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Badass

By: Dionysosk



Hello to those who may be reading this. I'm fairly new to this whole scene, having only started reading stories on Lit about a month or two ago. Most stories are all the same, so I thought I'd try adding something fresh into the mix. This is my first ever written piece of work (not counting essays and shit), and will also be my first submission. There may be more, depending on the reception this initial part gets. There will also be no sex in the beginning chapters, (assuming that I'll be writing more) as I really want to build up my characters, and make you at least feel some kind of emotional connection to them, be it love or hate.

As we are coming to the end of this lengthy foreword of sorts, I would like to say that this is a fictional world, entirely conjured up in the day dreaming hub that is my mind. Tired of the conventional format and/or setting, I decided to create a world of my own. This story has been swimming around in my mind for a few hours, and I decided to write it down. Any and all similarities to any people, living or long since passed are entirely a coincidence. That also applies to my made up world. If it in any way resembles that of any other, which is in any other stories you have read, is also a coincidence.

Now that I've said all my shit, please enjoy. I have no editor or the like. However, I am pretty anal about punctuation, abbreviations and possessives, and grammatically, I think I'm alright. If you notice any grammatical errors, just lemme know in the comments section, however don't be dicks about it.

Thanks and enjoy.

DionysosK

Part 1

He stood at the window of his apartment, watching as people lived their lives. Watching as parents were genuinely distraught over the loss of the children to what was the beginning of their adult lives. Watched as mothers clung onto their 'Little Boys' and fathers try to look strong and manly, while giving their sons firm and hard handshakes, but failing dismally, with quivering lips, and rogue tears streaming from their eyes. Conversely, the over protective fathers of the pretty girls were glaring at every single specimen of the male species. If looks could kill, then the police would be arresting a whole lot of middle-aged men, for the murd... no, genocide of every teen male on campus. He watched as the mommies' boys and daddies' girls also looked at their parents with puffy eyes. He watched as the really attractive and wealthy were more detached in their goodbyes, than the middle class and below. He watched as the parents dispersed, leaving their kids at the college, eager to begin a new portion of their lives. Some wanted to change, to become popular. Others wanted to be involved in mind blowing orgies, like FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFM, holy fucking shit; I just died and went to heaven orgies. Some wanted to study hard, and do their parents proud. Some had heavy burdens and responsibilities weighing on their shoulders. However, he just watched. Watched as like sought out like. And not just their social cliques, but also, their AE groups. AE standing for Animal Entity. To put it simply, which animal one derives his or her powers from. That's right, powers.

Every human being born has an AE. They all are conscious to the fact that they have it, but with most, all that happens is that they can make whatever call or sound their respective AE makes. For example, a person with a dog AE can bark like one. If a persons' Dog AE is a St. Bernard, then they bark like a St. Bernard. There are those however, who can push their powers further to the surface. So if for example, St. Bernard guy, were to tap into his power, he would slowly but surely morph, and develop St. Bernard characteristics. His limbs would change, starting with the arms, which would become larger, more muscled, and hairy as fuck. His hands would become larger, and developer claws. Then his legs. Then when finally having tapped into all of his AE power, his face from the nose downward would develop into a mouth. A St. Bernard muzzle, fully equipped with litres of drool, awful breath, steam, the whole works. St. Bernard guy would stand upright like a human, but have the characteristics of his AE counterpart. He would be what is known as an Anthropomorph. All the animals in the animal kingdom, fictional or not, are represented, even those you wouldn't expect, like unicorns etc.

Each AE is also classified into separate categories, the main ones' being: Power, speed, agility and stealth. Examples of power being: Gorillas, Bears, Bison, Oxen etc. Speed: Cheetahs, Birds of Prey etc. Agility: Monkeys, Baboons, wolves, bugs like flies, mosquitoes etc. Stealth: Bats, Spiders, Snakes, etc. Then are animals that fall into more than one category such as Horses. Fast in a straight line, but extremely powerful as well.

Each AE controls an element: Fire, water, earth and wind being the elements. Also, the more powerful the AE user, the more powerful their techniques are.

There are also different classes of AEs. They range from D, C, B, A and S+ class. D: being the weakest and S and above being the strongest. No one knows just how high the S ranking goes.

As is the norm in the animal kingdom, strong AE users congregate, and form groups, with the strongest in each being the leader. Alpha if you will. Being an Alpha is not limited or governed by race, or gender, but generally by age, strength or both. If a younger member of the group feels they are strong enough to challenge the Alpha for their title, they may do so. They must battle until there is a clear winner, however the rules and stipulations for each battle, differ from group to group. 

Zdenek stood by his window, watching. He watched as the groups of AE freshmen got together, and waited for their respective AE campus groups to assemble, and take them to their various areas for acceptance into their groups. He watched as some were excited, some were scared, and most were nervous. However, all of them were anxious to be accepted into their groups, their packs, their new families. They longed for the feelings of security, and safety that these packs offered. A computer nerd, who gets picked on by Jocks and cheerleaders, will be safe when if accepted into a pack.

Zdenek watched, and felt cheated. He was unable to feel all these feelings; the anticipation, sorrow, anger, pain, joy, safety and acceptance. He would join in their camaraderie and would not join in the inter AE, and pack wars.

He decided to take a shower, grab some grub, and hit the sack, as tomorrow was his personal orientation day, to get used his new surroundings.

After his shower, a greasy large pizza, and a bottle of Coca-Cola, Zdenek finally hit the sack, falling into a death like state almost instantaneously. When this guy slept, not even an earthquake would wake him.

Part 2

Zdenek was born 19 years ago, in a tiny village, in a tiny country. The son of a farmer and his wife, when he was born, apparently he didn't shed a single tear, or make sound. He just opened his big, amber eyes, looked at his mother, then his father, with the meanest scowl either had ever seen. His father just burst out laughing. "Kid, I'mma name you Zdenek! You got a badass look on ya face, and Zdenek is a badass name!" He said, imitating his new born sons' scowl. Upon hearing this, Zdenek made a sound akin to a grunt, showing his approval. His mother giggled, and the midwife wrapped him up in a blanket. He hadn't even gotten the chance to feed, before the door burst open, and two guards entered. The Lord of the village was a short, pudgy, slimy, tyrannous, evil little man. The village mainly relied and farming and fishing to sustain itself, and he demanded ridiculously high taxes. While everyone in the village barely had enough food to feed their families, and only the bare necessities, the Lord was the only person with cars, TV, and many other luxuries. He hired all of the prominent AE users as guards, to ensure that the village had no means to oppose him, and set about his tyrannous ways. He had a tax for everything, including a baby tax, believe it or not. Every time a baby was born, that family had to pay a sum of money. No one understood the reasoning behind this move; however, they lacked the means and the muscle to oppose him, so they had to pay. The tax for the first born child was always higher than the normal rate, and the Lords guards burst into the moon, Zdenek not even 10 minutes old, intending to collect.

"We're here for the collection of child tax, and as this is your first child, you have to pay the special rate." One of the two men said.

"Please, I don't have the money to pay. I already given everything I have to give. I have nothing left. Can't we come to some sort of agre—"

"You know the rules. If you cannot make the payment in cash," the man looked over to Zdeneks' mother with a lecherous look, "The Lord also accepts payment in kind." Emphasising the point by licking his lips.

At the sight of this, Zdeneks' father lost it. He jumped back placing his left hand at the top of his right arm, and squeezing. He snarled as he tapped into his AE power. His arm changed, becoming covered with fuzzy orange fur, his fingers becoming stubbier, claws protracted, and he made a hissing sound, like a cat. He screamed to the midwife to get his wife and son out using the back door, and then dug both feet into the ground, before pushing off with such force, that the floor tiles caved in around his feet, leaving two small craters, as he flew towards the men with great velocity. He took a swipe with the transformed arm, left hand still on the shoulder. The man who was talking ducked, and jumped back himself. Although Zdeneks' fathers' hand was a good meter or so from the wall, 5 lines engraved themselves in the wall, following the path his hand made. The balls of his feet had just barely touched the ground, before he pushed off of them, again making dents in the ground, but this time, he drove his elbow into the sternum of the first guards' partner, and heard a definite crack, along with an "OOFF!!", and the guard went crashing into the adjacent wall. Zdeneks' father then thrust his hand in the direction of the First guard, who was now in the doorway of the front door, shifted his hand down to the middle of his arm and held it firmly. His feet shoulder length apart, left set, both ball and heel, planted firmly on the floor in front. Right set behind, ball pressed firmly into the ground, slightly turned to the right, heel up. Both knees bent, he slid his left foot forward, and steadied himself as gusts of wind started swirling around his fore arm, gradually swirling faster, becoming bigger and more violent. "uuurrrrrRRRAAAAAAAAAGGHHH!!" He let out the cry, and the wind reached its' peak, and shot from his arm as a gust. The blast so violent, that his arm recoiled almost like a rifle, causing his right foot to dig into the ground, and his upper body to jerk upwards slightly, but he held steady, and the almost translucent tornado, snaked from his arm, and flew towards the guard. The guard, put his arms up, activated his AE power, and his arms became huge and muscled, covered with scales. He formed a cross arm block just in time, but that didn't help him much. He got hit by the tornado which ironically 'winded' him, and sent him flying through one wall, and then another; through the front of a house, and then the back. He flew through a total of 6 brick walls (three houses) and then was firmly smashed into the seventh with a "WHUMP", and lay in the wall, motionless.

Zdeneks' father couldn't celebrate the victory of fucking up a guard, as the moment he fired his technique, he felt a sudden pain in his chest, accompanied by a sort of; squelching sound. He looked down to his chest, and a large, clawed hand covered in fur and blood, poking out from his chest. He felt an intense pain in his chest as the hand was pulled out with another squelching sound, and blood poured out from both the wound and his mouth in bucket loads. He heard a deep and sadistic laugh, as his legs grew unsteady, and he fell to his knees, looking up into the sky, the world turning black. He felt hot tears, stream down his face. Unable to protect his wife and son, knowing his wife had no chance, he said a silent prayer, asking God to spare his newborn son, who is without sin. He let out a final gargle, as blood spluttered out his mouth, and he finally fell on his chest, in a massive pool of blood.

Zdeneks' mother screamed at the sight of her husband being done in by a wolf AE user, and sprang to her feet. She charged. She saw red. Her hands both turned into claws, she was a crab AE, and as the wolf AE turned around to take the wife, the last image he saw was that of a beautiful pale, but silver haired woman, tears streaming down her face and pure rage all over her face. Then all of a sudden, he saw the sky, then the man he just killed, then blood squirting from the original direction he was facing and then his headless body, from which was spurting from the neck. Then his vision went dark.

Zdeneks' mother ran to her husband, but saw he was lost. She let out a wail of absolute agony, at the death of her soul mate. Adrenaline alone was keeping her conscious, as she had just given birth, and as losing consciousness just as these two men walked into the house. Watching her husband die set something off in her, but as she was calming down, she felt her energy drain. As she was losing consciousness again, she remembered her son, who had just witnessed her father killed in front of his eyes, and had not yet made a sound. The midwife had escaped alone, and left him there.

"Zdenek!!" She cried, and crawled over to where he lay, on the bed. She struggled onto the bed, and, and positioned herself above him, shielding him from any unseen dangers. She started uttering assurances to the now 20 minute old Zdenek. With tears still streaming down her cheeks, she caressed his chubby little cheeks, and kissed his tiny head, as she promised him he was alright, and would be safe. She then remembered that he hadn't eaten yet.

"Zdenek my angel, I'm so sorry, you must be so hungry? We're gonna get outta here and get you fed! How's that sound big boy?"

Zdenek made that grunt he made earlier, reaching up and wiping a tear with a tiny hand, and offering a smile; his first smile.

"Thank you my darling boy. I'm the one who's meant to be the strong one here, not you." She said smiling. "Come now, let's g—FFFUF"

She gargled, as razor sharp claws slit his mothers' throat, Zdenek watched as blood gargled and spluttered out of both her mouth and throat,. She then fell onto him, shielding him, and barely managed to get out a "I....l.lo...love..yo...youuuuuu" then final part of the you in a whisper, and the of her breath escaped her body.

The first guard stood there, left arm broken, most ribs broken, gashes and cuts all over his face, and he was barley standing. He smiled, and revealed a bloody mouth full of broken teeth, as some fell out and hit the floor, in tiny pools of blood. With his good arm, he then shoved Zdeneks mothers' corpse off and she fell to the floor. The moment she hit the ground, Zdenek snapped. The baby let out an unnaturally deep wail, as he realised that he had lost both parents, not knowing their names, or even getting milk from his mother. He cried, and as the tears streamed down his cheeks, he tapped into his power. His ears grew elongated and pointy, his canines extended, his amber eyes glowed and he grew a little tail. The biggest thing though, was the flames. They were purple; deep, dark purple. They destroyed all oxygen in the surround area, and emitted heat hotter than the most molten of lava. But what made them truly horrific, is the fact that they didn't burn thing, they made them wilt, and shrink. They corrupted them. 

"What....are....youuuuuu--AAAAAAAAARGGGGHHHH!!" The first guard managed to ask, just before the corruption flames made him disintegrate into dust, starting from his feet, and slowly working their way up to his head, while he screamed, feeling such an intense hot pain, that it seemed that it lasted an eternity, when only for a moment.

Zdenek woke with a start, and sat up, drenched in sweat. He looked around his room, panting, and ran his hand through his long hair. He got up, and took a shower, all the while asking God why he could remember single day he has ever lived. He dried himself, and looked at himself in the mirror. Tall; like his father, 6'3". Chiselled and toned body, not built like Bobby Lashley, but not thin either. He had more def than mass though. Pale, just like his mother, with the same silver hair, but looked like his father, strong, chiselled jaw, not too wide though. Pointy chin, long face. Cheekbones; not prominent, but he wasn't gaunt either. Almost looked like Dante from Devil May Cry, or so he liked to think. But what made him different were his piercing, intense amber eyes; that showed no emotion. He examined all the scars all over his torso, and winced. He decided to get dressed and go explore the town he was now in.

Dressed in a black, form hugging tee, black jeans that flared at the ankles, black, pointy boots, black gloves, and his custom made black and red trench coat, that had a hood built in, he headed for the door. He hooded himself up, hiding as much of his face as possible. He dug around in his pockets 'til he found his iPod He then grabbed a left over slice of pizza, and headed outside to explore his new home.

*

Okay, so this is officially my first submission. Let know how you guys feel about it. Criticism is welcome, so long as it's constructive. Depending on the kind of reception this submission gets, I'll continue with the series.

Thanks so much for reading. It took me 3 hours to write, so you just reading it is greatly appreciated.

Dionysosk. 

Badass Ch. 02



Yo! To those reading this, this is the 2nd instalment of my Badass series. Seeing my first story online kinda made me giddy all day, so here's the next part. Love it or hate it, your reading it is greatly appreciated by the author, namely; me.

Anyway, I noticed all the errors in the 1st one, and cringed and winced more than you can imagine, so this'll be gone over with a fine tooth comb, to ensure that there are no errors. Also, I'm not writing after midnight, so I'm sure it'll be better (LOL)

Thanks and enjoy.

DionysosK. 

*

As Zdenek walked out the front gate of his apartment building, he waved at the security guard, who looked at Zdeneks' attire, and figured another weirdo had moved in. Zdenek started walking down the street of the purpose built mini city. This city was built for the sole purpose of farming.

In the world, there are 5 main countries. In descending order, from strongest to weakest, they are; Ux, Ree, Zan, Vos and Div. The rest are all just small and poor.

The reason why these 5 are the main ones is because they all have a system. In these countries, there are multiple cities. The bigger cities all have colleges. The larger the city, then naturally, the larger the college, and the more students attend. The more students that attend, the more potential recruits for the various AE groups that reside in that city, thus in the end, what happened is that those countries expanded the city, and depending on the size of the college, allocated a specific portion of the city to the college, its students, faculty, etc. The bigger the city, the more space was required, until eventually, in the main cities, new colleges were built outside the city, and then towns were built around the college, offering housing and temporary employment to the students. Even the professors had accommodation, and thus, chose to stay in the campus "towns". Towns eventually grew into cities, and they were basically examples of Toyota City in Japan, an entire city, just for Toyota. AE groups formed, and fought for dominance. The respective dominant Power, Speed, Agility and Stealth AE groups were allocated their own individual territories.

The top group would have internal battles to determine the dominant group, and then would have to fight the other top groups to decide which category was superior. So two agility groups would battle it out to find which was superior, and then the winner of that particular battle would represent the Agile AEs as a whole, and defend the Agility AE user territory, as well as try to increase the territories' size.

When the Alphas of the respective dominant groups had reached the end of their courses, AE groups from the main city would enter the campus city to take a look at the Alphas, and other group members who were now done with college. 

Every AE group that came from the main city would scout out who they wanted, and then invite them to join. The dominant groups though, always had 1st choice, and after the main Power, Speed, Agility and Stealth groups had chosen their new recruits, only then would the lesser groups be able to choose. Those who didn't make the grade would either try and live as normal people, with normal jobs, or try use their AE powers to be foot soldiers of the groups.

When the hustle and bustle of recruitment had ended, and the city groups had left, then it would be wide open again for the groups and either the Alphas 2nd would inherit the role of Alpha, or there would be a battle royal for the position. It would all depend on the rules that each group would have.

This was how the top 5 countries managed to stay top; by producing a consistent numbers of A and above class AE users. The countries with the most powerful, was Ux. It was not the largest of the countries, but it had higher numbers of B and above AE users than the other countries.

The capital city of Ux, its' pride and joy, its' heart, was Venus. A magnificent city; which was a combination of corporate bustle and pleasure. Tall and imposing skyscrapers, filled with MDs, CEOs and of course; AE group Alphas. The more upmarket residential areas were absolutely beautiful, and normally near the beaches. It also had many tourist attractions, and was constantly full during the holiday months. It truly was a spectacular city, and Ux had no other like her. 

As Venus was the capital city, its' college city was the largest in Ux. It lay on a massive manmade Island, and was as large as a regular city. It had night clubs, restaurants, malls, movie theatres, a church, and so much more. It truly was a city on its own. But what shocked most, was how it only had one road leading in and one leading out. Given, they were both huge 6 lane highways, but still, only two roads.

Student cards were a requirement to enter the city, unless, you had an employment card. Generally though, if you worked in Venus College City, you lived there.

Now, this was the city that Zdenek now found himself living in. The courses he was studying were straight forward, Business and History. Zdenek had a plan for his life, and these two subjects were all he needed to make his plan a success.

He started walking down the street, looking around his neighbourhood. There were the upmarket, beach houses, and condos, along with penthouse apartments and the like for the wealthy. Zdenek just got himself a 1 room apartment, which was near the actual campus. He didn't have a car, so the positioning of his apartment was convenient. His neighbourhood wasn't all that bad. It was where most normal students lived, so that meant there was a low chance of him getting involved in the fights. He also decided that he would find out whose territory he was currently living in. He knew that he was in a power AE group spot, but he didn't know the name of the dominant group or the names of any of the groups really.

It had been around 2 hours into his walk, when he realised he was hungry. So far in his walk, he had noted the location of the local shopping market, the clinic, and the local fast food spot. He had been past the mall, a couple of bars and night clubs, restaurants, parks, clothing stores, movie cinemas and arcades. His stomach grumbling brought him back to reality, and he looked around for a spot to eat. He spotted a nice little cafe and decided to head in. He stretched out an arm, and pushed the door open. A little bell rang, and the waitresses stopped dead in their tracks. Due to them stopping, everyone else also stopped their conversations, and looked in the same direction as the waitresses. You could hear a pin drop, as everyone stared at the tall figure, clad in black, wearing a hooded coat, with silver hair hiding his face. All of a sudden, petit and cute strawberry blonde waitress bounced up to him.

"Welcome to Zees'!" She said enthusiastically, flashing him a bubbly smile. Zdenek, whose hair was covering his face, gave a grunt and a slight nod as a reply. Everybody in the cafe nervously carried on doing whatever they were doing, and that awkward moment was all but forgotten. He found an empty table, and sat. It was the first time in 2 hours that he was stationary. After a while, the bubbly waitress came back, and handed him a menu with a smile. She left, and he then perused the menu. He decided on having a double cheese burger with large fries, and a strawberry milkshake. He could hear the waitresses behind him behind him arguing about not wanting to be his waitress. He chuckled to himself, upon hearing the reasons why no one wanted to serve him. It was because he was too pale or hiding too much of his face behind his hair, or because of his clothes. He found this to be terribly amusing. He heard someone scolding them for "judging a book by its cover" and he found this funny too. Eventually, the blonde waitress came back, and smiled at him, getting ready to take his order.

"Are you ready to order?" 

"Yeah I am." He tilted his head up to the right to look at her, and some of his hair slid down, exposing his right eye and cheek. "I'd like a double cheese burger with fries, and a large strawberry milkshake." He blinked, and noticed that the waitress wasn't blinking. She wasn't moving, or even trying to write down his order. She just looked into his visible eye; into that deep amber eye. She was mesmerised, and hadn't even realised that she was staring.

"Excuse me? Hello?" he said in a slightly annoyed tone, as he was starving.

His voice snapped her out of it.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, what did you say?" She asked, blushing furiously, breaking eye contact, and focusing on her little writing pad.

"Double cheese burger with fries, and a large strawberry milkshake."

"Ok! Coming right up!" She said, collecting his menu, and then hurrying away, cheeks still red. He turned his head back down, and his hair fell back into its original position, covering his face. Zdenek then went back to doing what he normally did: observing people. Some would call him a voyeur, and others would call him a comrade in arms, however, he was neither. He was someone who was starved of genuine human interaction for 19 years. So rather than rushing into it, and fumbling his way into being a socially awkward bastard, he decided to observe human behaviour first. Observe how different people act and react in different situations. Observe how friends interacted with each other, how lovers acted around one another. He watched. One thing he noticed though, was how no matter how many people entered the cafe, there was one place they stayed away from, it was a fairly large booth, with room for quite a large number of people. He found this to be strange. It was also situated at the back of the cafe, in the corner. No one dared even look at it, and he wondered why. He was broken out of his intense thoughts, as he sensed the waitress coming back. She placed a plate with a large double cheese burger and tons of fries in front of him. Then she placed a tall glass in front of him, filled with a pink substance that looked wonderfully appetising to him. Then she placed some serviettes and a fork and knife down, and smiled at him, albeit nervously this time. He looked at her, for to her, what seemed like an eternity.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome!" she said blushing again, and walked away.

Zdenek took off his gloves, revealing his pale hands. Then he gripped the burger with both hands, lifted it to his mouth, and took a massive bite. He found that eating was difficult, seeing as his hair was always in the way, and was always getting some hair in his mouth. He finally worked out a system of shaking his head before taking a bite, which would move his hair from directly in front of his face, to the sides. 

About midway through his meal, Zdenek heard that little bell above did its thing, as the door opened. Usually didn't care when someone entered, but something told him to look up, as he was facing the door, which he did. He then noticed two large men enter. Men; who were his height. However that was where the similarities ended. These guys were huge. Like HUUUGE. The shirts they wore were looked as though they were about to rip as they were breathing. They didn't look too bright, but boy did they look strong. They both had short brown hair, blue eyes, and square jaws. They had model faces, and hired muscle bodies. They also looked the same, and Zdenek assumed that they were brothers. They walked in, and one held the door open. This time, two women walked in. The one was tall, probably 5'8", slim, with long legs, which took long strides as she walked. She had slightly darker skin, which came from a natural tan, and long red hair. She was more defined and cut, than large and bulky like the two brothers. She had fair features, slightly pronounced cheekbones, a sleek jaw line, and thin lips. She had deep, green eyes, which surveyed the cafe as she entered. She had a slim, pointy nose, but not overly so. She knew she was attractive, but unlike with most women who know they are attractive, and act that as such, she just shrugged off the attention. The other woman was short, about 5'2". She had a mousy little face, and wore large round glasses. Her medium length brown hair was loose, and hung past her shoulders. She had pretty features, small lips, grey eyes, with a little button nose. She was what most men would consider 'cute'. She clung onto a laptop, and took small, short steps, as compared to her tall friends' long ones. Each of the guys stood on either side of the door, and the two women slight closer together, but in front of the brothers. It almost looked like a formation, and they were waiting for one more person to complete it, and that person arrived. She entered the cafe, and Zdenek could feel everyone in the cafe stop breathing. He also noticed that all their heads were looking down. There she stood.

She was around 5'5", with long black hair; which was in a ponytail. The ponytail went down the middle of her back, and stopped just above her ass. She had a gorgeous face, striking features, with mesmerizing blue eyes, that didn't give anything away. She had an incredibly intense scowl on her face, which would deter guys, and stop them from noticing just how beautiful she really was. But it wasn't her face that got most of Zdeneks' attention, it was her body. She had a relatively normal frame, but good Lord, what was on that frame was amazing. She had, the most ripped, defined, and perfectly muscled body he had ever seen. Her calves, her quads, her shoulders, her lats, her forearms, biceps, triceps, trapezius muscles, her neck, her abs, it was all perfection; not too big for her frame, but big none the less. It was almost as if Adonis had a sex change. However, amongst all those muscles, there were curves. Amongst those hard flats, there were soft peaks. No one would be able to look at her at clam her body wasn't feminine. It was the strangest thing, she had hips. Her ass looked soft and supple; even though it was connected to those pieces of granite her body claimed were thighs. Muscled forearms, ended with two soft looking, and well kept hands, with long delicate fingers, and short, well groomed finger nails. Six bricks, which had been sculpted, and surgically placed in her stomach to be her abs, were just below two large peaks. 36C breasts adorned her chest, and were soft, but naturally firm. There stood this woman, who was an almost perfect mixture of muscles and flesh; hard and soft; firm and pliant. When she reached the front of the little group, and formed the top of the pyramid, they proceeded to move towards their booth. Zdenek could hear the whispers of the people around him, asking themselves why he hadn't lowered his gaze yet, and such. He then did something that no one would have anticipated, he stood up. He stood to his full height, but never made eye contact, or even looked at them. As they walked past him, he didn't sense even the slightest bit of alarm, or caution. It was almost as if they didn't even acknowledge his presence, and that made him smirk. Once they had all walked past and settled in their booth, two waitresses, flew over to the booth, to attend to their needs. Zdenek then signalled over to his blonde waitress, who just stared at him flabbergasted by his audacity; along with everyone else in the cafe. When the blonde waitress finally arrived, he sat down.

"Are" she looked over at the booth, then back at him "Are you crazy! Don—"

"Before you go any further, I need more serviettes, and an ice tea." Zdenek interrupted.

With that, the waitress left. She came back with what he asked for, but as she was placing the Ice Tea down, he stopped her.

"That's yours. Take your break, and join me." He commanded, more than requested.

She left, and a few minutes later, came back. She took her seat across him, and was about to speak but was interrupted.

"So" he took a bite out of his burger."Tell me about Miss Adonis over there, and why everyone reacted the way they did when she and her goon squad arrived." Munch munch munch...

She giggled at the nicknames. "Her name is Erykah McMillan. Her father is that terribly wealthy business tycoon; Donald McMillan, head of Mac Corp. Rumour has it that he's ruthless, and will do anything and use anyone to further increase the amount in his bank balance. It seems that no one is safe, including Erykah herself, as he is busy trying to marry her off to wealthy and powerful AE users, in deals that will see his position, and standing in the city of Venus rise incredibly. Of the power AE groups fighting for dominance in this area, she is the Alpha of the Aegis, one of the top 3. The four people with her, form part of her special team, known as 'The Hand', with her being the leader. The tall woman is known as Amy, she's a Lioness AE user. The short mousy one is Stephanie. Despite her looks, she is a Buffalo AE user. Those two guys are Steve and Don, two Grizzly Bear AE users. They may not be the sharpest tools in the box, but they certainly are the most used. They go through women faster than...." her voice trailed off, and Zdenek picked up hurt in her voice, but didn't care enough to actually ask her if something happened between her and those guys. He had also finished his burger and fries before she finished talking, and was now working on polishing off that delicious milkshake.

"Hmmm... In the power AE dominance war, you say that Aegis is in the top 3. Where are they placed in that top 3?' Suck suck suck.....

"They would be in 3rd place. They just broke into the top 3, as before Erykah became Alpha, Aegis was just a group in which Jocks thrived. They all just went to parties, got drunk, high, and got laid. They didn't care how low on the list they were, because they were still treated like Gods, purely on merit, and not based on their position in the standings, or actual strength. That changed last year as Erykah came in as a freshman, and within her first day of acceptance, had already challenged the previous Alpha for the spot. The battle was over in a flash, with the previous Alpha being rushed to hospital in critical condition. Erykah was covered in blood; however, none of it was her own. She then got to work, weeding out those who were loyal to her predecessor. Although it's been over a year since then, and no one has the power to dislodge her as Alpha, many resent the fact that a young woman is leading them, and are waiting for the other two groups to completely dominate her, but that hasn't happened yet." She smiled, looking over in the direction of the booth and smiled, while sipping on her ice tea."She really has to work twice as hard, for half the respect male Alphas receive, yet she doesn't complain at all. She was born into privilege, but isn't spoilt. She is strong, powerful, and serious to a fault. We suspect she has a pretty smile, but no one has seen it. Every woman here admires her for her drive and strength, but we're afraid for her. The harder she tries, the more she succeeds. The more she succeeds however, the more she's hated among the males in leadership positions in not only other AE groups, but even in Aegis. Oh, and her AE power is—"

"Cheque please. Her AE power is something I don't need to know right now. I'd just like the cheque."

The waitress got up and left to go get the cheque. He sat there, with his back to the booth. He could hear them talking, but found himself not caring about what they were saying. The waitress placed the cheque in front of him, and he paid, leaving her a generous tip. As he stood up and put his gloves back on, he felt the room tense, and eyes fall on him. He could sense the disdain in peoples' voices, as they commented on his audacity in standing when The Hand of Aegis entered. The men disliked him for monopolising all of the blonde waitress' attention, as she was the favourite. He didn't know this, and smirked at their petty jealousy. As he was walking toward the door, he heard murmurs of "Good riddance" and "Get out". He was basically at the door before he heard a familiar voice.




Badass Ch. 02



"Wait!" Miss bubbly called for him and ran up to him. This caused everyone to look in their direction. Although they couldn't hear what was being said, they carried on looking.

"What is it? Wasn't the tip large enough?"

"No no, it was very generous, thank you. I...I um...I just wanted to say that...um" she looked away, and stared to the side, her eyes not really focusing on anything, and was fiddling with her hands "You shouldn't hide you face behind you hair. You eyes are...really...n-n-nice..." The last part was a barely audible whisper. Her cheeks turned crimson, as her head darted around, desperate for Zdenek not to see her blushing. When she finally looked up to see his reaction, he was already opening the door. He could feel EVERY SINGLE SET OF MALE (and surprisingly, a few female) eyes, all staring at him with immense heat. If looks could kill, Zdenek would be in his coffin, with worms eating him. He could understand why though. Here he was, the new, weird looking guy, with pale skin and silver hair that hid his face, and he had made their favourite waitress not only join him during his meal, but also made her blush thrice. He wondered how many people had tried to do both of those things, and failed. As he was half way out the door;

"Wait!" said a slightly hurt, and disappointed voice, He hadn't even looked at her."What's your n—"

"Zdenek." He said turning back to look at her. Then after a slight nod, turned around and left.

"Zdenek..." she repeated to herself, and then went back to work.

Part 2

Zdeneks' music was blaring in his ears, as he continued with his personal orientation, acquainting himself with him surroundings as he walked. He had walked around everywhere, and had been to the upmarket campus city houses, and couldn't believe it. These were upmarket houses! Many people wouldn't be able to live in houses like, even after saving for their entire adult lives, while here were rich students; teens, living in them, driving fancy cars, and doing as they pleased. He also went to the more slum areas, and laughed.

"How the fuck can there be slums, in a campus city?"

He checked his watch for the time, and realised it was getting pretty late. He decided to head back to his apartment, and pick something up for dinner. He really had to go grocery shopping tomorrow. 

He was making his way over to a fast food place, and bought a bucket with 12 pieces of fried chicken, 4 large fries, and 6 mash and gravies, with like 10 dinner rolls, and two 2 litre bottles of coke. With his dinner, and light breakfast in his hands, he started the walk back to his apartment. He was in a rush, and could either call a taxi cab, and waste money, or use his other means of transportation, however decided against it, as there were still plenty of people walking about. Cars packed with college kids drove past, blaring music, which fit their social stereotypes. Goths blared death metal. Surfer guys blared punk. Gangsta wannabes blared gangsta rap, while the stoners blared underground hip hop. What really got to him though is how so many cars drove past him, and no one offered him a lift! Gritting his teeth at the thought, he laughed to himself, and suddenly found himself in front of his apartment building, and then he made his way inside.

One inside, he took his coat off, his head no longer covered by the hood for the first time in hours, and shook his hair away from his face. He also took off his shoes and gloves, remaining in his tee, jeans and socks. He didn't even bother with plates; he just washed his hands, and started destroying the food that was in front of him. The sounds coming from his apartment were those akin to those made by starving lions feeding. When only 2 pieces of chicken, half a pack of chips, 1 mash and gravy and 1 roll were left, along with a ¼ bottle of coke, he was done. He burped a burp of satisfaction, and checked the time.

"Hmmm... it's not even midnight yet."

He then got suited up again, but left the hood down, and went up to the roof of his 10 story apartment building. Once he confirmed he was alone up there, he went to the ledge, leant his arms on the railing, and watched the world below. He could hear the music playing in the night clubs that were nearby.

"So that's where all those cars were headed." He thought of the cars that didn't give him a lift home, as the respective genres he heard in the cars, he heard at various locations as well. He looked to the nearby park, looking for any possible threats to his neighbourhood, but it was too dark for him to see anything. With a sigh, he closed his eyes. When he opened them again, his amber pupils were glowing, and there was a slight purple hue in the whites of his eyes, as he used this enhanced vision to scope out the area, just to make sure no one in his neighbourhood was in trouble. When he confirmed that it was relatively safe he started heading for the door until he heard a huge crash, in a north westerly direction. He ran back to the ledge, and looked towards that direction. He activated his enhanced vision once again, but couldn't see what was going on, which meant his area was safe. He deactivated the power, but something told him to keep looking in that direction. He heard the sounds of walls being busted up and bricks flying. Explosions and mini earth quakes; frequently disturbing the peace. What he was hearing, were the sounds of battle, and as it dragged on, the more violent the battle became, and more and more of the surrounding areas were getting trashed. Zdenek wasn't sure who was fighting, but he was sure he didn't want to get involved, as he was feeling bloated from all that food, and he needed to take a piss. He turned around to leave, but something made him freeze right on the spot. He was confused as to what it was, and his senses working on overdrive, he was looking around like crazy, listening, trying to feel or sense or see what had rooted him to the spot. He mentally blocked out the sounds of battle, the sounds of the nightclubs, the sounds of cars driving and hooting, the sound of the wind howling, the sound of his breathing, and the sound of his heartbeat. He cut out everything, until he was surrounded by complete silence.

"Help me..."

His eyes shot open, but he forcefully calmed himself, otherwise he would not hear the voice again. It was so faint, he wasn't sure if he heard it correctly, thus closed his eyes again, and listened.

"Fuck... Please; someone help me..."

Zdenek definitely heard it this time. He heard the voice, loud and clear. It was strained, obviously not used to asking for help. He could sense the pride in the voice and hurt in the voice. At that precise moment, Zdenek leapt to action. He decided that there was not going to be a 3rd cry for help, as he would not allow it to be made.

Zdenek ran towards the North West, where the battle was taking place, and he jumped. He jumped off the roof of the building, land on the roof of a smaller building, and began to move with immense speed. He jerked his torso forwards, pulled his arms behind him, straight, although slightly limp, and he ran. Jumping from building to building; quick like a Cheetah AE user, but agile and flexible like a Monkey AE user. Jumping over this, ducking and sliding under that, side stepping this, leaping between buildings. If he wasn't moving so fast, it would've been quite the sight. However, he was moving too fast for an untrained eye to pick up.

As he neared the location of the ongoing battle, he noticed that it had calmed down significantly which meant that either they were tiring out or someone had lost the fight. He picked up his speed, but then slowed down, hearing a loud booming voice.

"You were careless, you stupid Gorilla bitch. Assuming that every drink that was given to you was only handled by the members of your 'Hand', stupid whore."

"Hand?" Zdenek said to himself, practically at his destination now.

"That carelessness has led you to the situation you are now facing. Your drink was spiked, greatly reducing not only your current strength, but also how much of your AE power you are able to draw out, and also restricting your use of you element, making you an incredibly easy target."

Zdenek heard footsteps, and assumed the guy who was talking, was now approaching the one he called "Gorilla Bitch".

"I don't care who your father is, or how strong you are. It is NOT a womans' place to be an Alpha, and I am going to prove this by completely destroying you bitch. Now prepare to be---GRORRF"

The man went flying, as a boot hit him square on the nose, and sent him flying into the wall that was across the street. Zdenek stretched to his full height, and looked back, only to be shocked to realise his suspicions were correct. He had thought that when that guy talking about "The Hand", it had to be her. The Alpha of Aegis; the 3rd most powerful power AE group in the power territory: Erykah McMillan. She had thick black hair down her cheeks and her arms were longer and lager, completely covered with thick black hair. She kind of looked like a Gorilla, but there was no mistaking it. This Gorilla AE user was Erykah McMillan, and even though her face showed signs of being beaten pretty badly and was swollen, good God did she make an attractive Gorilla, Zdenek thought. But she was in trouble right now, and he was there to help. He looked back at her.

"At your current strength level, there are two ways for you to defeat the power AE user you have been fighting."

The guy emerged from the wall, flying across the street towards Zdenek, with his right arm cocked back, ready to unleash a powerful blow.

"Who the fuck are you?!" The guy asked as he approached Zdenek.

"The first; although you failed at it dismally, it to hit him, without getting hit" he said, completely ignoring the guy flying towards him. He finally turned his head to look at his opponent. The guy pumped his right fist forward, but Zdenek just tilted his about 5 cm to the right, as the fist flew past his cheek, which was being tickled by the fur on the arm. Zdenek then slid to the right, swivelling, using his right foot as a base, and his left sliding on the pavement, turning with the rest of his body. He then struck up a fighting pose. The guy then charged at Zdenek, and started throwing wild punches. Zdeneks' guards up, he just moved in his head from side to side, occasionally swivelling his torso to avoid body punches, jumping back each time after the guy had thrown 25 or so punches, causing the guy to dash in towards him. He continued to throw punches that didn't connect, and as Zdenek looked as though he was about to jump back, he dashed instantly at him. Zdenek, waiting for this, was still on the balls of his feet. This was just a feint, and he actually jumped forward, crashing his right fist onto the guys' face, causing him to take a few steps back and lose his balance. The guy then saw Zdenek moving forward, leading with his left arm, and his right back in defence. He formed a cross armed block, anticipating a blow, but it never came. He peered from behind his guard to see Zdenek with both arms by his sides, no longer in a fighting pose, looking down at him, with a condescending look in his eyes.

This caused the AE user to howl in rage, and charge Zdenek again, and they fell back into the regular pattern on Zdenek dodging all his blows, but only jabbing him once or twice, then jumping back again. It was like watching a boxing match between an in fighter, who with what he lacked in skill, made up for with endeavour and effort, fighting against an out boxer, who was just far too skilled and quick for him, however, not as strong. Eventually, this pissed the guy off, and he tapped into his AE power even. He let out a wail, as his arms grew even more muscled and a lot more fur. Plates of some kind of hard substance grew on his fingers that almost covered then in a sort of armour. When he balled his fists, it was clear that they looked like hooves. He grew two horns, which came out of his forehead, and curved like a Buffalos. His Mouth from the nose down also morphed into that of a Buffalo, and he let out a Buffalo like cry, that caused a shockwave to spread out, hurling broken bricks and bits of shrapnel around everywhere. This guy, was a lower C class power AE user, but was still strong. Zdenek looked back over at Erykah, whose eyes were massive, and mouth gaped open.

"What I just demonstrated was the first way to beat him. The second way is—"

Zdenek bent his knees, bent his arms up, so his fists were at chin height, and started letting out a low scream. All of a sudden, the ground beneath his feet cracked and dipped, as the force of that caused a gust of wind to blow in all directions his ears suddenly started to grow, and become longer and longer. Eventually, they stopped, and became sharp and pointy. His canines; both top and bottom, grew as well, and became long and pointed; they became fangs. His hands grew slightly larger, ripping his gloves to shreds, and his finger nails became long and black; sharp and pointy as well. They became claws. As his coat was flailing about, due to the wind Zdenek was causing, Erykah noticed something long and thin coming out from the back of his jeans. It was a tail. A tail came out, and it was covered in blue fur, and had a extremely bushy tip. It also flailed about in the wind. Zdenek let out a final hiss, and a purple fireball came out of his mouth, but disappeared as quickly as it formed. The wind died down, and he straightened to his full height, looking at Erykah

"The second way; is to completely outclass him, and overpower him."

