Crazy You swung around with the lamppost and slammed down. Smooth Criminal excellently dodged it and kicked Crazy You's arm, knocking the lamp post out of its hands. Before it could attack more though Crazy You jumped out of the heavily damaged car. The car leaned over and threatened to crush the stand but with a flurry of punches, Smooth Criminal managed to punch a hole in the car and emerged unscathed. It had no need to look around as it knew exactly where Crazy You was located; running just across the street flipping around and shaking its maracas. Smooth Criminal dashed toward it to punch it into the ground. Crazy You quickly pivoted and ran under Smooth Criminals legs, putting all its force into a single kick in its legs. Catching the stand by surprise enough to knock him off balance. Crazy You then jumped into the stand to attempt to take control. Izwe Ababa clutched his head and fell to his knees. It appeared half his body had lost control as one of his arms shoots up in the air and he slams his fist on the ground, causing it to become bloodied. That really angered Izwe Ababa who yelled and through Smooth Criminal quite literally threw Crazy You out of his head.
Falling to the ground with a graceful cry Crazy You hopped and skipped across the street. "You annoying little thing!" Izwe cried out. Standing back up, "So many little surprises!" Dashing over to Crazy You he stopped as the stand jumped into a trash can. Its short stature giving it good mobility while trusting it wouldn't just be punched through if Smooth Criminal approached. Izwe shook his head and smiled, "My friend. I commend your fighting capabilities. They are quite unique only befitting your unique stand. Yet your tactical and strategic view of the greater battlefield still is lacking." Suddenly turning around he dashes directly to where Evan was hiding around a corner he moved to multiple times. Evan cursed, he forgot once again about Smooth Criminals ability, and now he had too much of a headstart for Crazy You to catch up.
Desperately looking around Evan notices the abandoned light post. Without thinking Crazy You dashing towards it and picks it up. Quickly aiming the rod and throwing it at Smooth Criminal and Izwe Ababa. Evan was planning to just launch it in front to stop their advance but he didn't account for Crazy You's accurate shot and the rod went right through Izwe's chest. Yelling in pain Izwe looked shocked at what sat impaled in his chest. Blood began to drip down as he clasped it with his hands. Meanwhile, Evan was horrified at what happened, but he had to swallow it as a more tense matter needed to be dealt with. Crazy You dashed forward, now out of the trash can, and nabbed Evan's phone from Izwe's pocket. All Izwe could do was look on in shock and pain as the phone reentered Evan's possession.
"Y...you stabbed me..." Izwe eventually groaned out. Smooth Criminal just stood there, seemingly frozen amidst the scene. "I...guess I didn't see that coming." and Izwe Ababa slumped over on the sidewalk, unmoving. The adrenaline in Evan suddenly vanished with Smooth Criminal as he suddenly realized what happened as blood continued to pool around the body. Evan looked around, no one was nearby, nobody could've heard either as they definitely would've heard the battle and checked things out. Slowly approaching the body Evan looked over to Izwes face. Its closed eyes and peaceful expression almost made it look as if he was just sleeping. But anyone who checked out the scene would know better and after realizing that all Evan could think of doing was running away. Down the street down the alleyways until he rounded a street that brought him back to where he started.
Panting he decided he needed to calm down and checked his phone. On it he saw multiple messages from Alexander, "I am here.", "Where are you" was texted multiple times. "I heard you left out back. If in danger please send anything.", "I am coming to find you please respond.". Ending his messages with a solemn, "Evan? Are you okay?" Looking at it all and seeing what happened the past couple of minutes Evan could do nothing but sit and cry on the side of the street. The weight of the past evening hitting him all at once. "I was looking for an adventure. What an idiot!" He thought himself. Texting Alexander his location and that he was still alive. It took a couple of minutes for Alexander to respond and return back. At that point, Evan had calmed down and was more reasonably thinking about the situation as he explained what happened to Alexander.
"What happened happened Evan. Worrying about it only means you suffer twice." Alexander said in response to it all, "All these people are coming to kill us, and they are not merciful. It was only a matter of time before something happened on our side. My only regret is it was so soon." Picking Alexander up he simply hands him an update on a usb. "When I was with my father I heard of deaths in the organization many times. Yet I never happen to hear about police investigations. I don't know what you did with the body and frankly, I don't want to but I believe no harm will come to you legally." Evan nodded in understanding, it always appeared that way with mafias and underground organizations. But the psychological stress of killing a man still weighed heavily on him. Alexander led Evan to Julians, talking with him the entire way and assisting Evan in getting his thoughts together. When they arrived Julian was very surprised to see both of them there and arriving so late. Explaining it all to everyone Evan went to a guest room to be alone for a bit as Alexander took over the role of updating everyone on his findings.
"The more research I did the more I figured out that this rumour may be more fact. Asking around the org and borrowing Lucy's excellent capabilities I did some digging to figure out an artifact originating from Greenland some 100ish years ago was sold in this area at an auction. It has to be the 2nd stand arrowhead as we already know the origins of the first one I acquired. But it was a silent auction and the buyer remained anonymous. So we have a way of tracking where it went or to whom after this auction. But at least we know it exists which means it's all the more important we figure out where it is held before they do." Alexander gave some more minor updates but the most important stuff was already divulged. After handing off some data for Lucy Alexander deleted everything and smashed up the usb drive. Leaving in the night everyone sat back to take in everything. The killing of Izwe Ababa quickly made things even more real for everyone. They all finally realizing the risk involved to both themselves and others in this endeavour. But no one spoke up wanting out of this. No one did. Lucy was furiously typing away at her computer attempting to gather data and search the deepweb with her stand, Julian was already thinking of taking out some cash in case anyone needed to be released on bond or if they needed to travel far for a couple of days. Aaryn was thinking about the logistics of the next run and already thinking about volunteering himself to give Evan a break. He always seemed the most enthusiastic about this and he just hoped tonight wouldn't irreparably hurt anything about him. While hearing it second-hand he couldn't judge for himself but it didn't seem like he had many options left. Alexander, walking through the night back to his home was thinking about how he could get more information from further up the chain, perhaps even uncovering the identity of the person behind this all...without getting caught and possibly killed himself. Even Evan, sitting in his bed having overheard everything, was thinking about his victory over Izwe Ababa and what to take away from the situation for the next time.
Yes in this group's thoughts their determination was uniform. Nothing would detract their resolve and determination to see this task through. No matter what got in their way.
To be continued...
