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Josephine being who she is, tried to find the bright side of the situation they were in. "But we figured out who our true ally is," Josephine offered, glancing at Kisa. "Why would he do this?" Kisa asked, her voice filled with betrayal. "Because he's Carlos," Seth replied. "It makes no sense. He practically begged us." Kisa said shaking her head, "He wanted in remember?" "He played us," Richard replied, "Now we are in the one place we never wanted to be. You see my brother and I don't do well in correctional facilities. Well, Seth, doesn't." Josephine glanced over to Seth seeing that he had his hand placed on the back of his neck, making short paces in front of the gate. Seeing their eyes on him, he lowered his hands and shook his head, "No, I'm good. I got this." "Yeah?" Richard asked raising his brows. "It still makes no sense," Kisa said ignoring the brothers. Seth walked over to Josephine pulling her close as he pointed behind them, "Somehow, I don't think they give a shit." Josephine turned to see the prisoners gathering up around them staring them down like they were a bottle of water in the hot, dry desert. "They're going to kick our ass." Kisa stated. "I think that's kinda obvious." Richard said annoyed. "No. Carlos said my destiny was gonna come and kick my ass, something I said before El Tatuaje attacked us." Kisa explained her mind lost in a memory. Hearing the name El Tatuaje, the Banshee perked up in Josephine, recognizing it - making Josephine also recognize it. It was another Xibalban demon. That's why the whispering became louder. "El what?" Seth asked confused. "General Tatuaje," Kisa clarified, "The Xibalba who followed us." "He's here." Josephine finished with a dreadful sigh. "Oh, great," Seth breathed out, "At least we know shit can't get any worse." "Don't say that, things only get worse-" Josephine began but was interrupted by a yell from the second floor. "¡Dos Geckos!" The bald man from before called out, "¡Que sorpresa! Of course there's the Banshee, but La Diosa herself? Santanico Pandemonium!" He walked down the stars as he spoke. Josephine hadn't heard that full name in such a long time. The inmates cheered after the man had yelled the name. The four of them approached the man. "You know it's not everyday that we have such high-class ranfla for dinner," The man continues as he walks around them, "Maybe the Dos Diosas will shake their asses for us while we eat." Josephine and Kisa turned to him glaring at him as the inmates hoot and yell. The man only smirked at the glares as he walked towards the brothers, "Y los ladrones. How long we have been hearing about their exploits in El Norte, huh? And their huevos de oro. Well, tonight, we feast on carne fresca, with two sides of tripa de culebra and tripa de banshee!" The man leaned in closer to Seth, "I told you, home sweet home." "Look you got some bigger problems-" Seth was interrupted by the man punching him in the face. The inmates cheered as Seth steadied himself holding his face. "I got four." The man spoke coldly glaring at each of them, "But not for long." Josephine stepped up, "Just listen to us. This prison is being taken over and the man who is behind it is going to start a riot. Remember those gifts I told you about? Well, sensing who is in a room is one of them." "¡Perfecta! We love riots! We have 'em all the time!" He yelled in Josephine's face and turned to the inmates, "Don't we love riots?" The inmates shouted, throwing their fists up in the air. Josephine looked passed the bald man at the new incomers, smiled fakely and pointed at them, "Well, you got your riot." The man frowned his brows before turning to see men piling down the stairs, their face covering in inked markings. "Madre de diós." The man comments. "Exactly," Seth speaks up again and then turns back to Kisa, "Wanna tell me how we're supposed to fight them?" Josephine watched as the inked men began attacking the regular inmates. "Like we always do," Kisa said, "Just don't let them touch you." They all split up, attacking every threat that ran towards them. As much as she was told not to by Burt and others not to use her powers, they came in handy for Josephine at times like these. When she hit the men in the crotch, she would place her hand on them, using the whispers or ringing to pass them out. She kicked one man that came at her and he flew into one of the cells. This man was one of the inked ones. She kicked him against the wall, but he held out his arm to the side. Josephine noticed that the outline of a dagger that was on his skin began to disappear as it came out of his wrist. Josephine's eyes widened seeing it was a legit dagger. She dodged the swing with the dagger he threw at her and grabbed his wrist. His force was strong, but the more she focused, the stronger she became. With her other hand she threw a forceful punch to his face causing him to loosen