𝐋𝐎𝐍𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐋𝐘 staring at the burner phone, Mack and West anticipated a phone call. The tiny screen remained black, and West groaned. "Are you sure it's even charged?"

"Yes." Mack answered simply. He was staring blankly at his 9mm pistol, running his fingers along the grooves and towards the muzzle.

"Well, Angelo could've been more strategic with this info-passing, this burner is dumb." West complained. Mackenzie's blue eyes inspected West for a moment before he resumed his fiddling. It was eight in the morning, the three men had agreed weeks prior that Angelo would brief them on the next plan; this one being sure to get Noah killed, at Mack's request.

"Shut up and sit down." he muttered. West rolled his eyes, replying with his middle finger, before wandering over to Mack's kitchen and looking for anything worth eating.

Mackenzie removed the safety and cocked the gun, enjoying the clicking sound it made. His finger glazed over the trigger. The rush of excitement made him exhale in pleasure.

"You better watch where you aim that thing," West stated, returning with a tall glass of milk. He gulped half of it down, which left him with residue along his top lip.

"I should shoot you just for drinking my milk like that." Mack scowled.

"Milk makes your bones big and strong, mate," he raised his arm to flex his biceps.

Mack scoffed dryly at this imbecile, just as the phone began to ring with an irritable ringtone. He snatched it, as West gasped dramatically, and answered. "The plan?"

"Hello, to you too," Angelo replied satirically.

"The plan?" Mack repeated with a harsher tone. "I want this done as soon as possible, so you bussing convo isn't doing much help for your end of the deal."

"It's simple, really. You get the ammo ready and tell me where my Ascots can find it in that maze of yours. I'll be at the door." Angelo explained calmly.

"They'll gun you down if you even try to get anywhere near," West interjected.

"That's why you'll get rid of your lookouts. You'd better not double back like last time and kill one of mine. I'm in your territory and I won't hesitate."

Mack furrowed his brows as he took in a deep breath, "Okay, then your Ascots better not get caught. What'll you do when you get in here?"

"Attack subtlety from inside, and then get rid of Noah for you,"

"No!" Both Mack and West abruptly spoke.

"I kill him. We agreed on that." Mack asserted.

"What? Mack, we never agreed to killing Noah, I told you we're not doing that," West demanded. It seemed that conversation thats  they had at the memorial linkup a little over a month ago was useless.

"Do you want this place for yourself or not? Noah is what stands in the way, do you not get that?" Mack spat. West stared at him in disbelief, it was really happening. "I am killing Noah, Angelo, I am." he repeated.

Angelo heaved on the other end of the phone, clearly not pleased. "Just get my ammo ready. My Ascots will come from the North and infiltrate from your east perimeter, so make sure it's clear, or I will."

"Okay." Mack strained. The call ended without another word from the other end of the line. Mack stared at his gun, lost in thought, while West gradually lost his mind.

"I thought we fucking agreed that Noah wouldn't be killed. Don't you think it'd cause suspicion?! Noah winds up dead at the hands of you? You, Mack, you!" he screamed. He raked his hands through his hair so many times that his hair tie fell from his curly bun.

"Noah is getting back on his feet. Zara told me that he's questioning our expeditions now. We get rid of him while he's still down before he can defend himself." Mack responded civilly.

"Are you fucking crazy? That's my mate you're talking about, our mate!"

"He's the same 'mate' that we've been planning to overthrow since you got here, a year ago!" Mack exploded. "Fuck this bullshit of yours! You want him dead as much as I do, you'll realise that soon, West." He stood, picking up his pistol, causing West to stiffen at the action.

Mack approached him, pressing the loaded gun to West's chest. "How do you expect to be at the top, if he's still there? If it weren't for your sister, Noah would've slaughtered you with the same knife he used to put Murphy down that night." he pushed the gun harder, aiming for his heart. "Your mate wants you dead, just like everybody else in this shithole."