With that, Zdenek disappeared from her sight, for just one second. By the time she realised where he was, the Buffalo AE user had already crashed through a couple of buildings, and Zdenek stood where the Buffalo guy was supposed to be standing. To his credit though, the Buffalo guy came flying out from the cloud of dust, and was instantly in front of Zdenek. He let out a cry and swung. His hoof/fist came into contact with Zdeneks' cheek, and he smiled. The first punch he had thrown, that had come into contact with Zdeneks' face, and this made him start laughing. This minor victory though, was short lived, as he finally noticed, Zdeneks' head hadn't moved even 1 mm to the right. His neck was still stiff and rigid, and his eyes just looked down at him. It was as if Zdenek didn't even feel the blow. It hadn't registered that he had been hit, and he gave him that same condescending look he had been giving him the whole time. This angered Buffalo guy more than you can believe, and he just started swinging; throwing punch after punch and kick after kick that connected with Zdenek. Whether his face or his body, it made no difference, and caused no reaction to come from Zdenek. The blows were so fast and ferocious, that dust started to lift and enveloped them in a cloud. After the last kick landed on the side of Zdeneks face, the dust settled, only for Buffalo guy to see Zdenek still looking at him.

"Are you done now? I really need a fucking piss." Zdenek spoke, and it sounded like he had two voices. His normal regular voice and then a deeper; more evil sounding voice.

This completely stunned Buffalo guy who staggered back, but recovered quickly enough, to jump back a few meters, and get into position. He took a crouching start, and started to power up. He caused a small tremor, as he summoned up all of AE power, letting out a loud scream, before pushing off from his position, and heading towards Zdenek, with his horns pointed directly at him. He was aiming to kill Zdenek, simple as that.

Zdenek saw this guy coming straight at him with the intent to kill. He then shifted his feet, so they were shoulder length apart, and set himself. The Buffalo guy was flying horns first, and Zdenek leant forward slightly, and his head came into contact with Buffalo guys', forehead to horns, and there was a loud crack, which echoed around for a bit. With the coming together of their heads, the dust picked up again, and enveloped them it another cloud. When the dust settled, they were still standing, forehead to forehead. Suddenly, Buffalo guys' horns started to crack, and the tips shattered into dust, leaving him with damaged horns. He staggered back, but refused to fall, and looked Zdenek in the eyes. Zdenek acknowledged his pride, and gave him a grunt and a small nod. He brought his feet together, and stood straight, his head bowed down. His left arm down at his side, he turned the right side of his torso forward, as he raised his right arm, bent, with his fist facing downwards. Eventually his arm stopped, when it was shoulder height, however his elbow kept straightening out until it was straight. At that moment, he turned his wrist over and his fingers faced the sky. He then brought his head up. He then said something, slowly, and at such a low volume, that it was barely audible.

"Corruption" he slowly opened his eyes, revealing bright glowing amber pupils, glowing through his hair.

"Blast" and he clicked his fingers as they faced the sky. With the click, a small trail of flames flickered for a bit then disappeared.

The next second, a giant purple fireball, came from his hand and smacked into Buffalo guy, and launched him backwards, flying through the air. As the ball got smaller, it was already corrupting and making Buffalo guy wilt. His horns shattered, and turned to dust. The fur on his arms withered away revealing skin. His hooved hands disintegrated, leaving bare fingers. His mouth slowly went back to normal. When he came into contact with a wall, almost a kilometre away, the Corruption Blast had melted his clothes away, and he lay there, almost naked, and struggling for oxygen.

Without turning to Erykah, Zdenek asked.

"Are you okay? Can you get back to your place yourself?"

"Who the fuck do you think you're talking to? Of course I can make it back. If I hadn't been drugged, then—"

"Alright, that's good." He cut her off.

"W-what about that guy. Is he dead?"

"No, he's not. I held back as much as I possibly could."

"Why did you come here? Who are you? What the fuck is your AE power? Why—"

Zdenek could sense The Hand approaching.

"Your squad is about to arrive."

"Wha—"

"I heard you. You might not have heard yourself, but I heard you; loud and clear. That's why I came."

Erykah didn't even have the chance to reply, as Zdenek took off. He leapt with such force that the ground where leapt from shattered, and he disappeared into the night. The hand had finally found her, having beaten the guys who were meant to be holding them up, and found their Alpha, sitting on the ground, against a wall. Amy walked right up to her, and knelt beside her.

"Damn... you got FUCKED up!" and she started helping Erykah up. Erykah gave her an angry growl, and leant on her for support, as they headed back to Erykahs' place.

Zdenek was flying from building to building, approaching his own place. He swiftly got there, and deactivated his power. He looked at his hands.

"Fuck, now I have to get new gloves."

He walked through the door, down the stairs, and into his apartment, where he made a beeline for the toilet. After the longest piss ever recorded in history, he took a shower, put on fresh boxers, and went to his room. He sat there, thinking back to the nights events. Then he realised something.

"Oh shit! I never did put my hood up! She saw my face. But hey, it was dark, so maybe she didn't."

His thoughts carried him into his death like state that he would call sleep, but most would call a coma, and settled down for the night.

*

So, that was Chapter 2 in my Badass series. Hope you liked it. Lemme know how you feel about it in the comments section.

Again, thanks for taking the time to read this. I appreciate you doing so, as it took longer than 3 hours to type this time lol.




Badass Ch. 02



Peace.

DionysosK. 



Badass Ch. 03



Hello to those of you reading this. This is the 3rd instalment in the Badass series. I've focused quite a bit on Zdenek so far, but I'm still in the process of introducing other characters. However, with Zdenek being the main character, the more they're around him, the more exposure they'll have, but that might take a bit of time, so please bear with it.

This Chapter however starts with Erykah, and we see the battle and rescue from her point of view. Zdenek makes his appearance later on in the chapter.

That being said, I appreciate you taking the time to read my shit.

Enjoy.

Dionysosk. 

Part 1

Erykah woke up from a fitful night of sleep. She hadn't been able to sleep properly, due to a combination of fatigue, cuts and bruises, and the lingering effects of the special drug that was used to spike her drink. Her vision was blurred at first, and slowly but surely, her vision came good. She was slightly out of it, but calmed herself, so she could recall the events of last night.

She remembered being in Aegis' regular spot, Temperance, a nightclub fairly close to the campus. The 3 main AE groups each had their own regular places to eat, and to hang out, and Temperance could be considered Aegis' HQ. So she was sitting in her regular booth, while the brothers Steve and Don were near the bar, chatting up 2 girls. Amy had been dancing alone, having fended off more than her fair share of unwanted male suitors, so she had dragged Steph to the dance floor, and forced her to dance with her. It was well known that when Amy was dancing with Stephanie, it meant that no one had a chance of even saying hello, before being shot down. Steph was her "Horny Jock Repellent". So, Erykah was sitting alone in the booth, sipping on her drink; just plain Coke. She wasn't in the mood for alcohol; as she was still thinking of ways to further increase Aegis' territory, along with go further up in the AE group standings. It was nice to be in the top 3, but she wanted Aegis to be at the summit. Her eyes were closed, as she was still deep in thought, so deep in fact, that she didn't even notice that a group of 5 men had approached her booth. When she finally did notice however, she didn't even move. She not noticing someone meant that they were not strong enough to even be acknowledged as living, breathing beings who warranted her attention. Without opening her eyes, or even facing them, she asked.

"Yes? What do you want?"

"Now is that any way to treat some someone? I just came over to pay my respects Alpha and to greet you, as I am in your house." replied the man who seemed to be the leader of the group. His voice, no matter how well he was disguising it, was dripping with disdain and it was clear he was one of those who abhorred the fact that a woman was in a position that demanded he respect her.

"Well thank you for your manners, and excuse me for my lack of them." She said, finally opening her eyes, and looking at him.

Her apology made him snort in arrogance, and a slight smirk came upon his face. "No harm done. I am the Alpha of team Gr—"

"The only reason why I was so rude is because I didn't know that you and your people were here until you had spoken to me. That is strange, as usually I can sense strong, or even competent AE users, the moment they enter this club. It must be because I was in deep thought. Again, I apologise." With that, she turned her attention away from him, and back down at the table.

That little statement made the Alpha of that group very angry, and it was very obvious that he was holding his AE power back. Rather than cause a scene, he smashed both hands on the table, the force causing her drink to spill a bit and leant in close enough to her ear, so that only she could hear him.

"You had better watch yourself Gorilla Bitch. Your arrogance will be your undoing." he brought a hand up, and tucked a stray lock of her hair behind her ear. "Don't think that as Alpha you are untouchable..."

Erykah just closed her eyes, not moving to stop him, or even flinching.

"Look here you little low class, unknown, minor AE group Alpha degenerate, you'd better move you shitty little hand before you lose it. You both underestimate my lack of respect for you, and overestimate your standing, and minor strength. If you were even slightly competent, then I would've sensed you before you entered this place. Now if you would please excuse me, I was pretty busy before you disturbed me."

With that the Alpha stood straight, growling a bit, but regaining his composure, he left. He looked back at the booth to see Erykah polishing off her coke and he smiled.

"That's it Gorilla Bitch, go on and enjoy that drink. It's the last you'll have as an Alpha." he laughed as he and his crew disappeared into the crowd.

Erykah was starting to feel hot. Her head was pounding, and she was sweating. Her vision was blurred, and she wasn't steady on her feet. She also felt nauseous. She decided that she just needed some fresh air, so she went to go find the members of The Hand to let them know. However, she felt it was best that she get out of club ASAP, so she decided to send a mass text, telling them that she went out for some fresh air. Once outside the club, she sent the message, albeit with some difficulty, as she still felt out of it. Once the message was sent, she started walking down the street. There was a cool breeze blowing, so it did her a world of good, in helping her cool down. As she kept walking, her steps became more steadied and secure, her nausea disappeared, and her vision went back to normal. She noticed she was kind of far from the club, and thought that since she was feeling better, she should head back to the club. Before she could though, her instincts told her something was wrong. Before she could react however, she felt herself flying towards a wall, but she recovered in mid air; twisting so she was facing the wall, then as her hands and feet made contact with it, she pushed off, doing a moonsault like move, and landing on her feet. She only turned her head in the direction she came from, hearing footsteps, but not seeing anyone.

"Well well, it appears that you truly are a powerful AE user." said a familiar sounding voice.

"Who are you, and why are you attacking me? Don't you know who I am?"

"Oh, I know EXACTLY who are. You are the Alpha of Aegis, the 3rd best power AE group in the city. Your well documented endurance and brute strength, along with your excellent control of your elemental power, have been the cause of Aegis' transformation from a Jock led useless group, to one of the best in the city. I know who are, and I know what you can do."

"If that's the case, then why attack me. Unless you are one of the Alphas of the Top 2, you should know you stand little, to no chance of defeating me."

"Oh, but I disagree. I think that I will beat you. I will dominate you. I will break you so badly, that you will no longer be able to lead Aegis, and then from the fear of being attacked by other groups vying for dominance, Aegis will be forced to elect new leadership, and that is where I come in, and save the day, and show how it was a mistake to let you lead. Once I take over as Alpha of Aegis, your place in the group will be to make me dinner, and keep my bed warm..." laughing sadistically after saying the last part of his little speech.

"And what makes you think you can even give me 1 scratch, let alone break me?" Erykah said sarcasm apparent in her voice. The guy started moving again and slowly emerged from the shadows.

"Because you both underestimate my strength, and overestimate your abilities" his face finally emerging from the shadows; massive and evil grin plastered across his face. Erykahs eyes widened. 

"Gorilla Bitch!" with that he launched himself at Erykah with full force. She finally turned her body, and leapt towards him, looking to end this fight with one powerful blow. She cocked back her right fist, and with a slight growl, brought it forward with as much power as she could muster, without having tapped into her AE power. As her fist was on course for his face, all of a sudden, she felt all her energy seep out of her body. She was barely half way through her punching motion, when her arm dropped, and her left arm did the same, leaving her completely open. The guy just smiled as he feigned a blow but stopped his fist just in front of her nose. They both froze in this position, and then he unclenched his fist, and using his index finger, scratched her nose bridge with his nail.

"There. 1 scratch." The grin once again dominated his features, before he balled up his fist and punched her square on the cheek, sending her flying again, but this time, she couldn't recover in time, and was smashed into the wall.

"Wha... What the fuck just happened?"

"What just happened is that you were bested by your superior, that's what." He said to her while approaching her slowly.

"Shit!" she said, and then started tapping into her AE power. Her arms became huge, and longer. Thick black hair covered them, and her fingers became longer and fat as well. She had Gorilla arms, and was sure that she didn't need to tap any further into her power. She got up and started moving towards him, not yet feeling cornered, yet still wondering how he had bested her in that little exchange. She then started running, and threw a punch. This time however, her fist stayed true on its' course, but seemed to be moving much slower than it usually did, and this gave her opponent ample time to move out of the way, which he did. For what seemed like forever, she kept on swinging, throwing punches that should have been connecting, but weren't. Why was she so slow? Why was there no sharpness or ferocity in her swings? It was almost as though she was just swinging for the sake of it, and not because she was actually fighting for her life. This pissed her off, and she decided that she needed to calmly assess what going on. She was going to use as much power as she needed to win, because for some reason, speed was out of the window. She also noticed that she was pretty tired already, so waiting for him to tire out wasn't an option. She had to win this in one move, and if she didn't, she was fucked. After she came up with a course of action, she stopped her assault, and jumped back creating some space.

"What's the matter? Giving up already? Realising that it would be easier and less painful to just submit to me? I'm a forgiving man; I'd be happy t--"

"SHUT UP!!" Erykah screamed, lifting both arms up, clenching her fists

"QUAKE; Richter level FOUR!" and with that, she brought both fists down, and they smashed the ground, causing a violent earthquake to erupt, destroying the pavement below the feet, and causing her opponent to lose his footing. This was the chance she wanted to create. Seeing as Quake was her technique, she knew how to move and not be impeded by it. With speed, she made her way towards him, before getting him with a combination: two blows to the gut, causing him to double over. She then dropped to one knee, crashing a palm on each of his temples, disorientating him, and then she drove her fist into his chin with an uppercut, sending him flying into the air. Then, as he was flying upwards, she tapped into her AE power, and more hair started to spread over her body and face. She pushed off the ground, flying upwards, and was soon directly across from him. She then gently put both hands on his chest, still tapping into more power, she then started focusing, and jets of water suddenly started swirling around both her arms. She knew that she had to finish him off with this move, so she aimed to put as much power as she could into it. More and more jets water started to emerge around her arms, and they were also growing in size, and velocity. She looked her opponent in the eyes, ready to activate her technique.

"Hydro Erup—AAAAAAAARRRGGHHHH"

He smiled, as this is what he had been waiting for. The drug that he had slipped into her drink was for this purpose, sealing not only her physical strength, but also her use of her elemental powers, which were known to be extremely powerful, and devastating. He watched as she jerked backwards, and the water around her arms spray everywhere. He then gripped her arms, swung her around, and threw her towards the ground. She hit the ground with such force, that it created a crater. She didn't understand what was happening. She couldn't tap into more than 40% of her AE power, and she couldn't even use her elemental power either. She realised that she had no time to be lost in thought, and good thing as well, because as she jumped out of the crater, his foot pierced the spot her body just vacated, leaving a hole inside the larger hole.

From that point however, it became a game of cat and mouse. She would try and evade his attacks long enough to create an opening, but she was exhausted, though she still couldn't understand why. She'd try creating more opportunities using Quake, but he saw through those attempts. Slowly but surely, he was landing more blows at regular intervals. He had already activated some of his AE power, and his arms were muscled and hairy. She would try in vain to tap into her AE power, but again, she would be blocked. She didn't even try using her elemental powers, as she learnt from the first failure that they were out of the equation. She found herself hiding in a building that had been vacated during the early stages of the fight. It was a small one, but she thought it offered enough cover, and that it would buy her enough time to come up with a strategy. However, she was wrong. He had already anticipated her hiding in there, and silently followed her in.

"So this is where you decided to hide huh?" He said emerging from the shadows. She stood up, very gingerly, and struggled to stay on her feet. She put her guard up, and was prepared for another round, although she already knew it was futile.

"Like I said earlier, I am a forgiving man. Just submit to me, and agree to hand over control of Aegis, agreeing to be my personal slave." He said licking his lips.

"Oh, and by the way, my name is—"He was interrupted as she spat on him, right in the face. It was a mixture of spit and blood. He didn't even move to wipe it off; he just closed his eyes, rage apparent.

"I don't need to hear your name, you wad of rotting smegma. You're not important enough for me to hear your name. You're nothing but—OOOFFF!!" she cried as she was punched in the gut, the given an uppercut. As she flew upwards, he grabbed her by the ankle, and smashed her front first into the ground, not relinquishing his grasp on her ankle. He proceeded to smash her into every surface in that building, and every wall crumbled and broke because of the sheer force with which she was smashed into them. When finally let go of her ankle, he grabbed her by the back of the head, dug her face into the ground, and ran, with her face digging into the floor tiles, leaving a trail engraved in the floor. After doing this for a good few meters, he threw her into a section of wall that wasn't wrecked. As she lay there, he mounted her, and began to pound mercilessly on her face with both fists.

Left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right.

The sickening sound of her face being smashed repeatedly echoed in the empty building. The more he punched her, the faster he punched, and with more velocity. Blood from her face was all over his fists, and some was spraying onto his face. He eventually got up, and gripped the top of her head, lifting her up and looking at her limp figure, dangling from his hand.

"How could you be the Alpha of Aegis?" he asked with pure disgust in his voice, and then proceeded to throw her through the wall outside, and she landed across the street, in an alley. Erykah shifted on her elbows, moving until she was sitting, with her back against the wall. She was barely conscious, with blood all over her rapidly swelling face. She had to know though. As the guy approached her, she asked him breathlessly.

"H-how?"

"You were careless, you stupid Gorilla bitch. Assuming; that every drink that was given to you was only handled by the members of your 'Hand', stupid whore. That carelessness has led you to the situation you are now facing. Your drink was spiked, greatly reducing not only your current strength, but also how much of your AE power you are able to draw out, and also restricting your use of you element, making you an incredibly easy target." Her head dropped. This was all her own doing. Had she been a lot more cautious, and less arrogant, this could have been avoided.

"I don't care who your father is, or how strong you are. It is NOT a womans' place to be an Alpha, and I am going to prove this; by completely destroying you bitch."

Erykah, amongst all this, heard the fluttering of a flailing coat. Coat? Her opponent wasn't wearing a coat. She looked up, only to see this coat flash in front of her, and then in front of the guy she was fighting.

"Now prepare to be---GRORRF"

It appeared as the coat had kicked her opponent in the face, sending him flying backwards. The coat turned and looked towards her, and then she realised that it wasn't a coat, but a man in a coat. This shouldn't have surprised her, but it did. This guy was tall, but she couldn't see much in the dark. She saw that he had long silver hair, which covered and hid his face, only showing his mouth. He looked back at his opponent, and then back at her. Still slightly disappointed that she wasn't being rescued by a magic coat, she heard the man speak.

"At your current strength level, there are two ways for you to defeat the power AE user you have been fighting."

'My level?!' She thought. 'I've been drugged asswhipe!'

"Who the fuck are you?!" She heard that guy screaming as he approached the silver haired man. The silver guy, however, completely ignored him, and kept on speaking

"The first; although you failed at it dismally, it to hit him, without getting hit"

At that point; she watched him easily dodge the first blow, and slide skilfully away, striking a fighting pose. She then watched exchange between the two. Silver guy was easily evading all of his blows, which were raining at quite a speed. He wasn't even blocking, just dodging, so his guard wasn't needed. Eventually, silver guy got a blow in. He feigned a second causing her attacker to shield himself, only the blow never came. He looked into condescending eyes, and this threw him into a rage. However, this did nothing silver guy, who continued his exhibition of skill.

'It's like watching a boxing match between an in fighter who lacks skill, but has bags of endurance, and an out fighter, who although doesn't have as much power, just has too much talent for his opponent.' She thought to herself.

Eventually, her attacker got so pissed off; he tapped into his AE power. He let out a wail, as his arms grew even more muscled and a lot more fur. Plates of some kind of hard substance grew on his fingers that almost covered then in a sort of armour. When he balled his fists, it was clear that they looked like hooves. He grew two horns, which came out of his forehead, and curved like a Buffalos. His Mouth from the nose down also morphed into that of a Buffalo, and he let out a Buffalo like cry, that caused a shockwave to spread out, hurling broken bricks and bits of shrapnel around everywhere. This guy, was a lower C class power AE user, but was still strong

Erykah was stunned. How could she have not noticed someone this strong approach her in the club? Her mouth gaped open, and Silver guy looked at her again.

"What I just demonstrated was the first way to beat him. The second way is—"

Silver guy bent his knees, and bent his arms up, so his fists were at chin height, and started letting out a low scream. All of a sudden, the ground beneath his feet cracked and dipped, as the force of that caused a gust of wind to blow in all directions. Silver guy let out a final hiss, and a purple fireball came out, but disappeared as quickly as it formed. Thanks to the fireball, Erykah was able to see him properly. Long and pointy ears poked through the veil of his hair. His canines were long. His hands had black claws for nails. He also had a long tail, with a large bushy tip, and it was blue. His tail was blue. The wind died down, and he straightened to his full height, looking at Erykah




Badass Ch. 03



"The second way; is to completely outclass him, and overpower him."

With that, Silver disappeared from her sight, for just one second. By the time she realised where he was, the Buffalo AE user had already crashed through a couple of buildings, and he stood where the Buffalo guy was standing. Buffalo guy flew straight back at him though, and finally landed a blow. This made him smile, but only for a second, as Silver guy just looked down at him. Buffalo guy proceeded to go berserk, punching and kicking him, each blow connecting. At the end of it though, Silver guy just stood there, looking at him, and eventually said.

"Are you done now? I really need a fucking piss." Silver guy spoke, and it sounded like he had two voices. His normal regular voice and a deeper; more evil sounding voice.

'What an asshole!' Erykah thought, chuckling to herself, but it just looked like she was choking, because of the condition of her face.

Buffalo guy was stunned but only or a second, as he jumped back, activated his AE power whilst in a crouching start, and charged towards Silver guy, leading with his horns.

'He's actually trying to kill him!' She thought to herself.

Silver guy however wasn't backing down. He steadied himself, and then met Buffalo guys' horns with his forehead, and a loud 'CRACK' echoed throughout the alley. Buffalo guys' horns started to crack, and the tips disintegrated into dust as he stepped back, without falling. For some reason, Silver guy nodded with a grunt, and then brought his feet together, pushing his right shoulder forward, and left back, causing his torso to twist to the side. He then brought up his arm, which was bent downwards from his elbow. When his arm was shoulder height, it stopped, but his elbow kept straightening, until his arm was straight, he turned his hand so his fingers were pointing towards the sky balled his fist, and said something with such a low volume setting, that it was barely audible.

"Corruption....Blast" and he clicked his fingers. With the click, a small trail of flames flickered for a bit then disappeared. The next second, a huge purple fireball came out of nowhere, and smacked into her attacker. He then went flying, with the fireball still pressed against him, and disappeared about a km in that direction. Without turning to her, Silver guy asked

"Are you okay? Can you get back to your place yourself?"

"Who the fuck do you think you're talking to? Of course I can make it back. If I hadn't been drugged, then—"

"Alright, that's good." He cut her off.

"W-what about that guy. Is he dead?"

"No, he's not. I held back as much as I possibly could."

"Why did you come here? Who are you? What the fuck is your AE power? Why—"

Zdenek could sense The Hand approaching.

"Your squad is about to arrive."

"Wha—"

"I heard you. You might not have heard yourself, but I heard you; loud and clear. That's why I came."

Erykah didn't even have the chance to reply, as Silver guy took off. He leapt with such force that the ground where leapt from shattered, and he disappeared into the night. The hand had finally found her, having beaten the guys who were meant to be holding them up, and found their Alpha, sitting on the ground, against a wall. Amy walked right up to her, and knelt beside her.

"Damn... you got FUCKED up!" and she started helping Erykah up. Erykah gave her an angry growl, due to the lack of concern in her friends' voice over her near death state, and leant on her for support, as they headed back to Erykahs' place.

With her recollection done, Erykah just couldn't get Silver guys' last statement out of her mind.

"I heard you. You might not have heard yourself, but I heard you; loud and clear. That's why I came." She repeated to herself.

"Heard me? Came where? What are you talking about?"

Erykah looked, to see Amy at her bedside, eating part of what looked to be Erykahs breakfast, and drinking her coffee.

"Amy? Why the fuck are you eating my food?"

"Well; because it's delicious. Now, tell me what happened last night, and why you were sitting, practically half dead in the middle of a mini war zone?"

Amys' complete disregard for her condition made her chuckle a bit, before relaying the entire tale of what happened to her before they found her.

"Whoa, so you have no idea who this silver haired guy is, or why he saved you?"

"No, I don't. When I asked him why, all he said was—"

"I heard you. You might not have heard yourself, but I heard you; loud and clear. That's why I came."

"Exactly. I have no idea what that means, but I'm sure as hell going to find out. Amy, give me a minute to shower and eat what little breakfast I have left" Amy blushed and chuckled."While I'm doing that, I want you to assemble the rest of the hand in the lobby. I'll meet you there."

"But your cond—"

"I'm fine. All I've got are cuts and bruises, nothing's broken or fractured. Now hurry up!"

"Yes ma'am!!" Amy said, with a sarcastic salute, and left the room before she could get her ass kicked.

30 minutes later, The Hand of Aegis had assembled in the lobby of her mansion. She then began to tell them all what happened, with all of them apologising for being late, as the other members of the Buffalo Alphas group had been delaying them.

"Look, that doesn't matter anymore. We have a new mission: Find the silver haired guy."

"How do we do that?" asked Steve.

"I know it'll be hard, but we got to find him. He's tall, between 6'2" and 6'4". He also wears a long coat, and has really long silver hair that covers most of his face. I'm pretty sure there aren't many people who go by that description, so circulate those details among the lower member of the group, and search for him. I want him found as soon as possible, got it?"

"Yes ma'am." They all replied, no sarcasm this time from Amy, as they all set out to accomplish the mission.

Part 2

Zdenek woke up at around 10:00 am. He slowly got out of bed, and headed towards the bathroom to shower and brush his teeth. Once both those tasks had been taken care of, he went to the kitchen. He opened the fridge, took out everything that was left over from last nights' dinner, and demolished it in minutes. It did nothing though, as his stomach was still growling, so he went to go get dressed. At least one thing Zdenek never had to worry about was what to wear. He mostly had dark clothes although different colours, it was mostly the same style. Form hugging tees, jeans that flared at the ankles, and black pointy boots. Once dressed, he remembered that he needed to go grocery shopping, as well as get new gloves, as he ripped his other pair last night, while saving Erykah. He also remembered how difficult it was eating with his hair in his face, so he looked around, and found some hair clips. He clipped his hair away from his face, and tucked it behind his ears as well, completely exposing his face and eyes. Once that was done, he hooded up, locked the door the door his apartment, and went to the lift. His first destination was Zees', the cafe from yesterday. Then he was going to go to a clothing shop to buy new gloves, and then the grocery store. 

On his way to Zees', he noticed a lot more AE users about on the streets, looking about, as though they were looking for someone, but he found that he had already lost interest in whatever they were doing. He reached Zees' after about 15 minutes, and entered, with the little bell doing its' thing. One of the waitresses he saw yesterday came to welcome him, but was stunned. She recognised the style of dress, but without any hair to cover his face, she, and everyone else in there, had full access to his face, and what a face is was. He was so ridiculously handsome it hurt, and his eyes made hr melt on the spot. It was even quieter than it was when he entered yesterday, as everyone stared. He didn't even wait for her to welcome him, as he walked past her without looking at her, and sat down where he sat yesterday. After he sat down, just like yesterday, conversations nervously picked up again, and it was like the awkward moment never happened.

Zdenek could hear, much like yesterday, a debate going on amongst the waitresses. The only difference this time was that they were arguing as they ALL wanted to be his waitress. He looked around, and he couldn't see his waitress from yesterday, but he wasn't going to order without confirmation that she wasn't there. The argument died down, as one of the waitresses won the rock paper scissors contest, and had unbuttoned her top a little, adjusted her breasts, and applied a fresh coat of lip gloss. She picked up a menu, and seductively strode her way over to his table, before bending over, exposing her cleavage, and sliding the menu in front of him.

"Can I ge—"

"Get lost." He said, voice icy cold, gaze never shifting onto her.

"Excus—"

"I said get lost. Now fuck off. I want the waitress who served me yesterday, and no one else."

Stunned, the waitress picked up the menu, and walked back to where the rest of the waitresses were. She cut a dejected figure as she walked to them.

"What happened?" she was asked, and she told them what happened. Just as she finished telling the tale, the bathroom door opened, and the desired waitress came out.

"Jenny. You've got a customer who requested you serve him." The rejected waitress said, clearly annoyed, but Jenny wasn't sure why.

"Um sure, ok. Who is it?" She asked, as they all pointed towards Zdenek. They proceeded to tell Jenny how she was requested. This made her upset, and she grabbed a menu.

"How rude of him! I'm going to go over there, and get him to apologise to you Gina."

And with that she stomped over towards Zdenek, whose back was to her. She went to his table, and looked down as she placed the menu in front of him.

"Hey Zdenek. Listen, they way you treated Gina to get me to be your waitress was pretty rude, and I'm going to ask that you apologi---"

She stopped talking as she looked up into Zdeneks eyes. Her mouth gaped open, as she realised just how handsome he was. He was no longer hiding his face behind his hair, which was nowhere to be seen. His deep amber eyes, exposed. His nose, his lips, his jaw, his chin. What was he doing here, and not on the cover of some magazine? She just stared at him for a little longer, before his voice snapped her back to reality.

"Hello to you too. I won't be needing the menu, as I'll be having the same as I had yesterday; a double cheese burger with fries, and a large strawberry milkshake. Also, I will not be apologising to your friend, as I heard the little debate they were having yesterday over who had to be my waitress. Yesterday, I was 'Too pale" and 'Hid too much of my face' to be good enough for them to serve. You were the only one who didn't care, thus, you are the only one I want to deal with. It's as simple as that."

With that she just nodded, took the menu, and scurried away. When she got back to the waitress HQ, she told them what he just told her, and saw them all look guilty, and realise they destroyed their own chances with him. This made her smirk slightly, and he was only going to deal with her. She brought him his meal, and tried to make small talk with him, but each attempt was thwarted when someone would call for her specifically, even though there were other waitresses free. Zdenek knew this was because they didn't want to give him the satisfaction of monopolising the attention of their favourite waitress. He eventually called for the check, having finished his delicious meal. The cheque arrived, and he paid the bill, as well as left a sizable tip. After this was done, he was beginning to head for the door.

"Wait!" the call came from behind him, and he turned around to look at Jenny.

"Hmmm?"

"Next time you come here, ask for Jenny —that's me -- and I'll come to you, ok?"

"Is that short for Jennifer?"

"Yes, but I prefer Jenny or Jen. Jennifer sounds too form—"

"Jennifer it is then. I don't do nicknames, or pet names, or short versions. I prefer calling someone by their name, no matter how long."

"Oh...ok then.."

"Anyway, thanks Jennifer. Enjoy the rest of your day." And with that, Zdenek left.

Erykah had been waiting in her study. Although she felt fine, in light of last nights' events, Amy and the rest of The Hand had decided to increase security at her mansion, and thus most of those who weren't out looking for the Silver guy, were at her house, guarding her. This meant her double story mansion was packed with enough testosterone that she felt as though it was dense enough to wade through. She sat there, waiting for news, as it had been hours since she said the search parties out. Her territory was a decent size, but it wasn't large enough that the search should take more than a few hours. She was anxious and restless, and thought about joining in the search herself, but this was just her impatience talking. She was known for her composure, as well as her strength, so she just sat there. After about 30 more minutes, Steve and Don entered her study. Both of them looked tired, and it was clear they had been searching nonstop as well.

"Let's hear it boys."

"We couldn't find him Alpha. We literally searched every nook and cranny of our territory, but there was no one who matched that description. We even asked around, but no one knew who we were talking about. Are you sure you saw him properly? You did say it was dark, and—"

"I know what I saw!" she snarled at them, leaving them stunned. This was the first time she had ever snarled at either of them.

"Guys, I'm sorry. This pain medication is making me cranky. Please, I know it must be a pain in the ass and everything, but please just look one more time."

"Sure thing Alpha. You just relax. We'll find him." They both flashed genuinely reassuring smiles, and left her study.

"Where are you?" she said to herself.

Zdenek walked towards the clothing store, ready to purchase some new gloves, as his stomach about half full. His senses were being flooded, as he could feel AE users everywhere, apparently not having found whatever they were looking for. He pulled his hood down to shield his eyes.

"Corruption Vision" He said, as he activated this mode, his vision enhanced by his corruption flames.

He looked around, and noticed all of the strategic points in which all these AE users were stationed. There were some hiding in plain sight, while others were on top of buildings, behind trees, in alleys. They were doing well enough, although it wasn't hard to spot them, as after all, they were power AE users, and not stealth. He wondered why there were so many of them, but then he remembered what happened last night.

"Probably Erykah, or her hand looking for that bastard from last night." He said to himself. If only he knew.

He deactivated his Corruption Vision, released his hood, shoved his hands in his pockets, and continued on his way to the store. When he got there, he walked in, nodded at the cashier, and went to go find some gloves. He found them, and purchased 10 pairs.

"Can never have too many pairs of gloves, can you?" joked the cashier.

"Got that right." Replied Zdenek, as he paid. He noticed through his observations, that if you are nice to people in the service positions, life is generally a shitload easier.

"Thanks or shopping here, and have a nice day!" The cashier said with a smile.

"Thanks, you too man." He said as he left the store, now heading towards the grocery store.

Erykah sat at her desk. It had been a few hours since the brothers had left her study, and her patience was wearing thin.

"Why am I being so fucking impatient?!" she scolded herself, however that wasn't helping. Amy was standing outside the study door, debating whether or not she should go in and try calming her friend down a bit, as she was slowly losing her composure. She wondered what about this Silver guy was making her act this way. Erykah was usually the poster child of calm and composure. Nothing would make her so much as so even the slightest bit of anger towards a situation, and now here she was, losing her mind. She had snapped at Steve and Don, and Amy didn't believe them at first, just laughing it off, but now she was inclined to believe that they weren't lying. With that, she decided to enter, and try talking her, to calm her friend and Alpha down.

*Knock knock*

"Come in."

"Hey Erykah"

"Oh Amy, it's you." Erykah said, clearly disappointed.

"Oh, I'm sorry, were you expecting someone else? Should I dye my hair silver?" Amy joked.

"Shut up Amy." This elicited the smallest of smiles from Erykah, and also helped calm down a great deal.

"So what's the deal Erykah? Why is finding this guy such a big deal? 

"I don't know! I really don't. It's just, this guy saved my life. He came out of nowhere, and saved my life. I need to thank him at least. I also need to know what he meant by his statement."

"Oh, the whole "I heard you" line?"

"Yeah, the very same one. By the way Amy?"

"Yeah?"

"What kind of animal has pointy ears, sharp teeth, black claws, and a blue tail?"

"I have no—" Amy was interrupted by a knock, and the door opened, as Steve and Don walked in. Erykah looked up at then with a look of hope and anxiety. Their reply was sigh and look down; both shaking their heads.

"FUCK!!" she screamed, as she punched her desk, shattering it into many tiny splinters. Amy just shook her head and groaned. Her hard work; completely undone without a single word being spoken.

'Where the fuck are you, you silver haired bastard?!'

'Where the fuck are you, you silver haired bastard?!'

Zdenek heard this, and was startled. His eyes grew wide, as the cashier asked for payment. He had just gotten to the till, and was paying for his groceries when he heard a familiar voice calling out to him. He quickly snapped out of it though, paying for his food, gripping his bags, and out of the store. He was still wondering what was going on when it finally clicked. He put two and two together. It's true that those power AE users were looking for that bastard from yesterday, however what he failed to realise was that there were two bastards from yesterday; The Buffalo Bastard, and the Silver Haired Bastard, with him being the latter. 

"What a high maintenance person..." he grumbled to himself, before walking off. He walked for about 45 minutes, and the sun had just started setting. He was in one of the upmarket residential areas, and he walked until he came up to a large mansion, that he could see was packed with guards. He walked in through the front gate; both arms occupied with his bags, and walked up to the front door. He then kicked the door open, completely disregarding the guards. He made his way to the lobby, and was quickly surrounded by minor AE users. He slowed his walking speed

"I'm here to see Erykah McMillan, and that's what I'm going to do. The only way you guys will be able to stop me, is with brute force." He said coming to a complete stand still. Steve and Don came rushing from up the stairs, only to be confronted by this man, carrying grocery bags in both arms. Even though his arms were busy, they knew just from looking at his demeanour that they wouldn't be able to beat him, and he knew it. Here he was, surrounded at least 50 power AE users, and he wasn't even trying to put his bags down. Even they had to acknowledge that this man was their better.

Without so much as a word, Zdenek started walking towards the stairs, and made his way up them. Once at the top, he said

"Don't worry, I know where she is. I've been following the sound of her voice, and it led me here. Now; please move." He said, looking at Steve and Don, who hadn't even realised that they were blocking him. He walked down the hall, until he got to a door. He bent down, and opened it with his elbow, and made his way inside the study.




Badass Ch. 03



Amy jumped back at the sight of this man dressed in black, with a hooded trench coat, and grocery bags in both arms. Without even looking at her, and looking straight at Erykah, he spoke.

"I'm here. Now what do you wish of me?"

"Excuse me? But who the fuck do think you are? How did you get past the guards? Whe—"

Zdenek bent down and put the bags down, stood up straight, and pushed the hood back, revealing the rest of his head, and his silver hair, which had clips that were keeping it from his face. Erykah stood there, staring at him. She looked at his facial structure, his features, his jaw and his chin. Without a doubt, this was the silver haired guy from last night. The guy who saved her life.

"I said I'm here. I heard you calling for me, thus I am here. Now, what do you wish of me?"

*

To be continued...

Yo guys, this was Chapter 3 in the Badass series. How'd you like it? Lemme know in the comments section. Your reading this was greatly appreciated by the author.

Thanks.

Dionysosk.



Badass Ch. 04



Yo! To those who may be reading this, this is my 4th instalment in my Badass series. Please note that there is almost ZERO combat in this Chapter. It is more a character Chapter, than a kicking ass chapter. That being said, hopefully you like it.

Your reading this is greatly appreciated by the author; me!

Enjoy.

Dionysosk. 

*

Derek woke up in a bed. Whether or not it was his bed, he was still unsure. What he was sure of however, is that he was fucked; in every sense of the word. He had been so close as well. His plan had worked perfectly. The 1st contact between him and Erykah went as planned; everything had worked out as he'd hoped. He was about to make his dreams come true, but then HE had to interfere; that tall guy with the silver hair. Erykah was about to his; sweet, sweet Erykah.

Derek had always had a thing for Erykah. No, calling it a 'thing' would've been putting it lightly. Derek had fallen head over heels in love with her the 1st moment he laid his eyes on her. Her unique gait, the way her hips would sway, her hands, her shoulders, her beautiful face and eyes, long hair, everything about her was perfect; a true Goddess. He had wanted to approach her forever, but knew that it would've been useless. She had never really opened up to anyone who wasn't already in her close circle of friends. She had known each member of The Hand for years, and they all joined Venus College together. He thought about befriending one of them to get to her, however he ruled that out, as the others socialised and made friends, but whenever they were all together, she'd either leave early, or pay little to no attention to anyone else present. He thought about joining her group, and working his way up, but he'd only see her when she was giving out orders, which meant he'd see her less than he did now. But then it came to him; the perfect plan to make her his. He was the Alpha of a smaller group, which was just barely in the top 10. Truth is though; they were strong enough to be in the top 5, but under his orders, feigned weakness. They remained in the top 10, which allowed him to monitor her movements.

He learnt all of her habits; where she did her shopping, where she went to the loo, where she ate, what she ate, who she ate with, what she drank, and nothing was considered too minor a detail. He had to know when she would likely be alone, and then would be his chance to get in. He knew that since being nice was not going to get him anywhere, he had to be the villain; the antagonist. He'd have to force her to become his, and this wasn't going to be easy. He himself was an Alpha, which meant he was no slouch when it came to combat. He was weaker than her, but not by much. The real difference though, is that she was an expert when it came to using her elemental power, whereas he wasn't as proficient, and it would take time for him to reach her level; time that he didn't have. So he focused on training to increase his brute strength, and had to think of a way to bind her elemental powers in chains. Drugs seemed to be his only option, and so he found some shady mother fuckers who had the drugs that he required. After he trained as much as his body could stand, and had acquired the drugs, he fine tuned the details of his plan. He would approach her when she was alone in Temperance, basically Aegis' HQ. He would wait for The Hand to leave her, and do what they usually do in the club. He and his squad would approach her, and while he spoke her, one of them would slip the drug into her drink. Then they would disappear, and each of them would shadow their target among The Hand, while he would wait for her to leave the club. He would then follow her, beat her until she submitted to his will, or lost fight, where he would then claim the position of Alpha as his own, and also claim her as his own. It was perfect.

