The force of being shot knocked Mick back in his chair and his head slumped over to the side with lifeless eyes. Blood was spilling from his chest and mouth.

The first person to react in this situation was Hoeny. She leapt across the room to grab Loren and force him down to the ground, even though there weren’t any uncovered windows on that side of the room. The entire kitchen/living room area had two windows on each side, except one (which was opposite to where the shot came from), but all of them had curtains drawn.

“Get down!” Dr. Hawk shouted as he ducked, another bullet zooming by where his head had just been. He felt around with his hand to grab the window and shut it. “Rico!”

The third person most suited for this situation was Rico, who had been a military sniper for years. He made himself small against the wall and crept along, pulling the curtains tight. “Get close to the wall,” he said, looking at Dominic, who was frozen in the situation. “Keep your head down. The walls will protect from most gunfire.”

Wolf grabbed Dominic and Ms. Lenz and pulled them to where Honey had Loren. The group crept closer to the wall, while Lisa was army crawling over to Mick.

Dr. Hawk was still in the kitchen and watched her.

“He dead?”

She nodded.

“Fuck,” Dr. Hawk said. “God dammit. Who are these people you brought here? They’re shooting into a fucking hospital? And how the fuck did they follow you!? Pay attention to your god damn tracks.”

“I did,” Honey said. Perhaps letting Lance live was a bad idea, in retrospect. “Maybe they’ve got trackers in their clothing? Loren, Ms. Lenz, strip down.”

“Huh? Right now?”

“B-but…”

“Just splash some water on them,” Rico said. He grabbed a piece of paper from the board game the group was playing earlier, and slowly poked it out of the window. “If they’re fully doused, it’ll screw with the electronics.”

“They’re using Institute equipment.”

“...”

Rico didn’t have a response to that.

“You didn’t answer my damn questions, I noticed,” Dr. Hawk said. “Who the hell are these guys?”

“Black Viper,” Honey responded. “Or Bear God Army. One or the other.”

“No, this isn’t the Bear God Army,” Wolf said. Dr. Wolf narrowed his eyes at the man who ran from the clinic earlier without paying. “We’re all a bunch of dumbasses, but we’re not dumbasses who do stuff like shooting people without warning them. And the members know now to attack places like hospitals.”

“Black Vipers, then. Doc, you don’t happen to have a sneaky way out of here, do you?”

“The hell you think this place is?”

While the two were tense with each other, Loren was only staring at the corpse of his old friend and manager. Violence was wrong. Loren hated it. That’s why he went around the UE, trying to spread messages of peace. Even if he knew, somewhere deep down, that Mick didn’t agree with the types of preaching Loren did, at least the man supported him. Even if it was for his own greedy means, Mick was Loren’s ally.

The violinist felt a tear emerge from his eye, and he couldn’t remember ever feeling such sadness. He was a man who lived solely for the good in life, so he barely spent time thinking or dwelling on the bad. It was a sheltered life that began to crack upon the sight of death. Not just the imaginary, theoretical death of people he didn’t know, but the death of someone close.

He stood up, pushing Honey aside, as a loud blast sound came from downstairs.

“Lyle,” Rico said, his eyes widening. He looked to Dr. Hawk, who nodded. “I’m going down.”

“What the hell are you doing!?” Honey asked Loren, as Rico went to the stairs and began heading down. “If you die how the hell am I getting paid?”

“They want me, right?” Loren asked. “Then I’ll go out and surrender. That way this’ll all be over.”

“Over!?!? That does me no good! I need money!!”

Downstairs, Rico was prepared for the worst. But things weren’t quite as bad as he suspected. The loud bang had come from the shotgun in Lyle’s hands, and the front door was half shattered from his blast. A man in all black was dead, blood splattered against the wall, and Lyle was standing over him.

“Rico! What the hell is going on?”

“We’re under attack!”

More gunshots came through the door, and Lyle braced himself against the wall. Damn, if only the lock hadn’t been broken.

Lyle blasted the shotgun through the passageway without looking, then reloaded with the slugs he had forced into his pocket. After Wolf had broken down the door, the crew realized they should have more weapons at the ready, so Lyle had been keeping one under the visitor’s desk.

“Is everyone okay?”

