The Badass Gang

Chapter Five: The Old Days

ALBERT FELT A GUN AGAINST THE BACK OF HIS HEAD, he sighed in relief when he heard Eve's voice. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

"It's just me." Albert turned around and took the gun out of Eve's hands. She switched on the light and was a little shocked to see Albert's messed up hair and some noticeably new bruises on his face.

"What the f- who did this to you?!" Eve asked. "What exactly happened to you these days?"

"Chill, woman." Albert rolled his eyes and walked away, trying to carry his suitcase to whichever room that's available. Eve didn't let it slip so easily, of course. She tagged along and bombarded him with questions about his appearance.

"Are you serious? You're asking me to 'chill' when one of my closest friends appeared at two in the morning looking like a mess and a pale as heck face? No offense but you look sick, in a bad way."

Albert ignored her and opened up random doors along the hallway, he skipped a particular one because he recognized the snore even from outside the roomㅡSeth. He simply chuckled and tried another door, until he found an empty guest room. Albert placed his stuff in the room and turned around to block the entrance before Eve could follow him into the room and annoy him any more than she already does.

"Sweet dreams." Albert plastered on a fake smile and slammed the door right in Eve's face.

* * *

"What happened to your face?" Drax's brows were scrunched up as he chewed on his peanut butter sandwich. Yes, the question was meant for none other than Albert. Skye kept quiet and munched on her own breakfast, acting like she didn't care about the topic.

"潇洒." Albert smirked. Eve rolled her eyes since she understood what he just said, they took Mandarin lessons together after all.

"Don't you go all Chinese on me." Drax shook his head. None of them questioned any more about Albert's wounds, that was not of their main concern. They got used to being hurt (both mentally and physically) every now and then because of their job. To them, as long as they were alive they're alright. Plus, Albert would've talked to them about it himself if he ever wanted to.

"Racist motherfu-" June stuffed a piece of bread into Albert's mouth before he could finish his words. June hates cursing, she hates hearing people cursing in general. She only curses when someone or something really pissed her off.

"Since the whole team is here, we'll take action tonight," Seth announced.

"Before that happens," Skye butt in. "I'm curious, did this happen exactly like it was four years ago? The underground base thing and all that?"

It took them time before Seth answered Skye's question. "Similar," was all he said.

"Elaborate," Skye said. Seth arched his brow at her. Then she realized something: ah, I forgot the magic word. With a smile on her lips, she continued, "please."

Seth sighed and dismissed the meeting, then motioned for Skye to follow him.

* * *

Seth lead Skye to the rooftop terrace.

"Skye, the more you know the higher the chance of you being in danger. You do know that, right?" Seth asked, but it came out more like a statement instead of a question. Skye only nodded. Seth narrowed his eyes, he scanned the area once again before looking back at Skye. His expression softened a little. "Believe it or not, I know who you are."

Skye shurgged. "In what sense?"

"You know what I mean. I don't know what are you doing here, or why are you even doing this kind of a job, and I'm not in the place to interfere with that." Seth paused for a moment, perhaps hoping for some response but he didn't get any. "Now, do you really want to know what happened exactly four years ago? It's a long story."

"Yes."

"Well, it all started when Cyrus gathered us. I remember the date even, 4th of August, 2016. Cyrus, he used to be a big deal, charting the top in this business. I knew him before that, though we never really talked much. Back to us being gathered, it was just a simple process. He sent out invitations to all of us, wanting to work together on a big case. The offer was great and being the young, idiotic selves, we showed up, not caring if it was some sort of scam." Seth smiled a little, flashing back on the old days.

"Continue," Skye said.

"Back then, there was no Scarlett. It was just Cyrus, doing the briefing. With him being somewhat similar to an idol in our world then, we all looked up to him and treated him as if he was our leader. We had to take down this company called The Moonlight. Who paid us to do so, we don't know, not even till now. We just took orders from Cyrus, that's it," Seth told Skye.

"Wait, so you're saying, four years ago the bankruptcy of this company called The Moonlight that literally shook the whole country...you people were behind all of that?" Skye cut in.

"Yes, try to catch up," Seth said, earning a glare from Skye. Then he continued,"though there was no presence of any 'underground base' that time, we found out that Gordon Heinz (head of The Moonlight) did have something underground. It was a bank, some sort of illegal money-changing system."

"Like the one in Despicable Me?" Skye snorted.

"You can say that, yes. Now stop cutting me off." Seth cleared his throat. "We had to get rid of the bankㅡHeinz's main money sourceㅡbefore doing the classic, tricking him into a huge debt, then bam, The Moonlight fell. I'll spare the details of the process. After all that, Erwin and Cyrus disappeared, but Erwin came back after a few days and Cyrus didn't. We asked him about Cyrus, but he said he wasn't with him for those few days, he had family problems that's why he was out of reach. We received our money shortly after The Moonlight's bankcruptcy was announced, someone had it transferred into our individual accounts. It was like Cyrus disappeared into thin air, nobody has heard of him ever since."

"That's lame," Skye commented.

"What?" Seth asked.

"The tricking Heinz into a debt and forcing his company into bankruptcy. That even sounds lame." Skye grimaced. Seth's mouth hung open for a short while, he was certainly speechless, but he quickly regained himself.

"You have any better ideas?"

"No. Which is why I don't understand, why did you guys do all of that, just for the money?" Skye asked.

"You're doing it yourself now." Seth frowned. Skye shrugged and stretched her arms, letting out a small yawn.

"Thanks for the story," Skye said before heading towards the stairs. She didn't know about Seth, but she sensed it, somebody watching them from afar.