BLOOD AND BONE | rewritten

50

"You still haven't told us where we're going," Finn told Jake as their group walked through a flash of golden light on the city's floor. Energized, Jaxon fiddled with his temporary IMC tracking device to have his hands busy.

"We're going to take names and get ass," Arlo reminded him.

Finn's pinched expression was comedic gold. "That's...that's not the expression."

"Really?" Arlo was concerned. "What is it then?"m
Leading the pack, Jake ignored Arlo's existence. "You'll find out where we're going when we get there."

"Okay, Dad," Jaxon muttered to Kane, whose lips twitched infinitesimally. Progress.

"Making a pit stop seems stupid and pointless," said Rainey from the middle of their group. She was the least excited about attacking Corinthian. Jaxon didn't understand that sentiment at all.

"Do you or do you not want to win against Corinthian's superior forces?"

"Only an idiot wouldn't." Jaxon could hear the scowl in Rainey's voice at the way he spoke down to her.

"Then we need to attain something that evens the playing field."

Dissatisfied with his cryptic answers Rainey set her sights on Delphinium. "You know more than the rest of us." Jaxon set his jaw, furious that she was right. After all he'd done for him, Jake exchanged Jaxon for this new girl. Why-because she was more powerful? Bullshit.

"Reinforcements," was all Delphinium said. She made brief eye contact with Jaxon before she pretended they hadn't.

It wasn't her fault, Jaxon knew that. Perhaps she just wanted to feel important, to use this new opening to crawl up the ladder of Droghal crime. It was Jake's fault. He repeatedly punished Jaxon for something only he saw as a misstep. Right?

Jaxon hated the certainty that if he'd stepped off his high horse and let Jaxon in on the mission, Jaxon would pretend there was no problem. It was the shutting him out that did it. Like he didn't matter anymore.

Something red and raw inside him was struck at the thought. Jaxon glared daggers at Jake's back. Why had Jaxon ever taken orders from him? Jake was much scrawnier than him. And he'd chosen to stick with the name Jake, for god's sake. The most obnoxious name of all time. Every Jake Jaxon had known had turned out to be a prick.

Finn's eyes bounced between Jake and Delphinium. "Reinforcements meaning weapons or...people?"

"Let's hope it's weapons," Jaxon said. He would never stop resenting the IMC trusting them enough with their power but putting their foot down against a little knife or two. The least they could do was give Jaxon the materials to build his own. The secret project he'd made with stolen scraps for later had only stoked his desire to tinker more.

But they were far from the clean, wealthy area the compound was situated in. They were mere insects in the expansive Carrion District that criminals openly claimed with vulgar graffiti tags and gang symbols on brick walls and under the curve of tunnels. They marched through the tightly-situated passageways, grouped close so none of the seedy vagrants would cause them any trouble. When they'd first delved into the depths, one had tried to pickpocket Jaxon. He broke their arm. The white shard of bone had pierced out of the skin. Arlo had been delighted.

The further they ventured, the more certain Jaxon became that this was not Needle territory. So what was Jake bringing them out to the harbors for?

Jaxon's confusion only grew when the impossibly high network of buildings gave way to a misty open lot with a bowling alley in the center. And was that a carnival next to it? It was infinitely colder in the open air. Part of him was upset Jake would never allow them inside, because Jaxon was an excellent bowler.

"Are you taking us here to be shot?" asked Arlo. "So you can be rid of us?"

"Not tonight."

Jake stopped in his tracks, signaling the crew to do the same. Frowning, Jaxon scanned the area. The constantly shifting mist made it difficult to focus on anything for long. He ran his fingers through the hair slicked to his face.

"We're not alone," Arlo said, adding to the eeriness of the abandoned bowling alley. "Footsteps. A hundred of them."

"What the hell is this?" Rainey breathed as an army of dark figures became increasingly opaque through the mist. Even Kane looked taken aback, and he seemed too sickly to be moved by anything.

The crowd poured into the lot from either side of the tiny building. They kept coming like the ants on the sidewalk Jaxon used to burn with a magnifying glass as a child. The sounds of clinking weapons couldn't be muffled by the fog.

Leaving them behind, Jake strode forward to address the apparent leader of what Jaxon assumed was another gang. But that only led to more questions, such as how they were stupid enough to fall for an alliance with Jake.

"Sloane. Benedikt. You made it."

"I saw this as a worthy deal," said the one named Benedikt, who looked too old in a business like theirs. "It's in your best interest for this to be worth my time."

"You seem to have already made up your mind."

"Don't give me a reason to be wrong."

"It's too late for that." Jake eyed the newcomers. "Once I lead us to the Needles, we will surround their compound and break inside from the rear. Keep in mind that he's ready for an attack. I will give further orders once we're closer."

"And what about them?" Benedikt nodded to Jaxon and the others, shifting his stance to get a better look. "You started a new gang of rejects after being thrown from Corinthian's, huh?"

Jake didn't look back. "An archer, an assassin, some thieves and thugs." Jaxon resented how unimportant he made them sound. "They'll come in handy later."

"Talk is cheap," Benedikt said. "My men want blood."

"As do I." Jake was the first to turn, his form distorted by the fog.

Following his lead, they started on the journey to Corinthian, prepared for the worst.