Rico thought about the man who was shot. He didn’t even know that person’s name.

“More or less. There are snipers at the windows.”

Another few bullets started flying by. Lyle only had precious few slugs, so he didn’t react.

“What the hell are we going to do about this?”

That sentiment resonated throughout the entire Hawk’s Nest.

***

--Earlier--

“Damn! With all that happened, and with my mind so confused, but not in a bad way, I didn’t even realize my finger had disappeared!” Bear God said, sitting atop the bus his men came in as it drove away from the concert hall. “For this, we will need to be getting revenge.”

And it wasn’t just that.

The Bear God Army had suffered heavy casualties. They were underequipped, and didn’t like killing people, but that didn’t matter to the black suits. Those bastards wanted blood. They tried their best to kill, though none used any gods. Rather, knives and other blades were used, and many in the Bear God Army were hurt or killed. For a group normally so full of energy, as they drove away, beaten and bloody, nobody save Bear God could feel anything but somber.

One of the lieutenants of the army, Ricky, popped his head out of a hatch to speak with Bear God. The lieutenant had a scar over his face, one of his eyes missing from the battle and patched over by a cloth.

“Bear God...what happened to your finger? Who were those guys, and who fought you?”

“Hahahaha! Ricky! This might surprise you, because I am very smart, but the unfortunate truth is, that I have no idea! But luckily for us, and not for them, not knowing who they are, and or aren’t, doesn’t matter! In the end! Because we know what they want. That is the most important thing, in my opinion!”

“What they want?”

Bear God’s eyes widened, and the insanity that guided his every decision looked forward.

“Loren James, the guitarist, is their target. Assassins. But the interesting thing, in all of this, is not those assassins in black, not at all. Can you guess who I saw, when I lost this finger?”

“Who you saw? I’ve got no idea.”

“Wolf.”

That sobered Ricky up. Wolf was a good friend of everyone in the Bear God Army, and he was a phenomenal fighter. The only person he couldn’t defeat was Bear God, but that much was obvious. Nobody could beat the pinnacle of man.

When the Bear God Army decided to attack Loren Dames and change his mind, the only person who tried to rebel against that decision was Wolf. But as valiantly as Wolf fought, he couldn’t overpower Bear God’s will, and so with his defeat came the defeat of anyone who hoped to protect Dames. Ricky was one of those people. In fact, most of the Bear God Army actually didn’t support this, and even though they liked violence, considered using it on allies to be a mistake. Only one person tried to change the group’s mind, and he was soundly beaten.

“He was there? How?”

“No idea,” Bear God replied. Even though he looked energetic, for the first time in a long while, his words had grown soft. “But Wolf was there. Ran like a coward, from me, but who could blame him? And you know what? They got Mr. Guitarman. That means, if you think about it, the one who defeated us, at that moment, was not the old lady and her friends in black. It was, very surprisingly, Wolf.”

Elation rose in Ricky. Even though he dared not say it out loud, the thought of Wolf protecting Loren Dames was one that gave him hope. If Wolf could move after the horrible beating he received, perhaps he could do some real good.

“So, Ricky, do you know, deep in your heart, what we must do?”

“?”

“I don’t like it, and I’ll never repeat it, but right now, at this exact moment in history, I must admit my defeat. And it was, because of his actions, that I lost this finger. I will remember his revolution. But this is not a time for sadness, or revenge, even after everything, that was bad, happened. For now, we must help our friend. You said earlier, that Wolf was chased, to a hospital called Birdyland?”

“Er...something like that…”

“Then, it should be obvious, but we know where to go first, to help our friend!”

***

“They’ve got the windows covered,” came from the scouter on his walkie talkie. “We’ve got no visuals, and our men at the front door say that they’re armed. A squad was sent to the back of the building to enter through the back entrance, but it seems like they’ve got it well locked. Do we go in loud?”

Sitting at the command desk, in front of the radio switchboard, Dark Cobra growled.

That horned bastard didn’t care about anything. Through sheer brutality he commanded, and his orders were sacrificial at best.

‘Send them all in through the front door,’ Cerberus had said before going off on his own. ‘Eventually, the smell of shit and blood will cause everyone in the building to faint, and then I can kill them while they can’t resist. Not even giving them a chance to fight back would be the most absolute despair I could inflict on my slaves.’

