Factions of the City[1]

The sun started rising and the early this day.

The early morning mist enveloped the city.

Goblins were leaving their hideouts and small refuges to continue hunting.

Skeletons dissapeared and reanimated human corpses fell to the ground.

And in a small room two people were playing uno.

"And UP!"

Atlas raised his hands up in the air, scattering the cards on the ground at Ragnar's face.

"Uuaaghh!!"

Ragnar smacked the falling cards away and lunged at Atlas.

"This is the 7th time in a row you won! You've gotta be cheating!"

Atlas attempted to push him back, struggling due to their strength difference.

"I'm not Barley! You know I would NEVER cheat!"

Ragnar scoffed.

"Tell that to that brat's casino! You made them lose almost a million!"

Atlas' ears perked up at faint, familiar footsteps.

"Kid, help me! Your pops is tryna kill me!"

The door swung open and Alicia came in with a dark green military helmet.

Atlas' complexion paled at its sight.

"Let me join!"

Ragnar got up immediately, pulling Atlas up with him.

"No! Nonononononono-!"

Alicia dashed forth with incredible speed, tilting her body forward and smashing into Atlas' gut.

"AHHHHH...."

Atlas didn't even have the energy to be loud, only brutally hurt.

"Haha!"

Ragnar raised his hand and Alicia high five him back.

"Hehe" and giggled.

Atlas slumped to the ground, clutching his gut.

"Haha! Are you down from just that? That was nothing!"

"Then why don't you get headbutted by the kid!?"

Ragnar looked away, ignoring him.

"Goodmorning sweetheart! Why are you up so early?"

Alicia started bouncing up and down.

"Because Atlas promised to tell me stories!"

Atlas slowly got up and raised his finger.

"Now now... I have information I need to give to your pops... So let's slow down a bit..."

He used the bed as support and slowly itting on it.

'Damn is this kid getting strong! What does Ragnar feed her?!

"Hah!? No fair!"

Alicia was about to say more but Atlas interrupted her.

"The syndicate! It's about the syndicate"

Ragnar's brows immediately raised and he looked at Alicia.

"Sweetheart, I think you should leave just for now"

Atlas smiled and said "Nono, why does she have to leave?"

Ragnar glared daggers at him and sent a message through eye contact.

[What do you mean it's ok!? You don't mean to tell my teenage daughter about the syndicate now do you!?]

Atlas raised his eyebrows and sent back his reply.

[Ofcourse! She's the adopted granddaughter of the landlord of The Apartment, the daughter of the leader of the Army here and...]

Meanwhile the only thing Alicia could perceive was her father and idol making weird facial expressions at each other.

[Oh come on! You know she needs to find it eventually! You always go on about how mature she is!]

Ragnar and Atlas ignored Alicia's complaining and continued on a staring contest.

Eventually Ragnar sighed and hunched his back.

"Fine fine, tell her"

They both turned to look at Alicia, only for her to be pouting.

"Hmph! So now you guys pay attention to me!

She turned to the side, angry.

Atlas smiled. "Guess she doesn't want to know" Ragnar said.

"Yeah, how sad. It's pretty interesting"

They could both see that Alicia was faltering.

"Alright then, if you don't wanna know then you can just leave"

"Yeah yeah, let the adults discuss this"

A faint noice started coming from Alicia.

"Mmmm...! Fine! I wanna know too!"

All three went to get some breakfast while talking on the way.

"Now kid, listen well because I will only explain this once!"

"You are connected to all the factions in the city! The Apartment, The Army and The Syndicate!"

"Woah really?"

"Mm! Yep. Anyways, let's start with The Apartment first, kay?"

"Alrighty!"

Ragnar was discussing plans with the soldiers while the two were around a table.

"Now, The Apartment, where im from, first came into existence as an alliance between the tenants of your grandfather's place. We were all strangers and coincidentally all were skilled in our respective fields"

"Eventually, after staying together, we all started supporting each other(mostly) and protecting the interests of the other tenants(also mostly)"

"We are a neutral force, mostly playing amongst ourselves and doing small time endeavors."

He then proceeded to point outside the mall.

"Now, The Army faction came about first after a group of retired soldiers settled down here as a retirement plan together. After years of living peacefully, they all saved a school from a shooting done by pne of the many criminals here"

"After that the government saw this as a method to keep the other criminals in check without alerting The Syndicate"

The nodding Alicia raised a question.

"But couldn't they have just sent a bunch of policemen of soldiers?"

Atlas stopped for a second before knocking on her helmet.

"Guess you aren't so dumb after all! They didn't do that because The Syndicate has infiltrated so deeply into every crevice of the country that if they show any signs of clearing their influence, a fullblowm war may start"

"And just like how our country's history is barely a century old at this point, the war would also been short, with other countries eating us up like hyenas whether we won or not"

"Oohhh" Alicia nodded her head, slightly terrified at the power of The Syndicate.

"I know that this is most likely your first time hearing about them, unless you're still ease dropping on your dad's conversation?"

Atlas didn't let her answer as he continued on.

"Back to our main topic, The Army is a faction made mostly of 'retired soldiers' who were 'hurt' in battle somehow"

"Only about 100 or so soldiers are here, not counting the number that may have died during yesterday. Your dad, the captain of a small squad of soldiers, was stationed here as the leader of this secret operation"

"If he was not to be disguised as a captain, his position would be much higher by now"

She made strange sounds as a piece of toast was in her mouth.

Atlas took a mouthful of oats and continued.

"Anyways, let's talk about how you are related to them. Your grandfather is the landlord of The Apartment and your father is the leader of The Army here. Now, why do all of you guys look so different?"

Alicia raised her hands and said.

"Oh oh! My grandfather adopted my dad, and I inherited my blond hair from my mom!"

"Alright good! You know your family pretty well. Now, let's move onto The Syndicate"

"The Syndicate is a criminal organization that is spread nationwide. They are remnants of the past that hold a grudge towards towards our nation"

"Their criminal activities comprise about 87% of the criminal activity here in our country! And not only that, the heir of the place here, in this city!"

"Now you're getting to the good stuff! How did you figure that out?"

"AAHHH!! Dad?? When did you get here?"

Alicia's toast flew up in the air.

Ragnar grabbed it with his two fingers and smiled back.

"Don't drop, err throw your food up In the air sweetheart"

"It's all your fault though..."

"Haha, light sorry. But I didn't want to disturb your little story time. I got here only a minute or two ago"

"Alright alright, attention back to me. The only important one here"

Atlas pointed his fingers at himself.

"Yea sure you are" Ragnar handed the toast back to Alicia who started scarring it down.

"Anyways. The brat is in town and he seems to be the only who orchestrated taking over the emergency centre"

Ragnar furrowed his brows for a second, looking serious for a second.

Atlas looked at Ragnar amd raised his eyebrows.

[And I'm pretty sure he is still remembers what I did]

Ragnar looked back.

[You mean what WE did?]

[Nope; pretty sure that was a solo mission by me!]

"You guys are making weird faces again! Grow up will you!" Alicia cried out.

Both Atlas and Ragnar said together.

""Says the nine-year old!""

It seems Ragnar can't stay seriosu near Atlas.