperately praying for you to wake up.

He was beginning to grow exhausted, but he couldn’t sleep until he knew you were okay, no matter how long it took. You had to be okay. You had to be. He pulled up a chair next to the bed you were laying on, and sat in it, reaching for one of your hands and holding it tightly between his own.

“Please, cyar’ika. You’ve gotta wake up. I can’t do this alone. I’ve spent all these years thinking I didn’t need anybody else. And that was true. Until you came along. And you were a nightmare to begin with. You were so stubborn.” He lets out a breathy chuckle and his voice shakes as he continues, “...b-but, I knew right away that my life had changed. For the better. You made it seem like I had something to live for. Why you put up with me, I’ll never know. But I’m so grateful for you. And I’m so sorry it took me until now to admit that I love you...” He shocks himself with his admission and he pauses, “I love you. And I need you to wake up so I can tell you.”

Din eventually passes out from sheer exhaustion, your hand still held firmly between his own. And after he’s been asleep for a few hours, you stir, sighing at the dull pain across your back as you shuffle on the bed slightly, noticing the resistance from your hand. Your eyebrows shoot up when you look over and see Din clasping your hand, and your heart starts to thump at the sight. The beeps on the monitor rouse Din from his sleep and he jolts awake, eyes landing on you blinking wearily.

Before your have a chance to say anything, he’s wrapping his arms around you, being careful of your injury, but holding you tight, “Don’t ever do that to me again. I thought I was gonna lose you.” You heard his shaky voice through the helmet and your face screwed up in confusion as he pulled away and put his hands on your cheeks.

“What happened?” You croaked, and Din grabbed you a glass of water, bringing it over to you.

You sipped from it as he sat back in the chair and spoke, “You got in a big fight in the town after we argued.” You nodded solemnly, remembering the stupid argument you’d had, and how you’d only proved him right by getting yourself into this mess.

“I’m glad you’re okay.” He placed his hands on your cheeks yet again and you looked down at him as he leaned up and rested his helmeted forehead against yours. You shut your eyes and smiled at the feeling and you heard Din whisper through the modulator the three words you’d always wished he’d say to you, “I love you.”

You also heard the sharp intake of breath he took after he spoke, and you smiled at his nervousness before returning the sentiment and seeing him relax and practically melt into his chair, dragging his hands over the front of his helmet.

“But if you pull this kind of stunt again, I’m gonna have a hard time forgiving you.” He points a stern finger at you and you laugh in response, reaching for his hand and holding it tightly.

[gumnut-logic]

Expected & Unexpected

Title: Expected & Unexpected

Author: Gumnut

19 May 2019

Fandom: Thunderbirds Are Go 2015/ Thunderbirds TOS

Rating: Teen

Summary: He had brothers. It was inevitable, but sometimes unexpected. A little add on to Season 3 Episode 10

Word count: 1676

Spoilers & warnings: SPOILERS FOR SEASON 3 EPISODE 10

Timeline: Episode Tag

Author’s note: For @thunderstorm-bay (you know why). Many thanks to @scribbles97 for the read through and reassurance :D

This is little and has little purpose and doesn’t really go anywhere, but it is what it is. @thunderstorm-bay you are welcome to throw a prompt at me, as this doesn’t count enough, I don’t think :D I hope you enjoy it anyway.

Disclaimer: Mine? You’ve got to be kidding. Money? Don’t have any, don’t bother.

-o-o-o-

Thunderbird Two hit Australian air space growling. Skirting across Cape York, she shed speed, frozen exhaust wafting off in white clouds, her pilot finally drawing in breath as her sensors scanned the condition of TB4.

“What the hell, Gordon?” Virgil stared at the corrosion of her shell. “What did you do to her?”

“Hey, it wasn’t my fault!”

John had said Thunderbird Two was needed urgently, but he’d been caught up in China saving miners from a collapse. Virgil had dropped everything as soon as possible, but he knew he was going to be too late.