He didn’t care about the actual logistics, and he didn’t care about their mission. That was obviously, and to some extent, it was understandable. Cerberus was killing Loren Dames for basically no reason Dark Cobra could understand, so why would he care at all about the mission and keeping quiet? This was a person that would probably find a street full of blood perfectly acceptable.

And that was not acceptable. Black Viper was a group of professionals, and besmirching their name with such obvious antics like that turned them from a group of elite assassins into a clan of psychopaths. Nobody would hire them after that.

Though, they’d already botched the job quite a bit. Things were really going downhill, but at least up until this point, there wasn’t much that got out into the public. Cerberus taking control was changing everything.

She needed to kill him. Get rid of him. And not just remove his control, but destroy him in such a way that prevented such a horrific beast from ever ruining their plans again. But right now, that seemed almost impossible. Shadow Komodo had been brutalized by Cerberus, and he was already at half capacity from his fight against Bear God. After seeing what happened to his brother, Nightmare Gator had tried to fight Cerberus, but only had his arms broken in multiple places. Even Dark Cobra was reeling from her injuries; her head had been slammed a few too many times and she most definitely had a concussion at the very least. Even with all the bandages wrapped around her head, she was still a blood mess. Cerberus was more powerful than even Bear God, who she had considered one of the strongest fighters she’d ever come across earlier that day. With a weapon in her hand, she might be able to deal with Cerberus, but even then, she wasn’t sure about her own ability to survive that fight.

“Dark Cobra? Ma’am, what do you want us to do? Or...what does that freak want us to do, if we’re still following his commands? Go in loud or not?”

Cerberus, after giving her instructions earlier, had leapt into the air. His movement stalled, and then there was a flaming explosion behind him, propelling himself off in the direction of the Hawk’s Nest at high speeds. He could move incredibly fast, and the explosion was quiet enough, so you could never tell when he was around.

But currently, she knew he was away. She could buck against his order.

The problem with doing that, however, was that it meant she couldn’t be there to stab him in the back. That’s right. Dark Cobra was an assassin, first and foremost. Over the years, it had become too easy to slink around in the shadows and fight unfairly, so she began openly fighting bodyguards to have a challenge.

Now, when the challenge was getting in the way of her job and responsibilities, there was no reason to just become a snake. Breaking Cerberus’s trust right now would prevent her from getting that opportunity.

So, as much as she hated to do it, Dark Cobra pressed the button to speak.

“Go in. Hit them with the maximum amount of force possible.”

***

Three men in black suits, with black cloth face masks charged to the front door of the clinic with rifles in their hands. From the blasted door popped the barrel end of a shotgun, and the blast took the center man in the throat, splattering gore behind him as he fell forward gurgling out gibberish. But that didn’t stop the other two, who were only steps from breaking through and slaughtering everyone inside.

Just another few steps.

A smoke grenade exploded in front of them, and immediately the entire front of the store became a black cloudy mess.

“What the!?”

There were ten men total who were stationed outside of the Hawk’s Nest, ready to siege and attack, and from a distance to their left, they heard the cries of battle. Charging towards them were people covered in red, waving bats and wrenches like swords and spears. The red crashed into the black, and like earlier that night, the two forces once again began to clash.

This time, it was advantageous for the Bear God Army. The black suits weren’t prepared for them, and through sheer numbers, the red began overwhelming the black suits. Even though the Black Vipers had guns, they couldn’t shoot enough bullets to stop the wave crashing down around them.

Inside the building, Rico and Lyle had run up the stairs after the smoke ball caught them by surprise. Rico knew fighting in it was a death sentence.

“What’s happening out there?” Dr. Hawk asked, rolling up his sleeves. They only had the single shotgun in the building, but the grizzled doctor knew how to brawl, and he wouldn’t go down quietly. “You two both good?”

“Fine,” Rico said. He made sure to keep close to the walls. “I’m not sure. Seems like chaos.”

The only person who dared to look out the window, and she only did by a peep, was Honey. From the second floor of the clinic, she could see the struggles outside. Even though she didn’t know for sure who each group represented, it was pretty obvious. She could make an educated guess based on the red and black.

