AFTERMATH (Ch. 134)

Raven twists beneath his rooms dimmed light, groaning at his bodies stiffness, he squints, surveying the unfamiliar surroundings, the cream walls bringing memories rushing back, groaning once more he lifts himself of his feet, exiting the room he stumbles upon the guys, each covered in heavy wraps of bandages, even as Shifters they were far from Gods, very much still mortal, just much harder to kill.

"Hey" he calls, the four turning to him, Dennis grunts in reply, James waves with a smile wordlessly, Yanick catches him into a bear hug, 

"Yo" Jayson greets,

"What were you guys talking about?" He questions,

"His old man" Jayson nods towards him,

"James's dad?",

"He was attacked, greviously injured, luckily Harold got there in time, through he's in a delicate situation" Jayson replies

"What?!!" Raven exclaims turning sharply to James, "James..." He trails watching the boy wave it away with a forced smile, 

"Where's Amy?" Raven questions,

"With the girls, they're watching the old man" Jayson responds,

"He's here?",

"Yeah, best private doctors money can hire, can't have the world knowing the founder and CEO of the Young conglomerate is in critical condition with a stab injury inches from his heart" Jayson replies,

"We should go see him" Yanick states,

"And do what?, Cry?, Where better off finding the motherfuckers who did this" Dennis replies, 

"And how do you purpose we do that genius?" Jayson quips, MURAKAN'S forces are buried deeper than a body, finding them is nigh impossible",

"But not impossible" Raven replies, "for now we should focus on another short term matter we have at hand" Raven states drawing their attention,

"Great, more shit to deal with" Jayson sighs. 

Raven spends the next several minutes explaining to them what had happened after they lost consiousness,

"Well..." Jayson trails,

"So we have to fight these guys?" Yanick replies, "they sound like bad guys",

"No and "Maybe Raven replies, "they seem to require Kevin Volts help with their last generation leader",

"Speaking of which is Kevin Volt really this 'Ethan Raine' they're looking for? Yanick questions,

"I honestly don't know" Raven replies,

(A student who doesn't know it's master, sounds about Right) Jayson muses thinking to himself, (I wonder how the crazy old man is doing),

"Well we'll still need one more person" Yanick states,

"I have just the person in mind" Raven grins momentarily before his eyebrows furrow, "by the way where's Konan?",

"With DEALERS" Yanick replies,

"Doing what?" Jayson interjects,

"Helping" Yanick smile ambiguously,

"Alright then, we'll leave the detective to his work, for us, we rest up then we hit the combat room, one month, in one month we go again" Raven declares,

"Self training?" Yanick questions,

"Your Uncle?" Raven states in question, his sight turned to James, the latter nodding to each side,

(So we'll need a teacher, someone strong enou...) Raven pauses, a devious smile blooming on his lips,

"No, we'll have a teacher, someone with sufficient experience as well, infact, we'll bring the girls" Raven states with an even widening smile.

Jeremy's chest rose and fell, again with repeated frequency, standing beside his bed, a beautiful middle aged woman with cascading Auburn hair,

"Joselyin" Harold calls towards his sister, watching silently as 'Force' rippled around her very being, her well known vicious temper threatening to flare,

"You with me" she replies, a statement if declaration, Harold sighs in response, stepping outside the medical room Alexandra gives a light bow upon sight of Harold, 

"Where too" he questions nodding back in response,

"Voss" she replies,

(She's calling Rachel 'Voss'?, She's really pissed) he sighs as he and Alexandra follow behind.

DEALERS, one of the big four, well, such a title was something of the past, although it would seem like they at the very least repelled MERCHANTS the sense if gloom still hung over their heads, Duke after ruminating endlessly over Kevin's appearance came to one single conclusion,

(Dexter definitely had another goal), what it could possibly be he wasn't sure, (the war itself was idiotic, why a war, i hate to admit but even a meat head like me can see there were better options to be rid of us, all this seems like a... show...) Duke's mind spins, "A show" Duke states watching the DEALERS members move ceaselessly to fix the resulting collateral damage, pondering furiously over the battle, first against Lingyun, secondly Cain and Abel against a simple group of Shifters, Lingyun's sudden burst of strength, 

(As if he'd been holding back), despite his hate for the MERCHANTS leader it didn't quite add up, "ATTUNEMENT advancement level Shifters could very easily decimate dozens of normal Shifters, Raven and Co taking out the ATTUNEMENT level MURAKAN combatant was both a stroke of luck, preparation, ingenuity and a similar leveled Shifters existence, so to win against three...bullshit, i don't know what it is...but that bastard wasn't trying to win, if he really was, we would've, why leave the RUNAWAYS family in their home base to be rescued when he's held unto Sebastian so tightly?, Even if being so sloppy is not his style, most importantly with that Kevin Volt or 'Ethan Raine', wiping us out was a matter of certainty, something isn't right, and for their sake...) He pauses looking at the running kids eagers to assist the members, the evacuated Street inhabitants, the girls, (i have to know) he concludes.

"You may enter" the secretary beside Jhon states, Jhon pushes the towering office doors aside to reveal Rachel Voss seated and working behind her desk. Jhon steps in, the doors closing behind him, seconds pass in silence, the only sound to be heared the sound of pen and paper,

"He didn't die" Jhon states, "a shame" he follows,

"Once a week, every fourth day, i will make it so you can survive if only barely" she declares not bothering to look up, 

"That's fair" Jhon grins,

"Ma'am!" The secretary shouts barging in, behind her a familiar auburn haired middle aged woman, 

"Joselyin" Rachel states, a small smile blooming before turning to a look of confusion upon picking both her and Harold's expressions, "Leave" she orders Jhon who despite his manaical nature could picture and almost feel his head decapitated from his body should he err by being his usual sarcastic self, nodding with a hardened expression he exits, several dozen meters later he focuses his senses to Rachel's office to find a Domain well enacted, 

(Each one if those three could obliterate me) he grins excitedly.

Joselyin and Harold took the two sits opposite her, 

"Voss" Joselyin begins,

(She only calls me this when she's pissed) Rachel mules, (not that it wasn't obvious) she muses, her confusion turning merry momentarily before turning livid, nevertheless the woman kept her calm, at least to anyone elses notice.

"You need to get those old bastards from ALITHEA unboard now!, Enough bullshit, lets get this war started and over!" She booms, 

"The old bastards running those families are prideful, giving the SYNDICATE majority providencial control as well as war efforts delegation is something they'll never do", (they're to busy wallowing in their fading power and desperate for fresh ones that they can't drop their pride even when the enemy is right before them, growing stronger and dragging foreign powers into our boarders),

"I. Don't. Care!, Enough with the soft hand, they need us, not the other way around, those martial families have long lost their influence, they need to wake up and see the reality of the fact that their monopoly over Murim is dead, and very well buried, while Cebasa is busy smoke screening us with kid games he's been moving vehemently behind the scenes!" Joselyin replies,

"Then how about you tear off the veil?" Harold inputs,

"How so" Rachel replies,

"If they don't want to admit it, we just need to make it very very fucking obvious" Harold grins, "the new generation of the UWA martial families versus everyone else" he grins,

(This bastard is doing this for his own amusement) Rachel smiles,

"Of course i have a country to run and it won't be long now they'll figure i've gone missing again, send me a livestream link will you?, And tell the kid i have very very high hopes for he and his team, he should not, disappoint me" Harold states rising to his feet, Joselyin does the same despite her reluctance,

"How is he" Rachel questions watching their departing backs, 

"He'll live" Harold replies before the two exit.