Chapter 2 (Part 5)

      "She's here for the...", Jack hesitated a moment, not sure of how to continue the sentence, "the fireworks."
      "Mommy! Mommmy! Did you hear that! The man said there's going to be fireworks!", a little boy had overheard, "I wanna go! Can we go?"
      Jack's attention was ripped away and looked straight at the screaming little kid. He could feel his heart stopping; he had already botched up the mission. He was hoping that maybe the mother would just ignore her kid and drag him along, but it seemed she got tired of trying to shush him.
      "I'm sorry sir, my son is so persistent", she gave him a small courteous smile that Jack returned, though he felt disgusted inside with himself, "did you say something about a fireworks show later?"
      A nervous grin formed on his face, and he nervously rubbed the back of his neck, quickly trying to think of an explanation, "Um, yeah. My friends and I are looking around the city, taking in the sights, and we're planning on maybe seeing the fireworks that we heard of in the newspaper I think", Jack could tell that he was already rambling on and needed to wrap it up, "but I heard the best view is from the other side of El Matar Lake"
      The woman gave him an odd look, maybe she saw through it, but her son piped in, "Oh can we please go see it? It would look soooo nice over the water!", she decided to take a moment to think about the distance, but seemed to eventually cave in.
       "Alright, alright, we'll see. You have to be a good boy though okay?", as her son grew the biggest smile and jumped in excitement, they began to walk away, "Thanks sir, you're very kind."
      Those last words at away at Jack. He knew inside that he was a monster. Sure, he saved the lives of two, but he was still going to be partly responsible for the deaths of so much more. He had to fight the urge to panic knowing that there was something more important that he had to do.
       Xephyr put his hands on Jack's shoulders, "Don't worry kid, you did good. At least they're gonna get outta here. Every life counts", Jack had completely forgotten about his existence, but his words made him feel a bit better.
      By this time, Skylar was standing by, lightly putting her pack down onto the ground. She looked at the ridiculous cowering form of Jack and Xephyr's foolish attitude and said nothing. No greeting, it'd serve no purpose. Instead, Skylar pulled out one of the few things that had nothing to do with anything of the mission, a stick of gum, popped it in her mouth and slowly started to chew. It was nice to have on hand; it kept her mouth moist. She leaned back and felt her back crack to relieve the pressure that was from the pack and although wasn't eager, Skylar wanted this to be done as soon as possible.
      Xephyr was still confused as to what Jack meant and so asked straight out, "Hey, what's in the pack?"
      Skylar could already tell how this was going to be with Xephyr. She didn't even bother with a reply. She just blew a bubble, picked it up, and revealed the contents of the pack. Even he couldn't be that dense. He should've been listening at the debriefing, but there was no helping that now.
      The words suddenly came back to Xephyr as the realization started to kick in. She's here for the fireworks she's here for the fireworks she's here for the fireworks... The words kept on ringing through all corners of his mind with a terrifying echo. Already he could hear the screams, the terrifying screams. The words reverberated and bounced in every corner of his mind, creating a cacophony of yelling and terror in his head. Xephyr could already see in his mind's eye everything that would unfold. The deafening booms. The fiery plumes of smoke and flames. The bodies of innocents flying around in a sick mix of blood and debris. The acrid taste of death in the air. It would all be his fault. That thought stabbed deep into Xephyr's chest the most. 
       In the small area of time, Xephyr could already start to feel his lungs tighten, all breath exhaled unable to come back to him. His chest felt like it was going to implode inside of his skin. It felt like God had replaced his warm blood with liquid nitrogen. He could feel a could sweat starting to form underneath his clothes. Xephyr's fingers started to twitch and started to rub small circles in the middle of his palm; a tell of anxiety. Though most of all, as he grew tense, his eyes changed. Even though he was losing sense of things for a moment, he could feel the world grow sharper but dimmer. His eyes started to sink into the back of his skull.
      Skylar grew a bit uneasy-even more annoyed if anything. That dreadful look in Xephyr's eyes and the way Jack looked at her; both of them looking at her as if she was going to enjoy this. She didn't want to do this anymore than they did for sure, but she was not naive enough to fret about it. They looked at her almost with bewilderment as if they could not understand how she could be so calm. Skylar just tried to be a bit more detached, it was a job after all.
       At the basest of all things, Skylar loved to blow stuff up. The force it took for the destruction was magnificent, something that was actually able to get her excited. She loved blowing things and whoever deserved it to bits. However, she was not heartless enough to feel indifferent about the killing of innocents and civilians as she was other things. In a battle, the warriors participating should have some idea, some preparation that they were going to die. These people had not the slightest idea. Some of them probably weren't even planning on coming here today, maybe didn't even want to. Yet, Skylar had to remain cool in spite of these facts.
      Her ability to keep calm despite the surroundings are probably what allowed her to be such a skilled demolitions expert, the explosive soul. You can't just get trigger happy when it comes to her area of weaponry. It would get you and your comrades killed without even hitting your target. You won't even have time to regret it.
      Xephyr stayed in his own state of mind, a voice festering in the back of his head. It began it's mumbling and instantly he knew he had to get back to the moment. Xephyr took a deep breath and closed his eyes. His lungs expanded normally, blood became warm, and his body was no longer as tense. He knew that in order to successfully carry out the mission, whatever it might be, he had to remain cool and collected. He couldn't succumb to those voices yet. He took one last deep breath and felt the tension roll off his fingertips like streams of sand.
      Jack noticed the tension in Xephyr which was highly unusual for him. Maybe he wasn't as carefree as he thought. Jack gave a small smile, which Xephyr instantly returned. He knew that Jack would buy it, his code was 'The Innocent' after all. He was already aware of the fragility of the human mind and body.      
       It then dawned on him that something had to be done. It was going to be something complex, but something he had to figure out fast. He couldn't let all these people die. He pushed his shades up the bridge of his nose and took a quick scan of all those around. All these lives, extinguished before they could even start. All these innocent lives he'd be claiming. It was sickening.
      I was given this body for a reason. I have to do something, I cannot waste the gift I was given. I can't let more innocents die for the name of someone else's 'justice' or 'peace'. But if I turn against my own troop, I'll have nobody with me and even more against me. What...do I do? What can I do?
       "Hey guys!", a voice took them all by surprise and snapped Xephyr back to his senses. Anya had finally managed to catch up with the group. She was surprised that she was the second to last one there, but was at least happy that she got there before Damian did. She already knew of the back lashing she'd get if that happened.
      "He-hey there", Jack was startled a bit from the sudden appearance of a new member.
      "Hi there gurly", Xephyr was a bit overzealous.
      Skylar, of course, was silent, but this is how she expected all of them to react to her arrival for the most part. She wondered if they had all just gotten there or if they were waiting long, but her eyes dropped down on the pack sitting at Skylar's feet. So that must be where the bombs are... She thought grimly, but tried to push it out of her mind for a moment.
       Skylar regretted not getting their later. She wished she might have been the last one to arrive. Instead, she had to deal with each of them giving her unnecessary glances and glares at her. It was irritating the way they looked at her, as if it was her fault that this was all going down. If they wanted to glare at someone, they should've glared at their leader who was putting them in this compromising position. He was the one that assigned this. Did she want to blow up this place? No. Did she really have a choice in the matter? Hardly.
      Jack and Xephyr instinctively took a second look at Anya. Jack could see that she was quite pretty, but she also looked like she tried to hide it. She didn't seem like a bad person, or at least like she wouldn't be hard to get along with like it would with their other female member. Xephyr was just relieved that there was at least one person who seemed upbeat here.
       "So...was the trip up here pleasant for you?" Jack asked, wanting to make small talk until their leader got here, hoping to pass the time quicker.
      Anya immediately let out a groan, "Not really", she gave a bit of a frown, "Nobody seemed to willing to give a friendly girl in distress a ride", she waved her hand indiscriminately, "but luckily a kind local pulled over willing to give me a ride."
       Anya's mind immediately went to that guy. D...D something. She dismissed almost sequentially. He was a boring human without any interesting qualities or stories. She knew the chances of her meeting him again anytime soon, if ever, was slim to none. She also knew that he might be one of the many humans that might die today, and she really didn't want to start dwelling on that and stopped her mind from lingering on that thought about that any longer. Instead she turned her attention to Xephyr.
      He didn't seem as cheery as he usually did. Something about the older male made him seem troubled. Then Anya decided what her side job was going to be, the unofficial Rogue spirit lifter. She looped her arm around her blue haired ally and smiled up at him.