“They’re fighting again,” Honey said. “Bear God’s people and the Black Viper. I guess they both want to take us out. Doc? Back exit?”

The doctor nodded.

“Let’s go,” he said, grabbing Dominic and Lisa by their shirt collars. “Lyle, lead the way.”

“Sure, boss.”

Lyle was the first to go down the stairs, his shotgun pointing forward and his finger on the trigger. The smoke hadn’t subsided, and was filling the entrance room up and obscuring practically everything. There weren’t any immediate sounds of people, and the battle cries were coming from outside, so Lyle pushed on. After him was Dr. Hawk, still dragging Dominic and Lisa, who were coughing and tearing up from the smoke. Next was Wolf, his hands wrapped around Loren and Ms. Lenz’s shoulders, helping them along in a way similar to Dr. Hawk. In the back of the line were Rico and Honey, the latter of whom didn’t seem phased by the black smoke at all.

In the next room, where patients rested, the smoke hadn’t filled the room, so everyone got a chance to catch their breath. But that didn’t last very long as the back door opened slowly, revealing a trio of men in black who had been picking the lock.

Lyle already had the shotgun out and didn’t hesitate to blast the one in the back holding a pistol. The man was flung backwards and Dr. Hawk and Wolf charged forward.

Wolf vaulted over the lockpicking man, who was crouched down, and grappled onto the man behind him. Even though he was injured, Wolf was still an incredibly competent fighter. And when it came to grapples, there weren’t many people who could defeat him. As the man stumbled back, Wolf walked in his steps, forcing the man’s arms back out behind him and locking his joints. He wrapped a leg around the Black Viper’s, then smashed his forehead on the man’s nose twice. When he felt the man’s grip weaken, Wolf released, and his enemy crumpled down to the ground.

While that was happening, behind Wolf, Dr. Hawk had given the lockpicker a front kick to the jaw so hard the man was launched up in the air. With precision only a trained surgeon and martial artist could muster, the doctor jabbed his fist twice: once into the man’s throat, then again at his side, right into an undefended liver. It was a one-two punch on a defenseless man floating in the air, and the force of the blows caused the intruder to fly over and land in a pile with his recently defeated companions.

“Nice fighting there, kid,” Dr. Hawk said, putting his hand on Wolf for a second before walking forward as the caravan of people followed. “But don’t overdo it. You’re injured, after all.”

As soon as Lyle poked his head out of the door, he saw a man in black holding a sniper rifle fall from the building to their side. No, to be more accurate, he saw the man being thrown off, and from the top of the building, Lyle saw a hulking bald giant smile down at him.

Wolf immediately recognized him.

“T-that’s him! Run!”

In his voice was a tone of complete fear. Any confidence Wolf had earned while defeating the Black Viper member was instantly banished, and he grabbed the people he was trying to protect and pulled them along as the group crossed through the small garden at the back of the clinic and into an ally. The battle began to follow them, as Black Viper members began to flee from the Bear God Army.

This late at night, the only bystanders were the drunk and the homeless, both of whom were getting pushed around as the Black Vipers carved a path towards their targets. The leader of a squad, after assuring his members that they were right on the trail of Loren Dames, turned a corner only to meet a fist in his face.

Standing in the alleyway was Dr. Hawk, Lyle, and Rico.

“Heh, tell us to stay back and take care of em..?”

That was the orders Honey had given, and for some reason, in this situation, she seemed like everything was in control. That was why despite his age and authority as a medical practitioner, Dr. Hawk had listened. But after thinking about it for a few seconds, Dr. Hawk was feeling like she took advantage of him.

“What am I, some dumb brute who just follows orders?” The doctor asked, his fist flying out like a machine gun, beating down the Black Vipers who had chased after them. “I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but I know one thing…”

The plan Honey concocted was simple. To keep Loren Dames safe, they’de need to split up, and they’d need someone to stay back and distract their enemies. The three older men working at the clinic were chosen, even though they had absolutely no idea what was going on, while everyone else kept running.

Normally, Dr. Hawk would have opposed the idea, just because it was someone bossing him around, but there was something that pissed him off more than being commanded.

