Chapter 18:

"Dude, what the hell!?" Alex yelled at Sebastian, feeling reasonably frustrated, flabbergasted, and outright confused by this. "I know I might seem like a fool, but don't act like I can't tell that you don't trust me. I thought my brother had trust issues. But you guys are a lot worse in that regard." For a brief moment, he decides to lower his gun, letting it down to his side before looking down, shaking his head while doing so.

"I really thought that-" That thought did not last too long when the sound of flickering flames were being put at the ready by Mike. And Sebastian looked back up and pointed the gun directly at Mike. "Though, I guess it's fair, it's what I get for taking strays from Gris. And I can deal with her bullshit a lot of the time since she can calm down eventually, I can deal with Willow's bullshit since she even admits to having limits on the explosives."

He begins slowly walking towards them, all three of them readying their weapons, "If you want to try that, go ahead. Remember what happened last time I gave you a shot?" Their initial interaction with Sebastian flashed through their minds, they all remembered how he was able to dodge the bullets, and blocked the fire.

"Though, Willow even isn't too keen on them explosives. The little lass only acts that way to make her name more known than it already is. She just wants to get the job done, she just doesn't really care too much about how it gets done." He was going to continue talking until Mike blurted out, "But why do you have your gun pointed at me!?"

"Why? I'll tell you exactly why!" Sebastian yelled, now in front of them, but as soon as he does, he cracks a smile. But soon enough the cracked smile broke into a hearty laugh. "Hahaha! Okay, alright, I- I can't keep this up." He says through the laugh. It confused the others seeing the sudden change, but they kept their guard up.

"What are you... doing?" Sebastian is able to finally stop laughing after Pat asks the question, letting himself calm down first before answering it. "Oh, I was just testing you to see how you'd all react to betrayal. Because, trust me, if you were in the black market, you'd always have to keep an eye out for backstabbers."

He stops and ponders for a moment, "Though, I guess you three would know that well since you decided to join the Union instead of sticking around with Gris. But thinking of her, I did regrettably, end up going by a couple weeks ago to just see her. Sure, I shouldn't have, but there shouldn't be anything wrong with going by to see a friend."

"Did she talk about us or wonder where we went?" "Yeah, she did, and I admitted to her that 'the lads are all under my care'. Which you three are, I'd say. She seemed satisfied enough with that answer." The collective sigh of relief was something Sebastian took high note of, even joking about it, "Though, don't be thinking it's all good, who knows what kind of shit she'd be willing to pull? Because she's said things before, only to do the opposite."

It was obvious that they had to stay on their toes now, but what were they to do? It was Pat who was the one that decided to ask the question first. "What do we do now, then?" And Sebastian could only offer a simple shrug towards him. "Honestly, I have no idea. Just keep doing what you're doing. And we should all be good. Though, next time you think I'm hanging around the black market, be more careful about it."

"Now hold on, how did you figure out that we were even there?" "Oh, it was a bit of educated guessing since, like I said, the chick I go to to get bullets for cheap isn't a big fan of others knowing about her. She'd much prefer anonymous, but she isn't from the black market, that's for sure. With how I said it, it did make it seem like I was going though."

"Wait, hang on, if you aren't going to the black market really anymore, then how did you get in contact with Gris?" Alex asks, wanting answers. "Hey, can't two friends just hang out outside of the more professional setting? Though, don't get me started on her hobbies, I can barely understand the things she enjoys doing."

With all of that stuff out of the way, the four of them were finally on the same page once more, but while doing so, Sebastian remembered something he was meaning to tell them. "Oh, that's right, they got another job for y'all. Not killin' demons, but going out there and exploring some place, or something along those lines. Hell if I know, they always give me the same jobs, no variety. It's always just 'go kill demons there' this, 'go stop this mercenary band' that, but it keeps the lights on."

Yet another mission so soon? That was the consensus of the thoughts they all had. Usually they get a day of waiting for the next, or even two, so this was pretty unusual for the most part, all things considered. Still, they all got their stuff together and went back to the Union building, and when they did, they were alerted that it was the higher ups that needed to speak with them about this next thing they needed to.

Once they got up to the office they needed to, they entered there to see Sven, the man who they have only seen a few times, but he still seemed to know his stuff. "You three really decided to keep me waiting, eh?" He joked once they got there. "We aren't even a minute late!" Mike exclaims to him, but Sven waves it. "It's fine, it's fine. Now, let me ask you all a simple question: How do you feel about undercover missions?"