his grip on the dagger. Josephine snatched it out of his hands and quickly impaled it into his chest. The inked man lit up into flames and fell to the ground as a pile of ash. Another man charged into the room about ready to grab Josephine from behind, but her reflexes were quick. She turned around impaling the man into the chest again. He too became a pile of ash in seconds. A human one ran in, Josephine did the same thing but only stabbed him a lot more times since he wouldn't be turning into smoke. He fell to the ground in screams holding his stomach. Seeing that there wasn't any more threats charging at her, she bent down next to the man, and placed her hand on his forehead as he bleed out. She focused on his pain as she continued to watch the door. Once the man could die in peace, she charged out of the cell ready to fight more. Josephine looked around for Seth, Richard or Kisa. She spotted Kisa being stabbed in the back with a knife multiple times. She ran over pulling the stabber off of Kisa and stabbing him in the stomach. He burned into flames. Seth and Richard also saw what happened and made their way over. Josephine turned back to Kisa seeing that the knife was still in her back and she pulled it out. Richard took it from her hands. The four of them hid underneath the stairs as chaos erupted around them. "Xibalban baldes. Gonna take longer to heal," Richard says examining the blade. "Wonderful," Kisa breathed out sarcastically, "There's too many of them. We need a better strategy." "Then, let's not fight them. At least not here." Seth suggested. "What?" Both Richard and Josephine asked at the same time. "We double back to Venganza, fight it out in that corridor." Seth explained briefly. Richard shook his head, "That would be a kill box." "It'll be a choke point." Seth corrected. A large man from across the room started down the stairs yelling in yet another unrecognizable language. "We're going with Seth's plan. That's the fucking leader. There's no time to discuss this. She's hurt and they're all after us. Let's go," Josephine ordered standing up. △ △ △ The hallways were quiet and filled with little threats. If there was any men down there, Richie and Josephine were quick to take care of them while Seth helped Kisa walk. "Go, go, go!" Richard called back to Seth and Kisa once two men were a pile of ash. Seth struggled to walk with her as Kisa was finding it difficult to heal. "C'mon we gotta go, they're gonna find us again," Seth told Kisa as if it would help her heal faster. "I gotta heal," Kisa breathed out, stopping. Seth helped her over against the wall. Richard ran ahead to make sure there weren't any other men down there. Josephine bent down next to Santanico. "Give me your hand," Josephine said holding out her own hand to the girl. "You figured out how to heal people?" Kisa asked placing her hand on top of Josephine's. "Only a small cut on my thigh but what's a few more?" Josephine spoke hopefully. Josephine closed her eyes, focusing on her pain and where the wounds were. She could feel the Xibalban energy intoxicating Kisa's blood. Even just focusing on it a little hurt Josephine too. The light haired girl took in a deep breath before putting all focus on Kisa's pain, pushing past the pain she was feeling as well. When it became too much for Josephine, she pulled back. Kisa was already starting to feel better, but she was still weak. Josephine wouldn't admit it, but she, too, felt weak. Burt had warned her about taking pain and healing. It takes energy from the Banshee making her less strong. "Josie, that's enough. She can drink my blood." Seth said, pushing Josephine back slightly. Seth crotched down in front of Kisa and held out his wrist. "I lied to both of you," Kisa said, "About why I'm here." "Kisa, it's okay. Just forget about it. You need to heel." Josephine said. Kisa shook her head as she frowned her brows, "When Manola died, I ran. I ran. It was - I was pissed. I had things to figure out and I just kept on thinking about you and how you got the shit beat out of you in that ring. How you kept on fighting for us. For the culebras." "You can thank her for that. She has a way with her words when it comes to me," Seth said glancing back at Josephine. "Not all culebras are bad." Josephine said offering the girl a half smile, "Besides we have a bigger enemy, don't we?" "Yeah, well, I'm not going to let you guys have all the fun taking 'em down." Kisa said with a soft chuckle. "That, uh, girlfriend of yours, you used to feed on her without her turning. So, feed on me because I'm not sure if you want Banshee blood in your system." Seth said and held out his arm again, "Consider it rations." Santnaico's fangs popped out of her gums and her eyes turned yellow as she let out a low growl. She raised her head before punching through Seth skin with her fangs. △ △ △ Kisa was back on her feet, all healed and ready for whatever came at her as they