When that fated night arrived; and everything along without a hitch, he was very happy. It broke his heart to call his one true love all of those derogatory names, and it broke his heart even more when he 1st struck her, but it was for her own good. She needed him in her life; she just didn't know it yet. That was the thought that kept him going, especially when he was destroying her face. He just wanted stop and kiss her, hold her and make it better. He wanted to protect her, but he knew he had to be strong. He had to persevere, and stick to the plan. He grabbed her by the top of the head, and when he said

"How could you be the Alpha of Aegis?" What he really wanted to say was

"How could you not realise that we're meant to be together?! Why has it come to this? I never wanted to hurt you, I just wanted to love you, care for, and make love to you. I want you to be the mother of my children, my dear, sweet Erykah!"

After throwing her through the wall, and delivering his final speech, he was about to make her his, when that bastard came and ruined everything! Who was he anyway? Why was he so strong? All those months of training, planning, gone down the drain. Months of work, destroyed in seconds! Those horrible flames of his, completely robbing him of oxygen had completely wrecked his AE powers. It would take a while before he would be at his best again. His skin wasn't burnt, but it was dry, and had purple blotches that stung like mad if he touched them. His hair was gone, and his head also had these blotches. His skin was dry, and his face was gaunt. His lips were chaffing, and eyebrows and lashes were completely gone as well. It would take a while for him to recover, but that suited him just fine. He needed time to come up with a new plan.

Erykah stood there, staring at him. She looked at his facial structure, his features, his jaw and his chin. Without a doubt, this was the silver haired guy from last night. The guy who saved her life.

"I said I'm here. I heard you calling for me, thus I am here. Now, what do you wish of me?"

She looked at him, standing in front of her. 'Say hello! Apologise for being rude to him a second time! Say thank you for saving my life! Say your favourite colour is green! Say your name is Earl! SAY SOMETHING!!!!!' What she eventually said was

"You; you're pretty strong; quite powerful. Join my group." She didn't smile, her expression didn't change, it wasn't even an invitation, or a request.

Amy just groaned and rolled her eyes at her friends' social inadequacies. She wasn't the only one either. Erykah was internally berating herself for the way she had spoken to him for the 3rd time now. She only came across as rude, and unappreciative. She didn't know how to save the situation. She decided to wait for his reply.

"That's it? That's why you have your entire group searching for me? That's why you called out to me, just so you could treat me like I am one of the lower members of your group? Look here Erykah; I'm not interested in being the subordinate of someone who is below me."

"Excuse me?! WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!" she screamed, composure long since flown out the window

"You heard me. You were almost killed by an opponent whose blows couldn't make me flinch. You—"

"I was drugged! I could only use 40% of my actual strength, and my elemental powers had been sealed!! Had I not been drugged, I—"

"That doesn't mean a thing. You used 40%, and you lost. I, on the other hand, used less than 40%, and I won; simple as that."

With that statement, she was beaten. It was true. She lost to that Buffalo guy at 40%, while this guy barely broke a sweat. He had to hold back, to avoid killing him as well. This guy was strong; stronger than her she admitted. He was faster than a speed AE user, and more powerful than a power AE user. Just what was his AE? She intended to find out.

"Your AE; what is it? What is your elemental power? Why are your flames purple? Whe—"

"Erykaaaah!" Amy scolded "What the hell is wrong with you! You're not doing the thing which you wanted to do when you found him. Not only did you fail at finding him, he's the one who found you! Fucking hell!"

Zdenek looked over at Amy, realising that he had ignored her when he entered the room, and that was terribly rude of him. Amy extended a hand

"Hi, the name's Amy. Sorry for Erykahs lack of social graces. I, at least want to thank you for saving my Alpha. We were being held up by that guys' goons, and took too long in beating them. If it wasn't for you, our entire group would be missing their Alpha, but I would be missing my friend, Thank You." She was shocked when she felt a hand grip hers firmly, and then shake.

"Zdenek. You're welcome." After giving Amy a slight nod, he released her hand."Anyway, I've got to go. It's a 45 minute walk back to my apartment, and I gotta get this shit in the fridge." He looked over to Erykah."Well, at least your face is no longer that swollen mess it was last night." When she just turned away from him and faced the window, Zdenek sighed, and tried to initiate conversation once more.

"I didn't get the chance to ask, but how were your injuries? Any breaks? You looked like you were pretty banged up."

"I'm fine." She looked at him. She wanted to say more; she wanted to thank him, to apologise. She needed to say more; it was killing her that she couldn't. Her mouth refused to open, and words refused to form. She didn't say more; she failed. She didn't know or understand why, but she failed; dismally. She turned to face the window again.

"Ok then." He said, and turned and faced Amy. "Amy." he said with a nod, picked up his groceries, and began to walk towards the door. Amy waited, and waited, and waited for Erykah to offer Zdenek a ride back to his apartment, but she never did, causing Amy to want to slap her across the face.

"Do you need a lift to your apartment Zdenek?"

He really wanted a ride home. It was a 45 minute walk, and it would also help as his frozen meat and stuff had already thawed out, because they were meant to be in the fridge ages ago. He was about to accept, but then he heard it.

'Please don't accept. Please turn her down.'

"N-no thanks. I'll walk." He said this, looking at Erykah, who wasn't facing them, and was extremely annoyed. She could feel him glaring at her, but didn't dare turn around. She knew she had no right to, but she felt angry that he got along with Amy, even though it was all her own fault for not getting along with him.

Zdenek turned around, and went down the hall towards the stairs, extremely annoyed that he was walking home. Most of the guards who were there when he arrived were still there, and they noticed that he was pissed off. They split into two halves, standing at attention with their hands at their sides, and feet together, with their heads bowed down. He didn't even notice this, as he walked down the middle, and left the house.

Amy glared at Erykah. Erykah then turned around, and winced. That glare hurt more than every blow Buffalo Alpha had delivered.

"I know. I was a total bitch. I just don't know how to talk to people who aren't you guys any more. Now I have two separate things to apologise for. Fuck."

Amy just shook her head. She understood. She understood why her friend had hardened her heart to the point of it becoming colder than the North Pole, and harder than her thighs. She and Erykah had been friends most of their lives, so she knew how she used to be. She was one of those, who were forced to watch Erykahs' transformation into what she is now. She understood, but she was still pissed. She sighed and approached Erykah, putting her hands on her shoulders, bending down slightly so she was looking her directly in the eyes.

"Look, I understand ok. Don't worry about it. Now that we know his name and what he looks like, it'll be easier to track him down. However, he doesn't look like the type that likes to be tracked down, so maybe we wait for him to find you again? He has this knack of 'hearing' you, and then coming to find you."

"Yeah, and I still want to know what the fuck he means by all this 'hearing' stuff. But I guess that'll have to wait until the next time—OW!"

Amy had squeezed Erykahs' shoulders hard, and glared at her.

"--until such a time that he wants to tell me; without being forced to." Amy relinquished her tight grip.

"Good girl." She said with a huge grin, and then left Erykahs' study, heading downstairs to inquire as to how Zdenek easily made his way past the vast number of guards that had been stationed at the house, and why there wasn't even the slightest sign of a battle. Once down there, she called to one of the guards, and had him explain everything.

Zdenek was almost halfway through his walk home. It was dark; however, it being Saturday, there was an insane amount of cars and people about. This meant he had to walk. He couldn't use his quicker means of transportation, unless he went up onto the roof, and started jumping from building to building. He thought about it, but just told himself to be patient, and enjoy his walk. 20 minutes later, he had arrived back at his apartment. He put the bags down, and fished around for his keys. When he found them, he opened the door, picked up his bags, and went inside. He placed them on the counter, and went to the bathroom. He took the clips out of his hair, and turned the hot water on in the shower. He adjusted the cold water knob, until his water was just right, and started to disrobe. He then stepped into the shower.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!"

The sigh of relief came out, as he closed his eyes, and almost melted. During his shower, he couldn't help but think of Erykah. He wasn't pissed off at her for the way she treated him, although being made to walk home was pretty annoying, he understood why she acted the way she did. As someone who had been observing human behaviour, he was able to see through her. She had built up such solid and formidable defences, that most would just assume that, that was her nature. Although he knew that it wasn't, he didn't know what those defences were protecting, and he didn't know if he would ever find out.

"Oh well." He said to himself, as he continued with his shower. 

After drying off, and putting on a fresh pair of boxers, he decided to make himself some dinner. After assessing his options, he decided on his special bangers and mash, as this would be quick and easy to make. Zdenek was something of a good cook, so he had his own special mashed potatoes recipe. After boiling the potatoes, he drained the water. In another pot, he had boiled some milk, with 3 peeled garlic gloves in it. He poured the milk and garlic cloves straight into the steaming potatoes, and began to mash, adding some finely chopped green onions as he mashed and mixed. He then added a handful of grated parmesan cheese, folding it into the mash until it became thick and creamy. He seasoned with salt and pepper, and then left it covered. He then fried himself a whole pack of 6 pork bangers. After that was done, he scooped most of the mashed potatoes onto a plate, and dumped all of the bangers onto the pile of steaming potatoes.

"Not much in terms of presentation." He said to himself, as he cut a small piece of pork sausage, and dipped it into the mash, and then he brought the fork to his mouth and tasted his dinner."But it tastes pretty fucking awesome, even if I do say so myself." He chuckled to himself, as he moved to the couch and sat on it, eating his dinner.

After that was done, he threw everything into the sink, and got dressed in what he was wearing earlier. He also took out the smaller bag from inside his coat, which had all his new gloves in it, taking one pair out, and throwing the bag onto the couch he just vacated, putting that pair on, and clipped his hair back once again.

"Oh well, guess I'll just go on a light patrol to make sure that nothing bad is happening in the neighbourhood." He said, and made his way onto the roof.

Once on the roof, he walked over to the same ledge.

"Corruption Vision"

He looked around his neighbourhood, looking to see if there was anything bad taking place. His focus however, kept going towards the scene of the battle that had taken place the night before. The amount of time he spent looking there steadily increased, until it was the main focus, and his neighbourhood and keeping the people of his neighbourhood safe was just an afterthought. Someone could've been getting stabbed to death with a cocktail sausage, but he wouldn't have noticed.

"Well, since I'm on patrol, I may as well widen the scope of my patrolling."

With that, he deactivated Corruption Vision, and jumped off the roof, following the same course he had followed the night before. He didn't even know where he was headed. All he knew was that that he was going where ever his instinct led him. When he arrived at the scene of the battle, he was shocked to find that the entire area, which had virtually been destroyed, was good as new again, and there were no signs of a battle having taken place there. He leapt from building to building, eventually even hopping down to the area where he 1st kicked that Buffalo guy.

"Oh yeah; the Buffalo guy." He said to himself.

He then proceeded to walk towards the direction he remembered the Corruption Blast had taken him, and followed the course. Then, he was shocked once again. When he got there, he saw a massive whole in the wall. This shocked him, but then he recovered, remembering the special attributes his flames had.

"The flames must have corrupted the area around the hole, thus making it impossible to repair. They'll have to replace this entire wall, but to do that, they'd have to destroy and rebuild it, and this is a pretty tall building."

He went down the side of the building, and started jumping between its' wall, and the adjacent wall, until he was on the roof. He then ran and jumped off the roof, and started running again, heading away from the area. But before he left, he looked back at the wall and sighed.

"Sorry about that." He said with a slight nod, and continued on his way, again not having a clue where he was headed.

Pretty soon, he found himself running alongside a road, which was long and winding, and it seemed pretty familiar. He soon realised that he was approaching a residential area, as he noticed all the massive houses. He then ran and jumped onto the roof of one of the mansions, and continued his journey, leaping from roof to roof.

"Damn these houses are big. Wait, more importantly; what the fuck am I doing here?" He said to himself, as he continued running in his usual stance; both arms pushed back, with head pushed forward.

His journey continued for about 5 more minutes, and then it hit him. The trees were starting to look familiar, as were the houses. He started jumping from roof, to street, to fence, to roof, and he was turning, and going down different roads. He now knew where he was going, and wondered why he had gone back. True, this time the journey had only taken 15 minutes, but he was supposed to be patrolling his own neighbourhood, and the areas surrounding it. With that, he stopped, and looked at the familiar mansion directly in front of him.

"Why the fu—what am I doing here? Why am I looking at Erykahs' house?"

Although he asked himself the question, continued looking at her house. He squatted down, with his arms between his knees, which were bent. He then put his hands on the roof. He found he was sitting like some sort of dog on the roof of some rich kids' house. There he sat, and he watched.

Erykah examined her face in the mirror. Thanks to her AE power, she was able to heal at a much higher rate than most people. The swelling had completely gone down and there was slight discolouring, but besides that, she looked good as new. She was in her pyjamas, which were a pair of boxers, and a t shirt. She walked out of her bathroom, and her hair was loose. She tucked a few loose strands behind her ears, and made her way out of her room, and down to the kitchen. When she got there, she found that The Hand was down there, with tonnes of drinks, alcoholic and non alcoholic. There were also more pizza boxes than she could count; although many of them were empty, and Steve and Don were all covered in grease and melted cheese.




Badass Ch. 04



"You guys are all still here? Why? What's up?"

"Nothing's 'up' Erykah" replied Stephanie.

"Yeah, we're not here under the capacity of members of The Hand of Aegis." Said Steve; his mouth still full of pizza; although much of the contents of his mouth were escaping, and falling onto his clothes. When he saw this, he would just pick up the piles of gray mush, and threw them back into his mouth. That move should've grossed her out, but having known him for the majority of her life, it didn't.

"That's right. Right now, we're here as your childhood friends, who have known you for close to 15 years. We're here to keep you company, and to cheer you up." Amy said, flashing a genuine smile at Erykah. All of them then proceeded to nod in unison, and smile as well. This made Erykah look at them with what seemed like warmth, and this was more than enough for them. For Erykah, this was the equivalent of a smile, and that's all they wanted to get from her.

"Thanks guys. This'll be a welcome; albeit short reprieve from being an Alpha. It's been a while since we all just hung out like this." She said, joining them, and grabbing a slice of pizza, and some beer. This made the 4 of them look at each other.

"WHOOOOOOAAAAAAAA!!" they all said in unison

"What?" Erykah said, slightly annoyed.

"If you're drinking beer, then you KNOW it's time to let loose!" Amy said, and they all laughed. Erykah just shook her head, and took a swig of beer.

They all sat there, talking about current news, the status of the turf war, reminisced about the good ol' days, and such. The room was filled with boisterous laughter, and nothing but positive vibes. Erykah sat there, watching her friends, and felt her shoulders relax, and her body melt into the seat. She hadn't been this relaxed in months, even when she hung . Then she heard Don speak.

"Hey Erykah, seeing as we're all relaxed here, I gotta tell you something."

"Sure Don, go ahead."

"Man, you REALLY got fucked up! That was the worst condition I had ever seen your face in!" they all laughed, and she once again shook her head.

"That Buffalo bastard had me pinned on the floor, and he punched my face like 100 times Don, of course it'd be messed up! He even dragged my face through the floor tiles, which broke against my face. It should've been much worse. I should've looked like you."

This caused everyone in the room to shut up, and look at each other. Then they all burst out laughing.

"Holy shit! Not only are you drinking, but you've even made a joke/insult! You really need to get fucked up more often!" Steve said, as he wiped the teas from his eyes.

Although Amy nodded along with everyone else, she knew that getting beaten up hadn't caused Erykah to suddenly relax.

"Or maybe, you need to get saved by silver haired men more often." Amy said to herself, more than Erykah.

"What was that?" Erykah asked.

"Oh, nothing." Amy said, waving away her friends' question.

After many hours, and like a bajillion beers consumed between the 5 of them, Erykah was getting up to go take a piss. After announcing that, Steve and Don got up, and announced that they were heading back to their place.

"Hey...thanks guys, I mean it. It was nice to hang out as friends, and not The Hand. I really needed it."

"Sure thing Erykah. Just rest up, and we'll see you tomorrow at Zees', so we can discuss strategy, and how to get that guy back." Said Don."Hey Steve, maybe we should stop by Temperance, pick up some women for what's left of the night?"

"Yeah, good idea Don. See ya Erykah." And with that they left.

"Bye guys." She said, also looking towards Amy and Steph. Then she went upstairs to her bathroom, and took a piss. After washing and drying her hands, she walked out of the bathroom, and saw Amy and Steph in pjs, sitting on her bed.

"Huh? What are you two still doing here? And in pjs? Aren't you leaving?"

"Well, we decided to spend the night." Amy said with a grin.

"Yeah, besides, Amy already knows everything that has to do with this situation with Zdenek. I'm still completely out of the loop, which has to change. You're going to tell me everything before you go to sleep."

Before Erykah could argue, she saw the two of them climb under the covers of her giant bed, leaving space in the middle for her. She sighed as she conceded defeat, and climbed over Steph, and settled in between them, and they snuggled close to her.

"Well, it started last night, at the club..." Erykah started, while Amy flicked the light switch next to the bed, switching the lights off.

Zdenek sat there on the roof, with his Corruption Vision activated. He had been watching the entire evening, and saw the whole thing. How she had been interacting with her friends, drinking, and now, as she lay in bed with Stephanie and Amy. Satisfied with the how her night had gone, and with the fact that she and the other two seemed safe, he deactivated Corruption Vision, and stood up. He could basically hear his joints creaking, and checked to see the time. He had been there, sitting in that position for hours. He stretched his arms and legs, and shook out the cobwebs.

"I should've brought some oil, to grease up my joints. Fuck." He then looked over at Erykahs' bedroom window.

"Well, you seem to be safe enough. Sleep well, and rest up." As he turned his back to her house, he looked back one more time."I don't know what happened, for you to have hardened your heart up like that, but it's unfortunate. I suspect you actually have a nice smile, but not even your closest friends get to see it. I wonder why." He sighed, and with that ran, and jumped off the roof, making his way back to his apartment.

Erykah looked out of her window, and focused on the spot that Zdenek had just vacated.

"Something wrong?"

"No. I just thought I heard something. So anyway, then I see this coat zip past me, and..."

 15 minutes later, Zdenek was back on the roof of his apartment building. He walked through the door, and made his way down the stairs to his apartment.

"Why the hell did I go there? I spent way too much time there anyway."

He walked into his apartment, and took the dish that housed the mashed potatoes, and polished off the rest, before disrobing, brushing his teeth, and then lay down on that slab of rock he called a mattress. He knew it was hard and uncomfortable, but it was his bed, so to him, there was no bed more comfortable than it. He was slightly restless, but eventually calmed down, and fell asleep.

Morning came, and Zdenek broke out of his coma. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He looked down at his pillow, and it had a huge wet patch, with a long stringy thing that was connected to it. The stringy thing rose up and eventually ended at the side of his mouth. 

"How long was I out for?" 

He checked the time, and saw it was 10:35. He then sat up, and the stringy thing snapped. He got out of bed, and lumbered towards the bathroom, where he then turned the knob for the hot water. He adjusted the heat, and took a shower. He brushed his teeth, and looked at his face in the mirror. Giving his cheeks 2 quick slaps, he woke up fully. He dried himself off, and got dressed in a dark blue form hugging tee, black jeans, and black boots. He went to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water. He then put on his coat and gloves. He remembered his hair, but decided to try something different. He tied it up in a low pony tail, and hooded himself up, with only a few rogue strands falling on his face. Once that was done, he left his apartment, and set out for Zees', for his usual burger and milkshake. He was too lazy to make breakfast, and it was almost lunch time anyway.

As he approached the door to Zees', his stomach growled in anticipation. He looked down at his stomach.

"Shut up!" he scolded, as he opened the door and walked inside.

He headed over to his usual table, and sat in his usual seat, with his back facing the Aegis booth. After he sat down, and waved at a free waitress, who looked around to see if he was waving at anyone else. When she found that there was no one else, she pointed to herself, while looking at him with a confused look on her face. He just nodded, so she briskly walked over towards him. When she reached his table, he looked up at her.

"Excuse me, is Jennifer here? The blonde waitress."

"Yes she is. She's in the back though. Would you like to or—"

"No thanks. I'll just wait for her to finish. If you get the chance, please tell her Zdenek is here. Thanks." 

"Um, sure thing." She replied, and ran off towards the back to tell Jen that her exclusive customer was here.

Zdenek sat there, waiting for Jennifer to appear. After about 5 minutes, she walked out from the back, and walked straight towards him, with her usual bubbly smile.

"Hey Zdenek! How you doing?"

"I'm fine thanks, how about you?"

"Yeah, I'm good, just really tired. Been working every day, and my day off just can't come soon enough. Anyway, you didn't come here to listen to me whine. The usual?"

"Yes indeed, the usual" He said with a slight smile."And make the portion as big as possible, as I skipped breakfast, and came straight here."

"I'll see what I can do." She said, and left.

In the Aegis booth, everyone was sitting with their heads close together, as they were talking strategy, and trying to figure out how they could find the Buffalo Alpha who drugged Erykah. As usual, Amy just feigned interest. These kinds of meetings usually bored the shit out of her, so she never really listened. She looked up for a second, and almost fell out of the booth. She thought her eyes were playing tricks on her, but they weren't. There he was, sitting at a table in front of them. She recognised that custom made coat with a built in hood. She couldn't believe it, Zdenek was in there regular lunch spot. She sat there, and wondered what she should do. Should she tell Erykah? Should she just ignore him? Should she pay attention to the strategy meeting? The 3rd option was deleted from her thought process almost as quickly as it got there, so she was left with 2 options. What to do? What to do?!

"Guys, I need the loo. Be right back."

Everyone knew how she hated these meetings, so they just let her go without any fuss. She then started walking towards Zdenek. 

'Guess I'm going with option 2' She thought to herself

Zdenek sat there in anticipation, waiting for his giant burger to arrive. All of a sudden, he felt a hand hit his left shoulder.

"Hu—"

"Yo Zdenek! What's happening man?" Amy said, as she walked and sat down in the chair in front of him. "I didn't know you ate here!"

"Please, have a seat. Join me." He said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. She laughed at that, and he joined in. After a minute or so, the laughter died down, and he flashed her a tiny smile.

"It's nice to see you again Amy. What you need?"

"Oh nothing, I just saw you from our booth, and decided to come say hello. So you made it home safe?"

"Nah, I got attacked by a pack of rabid bull toads, and they croaked me to death." Amy laughed again, and smiled.

"You're alright you know that? I never had you down as the type to tell jokes."

"Yeah well, I'm usually not. I'm just in a good mood, as I'll be eating soon. I'm fucking starving, and I just woke up. So I wasn't really in the mood to make breakfast. Anyway, what you doing here? Are you here with everyone else?"

"Yeah, I am. We're sitting at the booth, having some sort of 'Strategy' meeting. Those things bore me to death, so when I saw you, I said I was going to the toilet and escaped."

"What? You're part of the hierarchy of Aegis. You should pay attention at these kinds of meetings Amy."

"Shut up! They're so boring; it's hard enough acting like I care!" Zdenek chuckled slightly.

"You're an awful example of people in positions of power, you know that?" This time Amy laughed pretty loudly, and wiped a tear from her eye.

"I hear that!" and Zdenek joined in, laughing softly. As the laugher calmed down again, Amy suddenly had a serious look on her face.

"But on a more serious note, I gotta apologise on behalf of Erykah. She was really rude, and in the end, she didn't even offer you a lift home. She...she's just closed her heart off to everyone who's not in our little group. Heck, even with us, only a small portion of her heart is open to us. We haven't seen her smile properly in years. She didn't always used to be like this you know. She changed when—"

"Whoa." Zdenek said, lifting both hands up, palms out. "That is really none of my business. My food is coming, and unless you want Jennifer to hear your Alphas secrets, I suggest you stop right there. Besides, if I'm supposed to know about her past, she'll tell me herself. We all have our own baggage." Amy looked at Zdenek, and smiled.

"You really are alright, you know that?"

Before Zdenek could answer, Jennifer appeared at the table.

"Here you go Zdenek! I also bargained with the Chef to give you a larger portion, and here it is!"

Zdenek marvelled at the sight before him. This burger was massive. It was twice the size of the normal one, and he was sure it was larger than his head. There was a mountain of fries as well, and the milkshake was in a small vase, rather than a glass. His stomach growled, and drool escaped out the side of his mouth.

"Thanks Jennifer. I owe you one!"

"It's my pleasure Zdenek." Jennifer said with a bright smile, before looking over at Amy.

Amy was busy looking back at her booth with a slight grimace, as she saw everyone looking directly her, with Erykah glaring at her, with murderous eyes.

'Shit!' she thought, and then she looked up at Amy, who also seemed to be glaring at her. 'Damn! Erykah is glaring at me because I ditched the meeting, and lied about needing the bathroom. This Jennifer girl is glaring at me, because I'm sitting with Zdenek. This guy just gets me into trouble with people.'

"Well Zdenek, I'm going to head back to the meeting now. If you leave before us, come say hello."

"I don't want to interrupt your meeting, but we'll see."

"Ok cool." With that, Amy got up, and went back to her booth, ready for the tongue lashing she was sure to get.

Erykah watched as Amy made her way back to the booth, with a guilty look on her face. She also avoided making eye contact. She heard Steph asking the brothers. 

"Who is that guy Amy was sitting with?"

"That's the guy who saved Erykah. He's the same guy who completely overwhelmed us and the guards, without so much as lifting a finger." Steve said.

"Oooooh, so that's Zdenek is it?" Steph asked, adjusting her glasses.

"Zdenek? His name is Zdenek? That's...that's quite a badass name, aint it Don?"

"Sure is! No wonder he's so strong!"

"How on earth did you get that from his name?! What does his name have to do with his being strong?!" Steph asked.

"Well, because his name is badass, it makes sense that, that's the reason why he's strong doesn't it?"

"It sure does!" replied Don.

"NO IT DOESN'T!!!" yelled Steph, clearly annoyed at the two. Just then, Amy sat down, and looked at Erykah. Erykah was ready to scold her for ditching the meeting.

"He's not angry." That completely melted away any and all anger that Erykah felt with regards to Amy escaping.

"What?"

"He's not angry at you. Go talk to him."

"What? Fuck that, we're still in the middle of the meeting."

"Go talk to him Erykah. Fuck this meeting, it can be resumed or continued at any time. Right now Zdenek is sitting at that table, eating. He won't be eating forever. Go talk to him."

"Yeah, go talk to him already Erykah. This meeting hasn't been productive in the slightest. Go talk to him." Said Steph

"Yeah, yeah, go talk to him Erykah. We're not so sure why you should, but go anyway." replied Steve and Don.

"But the mee—"

"GO!!" they all said in unison.

"FINE!!" she said back, getting up, and stomping off towards Zdeneks' table. "I thought I was supposed to be Ms Composure. They pressured me into doing this." she mumbled to herself.

As she stood up, all the people in cafe suddenly started speaking softer, with their heads bowed down, as they saw her scowling. They all wondered where she was going, and discreetly followed her with their eyes. When they saw her stop at Zdeneks' table, they all felt a glimmer of happiness, especially the guys, as they thought she was going there to kick his ass.

Bite! Crunch! Sip!

"Mmmmm!" Zdenek said while eating his meal, which he was enjoying more at this point, than anything he could think of. Next thing, he felt a presence stop next to him. Looking up, he saw Erykah standing there, with a scowl on her face.

"Hi. Can I sit down?"

"Sure." He said, nodding slightly. Erykah then sat across from him, and looked down at the table. There was silence at the table. No words were spoken, as Zdenek continued to annihilate his meal. He looked and saw a slightly different scowl on her face. He then turned his plate, so that the fries were facing her, dried his hands using a serviette, gripped the vase, and started sucking on the straw, and the milkshake flowed into his mouth. After having his fill, he tilted the vase over towards Erykah, who looked at him, with the scowl still on her face. It finally clicked; he was offering her some of his milkshake.

"How old are you?" she asked.

"19. Why?"

"You're 19 years old, and you're still drinking strawberry milkshakes?!" her scowl intensified. Zdenek suddenly started to stare into space, his eyes unfocused, and a small, yet bitter smile formed on his lips.

"Well, that's because for 19 years, strawberry milkshakes were the only form of light that could be found in that darkness..."

Erykahs' scowl then slowly disappeared, and turned into a look of guilt. She had come over, although forced to, to actually apologise, and instead was rude to him again. She even touched on a sensitive area; strawberry milkshakes. 'Fuck!'

"Anyway, what do you need?" he asked, his face suddenly back to normal.

"Well, I just wanted to say thanks; for saving my life and everything. I really would've died if you hadn't come along and stopped that bastard, so really, thank you. I'll find some way to pay you ba—"

"I don't need payment or anything. Besides, I helped you because I wanted to." He then took a bite out of his burger. Unconsciously, Erykah took one fry, and started eating it. Then she took another, and another, until she was happily eating them.

"Yeah, well thanks. Also, I was really rude to you right after you saved me, as well as when you came to my house. Sorry for that as well. I'm just not used to socialising with people. I usually only stick to talking to my small group of friends, the ones who form The Hand."

She was looking Zdenek in the eyes while talking, and didn't even notice when she took the remainder of his burger, and started eating it. Zdenek just carried on eating his fries, wondering if she knew that she had started eating his meal. She then reached for the vase with her free hand, and stuck the straw in her mouth, sucking on it and drinking the milkshake.

'She just scolded me for drinking for still drinking strawberry milkshakes at my age.' He thought to himself.

"Yeah, well its ok. I'm not mad. Don't worry about it. Anyway, I heard from Amy that you guys were having a strategy meeting. How was it going?"

"Well, we were trying to decide what our next step is. We want to find out who that guy who attacked me was, but we also have to move forward. We just recently broke into the Top 3, but I want to be at the summit. If you climb Everest, you shouldn't be satisfied almost reaching its peak. You should keep pushing until you reach top that way, when you look down to see where you came from, the satisfaction will be that much more fulfilling."




Badass Ch. 04



"Yeah, well last night, I went to check the battle field, and found that everything had been fixed up like new. However, the wall I blasted that guy into was still fucked up, and he was missing and—"

"What did you mean when you said you heard me?" she interrupted. She hadn't heard a word he said."You know, 1st when you saved me, and the 2nd time in my office. What did you mean?" Zdenek looked at her, and realised she was now confused, and it appeared she didn't like being confused, as it brought a new scowl onto her face, a scowl that differed from the one she had when she 1st approached him.

"I meant exactly that." Her scowled intensified, which meant she was more confused.

"I still don't understand!"

"Listen; when I came to help you that night, I hadn't planned to. I was standing on the roof of my apartment building, looking around the neighbourhood to see if anyone was in trouble. When I was satisfied that no one was, I was about to head back inside when I heard the beginning of your fight. I watched that area for a while, and checked to see if it was in my area. When I saw that it wasn't, I started heading back to my apartment, but then something stopped me. I thought I heard something, so I focused, and cut out the sounds of battle and everything else, until I could hear a voice, asking for help. It was so faint that I couldn't be sure if I heard it correctly, but I did, as it asked for help again. I decided not to let that voice cry out a 3rd time, and rushed in the direction the voice came from, which just happened to be the battle zone." She looked at him, still confused (scowling).

"The 2nd time, I had just purchased groceries, and was paying at the till. I heard that same voice calling out again, this time, it called me specifically. I already knew that it was you, so I once again headed in the direction of the voice. I had already noticed all of the group members looking for someone or something, but I had no idea what, and assumed it was the Buffalo guy, until I heard you calling for me specifically. That's why I went to you.'

"But what does that mean?"

"I don't know myself. This has never happened to me before, so don't ask me." He said with a slight shrug.

"And how did you get past my guards when you came into my house? According to Steve and Don, you didn't even put your bags down."

"I didn't have to. People of a certain strength level are able to tell just from looking when they are faced by someone who is superior to them in every way. I didn't threaten them, or even try to intimidate them. I just told them they'd have to use brute force, if they wanted to stop me from seeing you. They all realised that they couldn't, so they didn't even try. They also noticed that there was no malice in my speech, they saw there was no reason to attack me."

"Yeah, but even Steve and Don; those guys are STRONG! Strong, but also pretty dense. Ho—"

"Superior strength transcends stupidity." He said, polishing off the last of the fries. "Look, I've got to get back to my apartment. Let me just go say bye to Amy before settling the bill."

They both stood up, and headed towards the booth. The heads of the people in the cafe dropped again, but this time, Zdenek could feel rage emanating from the guys. They all assumed that Erykah was going to his table to kick his ass, yet she ended up joining him, and eating his food. Who the hell was this guy? In 3 short days, he had gotten the attention of Jen, the pretty waitress, Amy, the hot lioness AE user, and Erykah, the gorgeous yet intimidating Alpha of Aegis. What the fuck?! 

The 4 people sitting at the booth had been watching Zdeneks' table with burning interest. They came close to exploding with shock when they noticed her eating off of Zdeneks' plate during the conversation, and almost had heart attacks when she drank the milkshake. She still hadn't noticed that she had done any of that, and they were wondering why Zdenek had allowed it, let alone not said anything to her about it. They then approached the booth, she heard Steph clear her throat, slightly motioning with her head that she wanted to be introduced.

"Hey Steve, Steph, Don, this is Zdenek. Seeing as you guys haven't been introduced yet."

"Hey Zdenek!" They all said in perfect unison

"Hey guys, nice to meet you in person Stephanie. I saw you two last night at the house. You guys good?"

"Yeah, we're fine!" They replied in unison again.

"Shit, do you guys practice that, and wait to use it in moments like these?" they all laughed, except Erykah."Anyway, Amy, I came over to say goodbye, just like you asked. I'm leaving just after settling my bill."

"Oh, ok Zdenek. Thanks for that. By the way, don't worry about the bill, we'll settle it."

"What? Why?"

"Yeah, why?" asked Erykah.

"Well Zdenek, because our Alpha ate about the same amount of your meal as you did, thus it is also our responsibility to pay for it." This froze Erykah on the spot. When she looked back to her entire sit-down with Zdenek, she noticed that she had in fact eaten most of his fries, polished off ¼ of his giant burger, and drank the rest of his milkshake during their conversation. Her scowl once again changed slightly, and Zdenek had to move quickly.

"Well, Erykah looked kind of hungry, so I offered her some of my meal, that's all." He said with a shrug, and a look directed to Amy, that told her to drop it, which she did.

Erykahs' scowl of embarrassment died down, and her face went back into its usual scowl. This made Zdenek let out a slight grunt of relief.

"Well Amy, if you're gonna insist that you pay for the meal, I won't say no!" He said with a slight smile on his face."Well guys, I'm off. See you around." Before he could turn though, he heard someone speak.

"Wait. Can I drive you back to your place or something?" Erykah offered.

"That won't be necessary thanks. I live like 10 minutes away, in one of the apartment buildings near the campus; you know the ones that are all painted different colours?"

"Oh yeah, I know which ones you're talking about." Amy said. "Which colour did you get?"

"I got pink. But I don't mind. I live on the top floor, and I'm the only tenant on the entire floor, so it's all good. Anyway, thanks for the offer, but I'm good. Also, thanks for the meal. It was nice meeting you Stephanie." And with that, he made his way to the door. He stopped when he saw a few waitresses standing at waitress HQ.

"Hey, could you guys call Jennifer for me?"

"Sure thing" one of them said, and headed towards the bathroom.

She re emerged with Jennifer in tow, and they walked up to him. As they reached him, he was about to talk, before Jennifer stopped him, and shooed the other waitresses away, who trying to listen in on their conversation. After she was through, she turned to Zdenek and smiled.

"You know, for someone who should be busy with all the male customers, you sure do disappear a lot."

"Shut up Zdenek. You leaving? You want the bill?"

"Yeah, but just send it over to the booth over there." He said as he pointed over to where he just left.

"You mean the Aegis booth?"

"Yeah. They're covering my breakfast. Well, it ended up turning into lunch. That's called brunch right? Anyway, I'm off. Tell them I said to leave your customary large tip. Bye Jennifer."

"Bye Zdenek!" She said with a wave, and that bright smile. The moment he left though, it left her face. She heard that he had not only had a conversation with Amy, he had actually shared his meal with Erykah. What was going on? With that though, she went to go prepare the cheque.

Zdeneks' walk home was relatively quiet, as was the rest of his afternoon. Due to Erykah eating a portion of his meal, he wasn't satisfied, and when he got home, he made himself a tonne of pancakes, as they were simple to make, and didn't take a lot of time, and he destroyed most of them. After eating, he gathered up his dirty laundry, and went to the communal laundry room in his building. He set it to wash and went back to his apartment. He then checked the time.

"20:12 huh? Guess I'll go on patrol for a bit."

He went to the roof.

"Corruption Vision"

He looked around his neighbourhood, looking to see if anyone was causing problems. When he saw none, he deactivated Corruption Vision, hooded himself up, and ran towards the ledge, jumping off, and landing on the roof of the building across. He then got into his running stance, and proceeded to run around, on the building tops, looking down below. He covered a 3 square km radius, looking here and there, all while running at speed. Then he noticed that he was on the border of Aegis' territory, and the feeling he got started changing. The atmosphere from across the border was leaking into Aegis' territory, and it was for the 1st time that he had noticed Aegis' atmosphere. He looked around, and there was a blue hue in the air, almost like a blue fog. This fog however, was clashing with a green one. You wouldn't normally notice the hue, but there was a concentration of each individual hue, as they were pressing into each other.

He looked down, and saw 2 guys crossing into Aegis space, clearly looking for trouble. They assumed that there would be no people guarding the borders. He followed them from the roof tops, until he saw them approach a group of people. They started to instigate trouble, and then one of them swung, and punched one of the guys in the group across the face. 

Zdenek swooped down on them in a flash. As he landed, he crouched down, placing both hands flat on the ground, bending his left leg, tucking his foot under his ass. He straightened his left leg, and swept it around, on the floor, catching the one who had thrown the punch, causing him to fall backwards. Continuing his motion, he straightened his right leg, and then lifted it up, bending his knee, while his left, still straight, was brought up, so it was almost vertical. He then brought it down, crashing his heel into the abdomen of the guy who was still in midair. As the guy hit the ground, the pavement caved in, and the area surrounding his abdomen turned into a crater, leaving his mid section lying lower than the rest of his body. The guy was out cold.

He then turned to his companion, who was still standing there in shock. He then closed eyes,

"Corruption Vision" he said softly. Then opened his eyes, and looked straight into the eyes of that other guy. The guy didn't know that Corruption Vision wasn't an offensive technique, so when he saw amber pupils glowing brightly, and a purple hue surrounding those pupils, he nearly shat himself.

"Listen to me; take your friend, and NEVER come back into this territory again, do you understand me? The next time I so much as smell you two, I won't be as soft as I was today, and I WILL kill you. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!"

"Y-Y-YEEEESSSSS!!!"

"NOW GET OUTTA HERE!!!"

And with that, the guy dug his friend out of the crater, and ran for his life. Zdenek deactivated Corruption Vision, and turned to the group.

"You guys ok? How's the guy who got punched?"

"We're all ok thanks to you. At least we know those two won't be coming back."

"That's good." He said with a grunt.

"Yeah I agree. Thanks aga—" but Zdenek head already leapt up before the person speaking could finish.

"I wonder who he was."

On his way back to his apartment, Zdenek was thinking to himself.

'What the fuck was that? Those guys just walked into the territory without a care in the world, as though they would not be reprimanded in the slightest. I gotta tell Erykah about this, but I'll tell her about it tomorrow. For now, I gotta get some sleep.'

He finally got back to his apartment, and barely spent time doing anything other than disrobing. Once in his boxers, he fell onto his bed, which was sure made a solid "THUNK" like sound, before falling asleep in seconds.

When he woke up the following morning, he felt rather tired and lethargic. This however, didn't stop him from getting out of bed, and heading towards the bathroom. He washed his face, and brushed his teeth. He then heard a knock on his front door. The toothbrush was still in his mouth, and he was just in boxers, but even so, he made his way over to the door. As he was approaching, he could hear someone speaking through the door.

"...this had better be the right place! This is our 5th attempt now!"

"Shut up! I think I can hear someone coming!"

Then it all went quiet. Zdenek wasn't awake enough to think about what was going on, and he started to unlock the door. When he opened the door, the scene in front of him nearly made him choke. At the front, there was Erykah, with a look of shame and annoyance on her face, and she didn't make eye contact with him. Behind her, slightly to the left was Stephanie. She was standing there, with a serious look on her face. Her right hand was up, and she was holding the fame of the glasses with her thumb and index finger. Her right shoulder was in a more advanced position than her left, making her torso twist to the right. In her left hand, was her trusty laptop. Her left leg was more advanced than her right leg, and her knees were bent slightly. Then Behind Erykah, slightly to her right, was Amy. With her left hand by her mouth, blowing a kiss. Her right hand was on her right hip, which she was pushing out. Her right leg was bent slightly, and her left leg was straight. Her head was tilted slightly to the left. Behind her, slightly to her right was Don. Likewise behind Stephanie, slightly to her left was Steve. They were both doing a Hulk Hogan like pose, facing each other, and mimicking each other. They looked like mirror images of each other. Then, the four of them looked at him.

"YO ZDENEK!! WE'VE COME TO PLAAAAYYY!!!" they all said in perfect unison, all turning their heads in perfect unison once again, to look at him, with cheesy grins on their faces.

Zdenek just looked at them; first individually, then as a group. After what seemed like an eternity, he lifted up the hand that wasn't holding the toothbrush in his mouth, and pointed at Erykah.

"Unless she strikes a pose, and says the line with you guys, none of you are coming in." And with that, he slammed the door and waited. He heard what sounded like Amys' voice on the other side

"You see Erykah?! I told this would happen! I told you to pose, but nooo, you had to be the only one to refuse!"