There had been a number of very bad moments.

“I didn’t say it was your fault! What is your condition?”

“I’m fine.”

He kicked in VTOL on approach to the platform, settling TB2 into a secure hover.

Triggering a separate comline, he interrogated another brother. “John, are you sure he is okay?”

“What I can read is good. I’m sure he has neglected to mention the need to change out of his uniform. It disintegrated during the incident.”

Of course. “Any injury?”

“None I can detect, none he is owning up to. Because he isn’t wearing his uniform I haven’t got full detail. Also, without full access to TB5, I have only the basics to work with anyway. Eos is relaying what she can. Do me a favour and clap him up the head for me?”

Virgil’s lips thinned. IR was stretched to the limit today.

He had to admit, Gordon on a rescue without his backup was rare, and to be honest, today’s situation had scared the living shit out of him. Scott was inbound from the other side of the planet, no doubt as concerned as he. It wasn’t that Virgil didn’t have confidence in his brother’s skill, it was just...

Shit.

That had been close.

Flick over the comline. “Status of the wreck?”

“Secure. We’ve frozen the contents. Should keep it contained for a number of hours. Long enough to get Bio-rescue out here.” A pause. “Everything is fine, Virg. Take a deep breath.”

Surprisingly, Virgil did as he was told. He bit his lip. “Okay, I’m coming down.”

“There really is no need to-“

“I’m coming down.”

“Okay, I’ll get Parker to make us some tea.”

-o-o-o-

It was inevitable, he supposed. His big brothers were worry warts. With Virgil in China, Scott in the US, Alan and John on the moon, and Kayo in Spain it had been one hell of a day. Adding in his little rescue had just piled more on top of it all.

When Penny had said that his brothers would say he was there to rescue people, not save a reef, she had been right, but Gordon Tracy hadn’t spent his life underwater as a marine biologist and researcher to ignore a cry for help, no matter the voice. The reef may not save human lives in the short term, but long term was an entirely different matter.

And besides, considering the life the reef supported, who said International Rescue was restricted to human lives anyway?

He could feel Scott’s glare from across the Pacific.

At least Virgil should be easy once he had calmed the man down. Nothing scared the medic more than a brother in danger, and, well, yeah, he’d managed that quite well today.

The sight of his green behemoth roaring into a hasty hover above the pink and white platform was a clear illustration of his brother’s worry. That was one hell of an entry.

The zipline hitting the landing pad besides where he was standing made its own point and the thud of specialised boots hitting that same surface, equally determined.

Virgil shed his helmet the moment he landed, striding over to Gordon. The aquanaut squared his shoulders, ready for verbal warfare.

But Virgil didn’t say anything. His eyes just raked over his brother, scanning for hidden injury, no doubt.

“I’m okay, Virg, I promise.” A lopsided smirk. “Don’t you trust me?”

Those concerned brown eyes flared.

“Virgil! So nice to see you!” And Penny was striding across the pad towards them, both Parker and Bertie trailing behind.

The TB2 pilot was expertly distracted, turning to greet Penny with his usual polite manner.

“We are in debt to Gordon for saving so many lives today. International Rescue has performed a great service to the world in saving this reef. Its loss would have been a devastation beyond repair.”

Gordon hid a smirk as Virgil straightened. “No doubt, Lady Penelope.”

Nope, his brother didn’t have a hope.

A grin and he wrapped an arm around his brother’s shoulders. “C’mon, Virg, relax, have a cup of tea. Let Scott do all the yelling. I’m sure he’ll be here soon.”

“Thunderbird One on approach in ten minutes.” John had obviously been eavesdropping.

“Yay, we have ten minutes before he chews my head off. Parker brought cookies.” He didn’t miss Parker’s mumbled ‘biscuits’ at that comment.

Some of the tension dropped from Virgil’s shoulders and Gordon let his own breath out. At heart Virgil was a big softie. Gordon was pretty sure that now his second eldest brother knew he was okay, he would actually stand up for him when eldest eldest brother started the yelling. And Gordon would put up with the meticulous medical exam in his near future if he had to.

