When Rain Rises

Chapter 5

The shorter one with shaggy blond hair walked over to Rain, pulling his mask down. He had green eyes and a youthful but strong face. He actually looked to be around Rain's age.

"So...I'm Rain," Rain offered him his hand, trying to make the bizarre situation just a pinch less awkward. The teen shook it briefly. "Who are you?"

"Mentor," he began, turning back to the other one who was surveying the unconscious bodies. "He's asking about who we are?"

"Introduce us," his mentor replied, finishing up his work and standing back up. "But only tell him our names."

"Right. Well, I'm Davis," Davis introduced himself as he turned again to Rain. He then pointed back at the other one. "He's my mentor, Aiden."

"A pleasure," Aiden nodded, stepping over the unconscious men and walking over to them, also pulling his mask down. Aiden had jet-black hair with a few gray strands strewn throughout. It was pulled back and tied into a ponytail. He had hazel eyes and an older, defined face with thin lips. A small dark scar was visible under his left eye.

"So, I'll just jump to the point here, then," Rain began, his head still spinning. "Who the hell are you?"

"We're two people who need your help and will gratefully return the favor," Aiden replied in an amused tone. Rain stared at him blankly.

"He means we'll pay you to help us," Davis explained.

"Indeed," Aiden nodded before continuing. "We're after a young woman who has seemingly been kidnapped by these men, or more precisely, their cartel." This was quite the turn of events. In just one day Rain went from being a merchant hopeful to getting robbed, to almost dying, to meeting two masked bad-asses. The gods just couldn't decide what to do with him.

"So you guys are going to go save some damsel in distress? What kind of heroes dress in dark clothing and wear masks?"

"He called us heroes..." Davis snickered under his breath. "Oh, man, that is so awesome."

"So you're not heroes?" Rain squinted. "Then what are you? Mercenaries? You're obviously not Justicars."

"I will not say who we are," Aiden dismissed. "It is unnecessary to tell you. You'll just have to trust that there are others outside the Justicars who care about Apollo and keeping the peace." Rain's head was still spinning.

"So...then why did you save me? Wait—you care about Apollo—got it, but how did you get here to save me?"

"We didn't happen upon you by chance. We've been stalking this cartel to try and find where they kept their captives prior to smuggling out of Apollo's walls. We know where their hideout is, but I'm quite certain they don't bring them back to their home - a wise move on their part. We do know that they prey on the market you were in and keep it staked out, leading to us seeing your chase and subsequent altercation as we followed."

"So you saw the whole thing?" Rain exclaimed angrily. "Then why the hell did you just now help out? Totally not heroes."

Aiden tilted his head. "Think."

And that's just what Rain did, doing his best to clear his indignation from his mind and focus on the facts. "You were going to allow them to capture me then follow them to wherever they take their captives," Rain concluded with a sigh. He should have figured that out before he got angry. Aiden nodded, seemingly impressed

.

"Yes, of course when they opted to kill you instead, that was when we stepped in."

It all made sense now to Rain, and while he still had more questions, they would have to wait. Whoever these guys were, they were dressed well and seemed to live exciting lives. He wanted to join them. They could be his way out of conscription, as well as a means to provide for his family.

"So what do you need my help for?" Rain now asked, his mind racing to conclude what he wanted out of this.

"Once one of these men wakes up, we are going to interrogate him," Aiden told him. He then promptly turned to Davis. "Speaking of, go ahead and tie them up."

"Yup," Davis nodded, digging out several zip-ties from his cargo pocket and leaving their company.

"So you're going to need my help to find the location of your mark?"

"Precisely. Once our captive gives us the information, you are going to lead the way."

"Then you have two problems, Aiden," Rain mused, deciding to further display his intelligence. "Number 1, what if it turns out he's lying, and Number 2, what if they don't bring all their captives to the same site?"

"I can assure you he won't lie," Aiden laughed softly. "And I've given thought to your second concern already. If this was some sort of human trafficking where the clients were after slaves of...all sorts...then I would be concerned. However, they are all being sent overseas for a flat rate regardless of age, gender or appearance. There wouldn't be any real reason to go through all the work of creating two sites under these conditions. "

Rain found himself agreeing. Aiden was intelligent, and Davis didn't seem to be a lump of rocks, either. Rain's mind was made up.

"I want to join you guys," Rain proclaimed boldly after taking a deep breath. "That is what I want in exchange for helping you, not money." Rain was expecting to see some look of surprise on Aiden's face, but Aiden's expression didn't falter.

"And why is that?"

"You guys look cool, and this all seems pretty exciting," Rain replied. "Plus, I have a family to provide for, and you two don't look like you're short on cash."

Aiden shook his head. "Individuals of our group do live a life of excitement, and our income can indeed become noteworthy. But I don't just pick people up off the street to become one of us. We're a secretive group."

"What if I told you I never revealed anyone's secret to anyone?" Rain offered, almost half-seriously. He just wanted to do cool stuff like they were doing; he hadn't tuned into the fact that they were part of some secret society - but that made all this even more cool!

Aiden laughed. "My apologies."

"One's waking up!" Davis shouted at them, looking down at the very man who started all the groaning and was now rubbing his eyes. The thief was coming to. A scary thought came to mind and Rain turned around, confirming his fears.

"Hey, you forgot the guy who was going to kill me!" Rain hissed. Davis had only zip-tied the hands of everyone they had beaten-up, forgetting that there was one more on the other side of the rooftop.

"I was getting to him!" Davis fumed, fumbling out another zip-tie and rushing over to the fortunately still unconscious man.

"A foolish mistake," Aiden grumbled. "Anyway, the answer is no. Like I said, we don't just recruit random people."

Aiden's words lingered in the air and echoed through Rain's thoughts long after he finished speaking them. Aiden thought he was just some random guy? Did he not see his intelligence or how he dodged that guy's punch?

"Then how do you guys recruit people?"

"I am not at liberty to say."

Rain swallowed a painful lump, as Aiden's cryptic answer did nothing to keep the creeping despair he felt at bay. What more could he do? He had to join them. He had already made up his mind about it. But what did he need to do to prove himself worthy?

"You will be paid well for helping us all the same," Aiden frowned, seeming to sense that Rain was about to ask more questions.

"Right," Rain muttered. It seemed for the first time in his life, just getting paid wasn't good enough.