The Turf War

Wrath of the third Architech.

Etho was a bit scared. Ever since the HEP tried to blow up their shops, Grian has been very moody and impulsive. He seemed to be battling his inner thoughts and plans, he was talking to himself. Through out history, it had been evident that if the leader was unstable, the rest of the army would fall apart on its own. The reason Grian was the leader of the Resistance was because he was betrayed by the Mayor himself. Scar had forced his rules on the barge and tried to shut it down on multiple occasions. The mayoral cabinet wanted to use the Barge as a front for their endeavours. They even tried to pay Grian off but Grian, being the ethical businessman he was, stood his ground and refused the offer. The Resistance came together as a collection of people who were betrayed by the Government, but none so as much as Grian. They were the only face of defiance in the face of absolute mayoral supremacy in the shopping district, and so they stood their ground. They first decided to built an underground base and a proxy base identical to it, and so they did. But overtime, the HEP formed and started digging tunnels all across the shopping district. Fearing their security, the Resistance moved out and made their base on the outskirts of the shopping district, and as an act of defiance, they encased their old base in obsidian and rigged it blow up when intruded, and so it did. It turned out to be very effective as it took out all the HEP members at once, and destroyed their tunnel bores. The explosion shook the shopping district and the activities of the HEP were questioned. The mayoral cabinet shifted the blame onto the Resistance and Grian stood forward and simply countered, "It was a counter measure. If we were intruded upon, it was set to blow up as a defence mechanism. It's the HEP 's fault that they tried to break into our base. Not ours." And it had worked it's magic. It spread like wildfire among the masses, despite the masses being the neutral side, they were much more inclined to the resistance than ever before. The mayoral cabinet had to pay for the repair costs and the Resistance walked out like the heroes and were scot-free. But that was a month ago. The Resistance were on hard times now. The funds were running dry and they couldn't prepare for a raid like they used to before. All they could do was sent search parties to sabotage the HEP's raids on their base. And so they sent a spy into HEP, someone they wouldn't recognize as a Resistance member, someone they would overlook and treat as third class trash, someone who could earn their trust and move up their ranks faster than all others. Someone like Stress. The HEP weren't aware of Stress's involvement in the resistance. Stress always worked in the background, setting up raids, leading the scouting parties and providing information. She was the perfect choice for a spy, or so they thought. Stress had only one weakness in general : Iskall. The Swedish Architech was the love of her life and so when Scar, unable to present a Resistance member to appease the public, decided on using Iskall as a replacement. Stress messed up. "Scar, please I beg you, don't capture Iskall. He didn't do anything, please don't use him as a replacement". Scar was unfazed by this and simply replied, "I am sorry Stress, buy I have no other choice". Stress was getting desperate and chose to give up than see Iskall being tortured for information he couldn't even give. "Take me...I am a spy for the Resistance, please don't take Iskall". cried Stress. Scar was happy at this development, being a wizard he could see through lies and saw that Stress, was indeed a spy. "Cub, put her in prison. We've got a prisoner to torture. Now that you won't give us any information, let's see how long your Resistance can 'resist' giving up to save you." said Scar with an evil smirk on his face. And so it was. The day after this incident, a chest appeared in front of the main door of the Resistance base with a disc in it named ' For the Resistance '. Grian noticed it and called everyone to hear it together. What they heard however, shook them to their very core.
"Welcome Resistance fighters, this is Scar speaking. We have a bad news for you, we have caught your spy. Now if you don't hand yourselves in, she is going to be tortured. Now then do not break the jukebox in anger, it must be very expensive. We are going to give you an incentive. Speak Resistance scum" and now Stress began to cry, "I am..sorry guys..they threatened Iskall..I had....no choice.." finished Stress but then she was heard screaming in pain as the sound of a sword was heard."That will be all " finished Scar. And Grian was outraged, "Who the hell do they think they are, torturing a captured prisoner like that !" shouted Grian in anger. The rest of the Resistance members were shook to their very core. "Grian, I think we should let Iskall know about this" said a scared Jevin, with the others nodding in agreement. "Do you have the slightest idea what