Zdenek heard a bit more arguing, and after about 5 minutes, it died down and went quiet again. Then, they knocked again. This time when he opened the door, he nearly choked harder. He saw the 4 doing the same poses as before, but what shocked him was Erykah. She stood there with her right arm, at a 45 degree angle, jutting straight, but her hand was perfectly horizontal to the ground. Her left arm on the other hand, had been bent upwards, with her hand straight across her forehead forming a rather rigid and impressive salute. Her left leg mimicked her right arm, being perfectly straight, and at a 45 degree angle. Her right leg mimicked her left arm, being rigid, and bent at the knee, with her right foot flat on the ground. He couldn't see her eyes, because she was purposely shielding them from him.

"YO ZDENEK!! WE'VE COME TO PLAAAAYYY!!!" they all said in perfect unison, all turning their heads in perfect unison once again, to look at him, with cheesy grins on their faces. Erykah on the other hand, just looked down. She was getting ready to murder him when they got inside.

Zdenek looked at all of them, and smiled.

"Come in guys. Oh, and Erykah, that was payback for making me walk back here from your apartment." He said with a slight glint in his eyes. She looked up at him but had to concede defeat. She had asked him not to accept the offer made by Amy, and he didn't.

'Wait a minute, how did he know I asked him not to? I didn't say it out loud.'

"Anyway, what are you guys doing here so early in the morning?" He asked showing them in, and leading them over to the lounge, where they each took a seat.

"Well, I came here to ask you something with regards to the previous fight—"

"And we came here to play!" Amy interrupted, causing Erykah to growl. That shut her up.

"Hmmm, well that's kind of convenient, as I wanted to tell you something as well."

"Really? What is it?"

"Well, last night while I was on patrol, I went to what I assume was the border of your territory. When there, I saw two guys come from across the border, and begin to assault a group of people standing there, with one guy getting punched in the face. Of course, I drove them off, and warned them never to come back into the territory, but the issue wasn't the fact that they came in. It was the fact that they came in with no fear. Tell me, how do you usually monitor the borders?"

"Well, we haven't really gotten to that point yet. We just broke into the top 3, so we had a chance to set everything up." Amy answered

"Hmmm, ok. How many members are there in Aegis?"

"Not counting us, about 100."

"Ok. What you guys will do is this; gather 10 of your strongest AE users. Assign them as captains, and give each captain teams of 10. Then we will select another 10, who are preferably the strongest after the 10 captains, and they will be the vice captains. Then, those teams of 10 will split into teams of 5. Then have them patrol the borders. At any given moment, have 5 captains, and 5 vice captains out on the field. There will be day and night shifts, with the teams switching places with fresh teams at a specific time; say after 8 hours. This rotation will keep the squads fresh and alert. By doing this, we can ensure that the borders are monitored, and the people who live inside your territory are safe. How's that sound Erykah?"

"That sounds pretty good actually, it's a good plan."

"So it has your go ahead then? You're the Alpha of the group."

"Yeah, it sounds fine."

"Good. Ok, Steve, Don, you two head out and collect all of the members of the Aegis. Have them assemble in the lobby of Erykahs' house, as it has the most space."

"Sure thing." They said together.

"Amy; you go out, and chart out how large the territory is. It doesn't have to be exact, but just so we can get a good idea of how large it is."

"You got it!" Amy replied.

"Stephanie; I want you to go with Amy. When you two are done, I want you to work out how large an area each of the 10 groups will each have to monitor."

"Ok." Stephanie said with a nod of her small head.

"Ok guys, I need you guys to have task done by 15:00, as the 10 strongest still have to found, and the teams allocated. Meet at Erykahs house before or by 15:00. Erykah and I will meet you there, and then we can get started with the division and assigning. Understand? Any questions?" 

There were no questions. They all shook their heads.

"Good. Now you all have tasks, and you all know the time limit. Now get to it."

"Yes sir!" They all said in unison, and they sprang up off their seats, and disappeared out of the apartment.

"I'm pretty damn sure they practice that when you're not around, just for moments like this." He said, and he looked at Erykah, who had the confusion scowl on her face.

"Um, thanks for coming up with the plan, but you don't really have to come later."

"Don't be silly. This is my plan, so I have to help with the implementation of the plan. Anyway, have you had breakfast yet?"

"Breakfast? N-no. Why?"

"You have a problem with eating pancakes?"

"No; no problem with pancakes, why?"

"Then I'll be right back. Just let me get dressed." And with that, Zdenek left to get dressed.

When he was dressed, he went and started to mix the pancake batter.

"So, in the cafe, you asked me how old I was, and I told you. How old are you?"

"I'm 21."

"Do you work out, or is your physique that way because of your AE?"




Badass Ch. 04



"Well, it's kind of a mixture. I worked out while in my AE form, so when I deactivated my power, it's form was permanently a heavily muscled one. Somehow, it also influenced my normal form, and now I'm permanently like this. I no longer work out, but I haven't lost any mass or definition."

"Ohhhh, that's pretty fucking cool. How long ago was that?"

"Oh, probably when I was 15."

"How long have you and the rest of the guys been friends?"

"Oh, we're all childhood friends. We've all known each other for close to 15 years."

"Oh, that must be nice; having the same friends for that long."

"Yeah, it is nice. They're the best you know. They've stuck with me through thick and thin, and I really appreciate them."

"That sounds great." he said, placing a plate of pancakes in front of her, covered in melting butter. She took the syrup, and doused the pancakes with it. They spoke four hours, and she finally asked him.

"Tell me about yourself."

"What do you want to know? Ask a specific question, and I'll tell you."

"How long have you been in the city?"

"A few days actually. I just recently got accepted into the college."

"Where did you come from?"

"A tiny little village, in a tiny country. You wouldn't know it."

"Oh, ok. Why'd you leave it?"

"Well, I didn't really have a choice."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the people of the village just couldn't handle my entity."

"What do you mean? What is your animal entity?"

"It isn—" just then, Erykahs' phone went off. It was Amy.

"Hey. Steph and I are about to reach your place, and Steve and Don have already gathered every member of Aegis. We'll see you there." And with that, Amy hung up.

"That was Amy. They—"

"I heard her." Zdenek said, getting up and putting on his coat. "Let's go." Erykah nodded, and they ran to her car, which was parked outside. She drove and they got there just after Amy and Stephanie arrived.

They headed for the door together, and when they got there, Zdenek opened the door for Erykah. She walked through the open door, and all the Aegis members saw her. They stood there, and started to bow their heads for her. Zdenek then entered after her, and as they all caught sight of him, they immediately stood at attention, shoulders rigid, fists clenched at their sides, feet together, but with their heads lowered.

"Alpha!" They all said in unison.

"Where are rest of The Hand?" Erykah asked

"Yes Alpha. They are in the kitchen, waiting for you."

"Thank you." She said, and led the way to the kitchen, with Zdenek in tow. When they got into the kitchen, they were all waiting for Zdenek and Erykah.

"Steve, Don, well done in gathering everyone on such short notice. You guys are pretty strong when it comes to mobilizing." Zdenek said with a slight smile and a nod.

"Thanks Zdenek. Appreciate it." Replied Steve, with Don nodding.

"So, Amy, Stephanie, how'd it go? How large is the territory?"

"Ok, our territory is between 25-30 km in total, and Steph worked out that each team will cover 2.5-3 km each."

"Ok. Well done both of you. Although the division part was easy, you still did a good job."

"Of course we did!" Amy said, arrogance dripping from her voice.

"Yeah, thanks Zdenek." Stephanie said with a smile.

"Now that that's settled, how will we find our 10 captains and vice captains?" Erykah asked.

"Simple. I gave it some thought on the trip here, and came up with a solution. "

Everyone paid attention instantly, and focused on Zdenek.

"Erykah, you will address the gathering, telling them to just activate their AE powers. We're not looking for them to tap into their powers, and draw them out, just activate them. I will be able to sense which of them are the strongest from standing close to them. Tell the 1st 10 that I touch to assemble in front of you guys in a straight line. Then tell the next 10 I touch to stand behind the 1st 10. The 1st 10 will be the captains, and the 2nd 10 will be their vice captains. Steve and Don will then be in charge of arranging the squads; which VC will be assigned to which C, and then the members of the group will be part of which teams. After the teams have been assembled, Erykah you will continue with the explanation of why the teams have been formed, and the duties that they will be expected to perform. Stephanie, while this is happening, I'll need you to draw up roster, stating which teams will be in charge or the day shift, and the night shift, and tell each team, before printing it, and handing a copy to each of the captains."

"That sounds really good!" Amy said "Damn Zdenek, you're good when it comes to this planning shit!"

"Yeah well, it was kind of part of my training. Anyway, let's get started. The sooner we can organise and assemble the teams, the quicker your borders can be protected."

'What? Training? What does that mean?' Erykah thought to herself as they all exited the kitchen.

Everyone stood at attention again, and The Hand stood on the raised platform, while Zdenek stood on front of the group. Erykah cleared her throat, and spoke.

"Ok guys, we are going to be conducting an exercise that will change the way our group is currently set up. However, there is a reason for this. We will tell you everything later. But for now, when this man tells you to, I need you to activate your AE powers, but do not draw them out, just activate them. When this man touches you, I will need you to form a horizontal line in front of us. He will only be touching 10 of you at the moment. Zdenek."

"Ok listen; I need you guys to form 10 lines of 10, right now, standing a meter apart. Got that? Now let's start."

They did as they were told, and after they had arranged themselves, Zdenek spoke again.

"Now, activate your AE powers."

They did this, and the room temperature increased, as 80 or so people activated their powers. Zdenek then walked in front of the 1st line, and in between each of the lines, touching people as he went past them. Once he had touched all 10, and they had formed a line, Erykah spoke again.

"Now, don't deactivate them. He'll be touching 10 more of you right now." 

And with that, Zdenek started the exercise again, touching 10 more people, before joining The Hand on the platform. They all examined the front row; 7 men and 3 women.

"Everyone, look at the 1st row. These 7 men and 3 women are now captains of Aegis. Other than The Hand, no one else has a higher rank than these 10 people. These 10 are the elite amongst you, and you will all follow their lead." Erykah said.

All of the group members, including the captains were shocked at this announcement, and at the drastic changes happening to Aegis. Zdenek and the others then examined the 10 VCs, who were standing behind the Cs. 5 men and 5 women, and even number. Erykah then spoke again.

"Take a good look at the 10 standing behind you captains, as those are your vice captains. Steve and Don will organise and assemble the teams, but now you know who the captains and vice captains are. The reason why we have undergone such changes is because we will now be guarding the borders of our territory. We have worked it out, and there will be two 5 main teams, each handling an area of about 2.5 km. Each mini team will either be led by a captain, or a vice captain. There will be day and night shifts, so that is why we have split the teams into 5 man teams. At any given time, there will be 5 captains and 5 vice captains on patrol. Steve and Don will assign the teams, and Stephanie will let you know which teams will patrol which area, as well as who will handle the day shift, and the night shift. Are there any questions?"

Everyone shook their heads. Zdenek then moved forward, and stood just behind Erykah, looked at everyone and smiled at them, giving them all a nod of acknowledgement, and said.

"Do you understand what this means? Erykah is giving you all the responsibility of ensuring that Aegis continues to grow, and becomes the best power group. That means you are all responsible for your own destinies. Erykah is giving you the opportunity help make Aegis the best. This shows the trust and faith she has in you. Don't let her down, ok?"

"Yes Alpha! Thank you Alpha!"

"Alright Captains, assemble on this side of the lobby, and Vice Captains, assemble in a group next to them. The rest of you, wait until we call you by name. Ok everybody, let's go. We want to have the 1st patrol out by tonight, so let's get a move on." Steve said and there was excitement buzzing around the lobby, as Steve and Don did their thing. Stephanie stayed, as Zdenek, Amy and Erykah went back into the kitchen.

"That went well. You did good Erykah." Zdenek said with a nod. "Those guys really respect you. It must've been hard to get them to that stage. It was very impressive."

"Really? Something felt different though, I just can't put my finger on it. I won—"

"Hey Zdenek!"

"Hmmm?" Zdenek replied, looking at Amy.

"Why haven't I got a role in this current situation?" Zdenek walked up to Amy, and put both hands on her shoulders, looking her in the eyes.

"Didn't I tell you yesterday that you're an awful example of a person in a position of power? That's why." Then he smiled slightly. This caused Amy to burst out laughing, any annoyance that was in her melting away, as she laughed.

"You really are a bastard Zdenek, you know that?" At that, Zdenek gave her a quick grin.

"Nah, look Amy. I'll need you to show each team to their respective patrol locations, as you were the one who checked them all out earlier today while measuring how large the territory was. I'll also need you to structure it in such a way, that he groups alternate at each location. Like Captain, Vice Captain. Captain, Vice Captain. Captain, Vice Captain. Can you do that?

"You bet I can! Leave it to me!"

"Good, when that is done, I'll need you to meet us on the roof of my apartment building. Ok? Also, give everyone else the same message."

"Sure thing Zdenek. See you later then." And with that, she went back into the lobby to give everyone else the message.

"Well Erykah, appears that our roles are done here. I'll be heading back to my apartment now. Can you give me a ride?"

"Sure Zdenek, let's go."

As they left the kitchen and entered the lobby, everyone once again stood at attention, with their heads bowed.

"Alpha! Have a safe trip! We will not betray your trust and disappoint you! We will protect our territory! Your faith will be repaid, Alpha!" They all said, and every member of The Hand stood there, stunned and speechless. This was the 1st time they had ever shown this much passion for any orders given. Erykah just nodded, but she had been moved by their show of loyalty and respect. They then left, and got into Erykahs' car. The car trip was mostly made in silence. Erykah knew that what had happened in the house was because of Zdenek. She wanted to thank him, but didn't know how. Then they reached Zdeneks' apartment.

"Hey Zdenek?"

"Yeah? What you need Erykah?"

"Can I come inside, and hang with you until the others arrive?"

"Of course, you didn't have to ask. I'll make us some dinner while we wait."

They went in the lift, got to his floor, and went to his apartment. He opened the door, and waited for her to walk in. Once there, he took off his coat and gloves, and headed into the kitchen. Erykah sat on a stool in the kitchen, and watched as he whipped up some pasta. Linguini, tossed in a white sauce, which was mixed with parmesan cheese. He threw in some parsley. At the same time as he prepared the pasta, he had pulled some sausage meat out of the skin, and made mini meatballs out of it. He then fried it, and added the meatballs to the linguini at the end. He put a plate in front of her.

"What would you like to drink?"

"Some water thanks."

He poured some water into a glass, and placed it in front of her. When she looked carefully, she noticed just how massive his portion was.

"Are you going to eat all that?"

"Of course. Didn't you notice how many pancakes I ate this morning?"

"Shit. I don't know who's worse; you or Steve and Don."

Zdenek laughed softly at this, and started eating.

"Perhaps I should have an 'eat off' with them, show them who's boss."

"Oh God..." She said, rolling her eyes as she imagined it. As Zdenek chuckled, she realised something.

'Whoa, wait a minute. I'm making small talk with someone, while eating dinner. This...this hasn't happened since...' Her phone rang, and it was Amy.

"Hey Amy, what's up?"

"We're on the roof waiting for you guys."

"Ok. See you now." She looked at Zdenek. "That was Amy—"

"I heard her." He said putting on his gloves and coat. "Let's go."

And with that, they made their way up to the roof, where they were greeted by the rest of the crew.

"Hey guys, how'd the assembly and shit go? The teams out at their various points?"

"Oh yeah! They were so amped, it wasn't even funny. Damn, I don't know what happened, but whatever it was, it lit a fire under their asses; almost like they suddenly were proud to be Aegis members." Amy said.

"That's exactly it. The fact that Erykah showed them that she had faith in them, made them want to repay her confidence in them. Now, all of us are going to go on patrol, and meet them at their various posts, to show them that The Hand of Aegis is willing to slum it out with the lower level members. This'll also give them a feeling of familiarity, that'll ensure that if they have any problems, they won't have issues approaching any of you guys. Now, Let's—"

"Why?" Erykah asked.

"Huh?"

"Why are you doing this? Why are you coming up with plans? Why ar—"

"In the cafe yesterday, didn't you tell me that you wanted to be at the top of the summit? Didn't you say that the satisfaction you get from looking down from the top is more fulfilling? Oh, I haven't answered your question yet have I? Look Erykah, what you have accomplished with this Aegis in just one year has been incredible. I know all about it. I know how you grabbed the role of Alpha alone. I know how you have been working hard to ensure that Aegis break into the Top 3. I know how you have been working hard to manage and organise this group. I know how you have carried this group, and all of the responsibilities that come with it on your shoulders, and have been walking alone with that burden; however, you don't have to do that. You have 4 people with you, who have known you for 15 years, and are here for you. Four people who have stood by you, and will continue to, four people who will happily share the burden that you carry. You have closed your heart off to so many people, that you have inadvertently closed it off to them as well. When was the last time you relaxed, hmmm? Stop trying to do everything yourself Erykah. You have four people here willing to take some of the load. Rather than carrying them up Everest; lead them up. Rather than pulling them up the path; walk alongside them. When you reach the summit of Everest, don't look down on them and tell them what a wonderful feeling you're experiencing, stand up there with them, and share that feeling with them. That's what they're here for Ery—"

"WHAT DO YOU KNOW?! WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU KNOW?! YOU DON'T KNOW ME, YOU DON'T KNOW US. YOU'RE AN OUTSIDER! WHAT DOES AN OUT—"

"Because I'm an outsider, I can see how much these four long for you to completely let your guard down around them. They want to be there for you, but you won't let, and I can see how much that hurts them, just by looking in their eyes. But if you don't believe me, ask them yourself."

"Is-is what he said true guys?"

She looked at them, and saw the emotion in their eyes, as they each nodded, and Amy spoke.

"We had to watch Erykah. Each of us was forced to watch, as you buried your heart deeper in concrete. We watched as you shut yourself off, and refused to let anyone else near your heart. We've known you since we were all kids. We all played at each others' houses, went on adventures together, and discovered our AE powers together. We were closer than friends, and we were all siblings. We used to wipe each others' tears when we all cried. We all jumped in when some tried to pick Steph, or when Steve and Don struggled with their studies, forming study groups and stuff. We used to have so much fun, and you used to smile all the time. That was before....Look; it breaks our hearts to know that we are the only people who know what your smile looks like, even though it's something we haven't seen for quite some time. We haven't heard you laugh in almost as long either, and it breaks our hearts that there is nothing we can do about it. We decided that we would stay by your side, and would try our best to help you succeed, thinking that success would lead to happiness, and happiness would lead to a smile, but you haven't trusted us, or let us help you. You haven't let us; YOUR FAMILY help you, and it's been killing us. We love you Erykah, and we always will, just please; LET US IN!"

Erykah looked down after hearing everything Amy said. She could feel her eyes beginning to burn, and her vision becoming blurry.

'What is this? What's happening? Why are my eyes hot? Why can't I see properly? What is this warmth running down my cheeks?'

Erykah looked up at her friends, who saw tears escaping from her eyes for the 1st time than longer they care to remember. As two droplets of tears fell from her jaw, the four friends rushed to her, and wrapped her up in a group hug. They stood there holding her, as she wept softly, for a very long time. When they finally released her, and looked at her, they had tears of their own streaming down all of their cheeks. They all reached their hands up, and started drying each others' tears.

"Just like when we were kids huh?" Amy asked, and they just nodded, with the four of them smiling. 

Erykah just exhaled, recovering from her first crying session in years. Then they all heard footsteps approach, and walk past them. Zdenek stood at the ledge he always stood at, the wind, causing his coat to start flailing in the wind. His hood was down, and his hair, which was in a pony tail, was also flailing about, blowing in the direction of the wind. He didn't look back at them as he spoke.

"We'll hit the furthest border post first. That should give your eyes sufficient time to go back normal."

"Zdenek; why are you doing so much for me?" Erykah asked. He didn't face her, and before he jumped off the roof, he said.

"I heard you. You might not have heard yourself, but I heard you; loud and clear. That's why I came."

To be continued.....

*

So guys that was Chapter 4 of the Badass series. Lemme know how you felt about it in the comments section. I hope you liked it, and even if you didn't, thank you for taking the time and reading it.

To the guy who requested longer chapters, I hope this was long enough for you. As you guys can see, I'm an author who considers requests, so ladies, if any of you want to 'request' my hand in marriage, then by all means, please do! (LOL!)

*

Anyway, thanks for reading, and look forward to the next one.

Peace.

DionysosK. 



Badass Ch. 05



Yo! This is the 5th instalment in the Badass series. I just want to say thanks to all those who have given me positive, both publicly, and privately. This is just something I've started doing recently, without any previous experience, other than essays. The response that Badass has been getting is really touching, and makes the effort worth it.

In this Chapter, the focus will mostly be on Aegis again. Also, there is no combat in this Chapter, so please bear with me.

Your reading this is greatly appreciated by the author; me.

DionysosK.


The Hand of Aegis watched on, as Zdenek jumped off the roof. They saw him fly across, and land on a roof below, and then start running in a weird stance. They realised that they wouldn't be able to keep up without activating their AE powers, so they did, but only enough to enhance their strength and speed, so they could keep up. They then followed his lead, jumping off the roof, and following his path. It took a bit of effort, but they caught up. Zdenek then slowed down a little, and joined the group.

"Amy. Which direction is the furthest post? Since you and Stephanie went there earlier, you tell us where to go."

"Well, if we head east from here, we'll get there. They'll be stationed on the roof of a building, so we can't miss them, and at this speed, we'll be there in less than 10 minutes."

"Ok good. I'll give you guys some space, in case you want to talk. Just call out to me if I'm heading the wrong way, ok?"

"Sure thing Zdenek. Thanks."

"No problem." And with that, Zdenek pushed off and increased his lead on the group."

"Guys..." Erykah said, looking down as they were running. They all looked towards her.

"I know that I haven't been all that approachable the past few years and..."

"Don't worry about it! We all understand." They all said in unison. Erykah looked at each of them, dumbfounded at both their understanding, and the perfect timing of their reply.

"Zdenek was right wasn't he? You guys really do practice behind closed doors, and unleash this 'group mind speak' shit during moments like these?"

"Nah. That's not it. It's just we've been waiting for this for so long, that our feelings became the same."

"Oh? And what exactly have you been waiting for?"

"You to open up to us, just that little bit more." Erykah looked at them as they all nodded in agreement, and smiled warmly.  Erykah sighed and looked down again.

"I know I haven't said this for far too long, but...you know... I um, I really appreciate you guys, and...I love you. Thank you for always being there. I don't know what I'd do without you."

There was silence after Erykahs' declaration. They all knew that she loved them; otherwise she wouldn't have trusted them as much as she did, but to come and say it out loud? They hadn't been expecting to hear her tell them that for years. No one spoke, as they couldn't close their mouths. Erykah didn't even look up.

"Hey, I'm going to go talk to Zdenek until we get there ok?" before waiting for acknowledgement, she drew out a bit more power to increase her speed, and joined Zdenek up front.

"At first, I thought I was just imagining things, but now even you guys have seen it; Erykah is changing. She's changing, and that pale silver haired guy is the cause, and I don't know how to take it."

"What do you mean Amy?"

"What I mean Steph, is that we've known Zdenek for 3 days now. The 1st day, he overwhelmed us, without so much as lifting a finger. The 2nd day, he just ate his lunch, yet that in itself was when the 1st incident happened, and then today, life changing things happened. The 1st day, he forced all of us, with the exception of you Steph, to submit; we couldn't lift a finger to stop him from entering the house. The 2nd day, Erykah went to his table at Zees', and without even knowing it, ate off his plate, and drank his milkshake. I can't even REMEMBER the last time she even thought about a milkshake, let alone drank one. And he said something about seeing that she was hungry? We were all looking at them, and the look on her face never changed; it was always a scowl! Then we get today; this morning, I nearly died when she agreed to pose with us. How badly did she want to get into Zdeneks' place that she joined in? And that pose was pretty fucking cool too! She didn't even try to murder him, after he forced her to pose with us. She also just listened as he made plans to change the group she worked for over a year to strengthen, and in that period, she only listened to suggestions from us. Next thing, she's not only listening to, but agreeing with commands that will change the makeup of Aegis. Just now, she even opened up to us and shed tears; tears that we thought had long since dried up and she also told us that she loves us. It's taken Zdenek 3 days to accomplish what we've spent the last 5 years try to do. While it makes me happy that she's letting us in again, it hurts that it's not because of us, but rather, because of some guy she just met."

They continued in silence for a bit, and watched Erykah and Zdenek as they ran and jumped ahead of the rest of them.

"Look Amy, I understand what you're saying, but look at her. Look at her shoulders, they're usually stiffer than Steve and Don when they're around attractive women—"

"HEY!" The brothers yelled in unison

"But look at them now. How many years has it been since she relaxed her shoulders that much? We 1st saw it that night when she had her 1st beer in years, she relaxed, and even told a joke. Regardless of how and why, when she is around that guy, she relaxes. Even more so than she did when she was around A—"

"Steph! You know we don't talk about him; EVER! Besides, we're almost there." Stephanie sighed in agreement, and the rest of their trip was made in silence.



Zdenek sensed Erykah approaching, and braced himself for an attack.

'This woman is going to be pissed off, because I touched on n area that as an outsider, I shouldn't have.'

"Hey."

"Hey. Your eyes aren't puffy and red anymore. You guys talk it out?"

"Yeah we did, although I still feel bad for shutting my friends out like that."

"Yeah, that's good. Sorry for butting in—"

"Thank you, Zdenek. I really appreciate it. You stopped me from continuing to emotionally isolate myself from the people I love the most, so thank you for that." Zdenek was slightly shocked

"You're welcome."

"But wait, why did you repeat that line from when you saved me? Why—"

"We're almost there. I'm going to fall back, and join the rest of the group. You stay in front, and lead us to the team, you're the Alpha." And with that, he slowed his pace down, and joined the other 4, just as they approached the 1st team. As they arrived, the 1st team turned around, and was shocked to see it was the entire Hand of Aegis, along with the mystery man who came to see Erykah that day, and also selected the captains. The Hand of Aegis then deactivated their AE powers, and relaxed. They all stood at attention, and bowed their heads.

"Alpha; we didn't know you would be coming to our post. We—"

"It's alright, at ease. We just came to join the watch for a while, make sure you guys aren't having any trouble. Is there anything to report?"

"No Alpha, everything has been fine, no incidents so far." They didn't relax though, as they stood stiff and rigid, with heads bowed.

"Didn't you guys here her? You can relax, don't worry."

"Of course, thank you Alpha. Is there anything you, or The Hand would like? Perhaps something to drink? There is a small shop down there, and we can send someone to go get some." The captain said, as he and his team relaxed. They only seemed to do this after Zdenek told them to, and this didn't go unnoticed.

"No, we're fine." Erykah replied. "What time does your shift end Captain?"

Zdenek moved away from the group, and stood at the edge of the roof, looking down below. He noticed the clashing of the blue of Aegis, and the green of the territory on the other side of their border. Amy stood next to him.

"It's strange, isn't it? Our colour is blue, and we have no idea why. I wonder what would happen if we took over the territory? Or if we joined forces with them? Would the colours stop clashing, and just turn green?" Amy said, and giggled a bit at the end.

"Who knows? Conversely, if you guys are conquered, would the hue here turn green? The only way to find out is to either win, or lose the turf war."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Listen Zdenek, thank you, for you know, getting Erykah to open up to us. While it burns me that you were able to do in 3 days what we couldn't do in many years, but that's just my pride talking. How did you know what to say? How did you know what we were feeling?" They both stood in silence for a bit before he responded.

"You guys, I could see the pain in your eyes every time you looked at her. On the night I 1st met you, Steve and Don, I came back after I initially left, and sat at the house across from Erykahs. I went back to ensure that no one from the Buffalo guys' group had come to attack Erykah, but I found you guys hadn't left, and that Stephanie had arrived. I sat there, and I watched. I saw the pain in all your eyes when she wouldn't smile, but I also saw the joy that almost made you guys cry when she grabbed a beer. I saw that when you guys had laughed at what she said, you weren't laughing from your stomachs, but rather from your hearts; it was laugher born from happiness, and not humour. But the most joy I saw from you guys was when she relaxed her shoulders; it was almost as though you had been waiting forever for to relax even slightly. It was all in your eyes. All of you guys have trained your bodies and faces well, as your emotions are not visible in your body language, however you can't train your soul, and as they say, eyes are the windows to your soul."

Amy stood there, staring at him with her mouth open, until it almost dried out.

"Is-is that how you were able to tell that she was hungry, when she was at your table as Zees? Her eyes?"

"No, Erykah is far less complicated. She's easy to read. It's all in her scowl."

"Her scowl?"

"Yeah, the scowl that is usually on her face changes depending on the emotion she's feeling. When she's angry, her brow furrows that slightest bit more. When she's hungry, her nostrils flare a bit. When she's embarrassed, her nose wrinkles up slightly. When she's happy, the corners of her mouth relax slightly, and her frown becomes less fierce. At the cafe, she actually didn't realise that she had eaten off my plate, and became pretty embarrassed. She obviously doesn't like being embarrassed, and she started getting angry as well, that's why I quickly said that I saw she was hungry. This made her anger calm down, but she was still slightly embarrassed, and we haven't spoken about it since then."

Amy stared at him again, flabbergasted. 'How the fuck is he able to tell all that?! Okay, us and our eyes, that at least I can understand, but Erykahs' scowl? Just how intently does he look at her? Shit.'

"Oh, by the way Amy, do you, Steve, Don and Stephanie have nicknames for each other? I mean, people who've known each other for 15 years should have nicknames for each other."

"Um, I don't know if they quite count as nicknames, but as you know, we call Stephanie; Steph, and Steve; Stevo, and Don; Donnie."

"Huh? What about Erykah? What do you call her?"

"Erykah....doesn't have a nickname. She hates them; with a passion. The last person who called Erykah a nickname really hurt her, and was the cause of her closing her heart off to people she doesn't know. Until you of course, and that is a massive surprise. But still, none of us understand why you're helping us so much, people you barely even know. How does helping Aegis benefit you?"

"It's not about Aegis' success benefiting me Amy. I... her voice, more than what she said, is what's making me do this. A voice that sounded as though it—"

"Guys, I think we should move on to the next post. Let's go" Erykah interrupted the two, noticing how heavy the mood was, and moving to break it up for some reason.

"Okay, let's go. Amy, you lead until we're about to get there, then switch places with Erykah."

"Sure thing Zdenek." Amy said with a smile. Steve and Don had been talking to some of the guys, while Stephanie had been typing something in the corner.

"Thank you for coming to spend time with us Alpha. Please be careful on your way to the next post." The team said, in the usual rigid stance. Everyone nodded, activated their AE powers again, and leapt off, following Amy.

After visiting every post, they all headed back to the roof of Zdeneks' apartment building, as all their cars were there. Once they got there, they were ready to say their goodbyes, before Zdenek spoke.

"Ok guys, this is just the start. We need to ensure that Aegis is the top power group by the time class starts, and that gives us about 3 weeks to achieve this, but as things stand now, Aegis doesn't have enough members. We need to find some way to bolster your ranks, but not with rubbish; with competent power AE users. I'll come up with a plan, so you guys just go home and rest, or go to Erykahs place, and crash there. But don't stay up too late, and be wrecked tomorrow, that means, don't give Amy any chance to influence your decisions, got that? I'll meet you guys tomorrow at Zees', ok?"

"Fuck you Zdenek!" Amy said while laughing at his obvious insult, with resulted in the other 3 laughing, and Erykah shaking her head.

"Ok guys, let's go. Oh, good night Zdenek. Thanks once again for everything you've done today, for me personally, and for Aegis."

"Sure thing Erykah, now go get some rest." And with that, they departed from the roof, and Zdenek went back to his apartment, to put the leftover pasta in the fridge.

'There's my light breakfast, ready for tomorrow.'

He then made his way to his bedroom and disrobed. He then went to the bathroom, and took a shower, and brushed his teeth. Once he was done, he changed into fresh boxers, and sat on his bed.

"I said all that cool shit on the roof, but I still have no idea how I'm going to expand Aegis. Of the 100 or so members Aegis has, 50 are always busy, which means that in the event of a fight with any of the other AE groups, half of Aegis' fighters would be fatigued. I have to come up with a plan. I said I would. I need to calm down though, being frustrated won't help."

He then started to think about what Amy said. "So Erykah doesn't like nicknames huh? The last person to call her by one really hurt her?" Zdenek could feel something akin to anger."So that person is the reason why she's so closed off? Hmm, well, if nicknames are out, then....wait a minute!" 

Zdenek remembered that during his conversation with Amy, they were talking about the weird hue each individual territory had, and how the only way to find out what if the hues would ever mix, would be to take over a groups' territory, or join forced with them.

"That's it! Amy, you'll probably never be called one ever again, or to your face, but you are a genius! With that out of the way however, now I can get some sleep. I'll fine tune the plan tomorrow on the way to the cafe." And with that, he fell asleep.

The following morning, Zdenek woke up at 9:30.

"This gives me some time to eat my light breakfast, and get ready." And he did just that, taking his time in the shower. After the shower was done, he went and warmed the leftovers up, and ate them almost quicker than the microwave had heated them up. When eating his breakfast was over and done with, he went and got dressed, in all black this time. He went back into the bathroom, and brushed his teeth. He then brushed his hair, and looked at himself in the mirror.

'Let me try something different today.'

He then pulled his hair into a high pony tail, and examined it in the mirror. Once he was done adjusting it, and was satisfied with the results, he left the bathroom, and was ready to depart. He decided not to hood up today, and left his apartment, earphones in his ears, and his music blaring away.

During his walk over to Zees', he kept thinking to himself how Erykah hated nicknames. He himself disliked them because they seemed to be used by people who were close, and he had never had the opportunity to use one. It was at that moment he decided that he'd give Erykah a nickname, and use it the 1st chance he got. He knew there was a possibility that she'd close herself off again, seeing as she hated nicknames, and even her friends of 15 years couldn't call her by one, and he, having only known her for 4 days, had no right to think of one for her, let alone call her by that one. He walked with his hand on his chin, emulating The Thinker

"Hmmm...What would be a good one? Riri? Nah, too...kiddish. Eri? Nah, awful. Riki? Nah, that's no longer related to her name. Hmmm, this nickname shit is pretty tough. Oh well, I'll just say whatever comes to mind. Maybe I should stop talking to myself in public, my hair and hood aren't covering my face anymore." The remainder of his journey was made in silence.

When he reached the cafe and entered, he noticed Jennifer standing with her colleagues at waitress HQ, and approached. When Jen saw him, she smiled her usual pretty smile.

"Hey Jennifer; I see this is one of the rare moments in which you aren't carrying something, or in the back for some reason."

"Hey Zdenek! Yeah, you gotta grab these opportunities to relax whenever you can. I like your hair, that style suits you!" Was her bubbly reply "Should I get you the usual?"

"Thanks, and no, I don't think I'll be staying long enough. I'm just here to meet my fr... some people I know."

"Oh, ok then. Let me know if you will be staying, so I can get you your meal." She said, some of her bubbliness gone, as she knew who these people were.

Zdenek made his way over to the Aegis booth, and felt eyes on him, probably because this was the 1st time people were seeing his head, as it wasn't hidden under his hood. As he got to the booth,   Steve, Don, Stephanie and Amy all had their foreheads on the table. When he arrived at the booth, they all looked at him, and there was genuine shock in their eyes. This wasn't the 1st time they had seen his head, but it was the 1st time they had seen him hoodless in public.

"Morning Amy, Stephanie, Steve, Don."

"Yeah hi Zdenek." They all mumbled as they put their foreheads back on the table. Zdenek then looked over at Erykah, who furthest in the booth, sitting at the back, with the other 4 sitting on the sides, two on each side.

"Morning Rica."

The moment he said that; all 4 of them shot up 10 times faster than their heads had gone down. Their eyes were bulging so hard, Zdenek thought they were going to burst. Their jaws had dropped, and their mouths were large enough for a Great Dane to comfortably live in. They looked at each other with a look that just said

'Riiicaaaaaaaaa?! This guy is INSANE! He's pushing it! He's only known her for 4 days, and he thinks he can give her a nickname?! He knows that she HATES them! She's gonna flip! She's gonna blow! Brace yourselves, and get ready to run!!!'

Erykah looked at Zdenek for a moment. The rest of the people at the booth were waiting for her to lunge at him, and murder him brutally, not even leaving enough for crows to eat.

"Morning Zdenek. Did you come up with a plan?"

The 4 who thought Zdenek was going to die, almost died from shock themselves. Not only did she not explode and try to kill him, she actually responded to the nickname, and her face didn't change in the slightest. They looked at each other once again, more confused than Steve and Don at a Nuclear Physics lecture.

"Yeah, I did, but it's best we don't discuss it here. Let's go back to your place, and we can talk more there. Oh, and what's wrong with these 4? Why were they almost dead when I arrived?"




Badass Ch. 05



"That's because none of them listened to you, and went with Amy to the bottle store after we got to my place. You'll see when we get back to my house."

"Wow, even Stephanie huh? Well, let's go. We'll order some food when we get to your place."

"Ok. Guys, get up. Let's go."

The 4 of them, still shocked beyond words, got up from the booth and lumbered towards the door. Zdenek and Erykah followed behind them, but before they left, Zdenek saw that Jennifer was still standing there.

"Hey Jennifer, turns out I won't be staying right now, but I'll probably come in later for a milkshake. Anyway, hopefully the rest of your day is as slow as this."

"Thanks Zdenek, but more customers means I get more tips. I'll see you later then."

Zdenek nodded, and walked out of the cafe. The people in the cafe were getting sick of being surprised by this guy, so they chose to try and ignore him, but seeing him without his hood on shocked them once again. Zdenek just found this amusing as he got into Erykahs' car.

"So Zdenek, what's this plan of yours?" she just gave him another opportunity to test the waters with the nickname.

"Rica, you'll find out when everyone else does, so just be patient." Her scowl then changed again, but this time, to one he'd never seen before.

'I wonder what this scowl means. But heck, I wonder what my being able to call her 'Rica' means as well. In my observations of human behaviour, I have never seen a person who dislikes nicknames and such, thus this is new ground for me.'

"Anyway, did you sleep well? Not counting the other 4, how was the rest of your night?"

"Oh, by the time we got to my place, I was kind of tired. All that roof jumping and shit was definitely a new way to get around for us, how long have you been doing it? And I didn't notice you activate your AE power when doing it."

"Well, it was all part of my training you see. Oh, and I don't use my Entity power when running like that."

"Wait, so that was just all you?"

"Remember that night we 1st met? I didn't activate my Entity power until the 2nd part of the fight, until then, I was just using my own natural strength."

"Your own natural strength? Most people just train their AE powers, and not their own."

"Yeah, well for the 1st few years, I wasn't allowed to—" Erykahs' phone started ringing. It was Amy.

"What?!" Erykah growled, clearly annoyed

'He was about to tell me something, I don't know what though. He already knows quite a bit about me, but I know nothing about him. I bet it was something important, but Amy had to go and interrupt us again. I'm going to kill her later."

"Sheesh, what crawled up your ass? Anyway, we were all just wondering if he's told you anything about the plan yet? We're kinda dying of anxiety here."

"And you think I'm not? He hasn't told me anything other than 'you'll find out when everyone else does' so you'll just have to wait as well. Now, I'll see you at the house." With that, she hung up. "I'm sorry, you were saying?"

"We'll talk about it some other time; we're practically at your place now." The remainder of the trip was made in silence.

They arrived at the house after 5 minutes, and waited in the lobby. They heard the other cars arrive, and the front door open. Amy walked in 1st, and received an awful glare from Erykah, that surprised her as much as it scared her.

"Now that we're all here, let's go into the study. If you guys want some drinks, grab them now. However, I suggest that they be alcohol free...Amy." Amy just giggled a bit, and after grabbing a 6 pack of bottled water, made her way up to the study with everyone else.

When they all entered the study, what happened next shocked Amy and the other 3. Zdenek made his way around Erykahs' desk, and sat in her chair, while everyone else sat on the couches in front of the desk. The surprising thing about all of this, is that Erykah didn't even move to sit at her desk, almost as though it the couch was her regular spot. The normality of it all didn't go unnoticed.

"Ok guys, now that we're here, let me tell you what the plan is. After giving it considerable thought, I looked at the condition Aegis is currently in; it took all of your current forces just guard the borders of your territory, to make sure that those staying here would be safe. This also means that if a fight occurs, only 50% of your fighting force won't be fatigued, and that's not good enough.  The only reason why 100 group members were enough is because Aegis was still happy about being 3rd in the Top 3. Stop looking at it that way. Aegis isn't 3rd on the list; rather, you guys are the 3rd weakest among the strong. Aegis is the 3rd weakest, with the 3rd smallest territory, and the 3rd smallest group. The reason why you don't have more members is because there aren't any more competent power AE members to found, as you've maximised your vastly limited resources. Now this is where the plan kicks in. Tell me Rica, if you have a 4 bedroom house, and have 4 people occupying each room, but you want to live with more people, what do you do?"

"Hmmm. You buy a second house, and have the rest of the people move into that house?"

"That would work, however having to maintain 2 separate residences would not only be costly, but be far more work than it was worth."

"Then what do you do Zdenek?"

