Okumura Syndicate Ending 3

Chapter 179: Flickering Out

Simultaneously, Rou led the rebels to the first floor corridor, scanning the area for threats. "Where is everybody?", he wondered aloud. "Who knows, maybe they've taken refuge elsewhere.", said Craaq. "Maybe you're right. Let's split up, check the rooms.", replied the confused capo. Rou's gaze swept along a row of doors, each one of them bearing the same silence and melocholy. He checked the next three, finding it all the same, except for the one at the very end, which had a faint snuffling sound eminating on the inside. They had to investigate.

Upon entering the dusty room, they came across a shivering husk of a woman, whose body had lost its energy. "Is that...", Shiva began to ask. "No, it can't be..." replied Rou. He proceeded forward and lifted the poor girl's hood. Her expression was lifeless and weak as she sulked in a blanket of her own shame. "Kiara, is that you?", asked the sympathetic man. Sulena pulled Rou away from the sobbing elf, "Rou, I'm not sure we should interact with her, she's in the anti-crime group.", she reminded him. He didn't budge, "Even so, I can't leave her like this, what if my brother did something terrible to her?".

Sulena sighed, looking over the young woman once more, she nodded and allowed Rou to approach Kiara once more. Slowly, the man bent down beside the young woman, placing his arms gently behind her head to lift it up. He carefully brushed her hair away from her face, and gasped loudly. "Kiara, what happened to you?". The woman flinched violently, unable to move an inch as she gazed up at the man. He stared at her for a moment, then spoke softly, "Kiara...Vox's sinister forces could be anywhere. We have to get you out of here...".

The girl trembled under his touch, and coughed violently. Her skin was completely green, almost like rotten vegetables. Her breathing was wheezy, and her eyes, which were now yellow with slit pupils, looked as dead as ever. She stared at him silently, unresponsive to anything that he said. "What do we do now?", Viper wondered. After thinking about it, Rou replied, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but the situation in this mansion needs to be stopped immediately. It's too dangerous for her to be here, and though her black heart probably still beats, my empathy cannot allow me to leave her be.".

At this point, Craaq decided to interject.
"Rou, I'll take care of her. Just stay safe, okay?". Rou looked over to the rabbit-like dwarf, with an inkling he was being underestimated, or worse, distrusted. "You don't have to do that...", he uttered, holding his head. "I insist, I'm not leaving all of you like this. Besides, it doesn't feel right for her to die alone...I made a mistake trusting Vox, and I need to make up for it somehow.". Locking eyes with the rebels, and then at Kiara, Rou anxiously awaited a response from his comrades, he had an important decision to make if everyone was going to trust him again.

On the floor above, things weren't going much better. "Are you fucking kidding me!?", yelled a disgruntled Aster in a shuddering tone. The young soldier charged towards Lin, sword in hand, but Fleur and Demitris pulled him back. "Hold on Aster, this fight clearly isn't a normal battle, really think you're about to do.", advised Fleur. Before Aster could respond, the puppet took a swing at him, but he blocked the blow quickly with his short sword, then retaliated by throwing a punch into Lin's face. Lin stumbled backward, landing flat on his ass.

Aster took his chance to tackle the soulless assassin and flip him over his shoulder. Lin landed on the hard concrete floor, the wind knocked out of him. As if his strings were lifted, the deadly opponent slowly rose up from the ground and readied himself to attack. "Oh god! Oh god!!", Demitris whimpered as he looked at Lin, who glared at Aster maliciously, "Are you two gonna help me or not?!", Aster asked his friends. Desperate, Fleur threw herself at Lin as well, but Lin managed to dodge the attack with ease. Demitris, readied his hands and uses Fleur's sword as a bar to fling himself towards the dastardly creation.

As expected however, Lin dodged his attack as well, "What a pathetic bunch of fools you lot are", he scoffed.
Before Lin could strike back however, Aster had thrown a dagger straight into his shoulder, knocking him off balance. His face turned into pure rage, and his eyes glowed a blinding orange. Without further hesitation puppet Lin launched at Aster and the others. "You're far too disconnected to even thing of breaking his strings.", a man's voice called out into the space. He could not be seen, but it was clear he was taunting the trio.

Seething flames launched from Lin's shoulders as he circled the group as they found themselves in a much smaller area. "Try co-operating next time. Maybe, just maybe you can break out...", teased Lin. "I guess we'll see...", replied Aster, drawing his sword, "Now come on!", he commanded, trying to push through the flames, but he only ended up charring his trousers. "Aster, you heard what he said, we all have to work together on this!", declared Fleur. The stumped group of three rebels needed to think of a strategy.