The Matters of Power

Chapter 42- The Guerra Family [4]

"So, Yan told you to tell me to head on over to the Guerra Family hideout as soon as I can?" I nod in reply. "Great, I hope we aren't gonna do any fighting tonight, because I planned to hang out with Payton this weekend and I don't want to give any signs that I did." I understand his desire to discontinue fighting for her, but the most I can say is to him is that I have little information on it and can't confirm his fears. Regardless, he accepts, "Fine, fine. I'll go anyway. I'll grab some packs of soda on the way if we are gonna be hanging out there all night." He leaves the school grounds in a hurry, leaving me to think on the situation as I start to head home early. If Yan's expression means anything, then that means that something must be going on tonight because he wouldn't chat with me so suddenly if it wasn't something he didn't think I should help Swift Cross with. No, I already made up my mind to help them, now I just have to be sure to get there on time and be alert. When I get home, I receive a text message from Dad that says that he'll be working late at his company building and won't be back until late into the night, which will suit me just fine. That just leaves me with Mom, who I know will become suspicious if I'm not home within sometime after, so I choose the best bad idea of making a life-like dummy form of me sleeping on the bed, hopefully convincing my mother that I decided to sleep earlier and won't try to pry in my room. With that done, I quickly leave the house and hurry over to the bus stop to take a ride towards the Guerra Family's hideout and checking my phone every so often to see if any of my friends contact me. Oddly enough, the closer I get to my destination, the more people around my age just lazing about and looking rather menacingly as well. They're too combined together to be just the usual delinquent group, so what's going on?

Sometime later, at the entrance of the hideout...

The sun already looks ready to set by the time I reach the entrance, making the prospect of it being nighttime soon very close. "Marcus, over here..." I see Yan wave me down and I approach him with a few other Swift Cross members hanging around. We enter one of the first rooms upon entering the building, where Yan looks around before closing the door and turning the lock. "Yan, what's going on?" I start to ask him. "There something bad going to happen?" He sighs and slumps on the wall, "It's going to be bad." "What is?" The other members give a somber look, though their thoughts give a hint at some sort of 'rebellion'. "It's that J.J. guy, the other Enforcer for the Guerra Family. He up and disappeared from the family's eyes according to Oscar, and word on the streets is that he's either joined on another gang or is starting a rebellion within the group." I'm slightly bewildered, "Why would he want to do that though? What good does this do for him?" "I don't know, man," he ruffles his hair in his stress, "greed? Contempt for the strays here? Some other motive that I'm not thinking here. Crap, man, I don't what it is, but if you've seen the pockets of kids around this area, it's clear they're trying to do something. That's where we come in." He starts to stand up, "Even though it's a Guerra Family matter, Swift Cross has seen it that we help contain the chaos and that no innocents get hurt from this, even though it's clear that we won't be able to stop them by themselves. Right, guys?" The members agree in unison, having not doubts about their purpose here. "Look, I ain't gonna try to force this on ya, but if you want to stay, we will appreciate it. Just gotta stay around for a bit, maybe a few hours to see if any of them come this way." Seeing as I'm already here, I accept it anyway and he sincerely thanks me. With that, I decide to meditate for the amount of free time I have so I can concentrate better and improve the strength of my psychic powers, should I need it.

Hours go by...

I can see outside that there is very little sunlight left and we are now into nighttime San Anton. Still, I sense no one outside with my Sixth Sense View other than the fellas in the same room in me and the other family members in the upper floors who are preparing for an attack just like us. I step away and grab the soda I was drinking from, chugging down what very little was left inside before crushing it on my forehead and throwing it out the window, using my levitation ability to make it seem like I threw it far enough that it lands far out into front area. "Nice throw, man." Carl is still laying down while playing with his can. "Maybe we should have you throw those down at them, so they go down in one throw, eh? Why bother having him on the front lines?" "He's still better suited at the entrance," Yan still has his serious face on, "where they already have people up there using stones and slingshots. Still no word from Oscar and Talia, but I already got word that Benson and Jackson is with Quarter and will try to be with us as soon as trouble starts. At this rate, if they aren't overpowering us with strength, then they're gonna have to use numbers to-" Just then, a series of phone ringtones from Yan's phone starts going off like crazy. When he looks at his phone, his face goes pale, "Oh no." "What, what's it?" We start to circle him and peek at his phone that shows so many messages from Swift Cross members, all of them talking about being attacked by the stray kids and nearly being overwhelmed. I instantly sensed a large crowd of people approach the building and look out to the window to see a bunch of flashlights pointing at our direction. Carl sees me watching and asks me what I'm looking at but then stops talking when he clearly looks at what I see as well. "Holy... Guys!" He gets their attention, and we see the sight that overtakes us. "Christ, how many strays were in this town? They have this many people?!"

They look like a small army out there, so many weapons being brandished out in the open for us to see and the fury on their faces as they slowly but surely take their step towards the hideout. "Go, go! We gotta go out there, ditch the cans!" Yan rushes to the door and ushers us out, "We gotta do this, no going back! Let's hope the makeshift barricade does us some good!" We make our way outside the hideout, the ground feeling like it's being move by the army of strays as we make our presence known and take defensive positioning. Every one of us is rocked to our core by the sheer numbers, but I see that most of the army is not that powerful in terms of individual strength but use a lot of typical gang weapons like baseball bats, tire irons, et cetera. I half expect them to completely throw themselves at us all at once, but to my surprise on of them steps forward by themselves. "Swift Cross!" He looks like one of the leaders of the army by the way he poses. "Swift Cross! You have no business here! Should you step away from this affair, you won't be harmed in any way by our members! This will be your only warning, and we will go through you if we need to." We initially don't say anything, but Carl speaks up. "Stuff it! You and your little mob can just go back home, and nobody has to get hurt right now! Don't act high and mighty when you're no better than your typical gang!" Him and his godforsaken mouth, I swear. The leader doesn't say anything but chuckles, then walks back as he flips us off where we see a small group of them start to approach us, tightly holding their weapons and fists.

"Hold your ground, guys! We can't let them hurt more innocents than they already have!"

With Yan's rally, the first wave charges right at us, ready for a fight.