Dr. Hawk stared down at the men who were sandwiched now between the staff of the Hawk’s Nest and the Bear God Army.

“Anyone who comes into a hospital trying to hurt someone,” Dr. Hawk continued. “Deserves quite a beating…”

He cracked his knuckles and descended upon the Black Viper assassins.

***

Panting and out of breath, Dominic stumbled out of the alleyway and onto the street. Behind were the remainder of his group, everyone for the most part looking ragged and tired. They split off from Dr. Hawk and the other clinic guys around half an hour ago, and had been basically running the entire time. Once or twice, they had come across a Black Viper assassin, but either Honey or Wolf had been quick to dispatch them; Wolf with his joint locks and submissions throws and Honey with her cruel stiletto knife.

“Did we escape? Are we good?”

“We’re close,” Honey said. She pointed off in the distance to a brightly lit building that stood on a structure over the city. The train station, and their destination. “Plus, we haven’t seen any of those Bear army or Black Viper guys for a while. My guess is we’ve got smooth sailing from here on out.”

“You’re too excited,” Wolf said. But even he couldn’t help but feel relief that they were almost at their goal. Dragging so many people along had been tolling his body, and fatigue was beginning to cloud his vision. The sooner this was over, the better.

“That’s right. Bad things happen when you least expect it.”

The voice was like metal being shredded and warped. Coated with a strange american drawl.

Wolf turned but was punched in the back of the head before he could finish, and his body bounced across the street like a ragdoll, before striking into a light pole and causing it to bend.

“Huh?”

Dominic, even though he had been looking back at Wolf the entire time, hadn’t noticed the approach of this new man. How had he not noticed? The assailant stood tall and muscular, like a deadly fighter, but he was completely naked and covered red with blood. Two bull horns sprouted from his forehead and wrapped around to the back like a demonic crown. This man was looking directly at Loren, and reached his hand out to grab him.

“Lance...” Loren asked with shock, his eyes widening. “Mr. Gordon, is that you!?”

There was only one other person with their group that recognized the transformed detective. Honey, for the first time tonight, felt worried. She didn’t have a plan against this, and was frozen in place. With her brother, they had fought against Cerberus once. Well, fought was probably not the right word. Defended themselves against.

***

Long ago, when the Fragat siblings had first started dealing with Lance Gordon, the Herculean Odysseus, Honey had gone to great lengths to learn about what kind of experiment he was. Any advantage against a rival was worth the cost. Anything they could exploit.

Much like them, Lance Gordon was an orphan, brought off the street into the Institute.

But unlike them, he was not an actual person.

The Institute took 11 children in, and designated them as test subjects. Each one was wiped clean of their young individualities, and forced to undergo modifications and tests. Tests to make them stronger. Tests to give them resistances to poisons and harsh temperatures. Tests to make them regrow limbs. Tests to make them faster, smarter, and even tests to make them capable of reading people’s minds. 11 children were pushed to the limits and transformed into monsters.

But the Heracles Project did not end there.

Each child was lobotomized after being considered successful, and their brains were removed after being detached from their nervous system. They took those eleven brains and combined them into one, pulling a final 12th child into the mix. With hope, this would create a single soldier with an absurd combination of different techniques and knowledge, able to harness eleven lifetimes of knowledge in a single body. And to some extent, it worked. This final person, who the Institute called Lance Gordon, was an amalgamation of incredibly gifted test subjects, and was able to solve almost any task just by changing forms. With enough time and the correct tools, there aren’t problems that can’t have a resolution, and the Heracles Project proved that. He served under them for years, accomplishing tasks and solving Institute issues single handedly.

While that was happening, deep down inside the shared consciousness, something evil was brewing.

It is quite rare for experiments to not defy or hate their creators. So long as something has emotion, it will choose to act in a way that best suits its interests, and being a slave to the Institute rarely does that. Deep within Lance Gordon’s young body, an evil being named Cerberus was plotting his revenge. Each personality was given a name, based on Hercules’s Labors, with Cerberus being the final one, and the original personality of Cerberus was the true host body that the other minds were implanted in. He was the one working for the Institute, having the complete knowledge and skills of 11 other minds. And then one day, he rebelled.

