by Mikael Aizen
"What else?" Hunter said. "I want you, the Chinaman and Bitch, and the last few of those 'Fuckers' you have hidden away to join me."
There were maybe eleven guys left back in Casa, holed up and holding the perimeter. "Not a chance, Hunter. Trigger until your fingers can't wiggle and you have to use your cock for all I care."
"You know, people keep trying to muscle you into getting their way. It never works, does it?" Hunter said with a frown. "Fine, you win. Just hear me out."
"Not going to happen," Jay said. "We're leaving. You blow us up if you really want to." Jay turned to leave.
"Jay!" Hunter held a finger on the trigger and pointed it at Jay. "Don't try me. I've been patient enough. But don't think I won't blow you to sky heaven in a second."
"Do not listen," Xiaos warned. "He is a snake and will betray us. It would be better to die now."
Jay crossed his arms--arm, over his chest. Single hand into armpit. It was still strange... This is what I meant by trust, Xiaos. You screwed us, you really screwed us this time. Xiaos had gone for revenge instead of listening to orders. Their men were all but gone now. Even with Bitch and Xiaos, their chances were reduced ten men closer to nill. "I'll hear you out. But if I think for one second you're wasting my time, we're gone."
Hunter nodded and tossed the second detonator to Jay. Jay caught it and slid it behind him away from Xiaos.
Hunter spoke. "One of my men speaks enough Korean to gather a bit of information that I think will change whatever it is you're going for," he held a suspenseful pause.
Jay tapped his foot.
"The DPRK is planning on attacking America from the inside," Hunter announced.
"Oh really I didn't know I'm so scared now what do I do," Jay said. "We know that. Xiaos isn't bad at Korean himself."
Hunter bulled through his failed revelation. "You might hate it, but we're after the same thing, Jay. I don't want the DPRK out and about my homeland, not after I've sacrificed so much."
"You're going Nazi too? Offering an alliance? Why blow up my men and then offer me a friggin treaty?" Because he doesn't care about the numbers. We're sacrifice.
"I can't do it alone, Jay. Not if I want to stop the motherfuckers and get Karah back."
"Karah."
"Immortal Leader has an eye for beauty. My beauty. I want her back."
"You want your girl and you want to save the world single-handedly," Jay summarized. "I don't know what you want from me. Be careful, I'm starting to think you're wasting my time."
"I need you and your men as bait."
"No way."
"I've begun to communicate with Immortal Leader. I've led him to believe that I want to work something out. He wants you and your men as proof. I'm your inside guy."
"Oh, I've changed my mind." Jay spat. "Like I said, no way."
"The DPRK plan to blow up Morir as soon as they make it out. If we can't find a way to kill Immortal Leader together, we're toast. Every day more of his men come in than we kill, both of us combined. You know it and I know it and right now there's no way we're even close to getting near the bastard."
WE were.
Hunter grimaced. "As good as we both are, we aren't anything without men. And every battle, even in the best case scenarios, we lose more of what valuable resources we have." Hunter made a little loop with an upraised finger. "I don't know about you, but I haven't found any Natives for some time."
Natives, the 'citizens' of Morir. The ones like Jay who knew the Game before the DPRK had come into the picture. "And what's to prevent you from abandoning us after using us as your bait? Letting us rot while you find a way to run into the sunset with your lovely bride?"
"You won't rot," Hunter said. "They'll incinerate Morir as soon as they are out of here."
"Fuck you, Hunter."
Hunter smiled. "Think about it."
"No need, we aren't doing it."
"Think about it," Hunter said again. "I'll find you soon for a second chit-chat. Oh!" Hunter paused. "You should know that the DPRK have help on the outside. I don't know who for sure, or how, but they've got it. Someone in the US government. That's how they're shipping everything in and how their planning they're escape. Morir's just a rally point." Hunter smirked. "But you probably already knew that."
Hunter turned around, and looked at Jay, and Xiaos. "You going to let me go now? Or are you gonna take me out in revenge for your precious Esperanza."