"It's simple; you buy a bigger a house."

"What?!" they all said together.

"Well, in your case we aren't going to buy a bigger house, but rather, make it bigger. Aegis is small, and your available men are small in number, however we can't add more from this area, so we'll just get more from another area; or rather, from another group. What I'm saying is, Aegis is going to swallow the AE group that is directly above it; Tundra. Aegis is going to expand, and take over the 2nd placed group. This means you'll get more men, and although it also means that the area that you have to protect will increase, the number of people available will also increase. This means that Aegis will not only be larger, but stronger too. But before I speak any further on this, I need to know if you guys have any objections or questions."

"I have some questions. You make it sound so easy, but you just told us we're the 3rd weakest of the strong. It's not going to be easy to beat the entire group, besides; the Alpha of Tundra doesn't fuck around. How do you plan on beating him, and his entire group? They outnumber us like crazy, and you've just mentioned how half of our force will always be tired, have you really thought this through?"

"Are there any other questions from the rest of you, or is it just Amy? All of her questions will be answered by the rest of the plan, so anything else?" Erykah looked around, and seeing that no one else questions, she looked at Zdenek.

"It appears that Amy asked on behalf of all of us. Please; continue."

"Ok. My plan goes like this. We send someone to deliver a message to the Alpha of Tundra, stating that The Hand of Aegis request a meeting with him. I assume that if he accepts, we all go to whatever his regular spot is. I'm assuming that he'll have his elite guard with him, the people who fulfil the role that you 4 play. When we are there, we propose the terms of our takeover to him. Of course, he won't accept them, and then all we have to do; is beat him and his guard and force him to submit before the rest of his group has a chance to arrive and help them, simple as that."

Everyone looked at him like he had some kind of mental issues, instantly dismissing his plan.

"That's ridiculous! This plan of yours won't work. It's too—"

"You seem to be forgetting something. The main difference between Aegis, and Tundra; is me! You guys have me as an ally, and they don't. I'm confident that I can beat this Alpha, even though I don't know his name, his AE power, or his elemental power. This plan however, hinges on whether or not you guys can beat, or even hold off his guard.  Look, before I carry on, and get into the individual roles everyone has in this plan, I need to know if you guys trust me. This plan will not work unless you guys put your trust in me. I know, it's strange for someone you haven't even known for a week to be doing all this, but my desire to help is genuine. I want to help you guys reach the summit; all of you."

They all stood there, looking at him, not knowing what to do. It was true that they didn't understand why this guy, who they barely knew, was doing everything he was, or why he even cared so much, as they had just met each other. Erykah looked at Zdenek. 

"Ok. I'll trust you."

The words left Erykahs' mouth before she knew what was going on. She stood there stunned, but none more so than Steve, Don, Stephanie and Amy. They just couldn't get it. It had taken this guy 4 days to get more or less where it took the rest of them 15 years. Here she was, trusting him with her life, because if this plan fails, they might all die. Maybe she really wanted to see Aegis on top, and sure, she had been working hard for that to happen, but it was always by herself. She always chose to struggle alone, and in less than a week, this guy had not only made her finally accept their help, and share the load with them, but now by trusting him, she had effectively allowed him to take responsibility, and lead them all, including her. Erykahs' statement caused Zdenek to smile. Erykahs' trust in him meant more to him than even he realised.

"Thanks Rica. What about you four?  Will you trust me?"

"I think I trust you." Steve said after a minute."I knew I could trust you when you busted into the house, and made us your bitches while holding your groceries. I mean, you were strong enough to kick our asses while holding your bags, but didn't, you know. There was no anger or malice in your demeanour either. While I knew I couldn't beat you, I also knew that I didn't have to. I think that means I trust you."

"I agree with Steve." Don said. 

"So do I." Stephanie said. "I know we haven't spoken that much, but I trust you. You've done too much for us so far for me not to trust you. If saving my friends' life and helping our group grow isn't reason enough for me to trust you, then I don't know what is."

"Well, I guess I trust you too Zdenek. Even though you insulted me, and said I was 'an awful example of people in positions of power', you're alright. But if I die, you know I'm gonna kick your ass as a ghost, right?" Zdenek chuckled a bit, and gave Amy a nod.

"Ok, before moving further, Stephanie, I need you to go on that little laptop of yours, and dig up every bit of information with regards to Tundra as possible. I want to know how many people they've got, as well as how many people are in the Alphas guard, who they are, who the Alpha himself is, as I still don't know his name, and where Tundras' hang out spot is. What and where is their 'Temperance'? Get on it; you have an hour."

"Sure thing Zdenek." Steph said, and got to work.

"Steve, Don; you guys order us some food, preferably something with fried chicken for me, and go and collect it. You've got...well, however long it takes for the food to get ready."

"You got it!" The brothers said, before flying out the study.

"Amy!"

"Zdenek!" Amy replied, serious, and rigid, awaiting her orders.

"You stay here and do nothing! Last night, you didn't listen to me, so you get no responsibilities!!" Stephanie giggled, while Erykah just shook her head.

"What?!" Amy said, with the look on her face, almost making Zdenek laugh.

"You heard me! Now excuse me, I need the toilet. Also, somebody call Steve or Don, and tell them to get an extra portion of food for me. I only ate a light breakfast, so I'm pretty hungry." And with that, Zdenek left the study, leaving the 3 girls in there alone.

"I can't believe Zdenek just did that to me! Asshole!"

"You only have yourself to blame, don't you Amy? You just had to go and buy all that shit from the bottle store..." Erykah said, rolling her eyes.

"Leave me alone! I'm an adult, and I can do as I please!"

"And you doing what you please is the cause of your being treated like a child." Stephanie said giggling, and dialling Steve's number on her phone, sending him a message telling him to get extra chicken.

"Shut up four-eyes! Go back to your task!"

"At least I've got something to do; I've been given responsibilities." Stephanie taunted, which made Amy go red in the face, before she and Steph burst out laughing. 

The study was filled with laughter, which lasted a good 5 minutes, before settling down, and leaving the room in silence, with the only sound being the clicking of Stephanies' keyboard as she typed. The silence was eventually broken by Amy.

"Things have really changed quickly, haven't they Erykah?" She said, not looking at her.

"Hmmm? Yes, they have, haven't they?"

"I mean, four days ago, we were still trying to think of ways to expand, and hadn't really come up with anything, which is why we went to Temperance, to unwind. Then next thing, you get drugged and fucked up, saved by Zdenek, who then brings our entire group to its' knees without doing a thing, then he changed the makeup of Aegis, making squads, and assigning captains and such, and we're going to take over another group. You really are letting him in, aren't you?'

"Letting him in; what do you mean?"

"I mean exactly that Erykah. We've tried introducing you to new people, but that failed. We've tried introducing you to people we personally know, but that failed. We've forced you to hang out with us and the people we know, but you don't even acknowledge their presences, let alone join in the conversations. Since what happened all those years ago, you haven't let a single person in, now all of sudden; you not only let him in, but you trust him completely! What if this plan of his results in the loss of your life? What then?!"

"Well then that's what happens. This is the life that he saved after all. I'm not looking for death Amy, but if we're being honest, I should be dead. He saved my life, when no one else was going to. You guys wouldn't have made it in time, and that Buffalo Alpha either would have killed me and taken over Aegis, or forced me to be his sex slave. Zdenek saved me from both of those outcomes, so if he wants me to risk my life to help HIM expand MY group, then I'll gladly do so."

"But why is HE the one who's changing you? Haven't we always been there? Haven't we always tried to make you open up? We're the ones who were there during the good times. When you smiled; we smiled with you and laughed with you. We were certainly there during the bad times. When you cried; we cried with you, and when you fell apart; we picked up the pieces. We had to watch while you closed yourself off to everyone. We had to chisel away bit by bit, we had to work hard, we were there for you, so why was it him? Why did he pry open the defences? Why was it him that got you to realise our pain in being shut out? Why?" the last word said was barely audible, as Amy started choking, and tears streamed down her face.

"Amy, why is it important that is was him, and it wasn't you? I know I have been more than difficult to handle the past 5 years, and that it's been tough on you guys as well, but why is it so bad that it wasn't you guys who started the change? Shouldn't you be happy that I've finally realised just how much I've been pushing you guys away? You've been preaching to me to let you guys help me, and now that I'm finally ready to do that, you get angry because somebody else is responsible for it. Zdenek is responsible for me letting you guys back in, and that alone, is a debt I'll never be able to repay. Saving my body, my flesh, my organs, my face, my limbs, my brain, yes, I owe him for that. But he saved my life, when he made me realise I was alienating myself from those I love the most, and those love me, and the only reason he's given me for doing it, is that he heard me. I still don't know what he heard me say, but he heard me. So if the price of not only helping me reach the summit of Everest, but helping me reach it with the people I love, is me trusting someone, then I'll happily that price."

Amy just looked at Erykah, while even Stephanie stopped doing her task, and looked at her with a look of surprise. They hadn't heard Erykah talk like that in years. Amy then walked forward until she was right in front of Erykah, bent down, and latched her arms around Erykahs' neck. Erykah stood still for a bit, before slowly, and tentatively placing her arms around Amys' midsection, returning her friends' embrace, slowly rubbing Amys' lower back with one hand. Amy just squeezed, not wanting to relinquish her grip on Erykah. After a few minutes, she let go, and stepped back. She instantly heard a noise coming from behind her, in the direction where Steph was sitting, but before she even turned around, Stephanie came flying past her, wrapping her arms around Erykah.

"I've missed this. I've missed this. I've missed this." Stephanie said, while she sobbed.

Amy watched as the 2 shorter women hugged, and although she still wasn't ready to accept it, she had to admit that it was because of Zdenek. 

'So letting us in and now hugging are off the list. All that's missing now are smiling and laughing. If Zdenek can make her do those, then I'll admit that he's a God, and I might just get over myself.' Amy thought with a slight chuckle, as she turned and left the study.

As she closed the door, she looked and saw Zdenek standing in the hall, and walked over to him, before looking him in the eyes. He spoke 1st however.

"So, have you told Erykah how you feel yet? I noticed there was something bothering you when we were talking on the roof, at the 1st guard post. While you were thanking me, your eyes still had a shitload of pain in them, so I figured you and her needed some time to talk things out. How'd it go? Did you guys talk it out? The food should be here soon, and—"

Zdenek was interrupted by Amy wrapping her arms around his neck, and resting her chin on one of his traps.

"Thank you. Erykah hasn't opened up like this since Aaron. Thank you."

'Aaron? Who's that?'

And as quickly as it happened, it was over, with Amy turning around, and walking back into the study. As he was about to head back to join the 3 in the study, he head a car pull up, and bolted down the stairs.

'Finally! I'm starving!' He thought, as he ran outside to go meet the two brothers.

"Hey guys, I nearly died of starvation! Where's the food?"

"Right here!" They both said, pointing to the back of the car, which was just packed with food. Zdeneks' stomach growled, as he helped them carry all the food into the kitchen. Once inside, he saw what appeared to be at least 50 bottles of beer in a corner.

"What the fuck?! How much did you guys drink?! How are none of you dead from alcohol poisoning?!!"

Steve and Don just laughed, as they started setting the table.

"It's alright, just leave mine in its packaging. I prefer to eat it that way."

Steve and Don were confused, but did as he wished.

"I'll go call the other 3 who are still in the study." And with that, he walked up the stairs and knocked on the study door. He entered without waiting for acknowledgement.

"The food's here, so come down to the kitchen. The sooner we eat, the sooner I can tell you what the battle plan is. Let's go." And with that, they all walked down the stairs into the kitchen. 

When they arrived, Erykah went up to each brother, and hugged them tightly. After the hugs, they each looked at Amy, Amy just shrugged, pointed at Zdenek. The two of them then gave Zdenek the warmest smile that either could muster.

"Well, anyway, let's eat, and get back to the meeting."

Zdenek then gripped the bucket, and started going through the food like a man possessed. Everyone looked on in awe, and the sounds that were coming from him were not the sounds that humans normally make. Buoyed on by this, Steve and Don also started ripping their food apart, and it became a concert of manly sounds, greasy hands, and lack of conversation. Eventually, the 3 people who were eating normally started talking amongst themselves.




Badass Ch. 05



"Zdenek once told me he wanted to have an 'Eat Off' with those two, to determine who was 'Boss'. I can't tell which is worse; the fact that he can eat that much, that violently, or that he's keeping up with 2 guys, who are almost twice his size. I wonder if he can beat them"

Amy and Stephanie laughed at this, and saw Zdenek look up directly at Erykah, and give her grunt and nod. This made the two of them crack up, and Erykah jut scowled.

"You do know that Zdenek gave you a nickname, and has been calling you by it right?"

"What; a nickname? What are you talking about?"

"This morning in the cafe, he looked at you, and called you by the nickname. I told him last night that you hate them, but he went ahead and gave you one anyway. Call to him or something, and he'll call you by it. He hasn't called you Erykah since last night."

"Bullshit! No one calls me by anything other than Alpha, or my name. If he ever calls me by that name again—"

"Hey Rica, could you pass me a serviette? I'm out."

That moment, everybody stopped eating, and froze in position. This, was a do or die moment, in which Zdenek very well could be dying. They wanted to look up, and watch, but they were scared, and wanted to avoid making eye contact for now. They waited, and waited to hear him scream out in agony, as his heart was ripped from his chest, but it never came. Instead she replied.

"S-sure. Here you go, Zdenek." And she handed him a serviette.

"Thanks Rica, I appreciate it." He took it, and carried on with his feast. Everyone else was about to do the same, before Erykah spoke again.

"If any of you even THINKS about calling me by that name, I WILL kill you; very painfully and very slowly, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!"

They all nodded, and went back to feasting. Zdenek looked at her, and saw the 'embarrassed' scowl on her face. He gripped a chicken leg, and dumped it on her plate, giving her a slight, but warm smile. This was almost like an apology, for putting her on the spot, mid sentence. She took the piece of chicken, and rather than throwing it back at him, started eating it. Everyone else had their heads down, focusing on their own plates that they failed to see this.

Once everyone was done, and those who had used their hands to eat had washed their hands and their faces, started walking back to the study. Zdenek proposed the 'Eat Off' idea to the brothers, who happily accepted his challenge. Everyone walked into the study, and took up their places from before the lunch break.

"Ok Stephanie, I'm sure you've got the info we need, lay it on me."

"Ok, Tundra, 2nd in the Power AE group standings has 150 AE users in their ranks, with 4 of them protecting the Alpha, Boris. He's a Panda AE user, and is EXTREMELY powerful. Flames are his elemental power, and he is fairly adept at using them, however, most of his power comes from his strength. The 4 who guard him are two Black Bear AE users, Ronald and Andrew, 1 crocodile AE user called Jason, and a Bison AE user called Q; no one knows why he's just called Q, but he is. Their regular spot is a club called Aftershock, and their territory is around 40 km in total. They—"

Alright, that's enough. Thanks Stephanie, you did good."

"Of course." Stephanie said, adjusting her glasses and smiling.

"Ok guys, before I tell you about the battle plan, there are going to be some changes in the structure of Aegis, and you four will fill new positions, as well as your current ones."

They just looked at him.

'How many changes is this guy going to make before he's fucking happy?! Amy thought to herself.

"1st, Steve, Don, you two will be in charge of Security, whether it's the patrols, the guards, whatever, you guys are in charge of that, got it?"

"Sure thing!"

"Stephanie; once we have swallowed Tundra, you'll be the leader of the nerds and geeks; anything that has to do with computers, getting information etc, will be handled by you."

"You got it Zdenek."

"Erykah, you'll be Alpha, no changes there."

"Ok."

"Amy, you will be Erykahs' second. If Erykah is missing for some reason, you take over in her stead. When she is there, you will be there, to do whatever she asks. You'll be the highest ranking between the 4 of you. That's a shitload of responsibility, and I'm putting a lot of faith in you, so do your absolute best, ok?"

Amy just sat there, dazed. Sure, there wasn't really going to be that much of a difference in her duties, but it still made her happy to hear that someone had faith in her. This made feel terribly proud and happy.

"Yes sir!" She said, completely serious.

"Now, to move on to the battle plan, first—"

"So what about you Zdenek?" they all asked at different times.

"Me? What about me?"

"Your position. What's your role in this new Aegis?" asked Amy.

"My role? I don't have a role. I'm just Zdenek. Anyway, back to the battle plan, first—"

"No! That won't do! You need to have a place in this new structure! How can the person coming up with it, not be a part of it?! That's bullshit! Make up a position if you have to, just—"

"Ok, ok! I'll think of one later Amy, now can I please carry on with the battle plan?"

"Ok, fine."

"Now; first, the 4 guards, you guys will fight in pairs. Steve and Don, you guys are pairing up against the Black Bears, while Stephanie and Amy, you two are pairing up against Jason and Q. Got it?"

"Sure thing." They all replied.

"What about me? Who am I fighting?" Erykah asked.

"You Rica may have the most important job. You do have area effect techniques correct? "

"Yeah, I have a few. Why?"

"Well because you won't be fighting anyone. You'll be fighting the entire club. It'll be filled with low level AE users, who'll be a problem if they call for help, or join the fight; therefore, YOU have to keep them at bay. Splash them with water, or pound their heads in, you need to control that crowd, because the longer you do that, the longer we have to accomplish our tasks. Of course, this is a job only you can do Rica."

"Ok, I got you. Don't worry, that crowd is as good as handled."

"Of that, I have no doubt. I will be taking care of Boris. However, this battle plan is simply Plan B. Plan A is this: Rica, you send a messenger over to him, requesting a meeting with him, mentioning how you will only be travelling with The Hand. If he's scum, he'll arrange a tonne of extra guards, so he can take you out. If he's not scum, his guard will only consist of his 4, and we'll meet right there in his club. Then, we let him know that we'll be taking over his territory, and merging Tundra with Aegis, of course with Aegis as the dominant group. We then offer him a position in the Aegis hierarchy, I'm thinking a position in which all the squad captains answer to him and shit. High enough that it'll be a considered a position of power, but not as high as being part of The Hand, mainly because you guys have run out of metaphorical fingers. If he goes for it, we take over without having to fight. If he doesn't go for it, we either force his submission, or kick him out, and swallow his group anyway."

"Whoa Zdenek, Plan A definitely won't work, because why would believe that an inferior group could beat his group? And say he did believe it, why would he take us up on our offer? The only way this is going to be settled is by fighting."

"Yeah, I know that, but it isn't for nothing. If Boris declines our offer, and chooses to fight instead, once he loses and we still offer him the position, he'll realise that it's best for him and his group if he submits. It's also better for us as well."

"Why is that?" Asked Steve.

"Well Steve; they out number us by 50. If we forcefully take them into Aegis, they won't be committed in the slightest, and may even rebel against us. Not only that, it'll be harder for us to control guys who just lost their Alpha. If we get him to join us, it'll be easier to get them to assimilate. That's my reasoning."

"A-a-a-assimi—what?"

"To have them join us properly." Stephanie said.

"Ohhhhh, I see."

"Yeah, so that's the plan. Any objections?"

There were no objections whatsoever. They all just shook their heads.

"Ok guys, good. Rica, you write a letter stating everything I aid it should state. Stephanie, you carry on looking into Tundra and see if there is any more useful information. Steve, Don, you guys arrange a messenger tomorrow who will take the message over to Boris, and have that messenger wait for the answer."

"You got it!" Steve and Don said.

"Sure thing Zdenek." Stephanie said.

"What about me Zdenek?" Amy asked eagerly.

"You go downstairs to the kitchen, and get rid of all those beer bottles you bought! How much do you guys like beer anyway? Fuck."

"Zdenek you asshole! What was all that crap about faith?!"

"Just get to it. Rica; before you start with your letter, can you give me a lift home?

"Ok, no problem Zdenek." She replied, and they made their way to her car, while Amy was still angry.

"Hey Steph?"

"Yes Amy?"

"I think this is the first time I've seen Erykah this, um, I don't know how to put it. She's not as tightly wound anymore. In fact, her shoulders haven't been stiff since we left the café this morning.


During the car ride to Zdeneks' place, he remembered what he had told Jennifer, and asked that they stop at Zees' 1st. Once inside, he went over to waitress HQ.

"Hey, good evening. Is Jennifer in?"

"No sorry, she left about 10 minutes ago."

"Oh, ok then. Thanks then. Let's go Rica."

And they left and headed straight for Zdeneks' place. When in the parking lot, Zdenek opened his door.

"...Zdenek?"

"Yes Rica?"

"I'll walk you up to your apartment. That ok?"

"Sure, like I said last time, you don't have to ask."

And they walked and got into the lift. Everything was quiet until they reached the door to his apartment.

"Zdenek. Thank you; for absolutely everything. I really mean it. No one has done this much for me, and I really appreciate it."

"No problem Rica." He said, offering her a genuine smile, however small.

"Before you go, I um. Zdenek, I don't know anything about you. I'm not skilled enough when it comes to talking to people to pry information out of you, so tell me something; anything."

"I'm alone in this world Rica. I've been alone since the moment I was born. The reason why I helped you that night, and continue to help you, is because you asked for someone to help you, and your voice, sounded just like mine in the past; a voice that was crying out for help, but didn't expect anyone to come. You sounded as though you were as alone as I was, and I didn't want someone else to go through what I went through. When I saw it was you though, I wondered why you felt so alone, when you were surrounded by so much love, and deduced that it must be because you couldn't see it. I haven't had a single friend Rica. My entire life up to this point has been....Look; I hope that's enough for now. I'll tell you the rest after we win the upcoming battle against Tundra ok? You have to go write that letter, and I—"

Erykah then shut him up by wrapping her arms around his midsection, laying her cheek against his chest, and just held him. She didn't know what caused her to this, but she just held on, waiting for him to react. Other than earlier in her study, she hadn't hugged someone in so long that she wasn't sure if in that moment, it was the correct thing to do. She almost pulled away, until she felt one arm go across her back, and a hand gently placed on the back of her head, with a chin resting on the top. She sighed and relaxed her body, and almost melted into him. She felt safe; a feeling she hadn't felt forever. She then felt the hand on her head tighten slightly, and a cheek replace the chin that was originally there. Eventually, she felt the embrace she was receiving loosen up, and she did the same with hers, and looked Zdenek in the eyes. He looked back into hers, and smiled.

"Good night Rica. Drive safely."

"Good night Zdenek." Erykah said, before turning, and walking to the lift. Only once she had gone in, did Zdenek leave and head up to the roof. Once there, he looked towards the direction of the gate.

"Corruption Vision"

He watched for Erykahs car, and when he finally saw it, he followed it with his eyes, until she was no longer in the Corruption Visions' range, then he deactivated it. He then went back down the stairs to his apartment. Once inside, he headed to his room and disrobed. He went to the bathroom, and brushed his teeth. As he got into bed, he lay awake for a while.

"That was the first intimate moment I've ever had in my life; it felt nice. She felt nice. Rica smells nice too, and she isn't as hard as her muscles suggest, however she's just as soft as her curves suggest she is. Well, I've got to get some sleep. I might be going into battle tomorrow." And with that, Zdenek went to sleep.

Zdenek woke up mid morning, and went straight into the shower. He wanted to be ready, in case they got the go ahead to meet with Boris, who hopefully was a nice guy, as he'd be working with Aegis. Zdenek hit the shower, and brushed his teeth as well. After that he dried and brushed his hair. He put on some fresh boxers, and went to go pick out something to wear. Once the Dark blue tee, black jeans and boots were on, he went back to the bathroom, looking in the mirror, he tied his hair in a low ponytail, and went to get some breakfast ready. He made himself some pancakes, and ate his fill; which was a lot. After breakfast, he checked the time and saw it was well past noon. He was putting on his gloves when he heard a knock on the door. When he opened the door, he saw Amy, Stephanie, Steve and Don all standing there.

"Morning guys. What's happening?"

"Yo Zdenek!" They said in unison, all sticking a hand up.

"The messenger we sent to Boris just came back about 30 minutes ago, and Boris has agreed to meet with us. We came to pick you up." Stephanie said.

"Ok, that's good. Where's Rica?"

"She's in her car. We offered to come get you."

"Ok cool. Let's go." Zdenek said, stepping out from his apartment, and locking the door. As they he started heading for the lift, Stephanie and Amy stood in front of him, while Steve and Don stood behind him.

"Um, what are you guys doing?"

All of a sudden, all 4 of them converged towards him, and when they were completely around him, opened their arms wide, and wrapped them around him, locking him in a group hug.

"What the fuck are you guys doing? Let go of—"

"We're showing you that you aren't alone." Amy said.

"What...what are you talking about?" Zdenek asked.

"Don't be mad at her, but Erykah told us what you said last night, and it isn't true, well at least, not anymore. We're showing you that right now, you have 4 friends. 4 friends, who are willing to do almost anything for you, and who, despite just meeting you, care deeply about you. We want you to know that if you die today, that you died having at least 4 friends; us."

Zdenek just looked up and closed his eyes. His right eye suddenly started burning, and a single tear escaped, slowly making its way down his cheek. When Zdenek didn't move an inch, or react at all, Amy looked up to look at him when the moment she looked up, a tear landed on her left cheek, and rolled down, leaving a wet trail on it.

"Thank...thank you." Zdenek whispered, and sniffed.

Upon hearing the sniff, the 4 of them hugged him even tighter.

"You're welcome..." They all said softly, in unison.

"You really do practice that shit, don't you...?"






To be continued...




So this was Chapter 5. Because of the almost nonexistent battles in the this and the previous Chapter, Chapter 6 will be dubbed 'The Battle Chapter' and will mostly revolve around the battle between Zdenek and The Hand of Aegis, and Boris, Alpha of Tundra and his guards.

PS : Hey Names Guy, hopefully the name Boris is normal enough for you! (LOL)

Thanks for reading my shit.

Peace.

DionysosK.



Badass Ch. 06



Yo sup guys; it's been quite a while hasn't it? Sorry about not being able to post for the past few months, but alas, life has gotten in the way, and I suspect will continue to. Anyway, this is the before promised 'Battle Chapter!!'(Lightning strikes and thunder and other epic shit), which revolves around the battle between The Hand of Aegis, and Boris and his guys. There are a few things though that you guys should actually take heed of. One being that I refer to Steve and Don as twins through out this Chapter, as I'm sure I mentioned it before, but they are twins. Another thing is that I have changed the way Corruption Vision looks, because the image I had in my head of it when I described it the first few times was completely different from what I actually wrote down, so the description that you will be reading in here will be different to what it was in previous Chapters .Anyway, that's pretty much the foreword done with, so I hope you enjoy Badass Chapter 6.



The lift ride was spent in total silence, as Zdenek and the rest of the group were still recovering from the emotional moment they had just had. The lift reached the bottom floor and they all made their way to the parking. Zdenek saw both cars parked and waiting, with Mays' car parked behind Erykahs. Erykah didn't even turn her head to face the approaching group, as she had no idea how Zdenek would react to her having told everyone else what he had told her. As they got closer, Amy sped up slightly to get in front of Zdenek, before opening the door for him, which he acknowledged with a nod of appreciation. After he got in the car, Amy closed the door and gave Zdenek a look which couldn't exactly decipher, but figured he knew the meaning of. Erykah started the car, and drove out of the building, with Amy and the rest in the car behind them. After riding for a bit in silence, Zdenek looked over to Erykah who was still yet to look at him or acknowledge his being there, although he completely understood why. He maintained his gaze on her for a bit.

"Good morning Rica."

Erykah, upon hearing her name looked over at Zdenek with her usual scowl looking slightly different. 

"Good morning Zdenek. I--"

"I'm not angry that you said anything, they just caught me off guard. Also, even though I really appreciate the feelings and sentiment which you all threw at me, I'm still alone, and that won't change. Anyway, let's discuss the plan."

The scowl on Erykahs' face changed to one of confusion over his last statement, however then it changed to one that looked of relief because he wasn't angry, before molding back into its' normal state. They drove for a little while longer in silence before she looked back over at him. She felt as though she had to break the silence, which felt quite awkward.

"How confident are you in Plan A working Zdenek?"

"Honestly? I think that Plan A is nothing more than a technicality. A technicality which has allowed us to gain relatively safe entry into the stronghold of the boss of the area we are trying to swallow up and take over. The only problem is that I'm pretty sure Boris himself also knows this, so once we're inside, we're either leaving as the victors, or the losers and I don't plan on leaving as the latter."

Erykah looked at Zdenek, noticing how even though he looked how he normally did, that his face and his posture just oozed confidence. He looked back at her, and they kept on talking. Those in the car behind them noticed that there seemed to be a conversation happening in the car, and they seemed to be more anxious than the two in the car ahead. Not a single word had been spoken between the four of them, and when they saw that there was a conversation happening, there was nothing they wanted more than to be in the car with them, or at least have some kind of listening device planted in there. Amy gripped the steering wheel hard and pulled a face filled with frustration.

"I don't know about you guys, but I would kill to be in that car right now."

The rest of them all grunted and nodded in agreement, before Steph shook her head, snapping out of the mini mob mentality.

"No! What's being said in there is none of our business! We don't even know if he is okay with Erykah having completely shared what he said to her with us, bearing in mind that as the first time that he had opened up to her. For all we know, he could be berating her with a calm expression on his face, and we wouldn't know it."

There was a brief period of silence in the car, as everyone contemplated and considered what Steph just said. About a minute later, Amy spoke again.

"I don't know about you guys, but after hearing that, I would DEFINITELY kill to be in that car right now!"

Amy, Steve and Don all nodded their heads in agreement, and after a brief period of resistance, Steph just gave up and agreed with them.

Zdenek and Erykah had just about finished their conversation before Erykahs' phone rang. She looked at it, and saw that Amy was calling her, which meant that they were about to reach the club. She answered the phone, using her Bluetooth headset.

"Yes Amy? How close are we?"

"Oh, we're actually about two minutes away. We're on the correct road, so we'll see the Aftershock sign in a bit."

"Oh, okay. Well we'll see you there then."

Erykah cut the call, and looked over towards Zdenek.

"Zdenek, we'll be arriving at Aftershock in a bit."

Zdenek, who was facing straight ahead, gave a slight smile, with his hair shining slightly in the sunlight, and his eyes having a look that seemed to make their colour look more intense.

"I see. Well, this is the first step in the expansion of Aegis Erykah, so I hope you are ready as the first step is almost always the hardest."

The smile on his face disappeared and was replaced with a look that couldn't be described as anything other than steel and determination and because of that, Erykah seemed to catch her breath. Just then they arrived, and she was completely stunned with what she saw before them; the entire lot was filled with cars, all of which were lined up next to each other in formation, restricting all paths besides the one that had been created by their positions. After both cars drove down the narrow manufactured corridor, a large SUV drove out from the side and blocked the entrance, meaning that there was no way for them to leave unless they were allowed to. Erykah looked over at Zdenek, who seemed to be completely fine with the current state of things. Zdenek looked back at Erykah and that same steel and determination she saw earlier was still there, and seemed to reassure her and ensure that she wasn't apprehensive in the slightest.

"Don't worry about a thing Rica, I was expecting this. They are trying to take away our spirit before we even get inside the building, but trust me; we'll be leaving here as the winners, with Boris having joined Aegis, trust me. Now, let's park in those two conveniently empty spaces."

Erykah drove into the space, with Amy and the rest of the group parking next to them. Zdenek got out first, and walked around back of the car, waiting for everyone else to get out. As they did, he looked at them and saw how their spirits weren't all that high, and that their focus was way too zeroed in on the cars and how they were parked. He noticed how even Amy was quiet and didn't seem to be her usual confident self.

"Guys, gather around. Come closer."

They all did so, gathered around Zdenek in a small circle, looked around the parking lot, and seemed rather intimidated.

"Just by looking at your faces and body language, I can see that you all have absolutely no confidence, and that your spirits have been squashed by this act."

Amy looked up at Zdenek, slightly frustrated at his statement and by how it was actually quite true.

"Yeah, well just look all around us! They are basically telling us that we're useless, that we're small, that we're weak, that we're—"

"Amy, if you believe what you just said then you actually are all of those things. Besides, if we really were all of those things, then they wouldn't have bothered with such show dominance now would they? The fact that Tundra did all this when only 6 people were coming here proves just how seriously they take you. Don't let Boris and his people try to intimidate and bully you into submission, because if you do, then they've already won half the battle."

Everyone then started raising their heads, and looking at Zdenek. He just looked up into the sky, and didn't seem to have any worries. His obvious confidence caused the rest of them to gain some confidence of their own, with their body language changing slightly.

"Don't worry, have faith in yourselves and your abilities and you'll get out of this alive. You all have the ability to more than hold you own against the people in that building. Personally, I'm not scared of anything they have to offer, and neither should any of you. You are the metaphorical fingers of the Hand of Aegis, which means you are powerful, capable and I can think of no better five people at this point to be fighting along side with. So steel yourselves and get ready to walk in there and take over Tundra."

Zdeneks' speech had not only driven away any and all doubt in their minds, but also fired them up like crazy. Zdenek then clenched his fists and activated Corruption Vision silently, and had is eyes burst into purple flames, with the entire eye completely bright purple, with just the outline of his pupils having a white outline. The flames freely flowed out from his eye sockets, making Zdenek look truly epic.

"Now Hand of Aegis, I shall be walking right down the middle of this lot, down the little corridor which Tundra made to intimidate us. I'm going to walk right down it and completely suppress their confidence with my own and take over their group, through words or through war. If you want Aegis to expand, then walk along side me right into the enemy stronghold, and take over it with me."

"Yes sir!"

The enthusiasm and power behind that acknowledgement caused Zdenek to grin, and they broke the circle up to stand in a formation which just seemed to fit, with Zdenek as the spear head, Erykah standing just behind him to his right, with Amy and Steph slightly behind her to her right, and the twins to her left. Just then, a gust of wind blew and all Zdeneks' coat fluttered in the wind, as did his ponytail. The flames from his eyes also burned and flowed out in the direction the wind was blowing. He then turned his head back to look at everyone, and saw them all looking dogged and bullish, pumping out their chests and clenching their fists as well. The sight of them being this fired up made Zdenek give a wry smile.

"Steve..."

"Sir!"

"Don..."

"Sir!"

"Stephanie..."

"Boss!"

"Amy..."

"Boss man!"

"Rica..."

"Zdenek."

Zdenek closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath, collecting and composing himself.

"Let's go!"

Zdenek said the line with his eyes closed, and as he said 'go', he opened them and the flames from his eyes fluctuated and grew in both size and stature, becoming longer and more intense. The twins then flexed, bringing their clenched fists in front of their respective stomachs and punched them into each other, Stephanie gripped the rims of her glasses and Amy ran her right hand through her hair while Erykah just stood with her hands by her sides, and tensed up her muscles, causing her ridiculously cut muscles to ripple. They all did this at the same time, and with the exception of Erykah, screamed.

"YES SIR!!!"

Zdenek faced forward and started walking, with the rest of them all following behind him. As they made their way to the clear bit of parking lot, Zdenek decided to make an intimidating entrance. As they were about to emerge from the ocean of cars, he focused his energy on the final car, before unleashing an invisible bolt of energy at it, causing that car to be launched into the air and flipping and twisting a few times before landing on another one, causing the alarms of both cars to go off. The group then emerged from the space that the car had previously occupied, and turned almost in unison and continued to walk down the path, looking completely confident and unfazed. They could hear music coming from the building and it got louder as they got closer. They reached the door quite quickly, and the bouncer having seen what happened to the car just stepped aside and opened the door for them. They walked in to see quite a large number of low level AE users all on the dance floor doing their thing. Someone who looked to be a host approached the group, realizing once he got closer just who they were. Well, all of them except Zdenek, who was completely unknown but seemed to be leading them. He looked at the beautiful purple flames which were emanating from his eyes and got completely caught up in them, not even noticing when they had actually reached him.

"Excuse me."

The sound of Zdeneks' voice completely snapped him out of it and forced him to look away from his eyes.

"Excuse me, we're here to see—"

"Yes, you are here to see Boris. Please Hand of Aegis, follow me."

They did exactly that and followed him up some stairs. They kept on ascending until they reached what seemed to be the third floor. As they got there, they noticed that they were in a rather large room, adorned completely in red with a table near the centre. Standing behind the table was an absolutely massive man, slightly shorter than the twins but much larger in terms of mass. He had a large gut, but tree trunk like arms and a massive chest. He had long blonde hair and looked to be a rather attractive man, but his size really held their focus. To his left stood Ronald and Andrew, the Black Bear AE users and to his right stood Jason and Q, the crocodile and Bison AE users. Judging from their demeanor, they had been waiting for Zdenek and the others to arrive. Boris then walked around to the front of the table, and smiled.

"Greetings to you Hand of Aegis and unknown fellow with the flaming eyes. I welcome you to Aftershock, the home base of my AE group, Tundra."

Zdenek took a few steps forward before looking Boris in the eyes and speaking.

"Yes, greetings to you too Boris, and thank you for agreeing to this meeting on such short notice."

"Forgive me Flame Eyes, but I do not know your name, in what capacity you are here in, and why you are speaking for The Hand, when the alpha of the entire group stands behind you."

"Oh yes, I must apologize for the lack of an introduction on my part. My name is Zdenek, and I am here in the capacity of...well, kind of as an advisor of The Hand, and I speak on behalf of the alpha because she wants me to."

Boris didn't seem to buy the last part of the introduction, however he just shrugged it off and went back around the desk and sat down in his chair.

"Please Hand of Aegis, take a seat. I was told that there were six of you rather than five a few minutes ago, and the sixth chair arrived just before you."

The group then slowly sat down, with them keeping the same order that they had in the formation. Boris sat down in his chair, and was sitting directly across from Zdenek.

"Well Zdenek, would you all like some tea?"

"Yes please, some tea would be nice thank you."

Boris made a gesture with his hand and Q left the room, before returning just a few seconds later. He took his place next to Jason and Boris looked back at Zdenek. He leant forward and placed both elbows on the surface of the table before placing his rather large chin in his rather large palms, and gave Zdenek with a curious gaze.

"So then Zdenek, would you care to tell me what the purpose of this meeting is? It was quite surprising when your messenger arrived yesterday with that note you had written. The note itself wasn't what made me agree to this, but rather the fact that the note was sent. I have no idea what you may wish of me, however I am curious as to what it is, so please go ahead and tell me."

Zdenek looked Boris in the eyes, and decided to deactivate Corruption Vision as it was a technique and sapped his energy, however small its' energy requirements were, so he closed his eyes and when he opened them again, they were no longer purple and burning, and his pupils were amber again.

"Well Boris, the alpha of Aegis sent the message as the group is going to be expanding rather soon, and thus has a proposition for you."

Boris seemed to be even more interested now at the thought of this proposition and his curiosity made him smile.

"Ooooh, a proposition? Now what kind of proposition could Aegis possibly have that would interest me?"

Boris slinked forward on his elbows slightly, causing him to move forward ever so slightly. Zdenek saw how Boris was rather curious to know what the proposition was and just knew that based on how his attitude was before knowing what it was; he probably wasn't going to go with Plan A.

"Well Boris, the proposition is that you and Tundra join Aegis."

Boris' eyebrows rose in shock, as he wasn't expecting this. After a second though, he regained his composure and chuckled a little bit to himself.

"You want Tundra and I Join Aegis; in what capacity? Do you want Aegis to join Tundra as maybe a smaller sister group and I lead them both, while Erykah retains control of Aegis, or Aegis gets swallowed up by Tundra, and I take over the new conglomerate?"

Zdenek couldn't help but give a wry grin at the questions posed by Boris. He found it quite funny that Boris had practically said what their proposition was, but just got the order switched around. Boris noticed Zdenek grinning and didn't really like it, but before he could say anything, there was a knock on the door and a woman carrying a tray and six tea cups and a rather large tea pot entered the room. She placed each of the cups down in front of an Aegis member before pouring the tea for them and leaving. Zdenek looked over at Boris' side of the table and noticed that they weren't going to be drinking any tea.

"I'm just wondering Boris, why you or your men aren't drinking any tea."

Boris just smiled at Zdenek and sat back into his chair, removing his elbows from the desk and folding his arms across his chest.

"Well Zdenek, we already had something to drink earlier, so we are quite alright. Anyway, about this proposition of yours..."

"Yes, the proposition. It was actually the second one, although you seemed to get the order lightly mixed up."

Boris looked slightly confused, not knowing exactly what Zdenek was trying to say.

"I'm sorry Zdenek, but what do you mean?"

Zdenek sat up straight and folded his arms, and looked at Boris with quit an uncompromising look on his face.

"Well Boris, what I mean is that Aegis is going to be swallowing up Tundra and taking over your territory. What Aegis is offering though is that you join willingly and accept a high ranking position within Aegis, making you a captain commander of sorts. You would be vital to the progression and evolution of Aegis and thus, The Hand would like to avoid making this a hostile take over and have you join of your own free will."

Boris looked at Zdenek and saw just how serious he was being. He then looked around and saw the expressions on the faces of the rest of the Hand of Aegis and he closed his eyes before laughing softly to himself. After laughing he looked at Zdenek and resumed his more relaxed position from before with his elbows on the table.

"Well Zdenek, I don't think I'll be able to take Aegis up on that offer. While I appreciate being valued so highly, I can't just agree to allow my AE group to be swallowed up by a smaller and weaker group. Also on a personal note, I cannot submit to and follow a person who is currently weaker than me. If you understand, please drink your tea and leave. I'll send word down to the gate for them to let you out."