Fortunately, he wasn’t able to accomplish much and was shut down very quickly. The scientists put a self-destruct switch in the brain that controlled Cerberus, forcing him to automatically die after a few hours once he took control, and letting another brain take control of the body. And those personalities themselves decided to not let their host body cause problems; you see, all the despair and darkness they had once felt was passed on directly to Cerberus. But the beast’s body could not be removed completely, and the demon deep within was just put to rest, forced to live as a passive observer of his own body, only able to come out when he found a moment to exploit.

To change personalities, Lance Gordon needs to speak a mnemonic phrase and destroy his current brain, after which it gets replaced. The words: ‘Good Morning’, awaken the conscious and give them time to take over the body before Cerberus can.

But when a brain is destroyed without those words?

The real personality of Lance Gordon, the Herculean Odysseus emerges.

***

“Yo, you just gonna let me take him?” Cerberus asked, effortlessly holding Loren up by the man’s face. He had squeezed hard enough to break some of the violinist’s teeth, and Loren had gone limp. “For real? I was expecting a fight or something. Pretty pathetic, I guess what else would I expect against someone like you?” He smirked at Honey, who was still motionless, not even putting up a defensive posture.

She knew she couldn’t fight him. It would lead to a painful death.

After seeing Wolf get flung across the street and Loren being picked up, everyone else froze. Tears were streaming out of Dominic’s eyes.

“Haha, come on, you know I can’t do anything now,” Honey said. Damn. She was doing her best to think of something. Anything. Not just for herself, but for Loren Dames. So that she could get that money she had worked so hard for. “What happened? Did they shoot you when you were regenerating as Hippolyta?”

Cerberus nodded.

“Those slaves thought they could argue against the assassins,” Cerberus said. “And were shot immediately. Hilarious, honestly. Of course, I needed to punish those who hurt my body, and so I did. Not by killing them, but by preventing them from ever living as humans again. In the meantime, I tried to think about what I could do with my time here, to cause the most amount of suffering. Tell me, is Hanson around?”

“I couldn’t reach him.”

“Oh, really? That’s unfortunate. Killing him might've been fun...eh, but on the other hand, you two cause enough problems for my slaves that your existence is actually a plus for me,” Cerberus said. He didn’t need to question her words, because he could tell when people were lying. His overwhelming power made it so a lie meant nothing. “Really, this is a great fucking situation. All I need to do is kill this man, and everything my slaves were working for would be over. Just the thought makes me happy.”

Silence.

Nobody could say anything.

Lisa looked over towards Wolf, watching as he bled out and writhed.

“But, on the other hand, I sort of feel like that would be a waste of my time,” Cerberus continued his monologue. “The first time I get to see the real world in over five years, and it’ll end so quickly? I didn’t even get a chance to see the sun! So fucking cruel. Oh, I know. This man is a violinist right? In that case, I’ve got the perfect idea. You know that my control will only last a few more hours, correct? Well, in that time, I want to watch the worms struggle. I want to watch people beg for their lives, and I want my slaves to regret the fact they were ever born. So, I’ll do you all a favor. I’ll give you all a chance to come save him, Loren Dames. Meet me back at the concert hall. Oh...I do love a show…”

***

Nobody could follow him as he walked away as though he didn’t have a care in the world, dragging the limp body of Loren Dames along with him.

A few minutes after he was gone, the tension in the air evaporated.

Lisa dashed across the street to Wolf and knelt over him, trying to check his body to look at his wounds. If he was still alive, she could probably heal him. She had a certain gift that gave her the option to.

“W-what are...what are we going to do? How do we g-get him back?” Dominic asked, tears in his eyes as he stared at Honey.

She shrugged.

“No idea,” Honey replied. “You know I can’t fight against that, right? Nor could our crippled dog friend over there, and even if we found Dr. Hawk or Hanson in the meantime, none of them could put up a good fight. Honestly, we shouldn’t do anything.”

“What do you mean? We need to help him!”

“Then good luck on your own,” Honey said, glaring back. She covered her emotions quickly, not wanting the frustration deep inside of her leak out. Something about how arrogant Cerberus acted made her mad, and the fact it was done in Lance’s body made it worse. It was like that useless american accent cop was getting the better of her. “I don’t want to die. Anyway, I was just here for money, and without Mick here to pay it out, who knows if I’ll even get it. Ms. Lenz over here doesn’t seem to be very confident, either. Hey, wait...what’s your first name, anyway?”

