Syndicate of tribulation

Chapter 12

This chapter is so long I had to split it up.
[Domo's POV]

I've watched Kungfu panda only once. I didn't care for it much but watching movies were always a good distraction and pastime in this house. We are back. Right back in the centre of the madness. The house where it all began and ended. Where all of our journeys with tribulation began and where all our sliver of former innocence ended.

As soon as we arrived home from what can only be described as a trainwreck of a flight – Oh, the irony – we were sent immediately to the headquarters where they extracted information from us like honey from a honeycomb. They pressed us for the information we had till our heads hurt. "Why did you leave your house? Who was chasing you? Did you see any faces or marks?" Questions being hurled over and over no matter how many 'I don't know's were sent back.

In Kungfu panda there is something master Oogway says that has always stuck with me. "The past is history, the future is a mystery but today is a gift, that is why it is called the present."  It's not necessarily true but it fills me with hope that I can live for today and not fret about tomorrow. But the past isn't just history – it's filled with pain, anger, and loss. The future isn't a mystery because we all die eventually. But I like the saying that today is a gift.

I sit in my room. It's changed so much since the first time I came here. The furniture and position of everything is the same but the way my eyes see it all now is so different. I didn't know what I was thinking when I agreed to come here, I don't know if I would necessarily take it all back but I know for a fact I would think about the decision harder than I did, especially now I know all the perils that come with accepting their honey-laced offer.

A soft knock comes at the door and Eustace slowly pushes my door open. A permanent sullen look inked in her face as she comes and sits besides me on her bed. "I miss her so much" she whispers in my shoulder. "Domo we have to find her and make sure she is alive" she urged. I don't reply, I simply look up at my ceiling and lose myself in the endless, empty blankness. King is the strongest of us all. I know she is alive, but I also knows that if she really wanted to come back to us or contact us, she would.

I could just be wishfully thinking, she could just be at the bottom of the ocean with Tyro or maybe in her weakness captured again by those crazy thugs that chased us from country to country. "I've asked Dax to track them, but he says he can't. I don't know what to do Domo, you got to help me" Stace pleads me and shakes my arm.

Sighing, I turn to look at the begging girl, "Stace, I can't help you. I feel like whether or not King's alive will all be revealed to us soon. If she is alive trying to contact her could jeopardise her position if she is actually in hiding, or if she's been captured it can thwart her escape plans if they know we are trying to find her which will cause them to increase their security for her. And if she's dead... then we will know soon enough because Blake sent out a marine search team" I replied. Stace's eyes glossed over, the bright colour glistening even more making something beautiful of her sadness.

"Why do I feel like I'm the only one that care?!" She raises her voice and stands up abruptly before storming out of my room. Well, that was... something. I've never seen her get like that. As sick and twisted as it is, it felt like a moment I should treasure; a rare time Stace isn't all smiley.]

I waltzed to Amo's room. We have been oddly distance with each other since we got back here. I skipped the knocking and pushed his door open, only to find his room completely empty. Huh. I thought to myself.

I looked around the house calling his name. I searched the basement with all the training equipment and finally found him beating the non-existent life out of the punching bag. What a sight! His muscles gleaming with sweat as they flexed with every blow to the bag. His face seemed hard as the thoughts in his head clouded his other senses. I sauntered slowly up to him, hoping that I wouldn't alarm him and end up with a blow to the face by accident. Once I was close but a safe enough distance away and shouted his name to snap him out of his stupor. He looked disoriented as his eyes wandered around before finally settling on me. I walked closer, "what's on your mind?" I asked, "hello to you to Domo" he replied as he took of the gloves and chugged down some water. "Yeah, yeah, now tell me" I instructed. He looked me up and down, as if assessing whether I was worthy of that information before he finally blurted out "Tyro.".

We didn't talk much but each other's presence was enough, I think. We sat down on the mats and just enjoyed each other's company and small talk that was made. That was until 3 loud booming knocks came from upstairs. The noise echoing around the basement as we looked at one another in a state of confusion. We went upstairs to find Blake and 2 big burly men around him. He usually brings more, but King and Tyro are no longer here.

"We have another mission for you guys. This one is an exceedingly high risk one though so you will have to complete a practical skills assessment before you go" Blake voiced. He let us know the details of the mission and how it wouldn't just be the 4 of us. We were accompanying a team of about 30-40 people onto a site which they believe the butt load of rare oil is being delivered to. Liam Winters apparently spilled this information after a couple torture sessions. I don't even want to think about what they are doing to that man inside the centre. The skills assessment was meant to take place 3 hours later and until that time we had to train our sweat glands off.

The skills assessment – it's not a test that you can pass or fail. It's more like a method of seeing where your strengths and weaknesses lie. We all had strengths and weaknesses so in order for the mission to go well we had to find out what they were and either work on it or be utilised in a way where we never have to deal with them. I know my weakness. Hand-to-hand combat. With a bow, I feel like I could never miss my intended target, but I am still quite a clumsy person when it comes to my footing. I'm good at medium range. Short range is too demanding and long range will cause my accuracy to suffer. But medium range is too small of a box to put myself in. I need to improve and push myself to my limits, I can't stay in this box forever.

When I was in the orphanage, I picked up a filthy skill: pickpocketing. I was one of the best in the orphanage, if you had something on you that I wanted you should never walk past me because it would be gone in moments. At first, I did it to survive because I couldn't survive on what they gave us at the orphanage but eventually I started getting hired by the older kids in the orphanage to still stuff from rich people: their watches, their wallets, their necklaces, or rings... I could do it. If I could somehow incorporate skills from pickpocketing into my fighting style, I would become a force to be reckoned with.

But how...? I wasn't good with short distance, and I must be right next to someone to pickpocket them. Wait! I got it. I asked Amo for a quick favour and my plan was ready.

I called all my friends. "Ok, all of you come at me with your weapons" I instructed, they looked reluctant at first but then I urged them on. They all quickly marched towards me with their weapons: Amo- his rod, Dax- his shotgun and Eustace-her blade. Once they were at a distance, I was comfortable with, I short my special arrow right in front of their feet, as soon as it touched the ground a white smoke erupted from the arrow. I quickly dashed into the thick opaque mist. I didn't ned to see them. I perfected the skill of pickpocketing so that even if I can't see the person as long as I brush against them my job could be done.

I rolled out of the mist once I had touched them all. They coughed and waved their hands in their face as they ran out of the mist also. By the time the smoke cleared there were bullets on the floor for Dax's gun. The blade in Stace's hand had been replaced by a stick and Amo's rod was replaced with one of my blunt arrows. Their faces looked gobsmacked as they realised what I had done in mere seconds of confusion. "OMG you are awesome" Dax murmured. I shot back a proud smile as Amo looked at me with pride knowing that his invention had been put to clever use. "Thanks for the special arrows darling" I joked to Amo, his eyes widening with the nickname and a small smile appearing on his face. "Anytime, in fact I got more different types, feel free to try them out, darling" he shot back with a smirk. Eustace had a disheartened look on her face now.

"I'm the worst fighter here" she muttered. She wasn't necessarily wrong, but violence isn't going to be everyone's strong suit. "Eustace don't say that you may not be as good when it comes to physically assaulting people, but you are one heck of a professional liar. We might not need you when it comes to fighting but when it comes to going undercover and infiltrating you are better than us all. We need you Eustace. Don't let your inability to do one thing undermine the rest of your abilities" I voiced out, somehow telling her off for talking down on herself when she is just as important and useful as the rest of us, besides, she wouldn't be here if she hadn't had something special about her.