      "How 'bout you X? You get here alright?"
      The question was lost on him for the briefest of seconds. Xephyr almost jumped out of his skin at the contact with his fellow teammate. This was admittedly the first flesh to flesh (well, even though he was wearing his jacket, he still counted it the same in his mind) that a female has intentionally made with him in years. It was relaxing, but nerve wracking at the same time to feel warm skin pressed up against him. It was almost nostalgic. He felt the contrast between his tightened muscles and her smooth ones and realized how much he needed to really loosen up. He looked down into her lavender eyes, trying to gauge what she could be thinking.
      "Well, yeah, some guy came and picked me up. We chatted. It was a nice little...talk...if you could even call it that."
       Xephyr broke eye contact, a bit embarrassed. He felt his face grow warmer and silently prayed that it was due to the Egyptian sun. He made a mental note to talk to more girls. This was ridiculous on his part.
      "Well, it's good to see you all made it alright", a firm voice spoke.
      Their leader finally made it to the catacombs, though he did not seem happy that they had all made it promptly on time. He noticed their lounging around the entrance and was instantly disappointed by Xephyr and that huge jacket, not that either was anything new. Damian was going to make sure to yell at him for that later. His vanity was making them obvious, him and that 'signature' jacket of his.
       Not only that, but Jack's anxiety as well as Skylars overall coldness was making them just as suspicious. Unfortunately, none of that could be helped. Damian pinched the bridge of his nose and inhaled a bit and released his breath trying to relax. It wasn't going to help if he was going to be mentally dissecting every flaw, he would just have to work with it. Later on, he would have to tell this rag tag bunch of Rogues what blending in means.





(I'm stopping here for now, I'm going to get something to eat. I'm not sure how this one flows due to the abundance of characters and I've usually only written from First person perspective and not third person omniscient or whatever perspective I'm writing in. As usual, comments, criticisms and suggestions below. Thanks for taking the time to read.)