Jay considered it. Jay tapped one of the bells. "This bell's yours. Goodbye, Hunter." Jay barely, almost, but no, he didn't nod his head at Xiaos. This time, Xiaos listened.
Hunter smirked and didn't move. Didn't flinch. Didn't even care.
"Hell." Jay said. While Hunter had presented very little new information, he'd said one thing that did make a difference. Hunter was their inside man.
"What's the problem?" Hunter asked, arms open.
"Here's our plan." Damn. He didn't want to give Hunter anything. "Immortal Leader has a missile he's gonna use to blow up the wall. We need to destroy that missile. If we go with you as your prisoners, and you find out where this missile is, could you find a way to free us and get us to that missile?"
Hunter's smirk didn't move a bit. "Yes," he said.
"Hell," Jay said again. He tried to come up with a better idea, anything that would give him the excuse to let loose Xiaos on Hunter and deal with things himself. But this might be their only chance. "We'll think about it," Jay said to Hunter.
As Hunter sauntered off, he pulled out a third detonator, dialed at it, and tossed it over his shoulder. "You can pull your Tag off now, by the way."
Fucking Mother Fucking Bastard HELL, he hated that man.
It felt like he was walking into his own funeral procession. "Can't believe you talked me into this," Bitch said to Jay.
Jay grunted but Xiaos answered, still dripping depression. Jay was beginning to think nothing would snap the man out of it. "Sometimes one must meet death willingly to see with new eyes."
"What does that mean?" Bitch said over his shoulder, wiggling uncomfortably in his bonds.
"It means suicide is sometimes good for you," Jay responded. They'd taken his one arm and pinned it to his body. How else do you tie a guy up with only one arm? And yet, as tight as the bonds were, he was fairly certain that he could wiggle out of the bonds given some time. He wondered if Immortal Leader would notice. One distinct advantage to being one-armed.
"You sure about this?" Bitch asked. He was breathing hard like he was excited. "You know this could be it."
"As much it messes with me, Hunter is right. We've got to take out Immortal Leader and the missile. So far this is the best plan yet."
"I'm sure Immortal Leader thinks so too," Bitch said.
Xiaos spoke. "Do not think any of us are naïve enough to think Hunter will not betray us."
"Therefore our brilliant plan to foil Hunter's betrayal?" Bitch said sardonically.
"Therefore our plan to take Immortal Leader down with us even if Hunter betrays us," Jay answered.
"Or, just manage to blow our assholes into miniature Grand Canyons," Bitch smirked, then grinned. "Have I mentioned how fucking ridiculous this feels?"
They'd stuffed the Tags Hunter left on them straight up their bums. Not with the triggers set, of course. Jay had decided there would be a better radius to the explosion coming out the arse than through the belly. Though he'd swallowed an extra Tag just in case.
"What will I sit on? No, what will I crap from when this non-backup backup plan works?" Bitch asked.
"We aren't trying to fart explosive shit at him unless we use have to use Plan C," Jay said.
"The Plan C that goes after Plan A that should instead be called Plan B?"
"Yep, that's why Plan A is going to work."
"What the fuck difference does the name change? Damn Jay, Immortal Bastard might not even get close enough to us for Plan A to work. We're small-dicks to him."
"I nearly killed Immortal Leader, it's personal
now. He'll come close enough if not just to see who took a shot at him." Jay said. "From everything I've heard of Immortal Leader, he has personally tortured every assassin that has attempted to kill him in gruesome and incredibly agonizing, drawn-out ways."
Bitch licked his lips. "Great. Plan A fucking better work. I wanna die split-second quick, not in a 'incredibly agonizing, drawn-out way.' Fuck!"
"It's our responsibility," Jay said.
Bitch glared. "That's what got us? Damn, if you'd said it that way the first time, I would've never agreed. I thought it was because we were screwed if we didn't get to the damn missile, but geez, if it's because of responsibility, I've hella better ways of being responsible. Like running the fuck away." He was lying. Bitch looked so excited that he seemed jacked up on drugs. Jay felt bad for it, but without having Bitch's help as a Thriller, they'd have been dead long ago.