finished walking the halls to where Venganza was. "How bad is it out there?" Venganza asked as she opened the door for the four of them. "Bad and gettin' worse." Richard replied. Josephine narrowed her eyes at Carlos as she made her way into Venganza's office, Seth and Kisa right behind her. Seth was playing with his arm trying to make it stop bleeding when Richard looked own at the bite marks, an offended look formed on his face. "What? She needed to feed." Seth explained. Josephine rolled her eyes, walking over to Seth and placing her hand over the bite marks and focused. She felt the skin move underneath her palm as the bite marks disappeared. "See? Look, nothing happened. No need to get jealous, Richard. It doesn't look good on you." "So, you brought the enemy to my door," Venganza spoke up gaining their attention, "What's next?" "What's next?" Kisa stepped towards her, angry, "What's next is you tells us where the bones are." "Or you kill me?" Venganza asked raising one eyebrow. "There are no bones," Carlos spoke up, "The Lord's fed on Amaru, but they didn't just feed on her." "We consumed her. All of her." Venganza explained, "The only way for Amaru to get her essence back is from the remains of the Seven Lords." "She wants your ashes. That's why she killed them all." Josephine stated connecting the dots, "She was after the ashes. Seems like your value has just gone way up. I think we're gonna have to double our price." Josephine was going to continue talking, but yells of fear echoed through the hall behind them. Around twenty men turned the corner as if they were running from someone. To their surprise, Scott came running around the corner knocking out multiple men with kicks and punches. The four of them watched the young boy take out the whole lot of them leaving them impressed. "Wow. Someone's been doing Tae Bo." Carlos comments as Scott made his way into the room after all the men were down. "There's a fuck-ton more where that came from." Scott said. Josephine smiled, "Nice of you to join us, Karate Kid." "This will not end. They're going to keep on coming until we get Tatuaje." Venganza reminded them. "Is there any other way upstairs?" Carlos asked. Venganza nodded looking over across the room at another door, "That way." Carlos looked at the door and then back at Kisa, "Mi amor we have a score to settle." The two walked towards the door and went to go and take care of Tatuaje while the rest of them stayed in. While they were waiting for Kisa and Carlos to make their way back, Freddie had called up Seth saying that he was here. Venganza had let Freddie in and Seth left to go bring him back down here, safely. Josephine waited patiently for their return when Kisa and Carlos came back in announcing that they had taken care of Tatuaje. Josephine let out a sigh of relief seeing Seth walking back down the hall, Freddie right by his side. "What the hell is he doing here?" Carlos asked seeing the Ex-Ranger. "Rest of the team is mountin' up," Seth said as Josephine made her way over to her spot next to Seth's side as he called over Carlos. "The Ranger came back with some key intel," Seth spoke quietly, "Where the rest of this is going' down: Matanzas, Texas. It's about a hundred miles into the big nothing'." "Matanzas. Yeah, of course. I know it," Carlos replied nodding. "Why didn't you say something before?" Josephine asked crossing her arms. "It didn't occur to me. Why does it matter?" Carlos snapped at the girl, "Now we know." Josephine was about to say something but she saw Freddie handcuffing Venganza. Josephine pushed passed Seth and Carlos, "Freddie, what the hell are you doing?" Freddie didn't stop walking with the woman, "If it's all the same to you, I'll be taking Lord Veganaza to the ceremony." Freddie pushed Josephine to the side softly, but coldly as he continued to walk out of the room with Venganza. "What Ceremony?" Seth yelled at him. "The one where I get my wife and kid back," Freddie said glancing back at them, "You guys try anything, I'll put a stake in her chest." "Freddie, stop!" Josephine called out but was ignored. "Cisco Kid has lost his fucking mind!" Carlos comments angrily. "Don't do this!" Seth yelled down the hall. When Freddie turned the corner, disappearing out of site, Seth was about ready to run after him, but Josephine grabbed his arm stopping him. "It's no use. He's determined to get him back. If it were me or Richard taken, you'd be doing the same thing." Seth let out a frustrated sigh knowing she was right. He began pacing the room until Josephine stepped in front of him. "Hey, we will figure this out. We always do. And once we do figure this out it'll just be you and me - and I guess Richie can tag along to. Okay?" In the midst of everything that was happening, Seth couldn't frown at Josephine. His lips curled into a smile as he pulled her close, embracing her. He kissed the top of her head before speaking quietly, "Okay."