Iskall will do to us if he finds out about this.....about her ?" asked Grian in a low-voice, terrified at the proposal and the implications it presented. " We will be the same as them, if we don't let him know about this" countered Xb. "But-" Grian was cut off by Impulse, "Grian, we can't keep this under the rug. He will know about this, one way or another. And he will be even more angry at us if we don't come clean" ended Impulse with a guilty face, for he had been the one to suggest Stress to be the spy. "Fine, but I am not going to be alone when he gets to know this. Who's going to go there with me ?" asked Grian, finally defeated in the argument. "I will" said Etho, who had been silent during the whole argument, listening on without uttering a single word. "Okay" started Grian,"Etho, get ready. And the rest of you will have to prepare for a new member. He will, I am sure, try to rescue her." ended Grian with a smile.
And so it was decided, Grian and Etho will deliver Iskall the unabbreviated and complete truth, while trying to get him to join the resistance.
Iskall was preparing a dinner for himself and Stress. Tonight was their first official date. It was all pre-planned of course. Stress had informed him that she had some 'work' to be dealt with and she would be arriving a bit late. The Swedish was preparing a dinner of pasta, noodles, meatballs and a nice strawberry cake, Stress's favourite. What he didn't expect however was the arrival of a ninja and a fellow Architech. "What the- Dear Notch guys, you almost gave me a fright. Sit down, I will get you some water."greeted Iskall. Etho simply nodded while Grian felt guilty, thinking what will happen once he hears the recording. Iskall looked so happy, preparing a dinner for him and Stress it seemed, from the presence of two chairs and a strawberry cake. "Etho, see that sword. Take it and put it out of his reach" whispered Grian and Etho complied. Just in time for Iskall, who brought them two glasses of water and made them sit on the sofa. "So, why are you here ?" asked Iskall, skeptical at the unexpected arrival. "We are here to break some.....news to you" said Grian with a nervous tone. "What news ?" Iskall questioned further, thinking over the possibilities of a news that had to be delivered in person. "Do you have a jukebox ?" asked Etho, putting his glass down on the table. "Yeah, it's over to your left" said Iskall, taking the glasses and putting them on the kitchen table. Etho picked up the jukebox and placed it in front of the table, with Grian standing nervously beside it, the disc in his hand. Iskall returned and Grian put in the disc and message replayed. Iskall was silent throughout the whole recording, that is until the end. His hands twitched when Scar said that Stress will be tortured. Everything was going better than expected, Iskall hadn't cried, shouted in anger or kill them yet. However, his eerie stillness was what disturbed Grian and Etho the most. They had not seen him like this before, his anger was seething from his body. One would need to be dead to not tell that he was angry. But then, her screams made him go past his breaking point. He kicked the jukebox into the table, breaking them both instantly. He was angry and he needed to be controlled. Etho tried to calm him down and then the worst happened. Etho was sent flying into a wall of the Omega tree by a kick placed in his stomach by Iskall. And thus they began to fight. Grian simply melted into the background, his finger on his communicator, about to send a message for help if things got out of hand, which they did quite quickly. Etho was a master in ninjitsu, but his expertise was no match for Iskall's pure savage fighting style. All of Iskall's punches and kicks landed on Etho, sending him flying into Grian who dodged Etho's flying body. "I give up" declared Etho, taking the communicator from Grian's hands and pushing him in front of the enraged Iskall." It's your turn now G" said Etho, wiping some blood from his mouth. A flurry of punches and kicks met Grian, to which he responded in kind. He saw an opening in Iskall's seemingly impenetrable defence and landed a punch in his stomach, making him double over in pain and managed to calm him down. "I will kill Scar, he doesn't deserve to be the mayor anymore." said Iskall, clutching his stomach. "Get some sleep first mate, you will need it tomorrow." replied Grian, holding his injured shoulder and telling Etho to get up." You know where to find us, just give me a call and we'll be there." said Grian as he and Etho vanished in the nether portal. Iskall clutched his stomach and grabbed a vial of regeneration potion, emptying it in one gulp. "Don't worry Stress, just hold out there for me" Iskall whispered to himself as he dozed off to sleep.

------------Author'sNote-------------
1788 words. My biggest writing yet. Well, you guys know the rules. If you wanna see this story continue, just comment down below. See ya next time, fellow readers and writers. This is Owl, signing off.