Badass Ch. 06



Zdenek and the rest of the group didn't budge however and they hadn't even touched their tea cups, and this also bothered Boris slightly. Zdenek looked Boris in the eyes, and that bothered Boris even more to the point that he stood up, pushing up off from his chair, sending the large and wonderfully comfortable looking chair flying into the wall behind him and causing it to burst into splinters. No sooner did the chair explode that Boris smashed both palms into the thick table top and smashed them through, creating two palm shaped missing chunks in the table.

"DIDN'T YOU HEAR ME?! DRINK THE FUCKING TEA AND GET THE FUCK OUT!!"

Zdenek took a deep breath with his gaze still locked firmly on Boris'.

"Well guys, I guess Plan A has officially failed, don't you think?"

Amy, Steph and the twins all nodded in agreement at Zdeneks' question, and all focused their gazes on their respective targets. Erykah stood up and walked towards the entrance to the room, while the others stood up directly opposite their targets. Boris watched all this activity and knew instantly that they wouldn't be leaving. He just wanted confirmation as to what Plan A and Plan B were.

"Tell me Zdenek, what was Plan A? Since it failed, I'm assuming that you're moving on to Plan B?"

Zdenek crossed on leg over the other and sat up straight, looking serious and ready for anything.

"Yes, Boris, well Plan A was you agreeing to the proposition and joining Aegis quietly and peacefully. There is in fact a Plan B, and Plan B is quite honestly, the opposite of Plan A. Rather than a peaceful takeover, it shall now be a hostile one. You will still join Aegis Boris and regardless of the fact that even though this is now a hostile take over, you will still occupy a high ranking position within Aegis—"

Zdenek hadn't even finished his speech before Boris reached across the table and grabbed him by the collar. Boris yanked Zdenek towards him with his right arm, and set his face on a collision course to meet with his left fist. Zdenek put both hands on the Boris' massive wrist and used it as a base, swinging his right leg at his head, causing Boris' to block with his left. He then drove his left knee straight into Boris' left elbow almost kneeing it out of the socket, causing him to relinquish his grip of Zdeneks' collar as he grunted in pain. Zdenek landed on the table in a squatting position, and then did a backflip off from it, his coat fluttering and flailing about as he landed behind his chair. He stood up and stretched to his full height with his eyes closed.

"Well guys, it appears we've had a breakdown in our negotiations. Let's do this."

Amy and Steph both leapt at Jason and Q while the twins just looked at Ronald and Andrew with their arms crossed, mimicking their black bear counter parts. Boris kept rubbing his elbow and once he was satisfied that it wasn't broken, he let out a thunderous call and punched the table clean in two. Zdenek looked back at Erykah and gave her a nod which she reciprocated. Just then, they all heard a bunch of footsteps running up the stairs and Boris smiled confidently at Zdenek.

"Unfortunately for you Hand of Aegis, all of the people in this building are AE users, so you are grossly outnumbered. We were fully prepared for a fight, although we expected you to have some of your soldiers here as well, but it seems that you were foolish enough to come with just six people."

Zdenek just gave a slight smile which just oozed so much more confidence than Boris. That smile just wiped away the smile on Boris' face and most of his confidence. Boris then looked serious and focused on Zdenek.

"What is the reason behind your confidence there Zdenek? You look as though you aren't worried in the slightest."

Zdenek closed his eyes and smiled slightly.

"Well Boris, why do you think we came here with six people, when we knew you had five in your guard, including yourself?"

Boris didn't say anything, but he didn't have to either as he knew that Zdenek was going to explain.

"Well Boris, I don't have to answer that question because Erykah is about to and she'll show you why she's the alpha of Aegis."

Just then the door burst open and a wave of AE users rushed in, running towards Zdenek and the rest, completely ignoring Erykah who was standing directly in front of them. As a few of them ran past her, Erykah started activating her AE power, and started growing even more muscled and ripped. Thick black fur covered her forearms which had grown in size and become massive and her arms in general had become longer. Her fingers were fat and brown and her nails were thick and black. Her transformation was accompanied by a massive gust of wind which was being generated by her, causing all the curtains and Zdeneks' coat to flutter about violently as her canines also grew longer into fangs and then she exhaled a cloud of steam from her nostrils. She was using more power than she was when she fought the Buffalo Alpha as she didn't want to take any chances. Once the wind had calmed down and all of those who had run past her were frozen in their tracks, Erykah started cleaning up house with the foot soldiers in the room with them. She started off by running forward right into the bulk of the group, which was about 20-25 strong, with her just running into them sending three of them flying. She reached out and stretched her arms out to her sides and gripped two heads, before bringing them together violently with a crack and then tossing them back where she took them from. She then started swinging, throwing left and right hooks which connected with people left and right, sending a further four flying before spreading her arms wide apart and bringing them violently in front of her and clapped. The force generated from that clap sent six who were standing in front of her flying towards the door and she grabbed one guy to the right, jumped up into the air. While in mid air, she pulled her arm back before flying towards the ground and slamming him in the middle of a small group, the force generated from the slam taking four others out in the process. As she stood up turned around and the remaining five from the group were all running towards her. She just stood there ready to receive them with her arms down by her sides. As they got to her they started swinging, and they hadn't even realized that they hadn't yet activated their AE powers while trying to take on one of the strongest power AE users. They did however realize it when she threw both arms above her head, clenched her fists and brought them crashing down in front of them, shattering the ground beneath them and causing them to be unstable and unsure of their footing. Erykah then pushed forward and stretched her arms to the side and clotheslined all five of the bastards, sending them twisting and spinning violently around before landing and rag dolling on the ground. She then turned around and ran to the small group that had run past her and repeated the move on them, taking them out just as violently. She then walked calmly and slowly and stood just behind Zdenek, and faced the carnage she had just created. She stood with her back facing his and pushed her arms out in front of her chest with both palms open. She closed her eyes and started concentrating, as her arms started shaking. Next thing, jets of water started swirling around her now large forearms and running down them into a ball at her palms. As the seconds ticked by, more jets were created and they were generally much larger than the first ones and also contributed to the size of the ball in her palms. Erykah then opened her eyes and the jets all ran into the ball, with her no longer creating any new jets. She then spaced her feet shoulder length apart and set herself in that spot.

"Hydro Eruption."

A jet of water which could not be described as anything other than a beam went flying towards all the bodies that she had left on the floor. The beam picked up all of them bodies and shot them straight out of the door and into the large stunned group which was at the door opening, looking apprehensive about entering the room. The entire group, including those on the stairs was sent tumbling down the stairs while drenched in water. At that exact point, Erykah turned her back and looked at Boris with a scowl on her face that Zdenek interpreted as 'Hmph!' and then sprung off towards the stairs. Her doing that was almost a signal as the rest of them also started with their fights.

Steph and Amy were faced with Jason and Q, and the two of them didn't seem to be taking the girls seriously, allowing them to turn around and watch Erykah do her thing. Amy was whooping and pumping her fist in the air as Erykah decimated the Tundra thugs, while Steph would just clap. As soon as Erykah gave Boris the look and jumped towards the group, Amy and Steph smiled and turned to face the two who hadn't even moved since the beginning of their little stand off. Jason was of average height and build, and was wearing conservative clothes, not standing out in the slightest. Q on the other hand was a lanky, creepy looking bastard with pale skin, almost reptile like eyes and sharp teeth. Amy leant over slightly, nudging Steph with her elbow, and put her head next to Stephs', almost whispering in her ear.

"I'm guessing that creepy looking one might just be the crocodile AE user, but I can't be sure."

Steph found that statement rather funny, even though she kept a straight face. Amy smiled and looked over at the duo standing before them.

"Well, I guess I should thank you for not attacking us while we watched our boss turn your foot soldiers into paste."

"Please..."

They both looked towards Jason who was speaking with a calm, composed tone of voice. He actually sounded as dull as he looked.

"The only reason why we didn't take advantage of an obvious opening was because we didn't need to, and not for any other reason."

Amy seemed to take offence at his comment, and the snide tone of voice it was delivered in.

"I'm sorry, are you saying that you believe you can beat us regardless of whether or not you take advantage of openings?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying lioness. Now, let's get this over with, as our boss will be finished with your 'advisor' in a short while."

Amy was now rather pissed off and was just about to attack when she felt a small hand on her shoulder, causing her to calm down. She looked down to find Steph smiling at her, with a particular look in her eyes.

"Calm down and listen to me Amy. I've got a plan to beat these guys but it's going to require that you get slightly roughed up a bit."

Amy looked at Steph and gave her a smile and nod of understanding. She knew how Steph felt about activating her power for too long, so she was prepared to carry out her plan. Stephanie nodded and smiled back in appreciation and then beckoned for Amy to step in closer, which she did.

"Now Amy, this is what I propose; you're going to activate your powers and attack the both of them, doing your best to get them to get them agitated and serious and by so doing, getting them to reveal any weaknesses or bad habits that they have in the process. After I've identified any such weaknesses and have come up with a plan to defeat the both of them, then you and I both attack them and finish them off in one move."

Amy was just nodding the entire time, listening and letting it all sink in. Once Steph was done with the telling of the plan, Amy gave her a large grin which didn't really inspire any confidence out of Steph.

"So let me get this straight; I activate my powers and fuck the two of them up while you hang back and watch the whole thing while trying find some weaknesses for us to exploit and then once I've done all the hard work, you come in and we both finish them off while you take all the plaudits for coming up with the plan and shit? Okay, I can do that!"

Amy flashed the grin again however this time, it filled Steph with confidence and made her grin straight back at Amy. Amy then turned to face James and Q with confidence written all over her features.

"Well boys, thanks for for waiting and I hope that you're ready for the worst beating your asses will have ever had!"

Another, much larger grin then made its way onto Mays' face, although this particular grin just screamed evil rather than confidence. Her arms were by her sides, and her fists were clenched. She suddenly tensed up and her firm and smooth skinned body suddenly started to become large and muscled, as her AE powers started to activate. She had caused a shockwave to emanate from her feet, which in turn caused her fairly short squirt to flutter about. She was wearing a shoe string strap top, a mini squirt and some flip flops. Her attire wasn't what one would call 'appropriate' for a serious fight, or any fight for that matter. Q himself had been thinking the same thing, and when the skirt started fluttering about, he started leaning down slightly trying to get a view while licking his lips. Amy noticed this, and grinned even wider. Her temples were just covered in bulging veins, as was her neck and her arms etc.

"You assholes may be wondering why I wore such flimsy clothes today."

As Amy spoke, her voice started getting deeper, as her facial features started changing slightly into a more feline mold and her eyes turned amber, and mimicked those of a cat.

"Well, it's not because I want to distract you with my incredible body, but rather because I don't want to ruin my clothes. You see, when I activate my AE powers..."

Just as she spoke, her arms and legs suddenly bulged out and grew quite a bit in size, as they became large and heavily muscled. Yellowish gold fur then grew on her arms and her hands became large, with her fingers becoming large and furred, with the same happening to her feet and toes. The straps on her flip flops snapped and her legs started changing, resembling a lioness' back legs. She looked back at the two and smiled

"...this happens."

Amy then let out a very deep and scary roar before leaping at the duo, with Steph watching intently to try see if they had anything to help her plan. The two of them weren't expecting Amy to jump them like that, and before they could do anything, Amy had already socked Q in the jaw, sending him flying into the wall behind him. Jason had taken that opportunity to activate his powers very quickly, with him resembling a buffalo, that being his AE and everything. He then entered into an exchange with Amy, who was dodging and blocking everything he had to offer, throwing hooks, straights, uppercuts and the occasional kick. Amy just ducked, slipped and weaved her way out of trouble before delivering two quick blows to James' stomach, gripping his head with both her hands and driving her knee into his face. As he flew up, she then leapt up into the air while spinning, bending her left leg under her ass and extending her right, swinging it around in a looping action and connecting with Jasons' ribs, sending him flying into a side wall.

Q came rushing out from where he was, with his skin being a dark green and scaled, with his hands fat with short fingers with longish black claws. His mouth had become much larger and longer with his nose melding into it. His teeth were now plentiful and long, all showing just like a crocodiles. His brow had become larger and more pronounced as well, and his eyes hadn't really changed much from how they were before. His feet had ripped through his shoes and five long black claws came out from his toes. Most of his clothing was ripped, and he had a rather large and long tail which, like his spine, was covered in medium length spikes. He must have been pretty far along in his transformation, as he really resembled a crocodile. Q leapt towards Amy and was running in an odd way, with his torso bent over exposing his back. He reached Amy and swung at Amy, who once again dodged the blow. As she slipped the punch, she moved forward, bringing her hand up to his face. She rammed her palm into his face before latching her fingers onto his head. She then brought her foot behind his and swept backwards while pushing forwards with her hand, sweeping him off his feet and plastering the back of his head into the floor, which cracked due to the force with which the head was rammed into it. She then looked up to see Jason galloping towards her. She closed her eyes for just a second and when she opened them, they were bright orange. She then roared, and a fireball went flying into Jason and sent him flying back towards where he had been running from. She then let go of Q, stood up and roared again, this time a continuous flame burst out of her mouth, almost like a flame thrower, with Steph smiling at her friends macho behavior.

Steve and Don were standing there looking directly at Andrew and Ronald, with both pairs standing there with their arms folded, staring each other down. The sounds of everyone else screaming in effort and such did not have the slightest effect on the pairs who appeared to be having a staring contest. They stared at each other for a few more minutes before suddenly, all four men zipped towards each other. Each of the four threw just one punch; with the other completely free so as to deal with the incoming punch. Their free hands caught punches, while their thrown fists had been caught by the man directly in front of them. The fists only remained clenched for a moment as they unclenched and ended up pushing holding the hand they were in, with fingers clenched. They were all now having a sort of test of strength against each other with Steve facing Ronald and Don facing Andrew. They all stood there in a slightly crouched position with each pair trying to assert their dominance over the other. The twins then started activating their elemental powers, which were wind based and Andrew and Ronald followed suit activating theirs, which were water and wind based. As water flowed from Ronald and wind blew from Andrew, they both clashed with the wind that the twins produced, and it made for a really epic looking scene with the carpets and curtains which were close to them to flutter about. Andrew and Ronald were trying, but they just couldn't match the twins for brawn and elemental power control, so they started to activate their AE powers as well. Their arms grew larger and they began to be covered in black fur. Steve and Don decided to follow suit, and started activating their powers as well, and their transformations mimicked those of their black bear counterparts, although their fur was brown. As they all grew claws, sharp teeth and their ears became furry, they all let out bear like roars, which were as intimidating as they were cool. The pairs both stopped powering up at around the same strength level and continued with their little match. After a little bit it became apparent that the twins were stronger physically as well, as they started taking steps forward while the other two were being forced down slowly but surely and had eventually taken a knee. Steve and Don then relinquished their grips on the Andrews and Ronalds hands and quickly gripped their wrists before shuffling their feet and swinging them around with slightly different timing, so as to not smash the two into each other. After spinning around a few times, they both let go their targets and sent them flying in opposite directions and as they both crashed into the opposite walls, the twins let out another bear cry which would make ones skin crawl.

As all the fights were happening at the same time, Zdenek looked at Boris and saw the look of surprise on his face as his so called 'elite' guard had just lost the first round in the exchange. Boris looked around before settling on a slightly smug looking Zdenek and growled. Zdenek dropped both his arms to his sides and took a deep breath.




Badass Ch. 06



"As you can see Boris, The Hand isn't particularly carried by Erykah; it's just that she gets all the recognition. The other 'fingers' so to speak are ridiculously competent, and are willing to serve her from the shadows. This guard of yours unfortunately doesn't stand a chance."

Zdenek slowly and deliberately placed his feet at a measured shoulder length distance apart before crouching slowly. He looked at Boris who had started growling from his throat as he activated his AE powers. Boris' already massive arms became bigger and got covered in black fur, while the fur that was encroaching on his face was white. His mouth and nose started getting longer and turning into a muzzle, but stopped as he wasn't planning on drawing out anymore power. From what Zdenek could tell, Boris was at about 40 - 50 % of his maximum, so he didn't think that Zdenek could do much to him with that level of strength. Zdenek brought his fists up to waist level and started tensing up, with his fists not quite clenched but his fingers still bent. His body vibrated as he started summoning his power, and veins coursed and throbbed all up and down his neck and up to his jaw. He looked up at Boris with a stern look on his face.

"Ok Boris.... Let's go!"

Zdenek squatted down even more as he started activating his powers. His ears grew long and pointy, both sets of canines grew into fangs, his hands became larger and covered in blue fur as his finger nails grew into long black claws. His coat fluttered about as his slight transformation took place, and his tail found its' way out of the back of his jeans, and just like before, it was long and slim, covered in blue fur with a bushy tip. A purple tinge had filled the whites of his eyes, as he opened his mouth and the purple fireball that had burst out the first time did so again. The entire Hand of Aegis had taken a second to watch the transformation, as all of them bar Erykah hadn't seen it before. Amy looked slightly in awe as she had never seen anything like it before, and Steph and the twins were equally as impressed. Amy looked over at Steph.

"Holy shit Steph, what the fuck IS that AE power? I can't tell from nothing about him really changing, but whatever it is, it's fucking impressive..."

Steph didn't even look at Amy to reply, as her gaze was fixed firmly on Zdenek.

"Yeah, you can say that again...."

Steve and Don were also staring in awe and were very impressed with just how strong Zdenek felt to them. Steve started to say something.

"Fucking..."

And Don finished off what Steve was saying.

"Bad ass!"

Erykah just looked back, taking her eyes off the wet mob before her for just a second. She just nodded at Zdenek before turning her attention back at the goons.

Zdeneks' transformation calmed down and his coat stopped fluttering about. He then stood to his full height and looked at Boris with his amber eyes with purplish whites. Boris had no idea how to react to what he had just witnessed as he had no idea what kind of animal had long pointy ears, blue fur and such long fangs.

"Wha-what kind of AE do you have?"

Zdenek took a second to consider his answer but then just looked at Boris with sincerer in his eyes.

"I'll tell you once you join Aegis."

In that second Zdenek disappeared. He was running towards Boris in an anti clockwise circular arc as he wanted to test the waters to see how good he actually was. He ran with his body low to the ground and sprung up as he spun 180° in the air, extending and swinging his right leg first, before continuing and spinning the rest of the way bringing his left leg into the move completing a spin kick. Boris parried Zdeneks right foot away by bring his right fist across and placing it behind Zdeneks foot before back handing it away on its natural course, making Zdenek continue with the move before bending his left arm up and completely blocking the left kick. Boris then tried to grab Zdeneks left ankle, but he twisted in the air and used his right foot to kick off of Boris left hand, twisting and doing a somersault before landing facing Boris in a squat. Just as he landed, he pushed off the ground and started running towards Boris. He ran so swiftly that he was almost a blur, and moved in a zig zag pattern, disappearing from sight for a second before reappearing to the right, before doing it again and appearing on the left, trying to see if Boris could keep up. Just as he reached Boris, Boris threw a straight right at him, appearing to have completely seen through the zig zag tactic. Zdenek spun to his left to avoid the blow and then pushed off again, dashing towards Boris with his right hand cocked. Boris however had seen this coming, and as Zdenek through a straight right of his own, Boris' left was already there to block. As Zdeneks' fist made contact with Boris' left forearm, Boris threw a short right hook, trying to catch Zdenek off guard. Zdenek looked to his left and saw the incoming fist just in time, as just before the massive fist was about to make contact, Zdenek brought his left palm onto the back of Boris' fist, pushed down, causing himself to lift up and spun while stretching his body horizontally, completing a few revolutions as he spun past Boris' face and landed elegantly to his right. Zdenek stood up and quickly pushed off from his right foot, doing a back flip but leaving his right leg extended, although slightly bent and completed a kick while doing the back flip. Boris managed to move his head back in time to avoid getting kicked in the chin. Then, just as Zdenek completed the move and landed on the ground in a slight crouch, he was late in looking up and when he did, he saw that Boris had thrown a straight right down his throat again and he couldn't avoid it, leaving him with no choice other than to block. Zdenek crossed both arms in an 'X' across his chest and Boris' fist struck his arms and the force not only caused Zdenek to properly take a knee, but also also made the thick floor cave in slightly around him. As Boris' fist moved back and the steam wafting off of Zdeneks' forearms was still fresh, Boris threw another straight, however this time Zdenek anticipated it and rolled to his right and watched as the straight missed and pumbled the ground. Zdenek had figured out that if Boris' right had been used, then his left would be ready for defense, so he decided against jumping straight at him. Zdenek started running behind Boris to catch him out, but Boris started spinning in the opposite direction. He spun and tried to smash Zdenek with the back of his right arm, but Zdenek successfully ducked under it. As he was coming up though, Boris' left arm came swinging around and the clothesline like maneuver caught him flush on the chest, with the impact creating a mini shockwave and sent Zdenek hurtling towards a corner of the large room and he crashed into it, causing some railing and curtains to fall down on him and cover him up. Boris snorted arrogantly as the curtains were crashing onto Zdenek and he pumped his chest out to show Zdenek who was boss. His arrogance only lasted a second though, as there was a flash of purple light, before a quick surge of purple flames started burning through the curtains. As the flames burned a hole in the curtains, Zdenek stood up slowly with his head down. The corruption attribute of his flames meant that the curtains and carpets which weren't burning but were still close enough started witling and disintegrating into black dust. Boris had never seen purple flames, or anything that just destroyed things for just being there. Zdenek slowly raised his right arm to shoulder height, assuming the same pose he did when fighting the Buffalo Alpha. He looked up and opened his eyes, and Boris saw the seriousness in Zdeneks' eyes. Boris then stamped his right foot on the ground and let out a cry as bright orange flames surrounded his body and flowed into and around his fists as he seemed to be charging some kind of ability. Zdenek didn't seem to notice or care about what Boris was doing, and as the last of the curtains which had been covering him burned up into nothing, Zdenek spoke.

"Corruption Blast."

Zdenek clicked his fingers and the large purple fireball suddenly appeared and flew straight for Boris, who was no longer looking as flustered as he bent his arms up brought his forearms up across his torso, forming a sort of peek a boo boxing guard. Then, flames suddenly burst out from his forearms and covered them, forming a sort of shield, which the Corruption Blast went straight into with quite a bit of force. As the two flames clashed, Zdenek started walking forward as he waited for Boris' flames to be obliterated by his; that however, did not happen. As Zdenek got closer, he noticed his fireball did not seem to be having any effect on Boris, or any of the areas around him and after a few seconds, an orange light seemed to be glowing from within the ball, looking as though it was trying to come out from it until it finally did; Zdeneks' Corruption Blast exploded with a glow of orange light, and as the purple flames were being destroyed by the orange, Zdenek could see Boris' eyes poking out from behind his fists, filled with confidence. Zdenek was caught by surprise at the fact that his Corruption Blast failed to affect Boris in the slightest.

"You look confused Zdenek. Were you that confident in your strange purple flames getting through mine? Hmmm?"

Boris' voice was just dripping with confidence as he spoke from behind his flaming block.

"Let me explain something to you Zdenek; I am more defenses oriented. I have worked purely and solely on my defense, as I do not have the speed and agility of most, so from a young age I worked on timing, defense and reading peoples movements so that I could anticipate and move a few steps ahead of them, as I have been doing with you."

Boris started pumping his flames, and flames formed a circle around him and started dancing around, with streaks of flames spinning and dancing around Boris in perfect symmetry, making it look almost look like a water feature, but with flames. Boris was still speaking from behind his guard, but his hair was slowly moving about in the wind that the flames was causing, and the entire room was being illuminated orange, with the light being at its brightest around Boris.

"I have the ultimate defense Zdenek; no one besides those stronger than me can get through it, and you are no exception."

Zdenek stood with his feet together, his eyes closed and his arms folded at his chest. His hood was down, and his ponytail was still in tact.

"Well then Boris, shall we find out..."

Zdenek spoke and he had the two voices again.

"Whether I am an exception to the rule or not?"

Boris tensed his arms and clenched his fists harder as the flames on his forearms intensified and grew in size.

"Come on then Zdenek, BRING IT!"

"Corruption Vision."

Zdenek opened his eyes and used Corruption Vision to examine Boris properly. He found that Boris had no openings or weak points that could be exploited at his current strength level. Zdenek then uncrossed his arms, and started powering up his flames, with his doing the same thing that Boris' did, circling his body and streams of flames rising upwards, looking like snakes and swirling around his body. His coat and ponytail fluttered about as well, before he took a deep breath and disappeared. Next thing, Zdenek reappeared in front of Boris and threw a punch which made contact with Boris' guard and the purple and orange flames clashed once more, as neither gave an inch; Zdenek on offense and Boris on defense. The flames around Zdeneks' fist began to wane slightly as Boris' flames were ridiculously strong, causing Zdenek to push away and do a backflip, landing on his feet. He then stretched both arms in front of him brought both his hands to shoulder level, mimicking the 'Corruption Blast' stance, but this time with both hands. The then started charging his flames again, with flames making slivers and swirling and swarming around his hands before disappearing for a second.

"Corruption Barrage."

Zdenek started clicking both hands like crazy, and all of a sudden a large number of purple blasts made their way directly at Boris, who pumped the flames on his forearms even more, which made his flame shield grow in size. As the many purple fireballs started crashing into the orange wall, the room lit up, with ball after ball smacking into where Boris was standing, creating a cloud of smoke as they did. After 10 fireballs had crashed into the wall, Zdenek stopped clicking, waiting to see if Boris had been affected in any way. His question was answered when a surge of orange flames broke out from within the cloud, and cleared the smoke away to reveal Boris standing there, completely unscathed. Zdenek didn't wait another second, as he set off for Boris again, running straight at him. Boris bent down some more and Zdenek leapt at him, and started swinging. Boris just kept bobbing and weaving, avoiding most of Zdeneks punches and kicks, and those which he couldn't evade only caught the flame wall. Occasionally Boris would throw a straight right or a combination, but Zdenek easily evaded those and went back to trying to hit Boris. After an exchange, Zdenek jumped back, and looked at Boris with Corruption Vision still activated.

'Fuck, I think I might have miscalculated. Maybe I underestimated Boris a bit too much. At this rate, I might have to--'

Zdenek didn't have time to finish his thought as Boris had stomped on the ground, sending a fire beam straight at him. Zdenek jumped to the right, and then started running towards Boris, who just waited for him. As Zdenek got there, he leapt in the air, bent his left leg and extended his right, performing an aesthetically pleasing kick to Boris' head. The kick however was caught by Boris who had been waiting for the kick, and had gripped Zdeneks' ankle. He then lifted Zdenek up, and smashed him back first into the ground before lifting him above his head and repeating the two more times before spinning Zdenek above his head and letting go, sending Zdenek crashing into the opposite end of the room. He then crossed his arms in an 'X' shape and charged his flames, gathering them up into his fists before unleashing a barrage of fireballs of his own into the spot where he had thrown Zdenek. The barrage crashed into the spot with force, causing bits of concrete and such to come flying out from there. Boris then exhaled deeply, and placed his arms by his sides, before snorting in arrogance and laughing.

"After all that big talk Zdenek, was that all you had to offer? Maybe you should have been dealing with the lower level guys, because I'm sure Erykah would have been more of a challenge!"

Boris' laugh grew louder as folded his arms again; ready to watch the rest of his guys beat The Hand.

Erykah, who had been keeping the goons occupied by using her more demanding area effect techniques was starting to tire slightly; not because of the techniques, but rather because she had to control those techniques and make sure that she didn't destroy the building, which was much easier said than done because while individually they would never be a match for her, since they were in a group they were much tougher to deal with, as she had to render them useless without killing them and keeping the building intact. She had heard the conversation between Boris and Zdenek during the first round of their fight, and was worried about Zdenek. She had every confidence in him, and believed that he could win the fight against Boris, but the way things had been going she was terribly worried. She was tempted to look back to see what was happening, but she couldn't because of the seemingly endless mob that was before her.

'I wonder if Zdenek is alright. It's been quite a while since I heard Boris laughing at him, and Zdenek hasn't made a sound since then.'

Erykah was thinking to herself as she was faced by 10 guys, who themselves were quite tired. She was standing near the entrance and wasn't blocking it, which allowed for the idiots to approach her in batches rather than as a horde, which was better for trying to keep them occupied, rather than defeating them. One guy came at her head on and threw a punch which she caught in her right hand, before pulling him towards her and gibing him an uppercut to the gut, lifting him off the ground and doubling him up. He was still airborne when she let go of his fist and skillfully side stepped another blow before jumping in the air and spinning while extending both legs and doing a split like maneuver; kicking three guys before the rest ducked. She landed on the ground with her left leg bent and her right extended straight out. She then clenched both her fists and raised them above her head.

"QUAKE; Richter Level TWO!"

Erykah then smashed her fists into the ground, using her mind to control the flow and direction of the energy she expended from her fists, allowing her to determine how deep the force and how wide the scope of the technique would be. Her controlling it in such a manner was what was tiring her out. As the remaining six men lost their footing and struggled to maintain balance, Erykah then brought her hands together in front of her and clapped, the shockwave created by the sending the six flying backwards towards the door, where more were already climbing over them and rushing towards her. Erykah looked around for a second trying to find Zdenek, but ran out of time, as the next wave had already reached her. She was looking visibly fatigued, as she was slightly hunched over and her breathing was becoming slow and laborious. She grabbed two men by their heads and smashed them together. She then started spinning them around, using them as sticks or batons of some kind, having them smash into their fellow goons and sending them flying.

'Zdenek you stupid asshole, why the fuck aren't you moving?! Wake up!'

Erykahs' anger and thoughts caused her focus to slowly diminish and wane, and the more she used her techniques, the more unstable her control over them became. Erykah was in the middle of fighting a larger than normal group, and had gotten herself surrounded which was a bad thing seeing as more could flock through the door if she took even slightly longer with this group, as it would have been enough time for them to recover. She singled out three guys and dashed towards them, grabbing two of them by their throats, pulling them towards herself before lifting them up and choke slamming them into the ground.

'Zdenek still hasn't gotten up. Maybe I need to finish these guys off and get him up and help him with Boris.'

Erykah let go of their throats, and head butted the third guy on the face before turning around and pointing her open palms at four more of them.

"Hydro Eruption!"

A large beam of water flew out from a ball that had formed in the space in front of her hands. The beam took the four out and sent them flying into the wall just next to the door.

'Where did end up landing? I couldn't turn around to look, but it should be to my right.'

Erykah then jumped up and did a backflip over the group that was closing in on her from behind. She landed behind them, and before they could all turn around, she did the clapping move and took out another three and sent them flying towards the rest.

'Fuck, there are still some guys left here, and I need to get rid of them!'

Erykah then lifted her clenched fists above her head once again, and took a deep breath.

"QUAKE; Richter Level TWO!"

She smashed her fists into the ground, trying to control the amount of force and the direction of the energy, although it was getting harder to and she didn't know why. Erykah attributed it to fatigue, thinking that it was becoming harder because she was becoming tired. She then thought that she had to finish the group off faster in order to get Zdenek and take on Boris with him. She then started getting frustrated because even though she had mowed the mob down to 20, which was more or less half of the original amount. She had been taking on them in groups of 10 - 15 at a time, and as one group recovered, she took on the next, with the weaker ones falling off and staying down. This tag team system if you like had been working for both parties as it kept the numbers that were taking on Erykah low, while it gave those she had been fighting previously time to recover some energy and try take her out again. She also couldn't take them out, because they were going to become members of Aegis and bolster their ranks, so she had to keep the severity of their injuries down to a minimum. The environment had also been a double edged sword for Erykah as if she was in a parking lot or something, she could have just destroyed them with a more powerful Quake, but she had to be conscious of the building. Being in a building however meant that they had to get at them through a door, which only allowed some many through at a time. If the grunts weren't so stupid, they could have destroyed the doorway to allow more of them to get through, however they were more concerned with defeating Erykah, as the rep they would have gotten for taking out the Alpha of Aegis was far more an interesting thought than things like strategies and the like.




Badass Ch. 06



Erykah looked at the four who she had just taken out with that barely controlled Quake and saw that they were still trying to get up.

'These guys need to fucking stay down! I'm getting sick of them!'

Erykah was breathing deeper, and was also breathing through her mouth. She was becoming increasingly frustrated, and watched as the next wave started running towards her. She then ran straight towards them and jumped up, flying directly into them like a bowling ball which had just been thrown into a group of pins. She started going on a rampage, grabbing, smashing and then throwing guys around, trying to end things quickly. There seemed to be no end to them, and just lost it, throwing her fists up above her head.

"QUAKE; Richter Level FOUR!"

As Erykah smashed her fists into the ground, she realized slightly too late that she had made quite a mistake; she had lost her composure and tried to end things with a technique that had too much power. She tried her hardest to catch the energy and stop it from transferring to the ground, but it had already done so. She remembered that as long as she had her fists on the ground, she could still control the direction and depth of the force.

'Ok, ok, concentrate me. Divide the amount of force by two, effectively downsizing it to a Richter Level Two. Do the same with depth, and then direct the now halved Quake into these mother fuckers.'

Erykah was straining to maintain control as she was already mentally fatigued and still agitated. She had actually become more agitated due to her being mad at herself for her carelessness. She looked in front of her and saw that the Quake had done the damage, causing them to lose their footing again.

'Luckily I don't always stick to the same timing; otherwise they would have figured it out and started jumping to avoid the technique.'

Erykah then remembered that she still effectively had a Level Two Quake still in her hands. She was just about to direct it into one of the groups of bodies when she looked up and saw that there were still some guys left.

'Fuck! I miscounted!'

Just as she was trying to direct the energy towards them, her mind lost control, and was no longer able to direct the energy as she was tired. The fact that Erykah had just recently discovered the whole 'energy directing' technique and wasn't quite adept at using it yet, and because she was frustrated and worried about Zdenek meant that mentally, she was working over time and that the fatigue finally caught up with her. Erykah didn't think too much of it though, as it was just a Level Two Quake and it wasn't going to do much damage to the building, so she just let it go. Something went wrong however, and all the energy which was supposed to disperse actually shot straight back at Erykah and hit her, which meant that she had essentially taken all the force of an area effect technique on her body. Erykah screamed in agony as the energy spread across her body. She struggled to, but succeeded at staying on her feet as she didn't want to fall down. She looked up and saw that 6 men on her.

'I fucked up.'

The first man swung at her, and she ducked under the punch, and her knee buckled. As she ducked under the blow, she gripped his neck, and choke slammed him into the ground. One guy jumped onto her back, and attempted a sleeper hold, but he got flipped over and punched in the gut as he landed on his back. Erykah got on one knee, and tried to stand up before she got hit but that failed and she got punched square in the face. The punch however got her onto her feet, and she threw a punch of her own which connected with the guys jaw, sending him flying. The guy she choke slammed had recovered and he punched Erykah in the face which rocked her slightly. Then another guy kicked her in the gut before another guy threw a low right hook which caught her in the temple, dazing and confusing her a bit. Then another guy came gave her an uppercut to the jaw causing her head to fly up before the guy she got in the gut before gripped both sides of her face, pulled her head down with force and made her face become acquainted with his knee a few times before pulling it back and ramming his knee into her face one last time, sending her flying into the air. Erykah floated in the air for what seemed like an eternity, with her consciousness slowly fading.

'Zdenek...'

Amy had been zipping about and fighting the Q and Jason like a woman possessed, going at full tilt the entire time, trying to get something for Steph to notice about them. The two guys had actually developed a kind of partnership, with Q being the front man, doing most of the attacking and Jason hanging back until Amy got the better of Q, then he'd jump in to and try get the upper hand. It was a simple plan, but it was a simple plan which was quite effective.

'Fuck, I wonder if Stephs' got anything yet. Zdenek is M.I.A, while Erykah is having a tough time over there, which is actually quite surprising. Her area techniques are fucking powerful and she should have been able to finish those guys off already, although I guess they are going to be members of Aegis.'

Amy was just standing up straight, lost in thought. She had almost forgotten that she was in a fight of her own and that the two opponents she was facing down by herself were actually quite competent and had worked out a system. Just then, Q snapped her out of her day dream.

'Fuck, it's that creepy Croc AE asshole!'

Q threw a left hook, to which Amy ducked under and tried to deliver a kick to the gut, but Q make it difficult with his awkward fighting position, with his torso bent over, barely exposing his stomach. Q then turned his body around rather quickly, and pumped his hips, causing his tail to whip around rather quickly, making Amy jump backwards. Amy then charged toward Q and drew her claws before she started swiping away and him. He replied by swiping back at her, and they exchanged a flurry of blows, with sparks and a 'KLING!' noise being made when ever their claws came into contact with each other. Amy was quite the acrobat, jumping and spinning around, doing the splits to duck moves, bending her spine back backwards to evade blows, springing off of surfaces and generally looking like a cat as she fought. Q was a difficult customer to deal with as part of his body other than his belly and torso and such was covered with hard scales and spikes, and due to his fighting style, only the harder parts were ever exposed.

'Fuck, this guy is annoying! Come on Steph, hurry up and find something!!'

Amy was looking back at Steph when she was thinking that and was giving her a look which said just as much. Steph just ignored her and just wondered why Jason was hanging back and letting Q do most of the work. She also wondered why he hadn't come straight for her while Q took on Amy.

Amy was getting sick of Q and she leapt backwards, creating some space between herself and him. She closed her eyes and started letting out a cry as flames started dancing around her and streaks of flames whirled around her forearms and onto her hands. Her claws were still protracted, and the flames covered her hands/paws. She opened her eyes as she let out a final cry as the flames fluctuated before settling down and completely molding to the shape of her hands.

"Flame Claw."

Amy looked at Q and smiled before running towards him and starting another exchange with him, although this time she was doing more damage. Q himself activated his powers which were earth based, and that meant he had hardened himself with his power.

Steph sat on the sidelines, watching with apprehension as Amy guns blazing at Q.

'She knows that she can't maintain that technique very well because its' energy requirements are crazy, and she doesn't have that high a capacity when it comes to elemental power stamina. I know she's trying to force them into revealing their secrets, but this is just reckless!'

Just then, Q went flying into the wall behind him, and Jason, who had already joined in midway through Stephs' thoughts, started to push more, his elemental power also flames and entered into quite an exchange with Amy. It took a few moments, but Amy eventually got the upper hand over Jason and also sent him into the wall, but by that time, Q had recovered enough and was back on the attack. As Q was approaching, Amy took long deep breaths, and looked back at Steph.

'Come on Steph, these two are fighting in such a way that they get breaks in between skirmishes and unfortunately, that's a luxury that I don't have.'

Amy settled into a stance and waited for her next skirmish with Q. When he got to her, they started exchanging blows again, and things went in that usual pattern, with Q and Amy having the longer of the exchanges and Jason joining in just as things started getting difficult for Q, which was always after a long while. Steph knew that there was a meaning behind this pattern, but just needed a bit longer to figure it out.

'Please hold on Amy, I've almost got it.'

Steph watched the fight a little while longer, and the period of time between skirmishes as the length of the skirmishes began to decrease, which allowed Steph to see both Jason and Q in action for a lot longer as both them and Amy began to tire. Steph looked at all three of them, looking at their body language, facial expressions etc to get a feel of their moods.

Between the two, Amy seemed to prefer fighting with Jason because even though he was the more powerful and skilled fighter, he only fought with her for brief periods of time. She looked like she disliked fighting Q because it almost seemed like he was just hanging around to take up time. Steph suddenly felt as though she had made a breakthrough.

'Wait a minute!'

She waited for another skirmish to happen and watched out for when Jason would enter the fray. When he did, she watched him exclusively and paid attention to him after Amy had sent him flying. She just looked at him, and saw how as he stood up, he was breathing heavily and panting a lot, which confirmed her suspicions.

"Amy! Amy!"

Steph ran over towards where Amy was standing, as Q was slow at getting to her.

"Amy, I finally figured it out; I figured out Q and Jasons' weaknesses! Q has a soft 'underbelly' so to speak, and Jason has absolutely....no.....stamina...."

Stephs' excitement drained from her body and seeped into the ground below her as she looked at Amy. She was hunched over, her shoulders had dropped, the flames around her hands were barely flickering and she her breathing was far more raggedy than Jasons.

"Shit!"

Amy looked at Steph with a smile on her face.

"I wish you would have told me slightly sooner Steph."

Steph looked absolutely mortified, as she had forgotten about how Amy couldn't maintain use of her elemental powers for long. Just then, they both heard Erykah scream in pain and looked at her. They saw Erykah get swarmed by the six men and get beaten. Amy looked horrified.

"Fuck! Where the fuck is Zdenek, and how the fuck did those fucks get the upper hand over Erykah?!"

"Quickly Jason, an opening!"

The two of them had completely forgotten about Jason and Q, and as they looked at them, it was too late. Four solid earth beams came flying at them, and Amy pushed Steph out of the way. They all hit Amy one at a time on various parts of her body, before Jason joined in and sent a flaming beam straight at Amy. The flames completely enveloped Amy and burnt her as she roared in pain. After the beam had completed its course and burned into thin air, it revealed a slightly burnt but completely worn out Amy, who fell down to her knees, and then onto her hands. She remained there on all fours, trying her hardest to stand up, but couldn't. Steph stood there in shock, looking at the awful state her friend was in.