Jay turned, backpedaled, and raised a fist at five Redeemers left. "Ready to die for a country that's turned their back to you?"
Silence.
"You really fuck at this," Bitch said. He turned and raised his voice. "Who's ready to blow up Korean ass with our fucking exploding asses and rescue the fucking damsels in distress living in the fucking country that will fucking someday remember us as their fucking heroes who saved their fucking pathetic lives?"
The Redeemers yelled their approval and their faces popped like they were completely amped up.
"Now shut the fuck up and act like fucking prisoners!" Bitch screamed. There was a touch of insanity in his eyes.
They shut up.
"There. Spiritual awakening of the day," Bitch said.
"Shit. Put a 'fuck' in front of every word and people cheer," Jay said.
"Pretty much."
"So how many Tags did we have, anyway?" Jay asked.
Xiaos smiled. "Enough for nearly everyone of us."
"Damn good odds."
"Shut the hell up, boys," Bitch said.
Jay didn't know how Bitch'd seen, but Hunter appeared a minute later. Hunter had only two Enforcers with him. "That's what you got?" Jay asked. "You expect Immortal Leader to believe you got us with two men at your side?"
"Four," Hunter replied. He whistled and two other Enforcers emerged from behind them, escorting a procession of prisoners.
The other prisoners were the Enforcers and the families that Jay and Bitch had run into while in Casa. Adan was there, and the two of them passed a glance. There were a lot less people than Jay remembered. We were right, Hunter's got a trap planned out.
"I know you think this is a trap, but before you try anything," Hunter said. "Just wait a second."
Adan hesitated and Jay waited.
"Hunter." Jay said.
"Wait."
Another minute passed and Hunter looked at his watch. "Not going as planned?" Jay asked.
"Going exactly as planned. Line your men on the wall." Hunter pointed at a nearby building and told Adan to do the same on another building. Jay complied, leading his men to stand against the brick wall. They were in one of the few districts where brick stacked well and the buildings hadn't collapsed. Most the rest of Morir's construction had been rushed with walls more mortar and less stone or brick. "I know neither of you trust me and are planning some method to kill me if anything goes unexpected," Hunter spoke, pacing. He had a frown on his face that finally made him seem older than some college grad. "This time, though, I'm a straight arrow," he said. "Things are going to looks mighty suspicious in a second, but I need you both to go with the fucking plan to the end."
"You're asking us to trust you even more?" Jay said. "We've come this far, what else can you want?"
"I've too much respect for both of you," Hunter said. "Neither of you would have survived this long if you don't always have a backout plan three times over."
Jay noticed Bitch smirk.
Hunter shook his head and looked up at the sky. "But I can't have any of you backing out, I can't have either of you or your people ruining the plan I've set up. A plan that's surely shit proof compared to yours."
"How do we know you won't be hopping the fence just to end on the winning side?" Adan asked.
"I will if you both don't screw everything up."
"And if we say no?" Jay asked.
"Nothing. I let you go, you leave, and that's it. Just know that Immortal Leader won't likely give me a second chance. So if you want to commit suicide, that's the way you'll do it."
One thing about Hunter was that he was a psychological mastermind. One thing about Jay was that he always called a bluff. "Fuck it," he said. "I never felt comfortable with this anyway." Jay whistled. "We're leaving!" he commanded. Just calling a bluff. See what Hunter would do.
The Fuckers filed after him.
Hunter just stood there.
"Jay!" Adan called. His people had freed themselves from their bonds with hidden knives and other sharp objects. "Wait for us. We're better off together." He and his people came forward.
Jay felt the prickly hair-raising feeling as Adan approached. He ducked just as Adan's jab came over his head but missed dodging the second attack, an uppercut that slammed into him with break-nose speed. Jay stumbled back as The Redeemers were surrounded by Adan's people. Jay gave the signal to watching Paul.
Adan held a knife and spun it into reverse, a menacing grit of his jaw tightened his cheeks. "Like Hunter said, it's suicide if we don't. I know Hunter like the best of them, and as sly as he is in strategy and battle, he's damn sincere when it comes to his own."