“Sorry, I wasn’t here for you.”

He almost didn’t hear it as they all turned to walk inside. Gordon shot his brother a look. “Hey, I’m okay. It all worked out.”

Virgil’s lips thinned.

Oh, okay, so perhaps this went deeper.

Virgil was perfectly polite and calm as he was offered tea and ‘biscuits’, and as predicted TB2’s hovering roar was added to as IR’s scout vessel tore into orbit of the platform and landed beside FAB1 on the pad. It was less than a minute before Scott was led into the room by a confident Penny.

Why did Gordon feel like the school principal had just walked into the room?

His big brother parroted Virgil’s initial bodily assessment. Gordon didn’t bother to get up and continued to munch on his cookie. Hey, he deserved it. It had choc chips.

“Gordon, you okay?”

He blinked. Scott was still staring at him. “I’m fine.”

“Good.”

And Scott sat down across from him and grabbed a cookie himself. Parker poured him some tea.

Gordon froze and stared. What?

“Nice cookies, Parker.”

“They’re still biscuits, Master Tracy.”

Scott rolled his eyes.

Gordon couldn’t stop staring. “Aren’t you going to yell at me?”

His brother straightened in his seat. “What? Why?”

“I distinctly remember you yelling at me from across the Pacific at least twice during this rescue. I’m expecting follow through.”

Scott shrugged. “You’re okay, aren’t you. You saved the people; you saved the reef. A job well done all round.” He stole another cookie.

“But-“

“Thunderbird One, Thunderbird Three reporting situation resolved and on return to base.”

Gordon’s eyes widened as Scott’s shoulders visibly relaxed. “That is great to hear, John.”

“Hey, Gordy, hear you’ve been having some fun.” Comms sparked with his little brother’s tired voice. “Way to scare the shit out of everyone.”

“I did what I had to do!” What the hell was it with protective brothers?

“And he did a damn good job.” Scott’s deep voice cut across the conversation stilling everyone. “It had its moments.” And those big brother blue eyes pinned him - there it was, the concern he had been expecting. “But he got the job done in the best way possible. Better than any of us. Gordon was the man for the job and he did it.”

The man for the job was just staring. “Oookay.”

Scott frowned at him a moment before standing up and turning to the man beside Gordon. “Virg, you need to return to base and collect module four.” His brother nodded and rose, taking the order despite the fact Gordon knew Virgil had already planned to do exactly that anyway. “Gordon, finalise the situation here and prep Thunderbird Four for transport. Brains is waiting to check her over.” As Virgil excused himself and made his exit, Scott turned to their hosts. “Thank you for assisting Gordon on the rescue Lady Penelope and Parker.” A single nod in each of their directions. “It is very much appreciated.”

Gordon was still staring.

“You are most welcome, Scott. We were very glad to help.” Penny was smiling at Gordon.

“Sorry to eat and run, but we need to get our resident aquanaut home.”

Huh?

“Yes, of course.” And that smile of hers was verging on a laugh. She had a twinkle in her eye.

And Scott offered him his hand to help him out of his seat.

What the hell?

He grabbed his brother’s grip and stood up, staring at Scott the entire time.

Scott ignored his expression and, instead, wrapped an arm about Gordon’s shoulders and led him out onto the landing pad and into the shadow of Thunderbird One. The air was quietening as TB2 roared off into the distance. “Seriously, Gordon, you did great today.”

“I did.”

“You did.”

“I know.” He grinned up at his brother. “Sorry if I scared you.”

“Not the first time. I could hope it will be the last, but I don’t think that is possible.”

Gordon’s grin widened.

“Now, I have no doubt we’ll be called out again soon. We need to move Four while we can. Virgil will be back shortly.” A half smile. “See you back at the ranch.”

TB1 lowered her pilot’s chair and Gordon found himself stepping back as Scott launched her into the air. A blink and she was gone.