The twins were engaged in a slug fest with Ronald and Andrew, and there was nothing else going on besides punches and bear roars. Both Steve and Don were stronger, faster and better than Andrew and Ronald; however they were actually coming out second best against their opponents. Steve and Don could not focus in the slightest on their fight, as they were far to worried about Erykah, Amy, Steph and Zdenek to concentrate. Andrew and Ronald didn't know this of course, and thought that they were winning because they were superior to the twins, even throwing in the odd elemental technique. Despite their hardest efforts, the twins could not focus on the task at hand, and during an exchange, where bested and sent flying into the wall behind them. They looked at each other with worry on their faces.

"Steve, we have to focus on these two."

"I know, but it's fucking hard! What the fuck has happened to Zdenek? Are you seeing how Erykah is struggling, when she should be killing those guys?! And what about Amy and Steph? I get why Steph doesn't want to use her AE powers, but she could still help you know?!"

"I know Steve! Fuck, let's finish these two off, and then go help everyone else, ok?"

"Yeah, that's a great idea!"

The two of them were pretty thick, so they became happy just as quickly as they became sad, and this applied with all of their emotions. They both got up and started chraging their wind, which formed gusts around their hands. The fur on their forearms and hands was ruffling in the wind as they got themselves all charged up.

"Okay Don, let's go!"

"Yeah!"

As they both started charging at their opponents, Steve saw Amy having some trouble, and Don saw Erykah having some difficulties as well.

'Fuck!'

The two of them were pretty thick, so they became sad as quickly as they became happy. They were worried all over again and the consistency of the strength of their wind fluctuated and they weren't nearly as powerful or as sharp as they should have been, which resulted in the both of them getting bested once again in the exchange. They were losing out in the exchanges, with their punches being blocked by arms and hands, while they were blocking the blows with their faces. In all honesty, they should have been beaten, however because they were stronger than their opposition, they weren't actually getting fucked up that badly, which was what made it worse. Finally, they slid into the wall after being punched hard and flying backwards, landing on their asses and sliding on their asses into the wall. Andrew and Ronald then approached them while laughing. Andrew seemed to take the more dominant role, and spoke first.

"Well guys, it seems that you two are as useless as the rest of The Hand, especially that Alpha of yours. She's so pitiful; she got fucked up by low level idiots! Ahahahaha, useless bitch!"

They were trying to get the twins all riled up, and their plan succeeded as they got up off the floor growling loudly. They were pretty thick, so they became angry just as quickly as they became sad. They didn't even talk this time as they just launched themselves at Andrew and Ronald, swinging like crazy and not controlling themselves in the slightest. They were just throwing punches haphazardly and weren't actually paying attention, which meant that they kept getting tagged without being able to reply. It took a bit, but they were finally beginning to tire as they had been getting beat on for quite a while. Ronald and Andrew delivered what they thought to be finishing blows which resulted in the twins flying and landing on their backs. They slowly but surely got up, and stood on unsteady legs as they looked directly at their opposition. They both seemed to be on the same wave length and thought the same line at the same time.

'Fucking hell...'

All of the Hand of Aegis had been beaten down pretty much to the same level, and the moments all seemed to be happening at the same time; as Erykah was floating in the air, Amy was on all fours with Steph standing there, and Steve and Don were also pretty much collapsing. Just as each of them was about to be finished off, Boris was suddenly alert as his senses told him something was coming. A blur emerged quickly from where he had hit Zdenek and flew towards Amy and Steph.

Mays' arms were wobbling as she was trying to get up, but just couldn't. Just as she was about topple, she suddenly felt a presence next to her and felt two arms hook hers beneath her pits, and start to lift her up. Her eyes opened fully as she was lifted up to her feet. When she was upright, she looked down at her chest and saw two furry blue hands on either of her shoulders, looked up to see Zdeneks face as he looked directly at Jason and Q. He then disappeared from sight before appearing in front of Steph, and placed him right hand on her head. She looked up at him to see him looking directly ahead of himself, before disappearing from sight again. He then appeared behind Steve and Don. He stuck his head between theirs and put a hand on the side of either ones head, gripping tightly. They both looked at him and saw him looking directly at Andre and Ronald. He then pulled their heads in firmly and tilted his head downwards, so that their foreheads came into contact with either side of his head. There was a resounding 'THUD' as their heads made contact with his, and then he disappeared from sight again. He then reappeared behind Erykah, who was still flying back and he opened his arms. Her consciousness was still fading until she suddenly felt herself landing against something warm, and then two arms wrapped around her, one around her stomach and the other her shoulders and collar bone. As she came to a stop, she became nestled in the warm embrace and her consciousness continued to fade until she remembered how familiar this embrace was, and that she had just experienced it last night. Last night? Who did she hug last night? Images flooded her mind until she saw silver hair and amber eyes.

'Zdenek.'

All of a sudden, Erykahs' eyes burst open as her consciousness flooded back to her and became stable. She looked down and saw blue hands holding her tightly, before looking up and seeing Zdenek looking straight ahead of her at those who had just beaten her and the others who were just regaining their strength. He the let go of her, and disappeared from sight again, reappearing in front of Boris. In that brief second, Zdenek had gone around given all of them a touch to let them know he was ok, and also to raise their spirits.

Erykah, who was still kind of fucked had finally gotten what she was looking for during the latter stages of the exchanges; confirmation that Zdenek was alright. His being alright was more than enough, but his suddenly appearing and catching her just made her catch a second wind. She started roaring like a gorilla, before water started for swirl around her entire body, and not just her arms. She knew she only had one shot at finishing these guys off, so she summoned as much energy as she could. The jets of water swirling around her became larger and larger in volume, and eventually it looked as though she was caught on a vortex. She wasn't standing at her full height either and she was slouched over, with the only thing keeping her upright being her arms. She looked up at them to memorize the locations of those who were still conscious and closed her eyes to concentrate.

"Hydro Eruptions."

The jets of water then formed into one large jet, which then split into 7 beams which set off and flew towards the 7 who were still conscious. They couldn't move as the beams were moving too quickly for that, and they made contact with all 7 targets perfectly. They didn't stop at contact however, and drove their targets up high into the air, almost touching the ceiling before smashing them down onto the stairs leading up to the room. The beams then swung back around and gathered up all of the others, before dumping them onto the stairs with the rest of their fellows. The beams then returned to Erykah and spun around her before settling down and disappearing. Erykah then started teetering before tipping over and falling over.




Badass Ch. 06



Amy, who was now standing, looked over at Steph and smiled. Steph smiled back and walked up to Amy, before pulling her down and whispering the plan into her ear. After she finished relaying the plan to her, she let go of Mays' head and looked her in the eyes.

"So that's the plan Amy; can you do it?"

Amy didn't say anything but rather, gave her the same grin that she gave her at the beginning of the fight, and it filled Steph with confidence. Steph then took a few steps away from Amy, and took her glasses off, placing them on the ground before her. She then started activating her AE power, and underwent a Buffalo AE transformation, gaining horns, hoof like plating on her fingers, and extremely hairy arms. Once the transformation was complete, she stood there and set herself.

Amy activated Flame Claw once again, and while the flames weren't as strong as they were before, they were still pretty powerful. Amy then started running straight for Q, who together with Jason, were completely flabbergasted at what had happened in the 30 seconds. Q also started running towards Amy, and when she jumped up, he did the same, ready to meet her for a midair exchange. Just then, four brown earth spears with clamp like heads came flying beneath him, and all changed direction, going straight for his limbs. Two went and hooked themselves around his ankles, while another two around his wrists. They then straightened out; completely exposing his neck, chest and stomach; which were all covered in yellow scales, and looked much softer than the rest of his body.

"Amy; NOW!"

Amy put the tips of all her fingers on his chest and stomach before closing her eyes and concentrating for a second.

"Flame Lance!"

The flames on her fingertips extended into 10 lances which pierced through his belly and chest, and out the harder scales on his back, with blood squirting out of the 10 holes, and his mouth. The lances then retracted, and Q spluttered out a large volume of blood, before his limp body fell to the ground. Amy just looked at Q, as he body hit the floor.

"Hmph!"

While she was still airborne, Amy pointed her fingers towards Jason.

"Flame Lance!"

The 10 lances then shot from her fingers again and flew straight towards Jason. He saw them coming and as he tried to jump away, his legs buckled and failed him. The Flame Lances didn't clamp around his joints though; they pierced straight through, and Jason screamed in pain, before Amy started retracting them with him still connected to them. As he got closer and closer, he saw that a tiny little Buffalo AE user was standing in his path, with her arms by her side. As he got closer, Steph began to run towards him and leapt up as he got close enough, cocking her arm back and smashing it into Jasons' face. Both Amy and Steph heard the sound of his jaw shattering and he lost consciousness from the pain, falling down onto the ground with a 'THUD'. Amy deactivated her technique, and she and Steph heard the thudding of many a body and they looked towards Erykah, only to find her teetering and about to lose consciousness. They both started running towards her and screamed.

"Erykah!"

Steve and Don were reeling from that insane head butt that they had received from Zdenek. They were happy as fuck that he had come out from wherever he was and that he was ok. That head butt may have almost killed them, but they were pretty thick, so that head butt amped them up properly. They both stood up straight and started charging their wind powers in unison, letting off a rather intimidating bear cry. The gusts of wind were fierce as fuck, and Andrew and Ronald recognized that they had not seen this much ferocity and intensity in the twins' demeanor before, and it kind of scared them. They refused to let their fear show though, and they in turn started charging their water and wind powers as well. Their powers were concentrated solely around their fists as the were about to enter into final and decisive skirmish. When the pairs had adequately charged their powers, they broke for each other and started throwing punches. The first few blows that were thrown simple bounced off of either side, with them both landing on the other sides' torso and such, but as the blows continued to rain down on each other, they became more and more vicious, with the twins gaining the upper hand as things dragged on. The thing was that their blows were still being answered to though, even though the not all of them. For every 2 punches they connected, they got one back from Andre and Ronald. That number kept increasing until eventually, Andrew and Ronald couldn't answer back, and were virtually punching bags. They just kept punching and punching and punching, until they decided to end the fight; stringing together a combo which was virtually straight 2 rights, two felt hooks and then an uppercut. The scary part was that it was a spur of the moment, last minute combo, which they had both performed with perfect timing and sync; it was almost as though each brother was looking at a mirror. As Andrew and Ronald hit the ground, Steve and Faced each other just as they were about to do their 'special handshake' they looked in Erykahs' direction and saw her teetering and they both started running in her direction at warp speed.

"Fuck! Erykah!"

Zdenek was now standing right in front of Boris, who looked a bit shocked at his being back and looking as normal as he did. The only difference between the Zdenek who got thrown into a wall and blasted with fireballs and this Zdenek was the fact that his coat sleeves had been burnt all the way up to his elbows, exposing his forearms and the hood had also been burnt off somehow, but other than that, he looked quite fresh. Zdenek put his right hand on the back of his neck and started rolling his head around, like he was warming up.

"You know Boris; I really must apologize to you."

Boris looked quite shocked at the statement that had just been made by Zdenek, even more shocked than before.

"Apologize to me huh? For what exactly Zdenek?"

"Well, because I've actually been quite rude to you; I completely underestimated your power, and thought that I could beat you with this level of power, but I was wrong."

"'...this level of power'? What do you mean?"

"Well Boris, if I look at how far along in your transformation you are, and the amount of power you're able to generate along with the strength of your flames, I'd have to say that you are currently at between 40 and 50 % of your full strength; am I correct?"

Boris was getting tired of being shocked by what Zdenek was saying, so he did his best to keep a straight face. He was genuinely surprised at how Zdenek had actually gotten it spot on.

"Yes, that's right; I'm currently at 40 % of my maximum capacity, why?"

"Well, because I am actually using less than 40 % of my maximum."

"Oh? And how much are you using then Zdenek?"

"Half of what you are."

Boris' eyes bulged out of his sockets as he looked at Zdenek with disbelief. He knew that Zdenek currently was weaker than him, but to hear that he was only running at 20% almost floored him.

"T-twenty percent huh?"

"That's right. So what you say I get serious and get to a figure closer to yours huh? Once again, I must apologize for underestimating you."

Zdenek bent his knees slightly and then slid his right foot in front of his left and slid it in a semi circle back to where it was before. When his foot was back in position, he started letting out a low growl as he started tensing up again, with neck and forearms started rippling with veins again, as did his temples. The flame circle happened again, except this time, it was wider and the flames were fiercer than before, making the flame streaks larger and dancing around. His coat fluttering about violently, as was his ponytail. The room actually started shaking slightly, as the flames became deeper and richer, burning fiercer and hotter than before, with the entire room being illuminated purple. The radius in which things started wasting away had increased, and the carpet he was standing on was already disintegrated. This meant that the floor itself started turning black and a thin layer of black dust kept rising from within the radius.

By this time, Amy, Steph, Don and Steve had all reached Erykah and caught her, making sure that she didn't fall over. They had helped her up and were now all looking at Zdenek. Amy looked at Erykah for a second to make sure she was still conscious.

"Hey Erykah, did he take his transformation this far when you first saw him?"

Erykah just shook her head without even looking at Amy.

"No he didn't, but we might be able to see just what his AE is now."

Just as Erykah said that, Zdenek growled again, and a fireball came out of his mouth and hit the ceiling, burning it somewhat. That really caught their attention and they watched intently.

Zdenek closed his eyes, and then the transformation really started; his forearms became completely covered in the blue fur, and his hands grew even bigger. His claws became thicker, and the substance they were made from started flowing over his claws, and down his fingers. Five hard black streaks made their way down the top of his hands over his knuckles and disappeared beyond his elbows. The elastic holding his pony together burned quickly, letting his hair fall loose. His hair then started growing in both length and volume, and grew until it was about a quarter of the way down his back. It had also filled out sideways and grown over his ears, but surprisingly didn't cover his forehead. Next thing, not in the middle, but slightly on the side of his forehead, two black points started poking their way out. Zdenek seemed to be grimacing the more the point grew, with them getting thicker as they became longer. They started bending inwards as they grew longer, before the tips bent outwards once more, and his forehead had two thick 8 inch horns, which were quite thick at the base and thinned as they went up. His eye sockets became bitch black, and his fangs became slightly thicker. His tail, which was also flailing about also got slightly thicker, with the tip becoming bushier, and it also burst into flames, just the tip. Zdenek then opened his mouth and let out one of the most horrific yet amazing wails any of the people who were still conscious in that room had ever heard. This wail truly freaked Boris out, as he panicked and started charging his flames again.

"I don't know what the fuck you are, or what you're planning on doing, BUT I WONT LET YOU!!"

Boris then yelled in effort as he started punching the air in front of him with purpose and ferocity. Dozens of orange fireballs flew straight at Zdenek and connected, sending him flying into the wall behind him. Boris didn't stop there though, as he just kept pumping and pumping and pumping, with the plentiful explosions causing the orange light to clash once more with the purple. He then brought both fists above his head and started charging an epic fireball, as the flames danced and swirled around his wrists and were fed into the fireball which just kept getting larger and larger. When the fireball was massive and bright as fuck, Boris brought his left arm down and cocked his right arm back behind his head with the fireball in front of his fist.

"Take this - Flame Boulder!"

Boris then threw a straight right and the fireball tore through the air at lightning speed, and it broke the sound barrier as it flew before crashing into Zdenek with a huge flash of light. Amy, Steph and twins all gasped in shock.

"Zdenek!"

"He's fine."

They all looked down at Erykah who didn't have an ounce of worry on her face, but didn't shift her gaze from the spot where the fireball had hit. The light started dying down and they were about to see whether or not Boris had been successful in beating Zdenek. The light faded and they saw fireball was still there, turning and spinning on the spot. They all stared at it in shock, Boris included as he was sure that the Flame Boulder would have finished him off. Erykah twitched slightly, and spoke.

"He's coming."

Before anyone could say anything, a purple line made its way down the middle of the fireball and it split clean in half to reveal Zdenek standing there with his hands open in front of him, holding the fireball back. His tail was pointed upwards and the tip was on fire, his horns were fully grown, his ears pointy, fangs pointy, and eye sockets black. He then opened his eyes and Corruption Vision was activated, although they didn't know that it was standard when he drew out this power. When they looked into the centre of the two halves of the fireball, they saw that they were slowly being turned purple, before they were swallowed up completely and turned into corruption flames. Zdenek shot them straight at Boris, who back handed both halves away with both hands, giving Zdenek one hell of a stern look. 

Amy just stared at Zdenek with her mouth wide open, as they had all seen his new features for the first time. She spoke, before Steph did, and then the twins.

"Burning tail, claws, blue fur, horns; he looks like no animal I've ever seen before. It's almost as if he's..."

"I've never seen anything like it. Zdeneks' features resemble those of..."

"Holy shit, that's so bad ass. Zdenek actually looks like..."

Erykah just said it with them, as they were all thinking the same thing.

"...a demon!"

Zdenek then let out the demonic wail once more as a steady stream of flames burst from his mouth, almost like a flame thrower. Erykah brought her hand to her open mouth, trying to cover it.

"Now that I think about it, he's never once referred his entity an as animal entity, just as an entity."

Amy and just nodded, while still looking at Zdenek.

"No wonder..."

They other four then turned their attention to Erykah and looked at her, with Amy speaking.

"'No wonder' what Erykah?"

Erykahs' gaze did not shift from Zdenek, and she didn't dare blink either.

"No wonder he said he was still alone..."





To be continued...



So, this is the end of Chapter 6. I genuinely hope that you guys enjoyed it, and that you will not crucify me for taking so long to post it. I hope that I can post the remaining Chapters rather quickly, so I can get on with the rest of my stories. Keep well, and thanks for reading, I appreciate all of you, even those who criticize me.

Peace.

DionysosK.



Badass Ch. 07



So, this is the 7th Chapter of Badass. I can't promise it will be good, but I hope you enjoy it. Thank you if you still maintain any interest in my shit.

Read on.

*****

Everybody who was still conscious in the room looked on with shock and awe having broken into a nervous sweat as Zdenek let out the wail. A wail so bone chilling, that it caused Steph to tremble. A wail so bad ass it caused Amy and the twins to grin, as beads of sweat fell from their respective jaws and chins. A wail so evil, that it struck fear into the hearts of the Hand, causing each member to be rooted to the spot they were standing in. Boris stood before Zdenek as well, putting up a brave front, but was also clearly disturbed and slightly intimidated, as powerful gusts of wind emanated from Zdenek, causing the curtains and clothing of everybody present to violently flutter and move about. After a few seconds, the room was filled with complete silence, as Zdenek stopped wailing, causing the wind to die down and everybody to actually take a breath. 

As they all started breathing, they suddenly heard footsteps, causing them to focus back on the battle happening before them. Zdenek had started moving away from the wall, taking slow and deliberate steps, looking Boris in the eyes; Corruption Vision active and the flames pulsing and dancing out of his eyes. Zdenek stopped moving and just stood, tail twitching and moving about with the tip on fire, his large hands were open and he stood with his feet together. His gaze hadn't moved from Boris since he started walking, and he hadn't blinked either, he just stood there, looking at and into Boris' eyes, looking for the slightest bit of fear or intimidation on his part; and he found it. Boris had been staring right back into Zdenek's eyes, trying for all his worth to conceal the small bit of fear which he had been trying to ignore, but Zdenek's piercing gaze was too overwhelming, and before he knew it, he had taken a step back, even though Zdenek had already stopped moving. Boris' breathing started quickening, and he swallowed a ball of spit which felt like it had been stuck in his throat forever. A bead of sweat then rolled the side of his face, and the fear grew. 

Boris kept blinking, and with each blink, Zdenek only seemed to get bigger and bigger, causing Boris to gulp again and the overwhelming force of pressure that he was feeling as almost unbearable, and Boris started breathing quicker and quicker, as he nervously took another step backwards, fists clenched and forehead wet with sweat. Zdenek just seemed to keep growing, and soon Boris couldn't see anything around or behind him; all he could see were those flaming white and purple eyes. Zdenek then started chuckling, his deep and evil sounding second voice had gotten so much more sinister and soon his chuckle turned into a full on maniacal laugh, causing Zdenek to finally break his staring contest with Boris. The terrible laughter filled the room, and even the Hand was freaked out by it, with Steph's trembling really escalating. The others finally noticed her shaking, and the twins each moved to console her. AMY and Erykah just stood there, watching Zdenek intently, with Erykah in particular not wanting to miss a second. Everybody blinked and then Zdenek was no longer in the spot was before. They looked around to find him right in front of Boris. Zdenek slowly raised his right hand up and brought it to Boris' cheek. He slowly and gently wiped his fingers upwards from Boris' cheek, up to his temple, and then brought that same hand down, presenting it to Boris and allowing him to see just how wet his fingers were. Zdenek chuckled again.

"So Boris..." Zdenek taunted as he rubbed his thumb across his fingers, "...is this sweat adorning your face because of a sudden spike in the temperature in this room, or is it because you're afraid?" Zdenek chuckled again and looked down towards Boris' pants. "If we were to remove those pants, would we find a trail of urine and shit to accompany that sweat on your brow, hmmm Boris? Are you suddenly so scared that you have lost control of your bladder? Where's your confidence? What happened to your defiance, huh?" Zdenek then started laughing again, before turning around and walking away from Boris. "Listen Boris, we came here to get you to join, but after seeing the look of fear on your face, I've changed my mind; Aegis doesn't need any pussy punk bitches who lose their nerve in the face of stronger opposition. I'm just going to swallow up this group of yours and force them to integrate with Aegis through fear. I tried being nice, but you threw that back in my face, so now I'm going to be...well...it doesn't matter, because you wont be around to see it." Zdenek turned his head, looking at Boris with a grin on his face. "Farewell... former Alpha of Tundra." 

Zdenek then started laughing again, and the Hand stood there, completely shocked by what they were witnessing. They had never seen Zdenek act or talk this way, although they hadn't really seen Zdenek all that much as they had just met him. They didn't know what had come over him, but they didn't dare move or even say a word as they waited to see how this was going to end. Boris just stood there motionless, slightly shell-shocked due to the fact that he was feeling fear for the first time in his life. He swallowed the lump in his throat, before bringing his hands up, palm side up, and looking at them as they trembled slightly.

'W-What the fuck? My hands are trembling! A-Am I scared? Am I scared of this blue furred, black horned punk In front of me?' Boris then brought his right hand up and wiped it across his brow, before bringing it back down and inspecting it, seeing the sweat on his fingers. 'Sweat? I have sweat on my brow due to...being scared...? ME?! I'M SCARED BECAUSE OF THIS GUY?! SO WHAT IF HE'S STRONGER THAN ME' I WAS KICKING HIS ASS UNTIL NOW!! I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED!!'

Boris then suddenly let out a massive roar, clenching his fists and pushing his arms out to the side. He had thrown his head back, closed his eyes and flamed burst out from his body and started charging rapidly, and the entire room was illuminated with an orange light. He then opened his eyes and started screaming.

"ZDENEK!! JUST WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TALKING TO, HUH?! I AM BORIS; ALPHA OF TUNDRA! IF YOU THINK THAT I'LL JUST ROLL OVER AND LET YOU TAKE MY GROUP, YOU ARE SORELY MISTAKEN! I'LL KILL YOU BEFORE YOU GET THE CHANCE TO MISTREAT THEM!"

The intensity and heat of the flames increased as Boris screamed. Zdenek just smiled and then turned around to face him. He looked Boris in the eyes, and all trace of fear was gone, and in it's place only rage and determination. Zdenek then started charging his own flames, which were now richer and deeper, but clearer and purer. The colours of their respective flame clashed once again, and the entire room was just filled with orange and purple light.

"Very well Alpha," Zdenek said, standing at he ready. "Let's go."

Boris let out another yell, before launching himself at Zdenek. He cocked his arm back and flew towards Zdenek, and flames started swirling around his forearm. He then threw a straight right at Zdenek, who just tilted his head to the side and watched the fist fly past his face with a strong gust of wind which caused his mane to flutter about. Flames flew out from his fists and crashed into the wall behind them, and continued to do so each time that Boris tried in vain to punch Zdenek in the face. Zdenek wasn't even bringing his hands up to parry the blows, as he just kept evading and dodging. Boris then went for another straight, but suddenly stopped, and Zdenek looked downwards to see a left uppercut rising from below on a collision course with his chin. Zdenek started to move his head back, but the force with which Boris put behind the blow caused it to shoot up quicker than he expected. 

Boris growled in effort as his fist came up, but just as he thought he had made contact, Zdenek moved his chin out of the way. Boris' fist boomed past Zdenek's face, but the wind that came with the blow caught Zdenek on the face, causing him to do a backflip, flipping over and landing deftly on his feet, as he opened his fists, causing his palms to face the ground and pulsed some flames out of them to provide thrust. To Boris though, this was a victory as he had actually caused Zdenek some damage, in his eyes at least. He pumped his fists together and looked at Zdenek who only had a look of disappointment and scorn on his face. He shook his head and sighed, as he relaxed his shoulders and loosened up. This only served to anger Boris even more.

"Y-You bastard; are you still looking down on me you motherfucker?!" Boris screamed, his rage only increasing and getting worse.

This only made Zdenek shake his head in even more disapproval, and sigh again. Just as Zdenek was about to spring from where he was and attack, he found himself restraining himself as Boris was already en route, and closing in with ferocious speed. As a flame charged straight right flew toward Zdenek, he just slightly shifted his head and watched as the giant fist flew past his head. He then leapt off his toes and closed the space between himself and Boris with the aim of striking him, until he saw Boris' left hand doing the same thing it did before. Zdenek opened his right hand, quickly pushing it towards Boris' fist and deftly parried the blow away, in doing so; twisting his own body and creating momentum which made him spin around. His left arm suddenly extended and with the continued motion of his spinning, came into contact with Boris' lower back upon the completion of his revolution.

"Corruption Blast..." this was said in what seemed like the faintest of voices, yet oddly enough, everybody heard it clear as day as suddenly, Zdenek's hand started glowing purple.

'S-Shit!' Boris thought to himself. 'If I take this Corruption Blast from this close with no protection, I'm fucked!'

Boris tried turning around to at least cause some of the damage to be spread across his back or something, but as he turned, he only saw the glow increase and the cold, emotionless look in Zdenek's eyes. It looked as though he didn't care what happened next, as though if this attack were to kill Boris, it wouldn't matter to him in the slightest. The glow only got brighter and brighter and Boris let out a yell of distress as he thought about what the after effects of this blast would be, when suddenly, to his and everybody else's astonishment, the glow suddenly stopped, Zdenek removed his hand and took a small leap back, landing softly on the floor and assuming his usual stance of having his feet together and his hands opened and lowered at his sides.

"W-What the... what just happened?" Amy said to nobody in particular. She looked at Erykah who also seemed to be wracking her brains as to what the cause of Zdenek doing that was.

"I really don't know Amy... He had orchestrated that situation so smoothly and it looked as though it was going to be a sure win... Anyway, let's just see what happens next..."

Amy nodded and looked back the pair who were fighting as Boris had turned around by now and looked at Zdenek.

"W-Why did you do that?" He asked in a tone of voice that just dripped with confusion.

Zdenek stood silently for a while, just looking as Boris and almost giving him time to figure it out himself, but after a while, he spoke.

"You still haven't noticed it?" he asked, his voices no longer smug.

"Noticed what?" Boris asked with a slight shake of his head, which caused Zdenek to sigh and start moving forward.

"Well, it's only been the first attempt I guess, so it can't be helped..."

"What can't be helped?!" Boris asked with more urgency in his voice.

However, he got no reply, only an attack, and his arms went up into the peek-a-boo style that they were so accustomed to being in. This caused Zdenek to smile as he darted across the space towards Boris and he suddenly disappeared from almost everybody's sight. Boris' eyes bulged slightly because of this sudden increase in speed, but he quickly composed himself and closed him eyes. Suddenly, he charged his flames and started bobbing and weaving, getting into a sort of rhythm and before long, everybody started noticing small flames flicking off the sides, going in the opposite direction of Boris' weaving. As he bobbed and weaved to the right, the flames would splinter off and flicker to the left. Suddenly, Zdenek reappeared right in front of Boris, throwing straights like crazy, and such a speed that his arms were almost invisible. The weird thing was, it was apparent to everybody in the room that Zdenek's arms were moving far quicker than Boris was weaving, yet for some reason, he just couldn't make solid contact with him, or even land a glancing blow. Suddenly, Boris dipped really low towards the right, and as he came up, thrust his right arm up in a short uppercut, flames swirling from his fist which made Zdenek jump back. As the arm punched up through the air, Zdenek suddenly snapped his fingers.

"Corruption Blast..."

Suddenly, a massive ball of corruption flames made its way towards Boris rapidly. Without even missing a beat, Boris' arm was back in front of him and he just pumped even more flames, completely focusing all the flames he could muster on his forearms. As the ball clashed with the flame barrier, the light show in the room suddenly became beautiful as deep purple clashed with bright orange, illuminating the room once more. The dual between the two sets of flames was intense, and suddenly, everybody heard Boris let out a roar as his flames pulsed even more, causing the Corruption Blast to suddenly start to crack down the middle, and eventually explode; the resulting flash of light making everything go white for a few seconds, and making everybody bar the two who were fighting to shield their eyes. Once the lighting in the room went back to normal, everybody focused back on the pair to see Boris hunched over slightly, breathing in heavily through his mouth and his arms appearing to have slight burns on them. Zdenek was just standing perfectly still as he watched Boris intently.

"So... have you noticed it yet?" Zdenek asked.

Boris, who was still trying to catch his breath, looked up at Zdenek as his arms dropped to his sides.

"If you're referring to the obvious gap between your strength and mine, then of course I've noticed it—"

"That's not what I'm referring to Boris!" Zdenek said, cutting Boris off.

Boris stood, looking slightly annoyed at the fact that he had absolutely no idea what Zdenek was talking about. Suddenly, a female voice was heard from the side, which caused both men to look to their left.

"Defense..." Erykah stated as she figured it out.

"What do you mean Erykah?" Boris asked, wondering if she even knew what she was talking about.

"Your defense is your greatest weapon Boris; that's what Zdenek has been trying to point out."

Boris' eyes suddenly widened as he finally realized just what it was Zdenek had been going on about.

"During this entire fight, you had the most success when you fought off the back foot; with an almost perfect guard that allowed no blows to come through, and your anticipation as well as countering abilities. You were completely dominating the fight before, and that's because you have amazing defensive capabilities."

Boris just stood there, looking dumbfounded as he listened, but gradually his expression changed to one of understanding.

"H-Hold on Rica, I wouldn't say he "dominated" the fight per se—"

"You're right Erykah, I was dominating... and that domination came to an end not only when Zdenek drew out more power, but when I lost my head due to his taunting, and my own lack of composure..."

"No, like I was saying before, he wasn't dominating—"

"Exactly, and that's why he was looking at you like that, because you broke away from what made you such a formidable opponent in the first place."

'These people aren't listening to me...' Zdenek thought to himself as he sighed. He looked over at Boris as he started to pump his flames once again, his hair and what was left of his coat fluttering gently.

"Boris..."

Boris looked over at Zdenek as his eyes widened slightly before focusing once again.

"Zdenek..." he replied, a serious and resolved look in his eyes.

"If you are able to draw out any more power, now would be the time..." Zdenek said; his voices now full of seriousness.

"Oh? And just why is that Zdenek?" Boris asked in an equally serious voice.

"Because I'm about to finish this, and would prefer it if you didn't die..." as Zdenek said this, the Corruption flames suddenly burst, and the entire room started to shake. 

Erykah and the rest of them suddenly felt immense pressure on the bodies, and it was almost as if they were about to collapse or something. Boris just brought his arms up slowly, and pressed them together in his peek-a-boo style once more, and began charging his own flames.

"Thanks for the concern, but it isn't needed." Boris said from behind his guard. "You are at 40%, so I must remain true to my pride as an Alpha and do the same. Not only will I not die, but I shall win this fight, so don't hold back..."

Zdenek looked at Boris in silence, closing his eyes and nodded slowly.

"Very well Alpha..." Zdenek said respectfully, as his strength grew even more, as he ceased holding back; now well and truly fighting using the full 40%.

That feeling of pressure and weight on the bodies of everybody began to increase, as Zdenek seemed to be charging his power and then all of a sudden, it all stopped. The shaking, the pressure, the charging, it all came to a halt, as Zdenek slowly opened his eyes and looked at Boris.

"Corruption Combination Number One..." suddenly, Zdenek disappeared.

Moving at a speed that absolutely nobody could keep up with, Zdenek completely disappeared from sight. Boris, in response pumped his flames as much as he could, but he was severely weakened from having defended against that Corruption Blast from earlier. Just as he had pumped as much as he could, he suddenly felt both his forearms get slashed by two blades. The same thing then happened to his shins, and before he knew it, his arms had dropped, leaving his torso exposed. Then, the blades went to work on his torso, slashing away at his chest and stomach like crazy, with his clothes being ripped to shreds. Each time Boris blinked, more blood would pour out, and soon, what appeared to be a tidal wave of red was making its way towards the floor. Suddenly, there was just the briefest of lulls, and Boris could sense the deathblow coming, so with what little strength he had left, he charged his flames and distributed them across his tire body, completely enveloping himself in them. That turned out to be the best move he could have made as he suddenly get a stiff kick to his gut, causing him to double over and begin to puke. Next thing, he heard the distinctive voices.

"...Laceration!"

And with that, a heel crashed into the back of his skull, causing his face to shoot on towards the reinforced concrete floor. It took less than a second for his face to not only make contact with the floor, but also crash through it completely, and soon afterwards, his entire body followed suit. As he crashed through the ceiling of the first floor of Temperance, his body twisted as glass and wood and blood all fell with him. He was twisting through the air as he fell and crashed right into the dance floor that was in the middle of the club. As it turned out, he fell onto his back, and was then showered with blood, glass, and whatever else was falling with him. Zdenek just landed deftly on the floor next to the giant Boris sized hole in the floor and let out a sigh of exertion. He looked up and closed his eyes, as he started powering down. The process didn't happen as quickly as one might have thought, as everything that had grown out over his skin had to go back in. Everybody was too stunned to notice the copious amount of blood that was not only all over Zdenek's hands, but was also dripping from his claws. They all stood with their eyes wide open, and their mouths gaping. Zdenek looked over at them once he had opened his eyes and his horns had gone back into his forehead, and slowly started walking towards the group as the fur started to disappear, and then the tail. Since the blood was on the fur, it disappeared with it, and his hands and feet went back to their normal size. He finally stood in front of the group, which was still stunned as hell.




Badass Ch. 07



"Look, I'm sure you all have questions and such, but they will all have to wait, understood? We have to make sure that Boris is not only breathing, but that he continues to do so."

The Hand and Erykah then quickly snapped out of it and nodded as Zdenek turned around and started walking towards the hole.

"Somebody needs to call an ambulance... actually; I think all this will require an entire fleet of them..."

Zdenek was just speaking as though he wasn't the cause for most of this, as well as the destruction of the room and possibly fatal attack on Boris. Everybody had to put thoughts of everything else aside as they had to focus on Boris. Zdenek suddenly hopped down the hole and landed slightly to the side of where Boris crash landed, and the group did the same. Zdenek then made his way to Boris' side, as Steph, who was in the best physical condition of the rest, whipped out her phone and began making the call. Zdenek crouched down by Boris' head and pressed two fingers against his neck, checking his pulse. Once he confirmed that Boris indeed had a pulse, he let out a sigh of relief and a slight smile.

"He's alive..." he said more to himself than to anybody else.

He looked back at everybody, looking rather relieved.

"I was worried that he wasn't going to be able to withstand the attack, but covering himself in flames was a very smart move... now..." he looked Boris and gently shook him. "Boris? Boris, can you hear me?"

Surprisingly, it didn't take much effort to rouse Boris from his state of unconsciousness, which seemed off due to the amount of blood that was all over the place He opened his eyes and looked over to Zdenek and nodded.

"Good, you're awake. I'm impressed with your ability to think on the fly Boris. Covering yourself in flames was a very smart move. Now, I suspect we won't have much time before the ambulances arrive, so we must keep this brief."

Boris nodded to show that he not only understood, but that he agreed. Zdenek nodded back.

"Now, with regards to the offer that Aegis made you... it's still on the table... You are still wanted, and quite honestly, you are needed. The word Aegis has many different meanings, but in our case, Aegis means protection. While admittedly, the only reason why we wanted you to join before was so that we wouldn't have large amounts of discontent and insubordination amongst the Tundra AE users, fighting with you has brought about a much more important reason as to why you are not only wanted, but needed. You Boris are needed to protect the protectors. You are needed to become the Shield of Aegis; never wavering, never hesitant, never breached. While Aegis attacks, you will be bringing up the rear, protecting us against those who would try to flank us. If we are attacked, you will be at the front, facing those who would try to defeat us. And if we are defeated, even against great odds, you are to stand and defend our corpses until you either succeed, or fall. Will you accept this offer Boris?"

Everybody was just silent as they listened to Zdenek. They really had no idea that he not only had such a way with words, but was also so incredibly motivational. They all felt something stirring within themselves, and couldn't help but feel motivated. Boris looked at Zdenek for a little while, before actually speaking.

"I refuse... to follow... anybody but... the one who beat... me..." he took a deep breath, as he gathered more strength and spoke again. "You are now... the Alpha of Tundra... not me... so, if you... merge us with... Aegis, then... you must be... a part... of Aegis..."

Suddenly, everybody stared straight at Zdenek, and he could feel their eyes burning multiple holes into the back of his head.

"That's what we said!!" Amy barked. "We told you that you had to have a position in Aegis! Why the fuck won't you commit to—"

"Alright, alright; I'll have some sort of position okay? We can iron out the details of that position soon enough, but as things stand, I am a part of Aegis, therefore so is Tundra, and so is Boris... any objections?"

Zdenek looked over at the group and they all shook their heads.

"None..."

What about you Boris; do you have any objections?"

Boris shook his head slightly.

"N-None..."

"Well then allow me to welcome you into Aegis, Captain Commander of Aegis and Alpha of the Yellow Division; Boris." With that, Zdenek reached for and lightly squeezed on of Boris' hands, shaking it slightly.

The sounds of sirens could be heard from the distance and Zdenek stood up and sighed. He suddenly spoke.

"Alpha and Hand of Aegis..."

They all suddenly looked at him, with Steph having joined the group a while ago.

"Zdenek..." Erykah replied.

"Mission complete..." Zdenek said as he turned his head and looked at them with a slight smile. "Well done..."

All of their eyes widened as pride welled up inside them, and the Hand suddenly let out a unanimous roar and looked at him.

"Yes sir!!"

Erykah let out a sigh as she began to collapse. Before she could though, she felt two arms wrap themselves around her and hold her gently. She just succumbed to not only the embrace, but the fatigue as well as she lost consciousness. Zdenek, who had somehow moved with lightning speed and caught Erykah, looked at the Hand and spoke.

"Don't worry, she's just fatigued. Listen up, here's the plan; I am going to take Erykah home, and the four of you are going to stay here and make sure that everybody gets adequate medical treatment. Twins; you two are responsible for making sure that the grunts are taken care of. Amy, you're in charge of making sure that everything goes smoothly, so we need to get rid of all the cars that a blocking the entrance and that have filled the parking lot. Stephanie, you are in charge of taking care of Boris. You make sure that he's in good hands. You will be able to reach me on Erykah's phone, so if any problems crop up, feel free to give me a shout, alright?"

"Yes sir!" they all said in unison again.

"Okay good. Now, Steve, Don, clear the entrance for me so that I can get Erykah out of here."

The twins both nodded and grunted in unison before disappearing from sight rather quickly. Zdenek changed the way he was holding Erykah, so he ended up carrying her in both arms. It didn't take long for the sounds of smashing cars to echo throughout the parking lot, along with two similar sounding sets of maniacal laughter. Everybody inside just stopped doing what they were doing for a second, before Steph sighed and shook her head. Amy just chuckled to herself and Zdenek just shrugged his shoulders a little. A few more minutes passed, before the twins walked into the wrecked night club and looked at Zdenek with massive grins on their faces, both slightly out of breath.

"Alright Zdenek, job done!" beamed Steve.

Zdenek nodded in acknowledgement and started making his way towards the entrance. Once he was outside, he suddenly noticed that most of the cars were still intact, it was just those that would be obstructing the path of the ambulances and such that were "moved" closer to the sides, creating enough space not only for the ambulances, but also for Zdenek to be able to comfortably drive the car out of the club. Don followed behind Zdenek as he walked towards their cars, and they got closer, Don suddenly rushed ahead and stood in front of Zdenek. He then reached into Erykah's pocket and pulled out her car keys. Seeing as how she wasn't particularly beaten up, and wasn't tossed into any walls or anything like last time, her keys were in perfect working order. Don then opened the front passenger door, and Zdenek carefully placed Erykah into the seat, before buckling her up and closing the door. Don handed him the keys with a slight nod, and quickly rushed to the driver's side, opening the door for Zdenek. He then looked at Zdenek with a look that Zdenek couldn't quite fathom.

"...yes Don? Do you have something to say?"

Don spent a few moments in silence before shrugging and just asking.

"Zdenek... can you actually drive? I mean, it would be a real shame if like, we were to have gone through such a battle and shit, and then you were to spin out on the highway, crash and die in some lame ass car accident."