"Why aren't you standing with him then?" Jay's bleeding nose stained blood on his lips.
"He knew the women and children would be liabilities and that we wouldn't survive with them."
"Abandoning his own makes you trust him?"
"He's sincere and honest when we're on the same side. He always has been. I don't blame him for being real and as much as I hated it, he was damn right. We've spent the last months running around hiding, hunted, and dying. Unlike your Fuckers and Hunter's Enforcers who between the two of you have been slaughtering bastard DPRK in the thousands day and night." Adan shook his head. "This is our only way of striking back. We're tired of waiting to be found and slaughtered, waiting for one more false step that will mean the death of all of us. I can't take it anymore, I can't keep outsmarting the Slant-Eyes and sooner or later all these people," he waved his hand at the women and children, "their blood's gonna be on my hands."
"And you're willing to trust him with everyone's lives?"
"Hunter does what's necessary. He always has."
"What was necessary about Esperanza? They weren't hurting anyone by living happily."
"They threatened the system that was working. The system set up to have everyone kill each other."
"Sounds like a stand up saint," Jay growled.
"He believes in what he's doing. And until recently Hunter's goal has been to expedite The Code's extinction. Now, it's to keep the damn DPRK within Morir. Just like you."
"Why'd you bring your rope cutters if you trusted him so much?"
"Like Hunter said, we always have a backout plan."
"And now?"
Adan lowered his voice. "Like I just said. We always have a backout plan."
"How long until you use it? You realize he's asking us to stand by as he's gonna send some, if not most our people on a bullet train to heaven." Jay glanced at Hunter. Hunter was glancing at his watch again.
"You get that we're doomed anyway?" Adan said. "I mean, if you have a better plan to get at Immortal Leader I'm all ears, but we personally have to take whatever chance we can to fight back."
"You know he'll probably turn on us after the fact, even if everything goes as planned."
Adan nodded. "Of course. I never planned on making it out of Morir anyway. If things work as planned, I'd expect Morir to return to normal, except with a lot more Slant-Eyes and us eventually dead."
"Well, I did plan on getting out of Morir. I still have a damn smart kid
named Kyle on the outside that I plan on holding in a one-arm-fucking-hug after I'm out of here."
"Fine. You do that, and I'll help you too," Adan said. "But let's get through this part first and we'll deal with Hunter later. You have family that you want to protect, I get that better than you can guess. I respect that. Just remember that we've got to get past this boss level first."
"Hell," Jay said.
"Hell." Adan said back.
"All right. Who's ready to kill a fucking immortal god?" Jay asked loudly. This time The Redeemers did cheer back. "Damn, I'm getting better at this," Jay mumbled to himself. They walked back to Hunter who was still looking at his watch.
"You girls done talking yet?" Hunter asked, looking up.
"Yeah. But before we agree, I want to hear your plan, all of it." Jay said.
"I was planning on telling you the plan," Hunter said, tapping his watch. "But after your chit-chat, I've no more time. Immortal Leader's gonna be here any minute."
"He's coming here? Right now? Personally?"
Hunter pulled his gun out from the holster at his side and shot in the air, twice. Immediately, twenty-some fully armed Enforcers rushed in and herded them to one wall. "I wanted Immortal Leader to see me blow your head off in person. Both your heads," Hunter said to Adan with the most sincere evil-look Jay had ever seen.
This was the betrayal they were waiting for. Sooner than Jay had expected. So much for trust, Adan.
Jay gave his own signal to Paul, the second one. Not the one he or his men hoped to get, probably. Retreat, go to Plan B. Yes, there actually was a Plan fucking B.
Hunter spun with his gun out, and connected the dots with their heads. "If you have any backout plans, you'd better tell me about them now. I don't need any fucking surprises before Immortal Leader shows up!"
No one did anything.
Hunter pulled the trigger on one of Adan's women. She didn't even have time to scream before her head blew off. "Backout plans!" Hunter screamed.
Adan didn't answer, he glared at Hunter and spit.