“What do you think that was about?”

He jumped. Penny stepped up beside him. “I dunno. Virg was just scared, but Scott? I expected a roasting and got compliments instead.”

“You did a good job. Despite scaring all of us. Try to do less of the latter in the future, please.”

He glanced at her, remembering their earlier conversation. “Yes, m’lady.”

-o-o-o-

FIN

[thebadohteco]

Musical accompaniment: Adele’s Rolling In The Deep

Cleaning the Sands

The base of operations for the Bloodedsands Gang was an impressive fortification. They had taken an old chapel in the east of Ul’dah and turned it into a small fortress for their illicit activities. With the backside of the church butting up against the walls of Ul’dah, and the front defended by stone pillars of an impressive size, it was a well defended position that was also masked well. The crowning achievement of the location was the underground vault that the leaders of the Bloodedsands used for a secure meeting location; beyond an impressive display of power it was also a fortified location that doubled security in the event of an attack.

East made sure to remark on all of this as the Bloodedsand gang member lead him into the chapel. He had been aware of all of these things already, from his information the urchins of the city had given him by running around, but he wanted them to believe it was his first time. It was supposed to be his first time seeing any of this. The gang member leading him didn’t make much in way of conversation, they just lead the masked East O’hteco through the chapel and down the stairs towards the vault.

Three hours ago East hadn’t been far away, on the other side of the wall of Ul’dah and walking along some freshly dug trenches. He stopped every now and again to check their depth, but mostly spent the time talking with the refugee kids that had been digging them. He left them some pieces of gil each, smiling as he looked up and down the shallow trenches that had been dug. Each of the four lines seemed to be more than deep enough for what he needed, and the kids were still at work to make them even better; they were always hard workers for gil.

The long stairwell down lead East towards the vault that served as the meeting room. The gang member stopped at the vault door, standing next to it to act as the guard for the meeting it seemed; though with East entering a room with four other people, it seemed unneeded. East didn’t pay the guard much more of a thought, it had been expected to some degree for them to have a guard, and stepped beyond the vault door to stand in the room with the leaders of the Bloodedsands.

A medium sized table and five chairs was all that stood in the room. Metal walls, floor, and ceiling surrounded all of the people inside, swallowing them as the vault door was shut behind East. A click sounded as it closed, letting everyone in the room know they were locked in. Only four of the chairs were filled, four of the five brothers that lead the Bloodedsands filling one of each. The fifth chair was covered in a black shroud, mourning for the lost brother that had been killed during the dispute between East’s operation and the Bloodedsands. What had begun as an attempted jumping in an alleyway had turned into a bloody, but small, war between East and the brothers. The climax of it being reached when they had abducted East’s fiancee, Elysica, and subsequently lost a fully staffed warehouse and brother for the effect. The two groups had quickly realized that to continue the war would only spill more blood and hurt profits, both costs that neither side were willing to continue suffering. Peace talks had seemed the best alternative to the war continuing.

“Gentlemen,” East said as he began. “Thank you for inviting me to come see you today. I was glad to hear you all wanted to discuss peace, as I too believe that will be best for our two groups.”

East removed his mask as he spoke, hooking it to the clasp on his belt. He had worn make-up under the mask, to change his appearance somewhat still. The mask had been to make sure the regular gang members of the Bloodedsands wouldn’t get to see his face, but he still didn’t like the idea of the leadership knowing what it looked like exactly either. These four had been the only competitors to accurately identify East for his activities, which left him uneasy.

The four men, two Hyur and two Lalafell, exchanged glances and nodded at East. Facing the man who controlled the masked swordsman from their reports was an angering moment. Each of the four wanted nothing more than to take revenge for their lost brother, and they had plans in motion for such a thing, but they didn’t want to turn their nose up at learning a competitor’s operation for themselves. Profits to be gained not only in blood, but in real gil as well.