Zdenek looked at Don for a second before letting out a slight chuckle and shaking his head.

"Don't worry Don, I can actually drive. I got my license a while ago, and have been driving for years. It was also part of my training, so rest assured, Erykah and I will be just fine."

Don smiled and tapped Zdenek on the shoulder.

"Good on you then man, my bad for making a big deal out of it. Later!"

Don then walked off as Zdenek settled himself into car, buckled himself up and closed the door. He started the car, backed out from the parking bay, and carefully navigated the SUV through the lot and then through the open gates. As he drove down the road, the car was passed by a large fleet of ambulances that were making quite the noise.

'That's a lot of ambulances; I wonder if there will be enough room for them to park in the club? Either way, they can park outside on the road as well.'

The drive back to Erykah's house was slow, with Zdenek nursing the car. He was driving it for the first time, so he wasn't looking to tempt fate by driving briskly. The sun had started to set, and there was a kaleidoscope of oranges and yellows in the sky. Zdenek looked over at Erykah, and just watched as her chest heaved slightly with each intake of breath. Her mouth was open ever so slightly, and every so often her, her nose would twitch a little. She had hair covering her brow and eyes, yet even so, it was plain as day to see that she was absolutely beautiful. She had such amazing features, yet because she was constantly scowling, one would be hard pressed to notice. However right now as she sat unconscious, her face was relaxed and it was easy to see just how pretty she was. As she was bathed by the light of the setting sun, Zdenek found himself completely enamored by Erykah, to the point where he had stopped paying attention to the road in front of him. He actually had to consciously make the effort to stop looking at her, and focus on the road, lest Don's premonition of doom actually come true. About ten minutes later, he noticed Erykah squirming as she was close to regaining consciousness. Her eyelids fluttered and then her eyes slowly opened as she made the customary moans and groans as she awakened from her slumber. She groggily looked around as she recognized the interior of her car, yet was slightly confused as she wasn't used to being in the passenger seat. She then looked over to the driver's side, and was confused even further by the site of Zdenek driving her car, and looking back at her.

"Hello there Rica." Zdenek said in a rather soft voice.

She sat up properly and upright in the seat, and as she was regaining her bearings, the scowl on her face slowly came back. She looked around a little, before squinting her eyes.

"Zdenek? Why are you driving my car? Where are we? What's going on?"

Zdenek reached over and gently touched Erykah's shoulder with one hand as he concentrated on the road and spoke.

"Listen, it's okay Rica. I left the Hand back at Aftershock to take care of everything. I'm driving your car, because I am taking you back to your house, where we shall be waiting for updates on the happenings at the club. But right now, all you need to do is focus on nothing but relaxing and regaining your strength. All that controlled fighting really took it out of you."

Erykah responded almost immediately to Zdenek's touch and his voice, the confusion in her head subsided, and was replaced with calm. She looked at him as he spoke, and nodded at him. When he was finished talking, he pulled his hand off from her shoulder and replaced it on the wheel, much to Erykah's annoyance. She continued to look at him however, before speaking.

"Hey, Zdenek?"

"What is it?"

"Food; I'm fucking starved. Can we pull in somewhere and get something to eat?"

Zdenek looked over at Erykah and noticed that she was looking rather depleted, and nodded at her.

"Yeah, getting something to eat would be a good idea. We can just go to a drive thru or something, that way, we don't need to leave the car."

"Yeah, thanks." Erykah said appreciatively with a small nod.

Zdenek decided to go to a place closer to Erykah's house so that they wouldn't spend an extended period of time with the smell of food in the car without eating. He also thought it would be better to not talk, so Erykah would be able to rest.

"Zdenek," Erykah said, clearly having had a different idea to him "can I ask you something?"

Zdenek glanced over at Erykah before speaking.

"Yes, I do know how to drive, and yes, I do have my license okay?" he said with faux annoyance.

"Uh, that's not actually what I wanted to ask right now, but I was wondering about that. What I actually wanted to know was—"

Erykah was interrupted by her phone going off. She had actually left it in the car when they got to Aftershock, so after fishing around for a bit, she got it.

"Hmmm, it's Amy." Erykah said to herself more than anybody.

Zdenek reached his hand out towards Erykah and offered to take the phone.

"I told Amy and the guys to contact me on your phone if anything happened, so I assume she's just calling to check in or something."

Erykah just nodded and handed Zdenek the phone. He nodded and took it, before bringing it to his ear and answering.

"Yes, Amy?"

"AH! Zdenek! Can you hear me?" bellowed Steve's voice. He was talking over quite a lot of commotion, as instructions to and from the emergency personnel were being given.

"Yeah Steve, I can hear you. It sounds awfully busy over there, how's it going?"

"Well, it's going pretty damn good to be honest. At first, there was some resistance from these Tundra idiots who Erykah fucked up, but somehow, Boris, who was receiving medical attention and shit just sat up, and started telling them to shut up and listen to us."

"Is that so?" Zdenek mumbled to himself with a slight smirk and chuckle, "That guy is really made from tough stuff."

"Yeah, tru dat. Also—"

"Hey! Who's that you're talking to? Is that Zdenek? Lemme talk to him!" Amy barked over Steve's voice.

Zdenek then heard what sounded like an immature struggle between two kids, accompanied by frequent cussing, complaints, demands, and threats. Suddenly, there was a sort of loud banging noise, followed by a few moments of silence.

"Uhh... Steve? You there?"

A few more seconds passed before he heard a rather chipper sounding voice on the other end.

"Hey Zdenek, it's me!" Steph chimed "As you may have already heard, Boris has actually been helping out with everything here. It pretty much takes everything for him just to stand and talk at the same time, but considering how he was practically on the verge of death a little while ago, it's rather impressive. How is everything going with you two?"

"Well Stephanie, Erykah has regained consciousness, and were going to be getting some food and eating like a pair of crazy people when we get back to the house."

"Mmmm, fooooood... Zdenek, could you get me something too? In fact, give me a sec—"

Zdenek then heard Steph calling to the rest of the hand, asking if they wanted him and Erykah to get them any food as well. It took a few minutes before Steph spoke again.

"Sorry for the wait Zdenek, we would pretty much all like some food if you guys wouldn't mind ordering for us."

Before Zdenek could answer, he heard a familiar voice barking again in the background.

"What the fuck Steph?! You didn't even ask me! In fact, why am I the only one who has no say, especially when you're all talking on my fucking phone? Gimme thaaat!!"

Zdenek then heard Amy snatching the phone from Steph accompanied by a loudish bang which resulted in Zdenek having to pull the phone away from his ear. He looked at Erykah who just shook her head, as she was able to hear the entire phone call from the passenger seat. Amy then started talking.

"Hello? Hello? Zdenek, are you still there??" Amy enquired in hope.

"Yes Amy that's right, I'm still here." 

"Great! I wanna tell you about how things are going over here under MY leadership! You'll be so proud, I—"

The phone call suddenly cut off, and Zdenek attributed that to Amy's battery being flat. He could almost hear the roar of frustration she let out. He then handed Erykah her phone back and focused on the road again, with the sun almost having completely set.

"Sorry about that, seeing as I don't have a phone, yours is the only one that the guys could reach me on."

"Nah, don't worry about it." Erykah shake with a slight shake of her head, before she looked over at him, her head pressed against the head rest and just generally looking tired.

"So what are we getting? I mean, we've been eating pizza and chicken and such quite often haven't we?"

"How about some curry or something? We can get some flat bread, different types of curries, some of everything."

Erykah suddenly perked up a little at the mention of curry, and nodded her head rather enthusiastically at the notion.

"Yeah, that sounds amazing actually. I know this great place that's not too far from here."

"Okay cool, curry it is then. You'll just alert me when it's time to make a turn or something. Anyway, it's good to hear that everything is going well over at Aftershock. You know, you've got some pretty reliable friends back there."

"Yeah, I mean despite how they act, they actually do know how to get the job done. You wouldn't expect it, especially considering how they constantly like to play and shit."

"Yeah, well they balance out pretty well with you, considering how you're pretty serious and business like most of the time."

Erykah, who was still looking at Zdenek, looked like she had something she wanted to ask again. She suddenly noticed something.

"Zdenek, y-your coat, the sleeves are..."

Zdenek looked at his wrists for a second, and recalled how Boris' flames had burnt most of his sleeves to shit. From the elbow down, his sleeves were nonexistent. He sighed and shook his head slightly.

"I guess I'll have to get the sleeves replaced. Fucking Boris. Anyway, I don't know of a single place that sells curry with a Drive Thru, so we're going to have to park and actually go inside. You look a little worse for wear, so once we get there, you can stay and rest in the car."

Erykah just listened to Zdenek and felt like protesting, but knew better than anybody that it would not be worth it, as she would likely be stumbling all over the place if she were to get out of the car with Zdenek. She then reached over and tugged on his arm gently.

"Zdenek, take the left at the next set of traffic lights."

Zdenek just nodded and took the left. The trip to the restaurant was pretty much made in silence, with Erykah only speaking to alert Zdenek of another turn he had to make. The trip didn't take all that long and they pulled up to the lot and parked. Zdenek then looked over at Erykah.

"I'll pretty much be getting one of everything, so you had best be prepared to eat. Even without everybody else's portion, we'll still have a large amount of food to get through."

As Zdenek was about to get out, he felt Erykah tug on his arm again and looked at her.

"What is it? Is there something you don't want me to order?"

"Nah." Erykah said with a weak shake of her head. "You hair looks like shit."

Erykah then reached up and turned Zdenek's head to face away from her. Much to her surprise, Zdenek neither protested nor flinched, and he just sat there and let her do as she pleased. She then started pulling on his hair weakly, making sure that she got it all in her hands, before splitting it and holding some hair in each hand. She then started to loosely and slowly braid his hair. A short while later, she was done, and due to the length of his hair, the braid ran own his back. Erykah admired her handy work for a second, before nodding in approval.




Badass Ch. 07



"There, done. Now you don't look like a crazy person anymore."

Zdenek looked at himself in the rearview mirror for a second, before looking at Erykah and nodding.

"Thanks for that. I didn't pay attention to my hair being loose. Anyway, I'll be back soon."

"Wait Zdenek, do you need any money or something?"

"Nah, don't worry, I got this. Consider it my treat for the victory."

Zdenek opened the door, stepped out, removed his coat and threw it in the back of the car. He looked down at his feet, and noticed how his shoes were so shredded; they could barely be considered shoes. This elicited a slight chuckle from Zdenek, who kicked the shoes off, took the remains of his socks off and tossed both in a nearby trash can after having closed the door and walked off. Erykah just sat in the car in silence, and looked towards the restaurant entrance.

'Fuck, today has been absolutely crazy. I still can't quite believe that it all happened. The change that this silver haired bastard has brought not only to Aegis, but to the guys and me has been crazy.'

Erykah put her feet up on the seat and reclined the seat back a little, resulting in her kind of lying down. She looked at Zdenek's coat in the back and before she knew what she was doing, had reached for it. It didn't take long for her lay the coat on herself like a blanket, and snuggle into it. She didn't notice, but she took a deep breath, and took in Zdenek's scent. It made her feel safe, warm, and other things she hadn't felt in the longest time. So long In fact, that she had forgotten what they actually felt like. She looked at the singed half sleeves of the coat and just recalled that intense fight between Zdenek and Boris, and how Zdenek seemed to have won it with relative ease.

'Zdenek is so fucking strong; I don't even know how strong he truly is. Just what the fuck is his AE? Well, having seen 40% of his transformation, I think it's safe to say that it has nothing to do with an animal. What is that Entity? The horns, the fur, the flaming tail, he really looked like a demon. That second voice that he seems to get when he draws out his power is ridiculous as well; not to mention the combo, what did he call it, the "Corruption Combination"... I'm pretty sure I would have died if I had taken that combo head on.'

Erykah shifted a little in the seat, as she started to get more and more comfortable, with Zdenek's coat warming her up.

'What is this coat made from? It's so fucking warm, and the inside is so plush and shit.'

Before Erykah knew it, the rear door of the SUV had been opened, and Zdenek stood there with two other people who had helped him carry the massive order to the car. He looked to the front seat and saw how Erykah was seated, so he thought she was asleep. Once the entire back row was filled with bags of aromatic curries and such, he thanked the two guys who had helped him, closed the door and got into the front seat. He looked at Erykah, who by now was almost completely covered by the coat and chuckled a little as he put two bottles of soda in the cup holders. He then noticed that Erykah's eyes were actually open, but she was so comfortable and snug looking, that he had assumed she was asleep.

"Sorry it took so long, as you can see by the number of bags in the back, I went to town with the food. I got you a soda though; give you a bit of a sugar boost before we get back to your place. It's gotten pretty dark hasn't it?"

Erykah just nodded in agreement before begrudgingly extending her arm out from within her little cocoon to get one of the bottles. She opened it, and started drinking in small sips at first, before chugging the whole bottle before the car had even left the restaurant's lot. Zdenek figured she needed more, so he just handed her his bottle and proceeded to drive back to her place a little quicker than he had planned to because he also wanted to eat. The drive was quick, and as Zdenek pulled into the driveway, he noticed that the car with everybody else had seemingly just arrived. He parked next to it, and as he got out the car, was suddenly ambushed by Amy.

"Zdenek! We just got here, and were worried because you guys weren't here, so Steph was about to call! Why is it that we were able to get here before you guys?!"

Zdenek just petted Amy on top of her head like she was some kind of domesticated animal.

"Calm down Amy, we took a slow drive, and we also had to get the food remember? Anyway, you go help Erykah out the car, the twins and I will see to getting the food inside okay?"

Amy somehow calmed down after Zdenek explained, but that was only until she noticed what was being done to her head and barked again.

"Zdenek you asshole, stop petting my fucking head like I'm some kind of stupid dog!"

This elicited a round of laughter from the rest of the Hand, as Amy playfully hit Zdenek on the chest and made her way around to the other side of the car where after opening the door, she almost exploded from shock due to the sight that lay before her. 

'W-W-W-W-What the fuck is going on here?! Why is Erykah so snuggly wrapped up in Zdenek's coat?! Whhhyyyyy?!'

Zdenek and the twins were busy talking amongst themselves as they walked inside carrying the food. Amy suddenly dashed out from behind the car, grabbed Steph who was standing on the other side of the car they came in on her phone, picked her up like she was a rolled up yoga mat, ran with her back to where Erykah was, put her down, and just pointed to Erykah completely flabbergasted, her mouth wide open, but not a single sound coming out of her mouth. Steph, who had been busy on her phone and hadn't batted an eye during the entire thing, had yet to even look up and see just what it was that had resulted in Amy doing what she did. When she didn't hear any noise coming from Amy, she looked up from her phone and spoke.

"Amy, why did you do tha... aaa..."

Steph was able to finish her question as she finally saw what was going on, and her brain started to short circuit just like Amy's. She suddenly shot Amy a look that just screamed 'What the fuck is going on?!' to which Amy just shrugged with a massive motion, and looked right back at Steph. Next thing, both of them received a massive shock when Erykah spoke.

"What the fuck are you two doing? Would you mind helping me get out this car? I haven't quite recovered enough to do so myself."

Amy and Steph recoiled slightly at the sound of Erykah's groggy sounding voice and looked at each other before looking at her.

"W-We thought you were asleep Erykah, sorry. You just looked so snug, and considering how you hair is covering your eyes, we had no idea you were awake."

Amy reached down and waited for Erykah to make some kind of motion like unbuckling her seat belt or something, but she just lay there. It almost seemed like she was too comfy to move.

"Uh, Erykah? In order for us to get you out of there, you need to actually move and shit."

Erykah sighed and let out the softest of whines, which was almost inaudible. She started shifting and once the 'clack' of the seat belt holster was heard, Amy and Steph moved to help her out of the seat. Each of them grabbed an arm, and the three of them walked into the house, with Zdenek's coat draped over Amy's shoulder. They all walked into the kitchen, where the guys were all waiting. Amy and Steph looked up at Zdenek and suddenly noticed something and then looked at each other, this time they actually spoke.

"H-Hey Steph, lemme ask you something."

"Yeah, what is it Amy?" Steph asked, already knowing what the question was.

"Do you remember while growing up, having had the exact same shitty looking braid that Zdenek has right now?"

"Why yes, yes I do."

"And do you also remember who gave you that shitty braid?"

"Yes, I do indeed remember who it was."

Just then, they both felt Erykah's arms slip away from theirs, and then the jarring pain of being elbowed in the kidneys. They both looked at Erykah who was scowling and looking rather embarrassed and just started laughing. All the guys just looked at the girls in total confusion, and Zdenek noticed that Erykah was looking a little embarrassed but just shrugged it off before speaking.

"Okay everybody, the food is still blisteringly hot, so we all have time. Find a shower, get washed up in record time, come back here, we all set the table, we all eat. That clear?"

The Hand all shouted it's acknowledgement of the order given, and everybody split up. The girls stuck together though so they could get Erykah clean, while the guys walked off themselves. The twins offered to show Zdenek to one of the many bathrooms in the mansion. The girls decided to take a quick soak in Erykah's bath so that she could sit, and just got on with the business of getting clean. Amy looked at Erykah and just had to ask.

"Erykah... what the fuck happened in that car?"

"Huh, what are you talking about Amy?" Erykah asked with genuine confusion.

"Oh come now, Zdenek was walking around barefoot with braided hair, you were so comfy and wrapped up in his clothes I could have sworn you were his mini me, and considering how you left Aftershock when the sun was still up, yet got here after us, this all SCREAMS of tasty happenings that we need to be filled in on!!"

Erykah was slightly confused, because in her mind, there wasn't a single tasty happening that took part in the car, yet considering how intently Amy and Steph were looking at her, she decided it was best to just roll with it.

"Look, right now the priority is to eat and then sleep. So let's hurry up and finish in here, so we can do those other two things. I'll tell you about what happened in the car when it's time to sleep alright?"

"ALRIGHT!" Amy and Steph shouted together, as they roughly and hurriedly finished washing themselves and Erykah up. It didn't take much longer for them to finish up, get dressed and then make their way downstairs to the kitchen where Steve, Don and Zdenek were all already down there. Since The Hand spent so much of their time at Erykah's place, they each had some clothes that they left there, and they all changed into them. What caught the attention of the girls though, was that Zdenek was dressed in some shorts and a t shirt so baggy that he looked like a scrawny poor kid who was given his father's hand me downs. Amy immediately pointed and laughed her ass off; she stumbled, she held onto her knees for support, she composed herself bursting into hysterical laughter again etc. It was clearly obvious that Zdenek was wearing one of the twin's clothes, and despite the possibility of Zdenek murdering her, Amy just couldn't resist laughing. Zdenek stood there looking at Amy with a rather peculiar expression on his face.

"That's right, go ahead and laugh it up Amy. These two dumbasses here managed to get my clothes absolutely soaked when they decided that if we just hosed each other down, it would be far quicker than showering."

Steve just shrugged and laughed quite loudly, before looking at Zdenek and patting him on the shoulder.

"Hey man, we're all clean aren't we? Stop making such a big deal over this, and let's set the table, I'm fucking starving."

The guys all then started moving towards the dining room, and began setting the table. The girls went and started unpacking all the various meals, the curries, biriyanies, naans, porotas, chili beefs, tandoori chickens etc. Steph looked at Erykah who was sitting down while unpacking.

"Erykah, just who is going to eat all this food?"

"We are." Erykah stated in such a matter-of-fact manner that it kind of surprised both Amy and Steph. Once the plates were all set, everybody started setting the food down on the dining room table, and there was just light chattering about the day's events, with everybody seeming to tell Zdenek a different version of events with regard to the emergency personnel and such. Once everything was set, they all started to sit down, and Erykah made her way over to the table herself, and instinctively set herself down next to Zdenek, who looked at her.

"You're looking a lot better Rica, not as drained as you did in the car."

Erykah just nodded in appreciation, and noted that Zdenek had kept the braid in his hair. Amy suddenly popped out from the cellar and was carrying a whole host of wine bottles.

"Hey guys, I'm not quite sure what wine goes well with curry, so I just got a few bottles and we'll all try them together!"

"Trust the alcoholic to bring up the wine!" Don shouted, which drew out quite the fit of laughs.

Zdenek allowed himself a chuckle and a smile, before getting up and bringing the glasses and as he walked around the table setting them down, he set an extra done down next to Amy. He then walked to Steph, and asked for her phone. After she gave it to him, he was pleasantly surprised to actually find what he was looking for. He looked at Amy and motioned with his head.

"Hey Amy, would you mind pouring some wine for all of us?"

"No problem Boss man!" Amy said with an enthusiastic salute and opened the first bottle, before going around the table and pouring everybody a glass, including the extra one. Nobody knew what the extra glass was for, but they figured Zdenek had a reason for doing as he did. Once Amy had finished and taken her seat, Zdenek then took his, phone still in hand. He then set it on the table and set it on speaker, and everybody heard a phone ringing on the speaker. It rang for a while before being answered.

"H-Hello?" was the answer that came from a very groggy sounding Boris.

"Hello, Boris? It's Zdenek. I didn't wake you did I?"

"Zdenek? No, I wasn't asleep, just resting. I can't quite sleep just yet because the pain coming from all the cuts on my stomach being healed is rather intense."

"Ah yes, those cuts, sorry about that." Zdenek replied in a semi sarcastic tone.

Boris just laughed heartily on the other end before groaning in pain, yet still laughing.

"Yeah, I'm not sure that laughing is such a good idea right now. Anyway, why are you calling? Something wrong?"

"Not at all, we are actually about to engage in a celebratory feast in light of Aegis' recent expansion, and it wouldn't be right to toast to the future and such without the latest addition to the Aegis hierarchy; the hypothetical extra thumb on the hand so to speak. We've even got a glass of wine we've poured for you here, that shall be guzzled by our resident alcoholic."

"Hey!" Amy shouted.

The Hand then burst into hysterical laughter once again, Boris laughing so loudly that Steph was sure the speaker on her phone was going to burst. Once they all seemed to have calmed down, Zdenek continued.

"Again Boris, I'm sorry that things had to go that way, but the violence was necessary to get you to join our then weaker and smaller group. Now that we have joined forces, Aegis will continue grow with the help of its Yellow Division. This was truly only the first step in the growth of Aegis. There lies only one more obstacle before this group for it to become the dominant power group, and then eventually, become the dominant power in this campus city. You all may think that I'm talking out my ass, however I truly believe that with a few more additions, Aegis will be able to take over this city, and you all have the ability to do it. Alpha, and Hand of Aegis, are you willing to go with me and see this out to the very end?"

"HELL FUCKING YEAH!!" Screamed the Hand of Aegis, fired up beyond the point of no return.

Zdenek recoiled a little at the level of enthusiasm that was shown by the guys, considering how long and taxing the day was. He looked over at Erykah who just nodded at him.

"You know I'm with you Zdenek, whatever may come."

Zdenek nodded back at her before looking down at the phone.

"Boris, we haven't even known each other for 12 hours, yet your role in this is as crucial as everybody else's. As things stand, you and the Yellow Division are our muscle, our shields, and our defense. With you guys watching our backs, we'll be able to turn our attention to planning on how to take over the rest of the Power Area."

"Look Zdenek, you whooped my ass fair and square. If you wanted to dismantle the group, it would have been your prerogative, so seeing as you want us to play such an important role in Aegis, you can count on Tundra, or the 'Yellow Division' as you call it, to rise to the occasion and kick some ass for Aegis."

Zdenek then grinned and grabbed his glass, before raising it in the air and looking around at everybody else as they followed suit.

"To Aegis, may this be our first step to Everest."

"TO AEGIS!" was the unanimous reply, shouted by everybody including Erykah and Boris.

"Now Boris, if you'll excuse us, we need to eat, drink, and be merry. We'll be coming up to see you soon to discuss the details of the merger, see how you're doing, and also discuss how and when we will share the news with our respective groups. Take care of yourself Boris, we'll see you soon."

"Later Boris!" the Hand said in unison.

"Later guys. Have fun."

The call cut, and everybody took a sip of wine. After setting their glasses down, it literally took no time for everybody to start attacking the copious amounts of food on the table after having had used some wet wipes to make sure their hands were clean. With Zdenek serving for Erykah first, and then himself, there was literally no 'being merry' at that table, just eating and drinking. The sounds of food being chewed and destroyed were accompanied only by the grunts and smacks of approval that came from the twins over how delicious the food was. Even Erykah, who was normally reserved and lady like as she ate, was tearing through the food like it was going to be her last meal or something, and she could literally feel her batteries recharging as she scarfed the food down. All Zdenek did was continue to very smoothly add items of food to her plate, in between his own destroying. Amy, who had gotten the second worst beating, was eating and drinking at a rate so rapid it scared Steph a little.

'S-She really is a lioness this one...' Steph thought to herself as she ate.

Erykah suddenly looked up at Zdenek as she swallowed some food and spoke.

"Fuck me, this is delicious."

"Yeah? Well its doing wonders for your skin; you no longer look drained, or like leather."

"Wait, you're saying my skin looked like leather?" Erykah enquired.

"Uh... no. I was just saying that you're looking better now that you've got a decent amount of food in you, and you're body was able to replenish your spent energy reserves. Here!"

Zdenek suddenly shoved a spoonful of beef into Erykah's mouth, before looking over at everybody else with a look that just screamed 'WHEEEW!' Everybody else just chuckled to themselves, and as Zdenek looked back down at his own plate. Once the meal had progressed along to such a point where everybody was now nursing the food they had on the plate, Erykah looked at Zdenek once more.

"Zdenek, I have a question."

"Yeah, what about Rica?"

"Your entity." The room suddenly went quiet, as nobody was even chewing anymore. They all just sat there, waiting to see what Zdenek would say. "I mean, you've never once referred to it as an AE, only as an Entity. We all saw what it looked like when you were fighting Boris, but rather than clinging to those assumptions and guesses, I'd rather hear from you directly what it is. So what is it?"

Amy grimaced a little as Erykah finished her question.

'Fuuuuuck, Erykah still has the talent for being direct and blunt almost to a fault. Learn some tact and delicacy why don't you?!'

Zdenek looked at her, sighed a little and then looked up at everybody at table.

"I guess you all would also like clarification as to what my Entity actually is then huh?"





Badass Ch. 07



The members of The Hand all nodded in agreement at various times, and then all looked up at Zdenek and waited.

"Well, I'm fairly certain that you all figured it was a Demon Entity, and you would be correct. I have the Corruption Demon Entity, and I've been able to use and manipulate the Corruption Flame from the day I was born; literally. So far, I have not encountered anybody with a similar Entity, or with flames that have a similar attribute to mine. Do any of you have any other questions about it?"

"Y-Yeah, I do."

"Alright Amy, go ahead."

"We saw 40% of the transformation in that fight, and that shit was already ridiculously intense. What happens when you go past 40?"

Zdenek took a deep breath before relaxing into his seat and looked at Amy.

"Well Amy, the more power I draw out, the more intense the flames become. That means that the corruption attribute becomes strong as well, and it gets to a point where even I can't quite handle it, and suffer the same effects as other people who are touched by the flames. I'm not able to call on more than a certain percentage of Entity power, because then I too get damaged."

Amy just nodded as she listened, and shook her head in disbelief as he finished speaking.

"Fuck me Zdenek, that's so unbelievable, yet believable at the same time."

"How do you mean Amy?"

"I mean like, it's unbelievable that you can have so much power that it even damages you, yet at the same time, it's totally believable because like, having known you in this brief period of time, you just... you seem like you have no limits to your ability, and it feels like you can almost do anything. When I look at it like that, having so much power that you even hurt yourself is totally believable."

Everybody else nodded as they seemed to agree with that statement, but Zdenek didn't, and shook his head slightly.

"You know, it may seem that way, but we all have our limits. We're just lucky that as things stand, I won't have to reach those limits in order to help Aegis."

"But Zdenek; doesn't drawing on such an inherently evil looking Entity affect your personality in any way? Like of you draw out more and more power, do you not become as sinister as that second voice that seems to come with it?" Enquired Steph, a spoonful of curry in hand.

Zdenek looked at Steph and shook his head slightly.

"Not at all Stephanie, in fact, it's probably the opposite. When I draw out more power, I become calmer and more analytical. I tend to think a lot more, because not only do I have Corruption Vision permanently on, but I am also able to move and react a lot quicker, and that affords me an extra half a second or so to think and formulate plans on the go."

"Ahhhhhhh..." was the reply from Steph.

"Of course, all that only applies to the first level of transformation, if I may call it that. But that is honestly a discussion for another time."

The seriousness of the expression on Zdenek's face when he said that last sentence not only served to pique the interest of the group, but also encouraged them not to ask. The Q&A session continued though, with the members of The Hand asking all manner of random questions that Zdenek surprisingly didn't mind answering. It surprised him too how he was so willing to answer their questions and it didn't take long for the session to end however, which led to the conversation eventually turning back to the events of the day. Amy, who had consumed more wine than anybody else, yet was nowhere near as tipsy, was busy giving a play-by-play account of what happened during her fight, Zdenek was sitting in the chair, still nursing his first glass of wine, and listening intently as if he wasn't there, and as if he didn't know that she was embellishing certain parts to make herself seem epic. Erykah looked at Zdenek and then nudged him gently.

"Zdenek, you do know that most of this is bullshit right? I mean, you were right there, you know exactly how the fight went."

"Yeah, I know, but the way she's telling it as amazing. She's adding the right amount of spice so that she doesn't sound as lame as she actually was."

"HEY!" Amy barked, "I heard that Zdenek!"

Everybody started laughing again, and Amy continued with her tale. After she was done, Don started a topic of his own.

"How fucking bad ass was the attack Zdenek unleashed on Boris?! What was it called again... oh yeah, 'Corruption Combination Number One: Laceration!' fuuuck, that shit was so fast, I could barely even keep up with his movements!"

There was a chorus of grunts of agreement and such from all around the table, before Steve looked at Zdenek.

"Hey Zdenek, what is that combo? What did you do?"

"Well Steve, a laceration is a cut, so that's precisely what I did; I cut Boris with my claws repeatedly, before kicking his face through the ceiling. The kick didn't cut anything, but when I first developed that combo, I was thinking that I needed a cool way to finish it off, not necessarily an effective and pertinent one."

Steve and Don then both looked at Steph at the same time, who was rather tipsy herself, and she answered immediately.

"Related guys; it means r-related. Zdenek means that he wanted a cool ending, not one that anything to do with cutting."

Zdenek looked at Steph with a slight look of surprise, before looking at Amy.

"How can she be this... 'happy', when you've had more wine than any of us here, and have barely been affected?"

"Well Zdenek, it's a gift. It's a talent. Steph can manipulate computers and nerds, and I can hold my liquor. Impressive huh? Go ahead and praise me Zdenek, it's alright!"

As Amy looked at Zdenek with a smug look on her face, he was already looking and Steve and Don, asking them about their alcohol tolerance.

"Hey Zdenek! What the fuck?! Listen to somebody until they finish speaking!"

The banter went on well into the early hours of the morning, and considering how they had just finished a taxing battle, Zdenek was rather surprised by this.

'It's likely this stamina that allows these people to party all night long and still be unbelievably hyperactive the whole day.'

He then looked at Erykah, and could tell that she was pretty tired, and looked like she could really do with the sleep. He then looked over at everybody else and tapped his glass to get their attention.

"Okay Hand of Aegis, listen up. It has gotten late, the amount of food left has gotten low, and Stephanie has gotten pretty drunk, so I think it's about time that we called it a night. We all need to get some rest, and get ready for the clean up tomorrow morning."

They all begrudgingly agreed, acting as though they didn't want to go to bed, yet they all yawned as they stood up. Zdenek hadn't actually planned on spending the night, but there was no way any of them would allow him to leave. He also stood up, and looked around, and then at Erykah.

"Hey Rica, does everybody have a designated room that they are going to sleep in?"

"Yeah, they do, why do you ask?"

"No, I was just asking so I don't accidentally crash in somebody else's bed."

He then walked out from the dining room and saw that there was a sunken lounge in the den which had this massive round couch type thing that had no back. He came back into the dining room as everybody was about to leave.

"Okay, I'm going to sleep on that round thing in that sunken lounge, so if you need me, you know where I'll be snoring. Oh, and Amy, tomorrow morning, care to take me back to my apartment?"

Amy looked at him with her droopy half asleep eyes and smiled, before nodding and sleepily saluting.

"Aye aye Boss man..."

Zdenek nodded in appreciation and looked towards everybody.

"Well, goodnight all. It's been a good, productive day for Aegis. I'll be seeing you all in the morning."

He then nodded at everybody, before looking at Erykah who was now able to walk by herself normally. He gently placed his hand on the top of her head and smiled a little.

"Goodnight Rica."

Erykah looked at Zdenek and nodded at him slightly.

"Goodnight Zdenek. Are you sure you don't want to find a bed upstairs or something?" 

Zdenek just shook his head slightly to show he was perfectly content with what he'd chosen. As he removed his hand from Erykah's head and started walking towards the den, he felt something small hug him. He looked down to see drunken Steph leaning against him with her face buried in his upper midriff. She mumbled something in his shirt before walking off. Amy was next, and she hugged him too, then the twins too. They then all did the same to Erykah, even though the girls were going to be sleeping in her bed. Zdenek felt an unfamiliar warmth from all that, and he certainly found it to be nice. He then made his way over to the round thing, took the shirt off and plopped onto it, made his way towards the middle, and lay with his arms and legs spread, flat on his back. It didn't take long for Zdenek to pass into his state of near death that called sleep, and thus did not notice anything that happened.

In the morning, Zdenek opened his eyes slowly and groggily as he came to. His body was feeling rather weird and numb in certain places, and he then proceeded to look around as his eyes properly adjusted to the light. He looked to his left to see Erykah curled up in a ball with her head right on his shoulder. He then looked to his right to see Amy and Steph both sleeping on his right side, also curled up into balls facing each other. They were both using his arm as a pillow. He then looked down to see both Steve and Don asleep, each brother using a shin as a pillow themselves. He had absolutely no idea how or when any of them had gotten there, but he certainly was taken by surprise. He didn't move or try to get them off though, and as numb as he may have felt, he just closed his eyes and let them lay there. Almost all the physical contact he had experienced with other people was fake or disingenuous somehow, yet just this simple act of sleeping in the same bed/couch as the people who were for all intents and purposes, his friends was by far and away the most intimate and genuine thing he had ever experienced. It wasn't long however before everybody started stirring however, and soon enough they all started getting up. One by one, they would look at Zdenek and see that he was wide awake, and had let them sleep in. The Hand all greeted him with a slightly guilty look and got off while Erykah just got up, looked at Zdenek as though nothing happened and got off the round thing as well. After a few minutes, Zdenek himself got up, put the t-shirt on and made his way off the round thing. He went into the kitchen where everybody else was and just looked at them all, waiting for an explanation as to what the fuck was going on. Amy scratched the back of her head as she looked at him and then shrugged.

"Yeah... We all came to check on you to see if you wanted a blanket or something, but you just looked so... warm and snug and comfy. In the end, not one of us said a word, and we just kinda fell asleep on you. You're fucking comfy man."

Everybody else offered up their support with various grunts and nods and such, agreeing completely with what Amy said.

Zdenek just shrugged and rubbed his eyes as he approached them all, his braid now coming loose.

"I see. Well, I'm not particularly irked by that. Now anyway, we have to get started on the cleanup of all this pretty soon—"

"Nah, don't sweat it Zdenek, we'll call a cleaning company to take care of this real quick. So just have some coffee with us, and then I'll take you back to your place, that sound cool?"

"Yeah, that sounds fucking amazing, thanks Amy."

Zdenek then sat on one of the stools in the kitchen, waiting for his coffee. He looked at Erykah, who was looking right as rain.

"It appears that you're pretty much recovered, huh Rica?"

"Yeah, I feel much much better, thanks for asking. So anyway, what's the plan for now?"

Erykah got a cup of coffee and brought it over to Zdenek before handing it to him. He accepted gratefully and started pouring an ungodly amount of sugar into it. Everybody watched in horror, but nobody dared to say even a single word as they just pretended that it was normal as he started drinking it.

"Well, as things stand, the plan is do nothing for an entire day or two, just recuperate. Stephanie is to keep in touch with Boris to see how he is doing. In two or so days, we meet with Boris, and we discuss the next move, the merger, and everything else. For now though, enjoy a well-earned rest, okay?"

They all nodded in acknowledgement, and drank their coffee whilst have light morning conversation. After that was done, Amy walked over to Zdenek and tapped him lightly on the shoulder.

"I'm ready to go when you are Boss man."

Zdenek looked at her nodded before getting up and starting to walk with her.

"You go get my coat, I'll get my clothes from outside, and I'll meet you by the car okay?"

Amy nodded and disappeared up the stairs as Zdenek went and got his jeans and shirt, before making his way out front where to his slight surprise, everybody was waiting.

"Well okay then, later everybody. Remember, nothing strenuous is to be done for at least two days! All of you just chill and relax; we'll start making our next move then."

"You got it!" was the call that came from Steph and the twins.

Erykah just walked up to Zdenek, and her scowl indicated that she wanted to say thank you and such, but couldn't find the words. Zdenek just reached out and gently stroked her shoulder.

"I know Rica, I know. Take it easy, and I'll see you soon okay?"

With that, he walked over to the passenger side of the car and got in. He looked over at Amy who had already gotten in and tossed the coat on him.

"Well let's get out of here."

With that, Amy drove out of the property and towards the campus. The conversation between the two was light hearted, as Amy and Zdenek always had good chemistry. As the approached Zees', Zdenek pointed to it.

"Could you just drop me off here? I'll order something for later and then head on home."

"Sure thing Boss man, no problem. I bet it feels like forever since you were last here huh?"

"Nah, not really. It's just that it's kind of my spot, just like it's kind of your guys' spot as well."

"Tru dat." Amy said as she pulled into the lot.

She then undid her seatbelt, leaned across and squeezed Zdenek so tightly he thought he was going to pop. She even nuzzled his neck for good measure before pulling back slightly, looking into his eyes and smiling.

"You're the fucking man Zdenek. It hasn't taken long to get me to this point, but I'll follow you straight to hell, even with little to no chance of return, and no lunch; all you need do is ask. I know for certain that the others feel the same way, even without having asked them. So wherever you decide to take Aegis, we'll stupidly follow, no questions asked."

Amy then flashed an absolutely brilliant smile, before starting to shove Zdenek playfully.

"Now get the fuck out my car before you reply, because I know you'll just make me cry. Besides, I'm suddenly painfully aware that I'm only dressed in PJs!"

Zdenek chuckled and got out the car as Amy had said, but before he shut the door, he looked at her, and was deadly serious for a second.

"Amy, you don't have to worry about where I'll be taking you guys, because after the top of Everest, we'll be going to heaven, and taking over that fucking place as well; you can fucking count on it."

Zdenek then shut the door before opening the back door and taking his coat and shutting the door. He wrapped it all up into a ball before waving at Amy and running off. He then walked in through the door front door of Zees', and was greeted a familiar smile and bubbly personality.

"Gooood morning, and welcome to— Zdenek!!"

Jen was rather happy to see Zdenek and bounded over to him.

"Oh my God, how have you been? It feels like forever since we last saw each other!"

It took Jen a second to notice how shabbily Zdenek was dressed before she started giggling. She tried to stop, but she just couldn't. Zdenek just chuckled himself.

"Yeah yeah, laugh it up. We were involved in a fight and my clothes got ruined, so I'm wearing fucking drapes as clothes. Anyway, could you get me my usual to go?"

"Sure thing Zdenek!" she chimed in a sort of song, and disappeared for a good few minutes before coming back and just making random small talk with him. The other customers in the café be damned, this was a rare opportunity for Jen to talk to Zdenek, so she took it. After his order was ready, went to go fetch it. As Zdenek received the parcel, he spoke.

"Oh yes, I almost forgot; do you happen to know a good tailor? The sleeves of my coat were completely ruined, so I'm looking for somebody to replace them real quick."

Jen's eyes lit up at the opportunity, but she managed to hide her excitement as she answered.

"Well, I do happen to know one further in the city. Tomorrow is my day off, so why don't we just meet up and go together?"

"Sure, that sounds perfect. Why don't we meet here tomorrow morning at around 8, have some breakfast and head on to the tailor?"

Jen enthusiastically clapped her hands twice before beaming at Zdenek in agreement.

"You got it! I'll see you tomorrow! Oh, and don't worry about the meal, it's on me. You've given me large enough tips that I can afford it.

Zdenek nodded in appreciation and walked off with his parcel and clothes in hand, before leaving the café and heading back to his place. Amy, who hadn't actually left, was hiding close by, and had activated her AE powers to heighten her hearing, which allowed her to listen in on the conversation. She shook her head as she watched Zdenek walk towards his building.

"Ooohhhhh, this can't be good..."

To be continued.

*

So hello there to those who have read this chapter, it's been a while since I last posted here. To new readers, I say welcome. To old readers, I say holy shit; I can't believe I still have old readers to read my shit. I've been fucking awful with regards to posting; however life truly has been fucking me up the ass, and not in a good way. I will not promise anything with regards posting because I don't want to disappoint again, but I will say that for all intents and purposes, I'm pretty much back.

Anyway, I shall be updating my profile thingy when I can, but for now, I'd like to thank you for maintaining an interest in my shit. Your reading this is greatly appreciated by the author.

Peace.

FlakyUploaderK.