This was the first time Honey had even paid attention to Ms. Lenz, who jumped at the harsh shout.

“U-uh...I-it’s Christa…”

“Well, Christa, if I managed to get Loren back in one piece, would you be able to pay out whatever bodyguard fee Mick was promising to pay? You have control over those funds?”

The secretary shook her head slowly.

“You see? Helping out would be a waste of time,” Honey said. “And even if we did save Loren, I’m sure Cerberus wouldn’t make it so easy. He’d probably poison him, or destroy his hands so he can’t play viola ever again.”

“...it’s v-violin…” Christa quietly said.

“You get my point.”

“No, I d-don’t get it,” Dominic said. “It isn’t about money. We said we would p-protect him, but now we aren’t? That’s wrong!”

“Jesus, kid,” Honey said, even though Dominic was her age. “What the hell are you talking about? You think this is some kind of fantasy novel where the heroes win? That man, Cerberus, will rip you apart without killing you. Last time we fought against him, I was stuck in the Hawk’s Nest for weeks. Got this complimentary.”

As she said that, Honey lifted her shirt to bare part of her stomach.

There was a large scar across her midsection. The skin was bright pink, as opposed to her normal olive color, and lines and stitches ran through it. It almost looked like a chunk of her flesh had been bitten through, and Dominic winced as he saw it.

“If you want to go get maimed for fun, be my guest,” Honey continued. “But just know you won’t succeed. He’ll tear you apart, and laugh while doing it. The only reason he gave us an opportunity to save Loren Dames is because he gets off on crushing people’s spirits while they’re full of hopes. He knows how much that’ll hurt his other personalities. But good luck. I’ll make sure to get drunk at your funeral.”

Dominic had nothing to say.

He was useless, and he knew it. The only reason he even had this job was because someone else helped him get it. He wasn’t strong, or smart, or brave. Dominic knew that there was nothing he could do, and he couldn’t even muster up the charisma to get others to help him.

“F-fine…”

“Hmm?”

“I’ll do it myself,” Dominic said, wiping away tears and snot. “Even if I die...or get...hurt, really bad, I d-don’t want Loren to think we weren’t just giving up. So I’ll go alone.”

Something massive landed behind Dominic, breaking the sidewalk and knocking Dominic over on his face. When the young man flipped over and saw who knocked him over, he gawked.

“Impressive!! Young man, you are, without a doubt, very brave, and very cool!! You, a good person, should join me, and my men!!”

It was Bear God, holding two oversized truck tires in his hand. Over his shoulders were the unconscious bodies of Dr. Hawk, Rico, and Lyle, and he rolled them off onto the ground. The large russian was smiling wide, but it grew even wider as he saw his old companion, Wolf, limping over with the help of Lisa. Wolf, on the other hand, began to sweat as he could only picture himself dying if he were to get hit by one of Bear God’s tires.

“Wolf! I’m glad that you’re alive! Oh, and to you all, it was an accident, and I’m sorry for it, but I accidentally knocked all our friends, who were fighting against my men, down. But when I saw them, I thought to myself, wait a second, I know them! This is Rowan! Old bastard!”

“You...know them..?” Wolf asked as they got closer. “Wait, why are you here?”

“Who!? Me!? Ha! Wolf, you ask some strange, and by strange I mean strange, questions! I have been convinced! That is not easy to do, but I must say, thanks to you, I have changed my mind!”

“Changed your mind about what? Not hurting Loren Dames?”

Instead of saying anything, Bear God just grinned widely and nodded. He looked quite pleased with himself.

“So, we beat up every single scumbag chasing after you! The guitarist is safe!”

Bear God looked around.

“Huh!? I must be confused, because I am never mistaken, because I don’t see him.”

“That’s because he was kidnapped,” Honey said, cutting in before Wolf had a chance to say anything. A smile was creeping onto her face. “You idiotic bear fellow. But now that you’re here, if you really want to help out Loren Dames, I know just exactly what you can do…”

The smile of Bear God’s face slowly wilted as the sinister woman began her calculations.