Two hours ago, East had been further away from the walls of Ul’dah, inspecting more of his plan in preparation for the day. Being in a desert Ul’dah was hard pressed for water, and reduced to using various reservoirs they could keep contained to one place. The eastern side of Ul’dah was largely watered by the Susuno Water Facility, named for the wealthy family that owned the land the water rested in. Most anyone who had running water or just drinking water in eastern Ul’dah drank from his reservoir. Monetarist, priest, and criminal alike all drank from that facility. It was some many yalms away from the city, to avoid contamination, and it was a taxing effort to transport the large body of water from its deep pit to the city. East smirked as he looked over the reservoir, the guards stationed along it concerned with the area closest to the pouring services. Even if someone contaminated the water where East stood, it would be cleaned by the purification modules it flowed through. Someone would have to poison it later in the transportation.

East had spent the better part of an hour speaking with the four brothers. Maps had been drawn out of Ul’dah, displaying the controlled zone that the Bloodedsands claimed for themselves. Their map was certainly larger than East believed, as they had colored most of the eastern half of the city in red; the areas East had infringed on were lined through with black lines, denoted as the problem zones. Since their dispute had been over land they had elected to create official borders on the area. In exchange for being given the problem zones East was expected deliver quantities of his products to the Bloodedsands for their use as they wish; meaning they would sell them in their area exclusively, without East for competition.

East wasn’t fond of the deal they had worked out. He ended up with less area than he wanted and was forfeiting product every moon. He still had areas outside of Ul’dah to sell in, but he didn’t like having so much held over him. The problem was he didn’t have much he could do to stop it, unless he wanted to continue the war. He had been lucky so far. The alleyway jumping had turned into him being the last one left alive, albeit injured, and Elysica’s abduction had ended without much loss on his side; Ylaine turning out to be part of the Rogue’s Guild had been a big help in the abduction, and been why he had won in the end. He knew he couldn’t rely on luck though, it would only take once for him to lose big. The fact that the four brothers knew his identity well enough to have him followed was the most troubling, and that they knew where Elysica could be found as well. In the truth of it the only part East had to bargain with was that his masked swordsman seemed wild enough to risk anything to take revenge, and it would cost the Bloodedsands a lot of people to take East out entirely. Everyone in the room knew the Bloodedsands would win in the end of that war though.

One hour ago, East had been right on the other side of the walls of Ul’dah. His scouting urchins had figured out most of the lay out of the chapel. Young kids willing to run things for the gang were always welcomed, and got to see a lot of things no one cared about them seeing. That included the vault room. The old chapel had used the vault to store relics and important holy objects. It meant they needed to have five strong walls of metal to protect from any outside forces acting on it, and a door capable of sealing to something from getting in when it closed. Another fear had seemingly been fire. Vents were in the ceiling, waiting to draw out air in the room in order to kill the fire that would damage the relics. The Bloodedsands had removed the fans that drew out the air, but the vents had remained as a way to get fresh air into the meeting room. They had been difficult to track back to the surface, but East had managed to have them found along the wall. Little tests over the weeks, rocks dropped in vents and found back in the vault, making sure to find the right vents. East smiled as he crouched down at the vents, staring down one of them in particular. He had brought along a nut, for his own peace of mind, and dropped it down the vent. An hour later he found himself looking back at the nut, laying on the ground in the back corner of the vault.

“Gentlemen, how about we both take a moment to think on these decisions? I could use perhaps five or ten ticks to think it over, and figure out how I’ll break the news to my men.” East didn’t move as he asked, wanting the brothers to give him leave to go.

The four sets of eyes glanced at one another and nodded in unison, looking to East. One of the four raised up a small pager, clicking on it twice. A moment later the click of the door sounded behind East, signaling that the door was unlocked and beginning to pull open. East gave the four a small nod and turned around, stepping out of the vault. The guarding gang member nodded to the four bosses, pushing the door shut again and turning the large dial until the click sounded again. The guard resumed their post against the wall, hand pressing a linkpearl in their ear to presumably listen for the pager click.

“Am I free to walk around the chapel?” East asked the guard, quirking a brow.

“Yes,” the guard answered. “The bosses said to let you walk where you’d like,” they said with a small but noticeable smirk.

The smirk left East uneasy, expecting that it betrayed some more sinister plot at hand. The bosses probably didn’t care if East was seeing much as they planned to kill him soon, and it wouldn’t matter. East gave a small shrug to the matter in his mind, since it didn’t matter in the long run. The guard shrugged in reply, looking forward to wait for the pager call. It wouldn’t come if everything East planned went correctly.

East pulled a small knife from his sleeve, dropping the handle into his palm. His arm snapped out, bringing the blade against the up and across the guard’s neck before stabbing it down into the windpipe. The guard let out a gargled mumble, unable to draw the air to scream. East held the knife in place until the weight of the guard dragged downward, gravity overcoming them in death. The knife was left in its place, lodged in the guard’s neck, as East retrieved a pager of his own and pressed the button on it.

Many yalms away alarm boxes set out, making noises loud enough for anyone immediately nearby to hear, like the urchin children who had been waiting at the spot since East left. The alarm was what they had been waiting on and promised to be paid for. One of the oldest kids let out a yell, instructing the others to start doing what they had been told to do. Four slats of metal had been placed along the rim of the reservoir and were now tugged free. Satisfied with their work the kids scampered out of the area, moving to the place they had been told to meet for payment later. The water from the reservoir began to follow its new path, pushing out of the openings and into the trenches the other children had dug. The water rushed down the trenches across the yalms quickly, the vast body of water exposed to the area working to fill it. It filled the trenches all the way down to the vent ports they had been dug to, draining into shaft work that had been meant for air.

Outside of the vault East tugged his mask back over his face, smiling behind it as he started his exit from the chapel. The gang members present watched him with their own smiles, but East paid them no heed. If everything went correctly, those smiles would be gone in a few hours and some of them may even come to work for him.

Inside the vault the four brothers had discussed their final plans. The deal would be agreed to and they would get the first shipment of goods, then use the time to find where the big storage area for them were. Then they would kill East. The conversation had been cut off by the sudden influx of water coming from the vents. The sealed door hadn’t allowed them to hear their guard’s gargle of blood, leaving them in shock when the pager was pressed but the familiar door click didn’t sound. The more pressing issue for them was the water rushing in to the vault, quickly filling it from floor to ceiling. Their screams couldn’t be heard from inside the vault, their frantic attempts to pound at the door making no sound outside.

East rounded a bend outside of the chapel and followed down a familiar road, ducking into an alleyway. Inside the alleyway a gaggle of children awaited him, about twenty total. The younger ones had big grins on their faces while the older ones appeared more cynical. East smiled as he tugged his mask off, pulling out a hefty bag of gil. That made all of the faces grin wide, but it was followed by a frown as East held the bag back for a moment.

“If the guards ask who did this?” East asked, quirking a brow at the group.

“The Beast!” One boy shouted. “The Oasis Cartel!” A young girl shouted.

“What did they look like?” East asked again, holding the bag closer to the group.

“He wore a mask!” One of the younger kids shouted. “He carried a sword, and they all had blue armbands,” one of the oldest boys said evenly; he was done with the line of questioning.

“And if any guards give you grief or trouble about not answering more questions?” East asked, setting the bag down on a box, but keeping an eye fixed on the eager group.

“We leave a note by the fountain at the south chapel, under the second statue on the left!” An eager girl shouted.

East smiled, nodding to the group. It was all the signal they needed to rush for the bag of gil, scampering away quickly with their bounty in hand. It hadn’t been a lot of gil, but East knew it was enough to give them a few weeks of being more comfortable than normal. He’d have more jobs for them in the future, urchins were the better errand workers East had found.

“Bloodedsands, handled. My identity, covered. Names, established.” East smirked as he went through his checklist, heading on his way home.