Taking in his wounding words, West shoved him back, "Fuck you." Mackenzie only laughed, for he knew full well that once all was over, he would put a bullet in West too. He tucked his gun into his holster.

"Get the fuck out of my house." The burning disgust in West's eyes was fuelled by the second. But, he turned and strode for the door, slamming it with all his might.

•

That same day, Sebastian fell into his office chair, looking around at the leading team of Everwinter—all that was missing was Noah. "Aight, next course of action. the Central and Victoria Line have been cleared and barricaded up to the border. My team and I located the mains supply that powers the trains. I suggest we send patrols around the Liverpool Street area while I get a team repairing some of the trains, since it'll make a lot of noise. I need a team up north to switch the power on when signalled as well."

Sebastian glanced at Mack, who was flipping a pen in thought. He sighed and finally replied, "Okay. How many teams will you need?"

"Well, wait, we can kill two birds with one stone, can't we?" Zara spoke up, she stood up confidently and walked over to the map of London plastered to the wall. "We blew up these building along the south of the station almost two years back. We took the Gherkin down and a few of those shops, but that museum is still standing."

"Could still be swarmed." Sasha hummed.

"Exactly, the lookouts have been reporting sightings of croakers coming from that direction and further into Whitechapel. That building could also be useful for storage and transportation of supplies since it's down the street from the station." Zara continued.

Sebastian nodded, sitting up in his chair and scribbling notes on what Zara said. "Okay, that's a good idea. There's also an outpost created by the military in Whitechapel that we can try to clear out sometime soon. I'm sure there's some ammo and weaponry we could find."

"This sounds great, but we're getting away from the real mission here," Mack finally intervened, standing up and sauntering to Zara. She pulled a face and diverted back to her seat. "That northern team isn't going up there, and we need to disperse the lookouts in that area. We focus solely on the trains and nothing else, we don't turn the mains on until I know you've fixed the trains."

"But, how will we test if they work if we can't get them moving on the—" Sebastian started.

"Did I stutter?" Mackenzie questioned and Sebastian looked puzzled. "Did I?"

"No...? I don't—"

"Exactly, so we do as I say. No teams up in the North." he reiterated. Everyone sat in silence for a moment, not quite sure whether they should say something, so Sasha did.

"Mack, that makes no fucking sense." she contended bluntly.

"Made a lot of sense to me. We don't stretch teams until we're certain—" He was cut short by the door to the conference room opening. Noah stepped in and headed nonchalantly for the alcohol cart in the corner of the large room, leaving the creaking door to shut behind him.

The group of five watched the rightful leader's every move, his boots being the only audible sound, followed by the pouring of his glass of whiskey and the gentle swipe of his maroon trench coat against his calves, as he faced the table of gawking companions.

Zara's eyebrow peaked, enthralled by how dominantly he stood in his loose, black turtleneck matched with dark jeans that fitted him way too well. He threw back his long coat and placed his hand on his hip, just above his loaded holster on his left hip. Zara felt herself smiling.

Noah tilted his head ever-so-slightly at Mackenzie, who was distastefully inspecting him, "Don't mind me, continue." He took a seat at the head of the table, where Mack was originally sitting, and took a small sip—he relaxed into the cushioned office chair and remained blasé.

Mack was at a loss for a long moment, scrutinising every inch of the man across the room from him, before he sighed into a forceful smile. "You look rested. You feeling better?"

"As good as I can get." Noah gently shrugged with his usual response. "Now, your plan?"

"We focus solely on the trains, get as many fixed as possible before turning on the mains supply in the north. It sounds like you need at least six teams, Sebastian. The north is the least active so we thin out the lookouts on that side to help around the perimeter of Liverpool Street." he ordered, Noah furrowed his brows. "Once that is sorted in the next week, we can worry about that museum and your military base," Mack flapped his hand dismissively at Zara.

   "That makes no sense," Noah announced.

   "That's what I fucking said," Sasha tutted.

   "It makes sense," West finally spoke up, after sitting quietly through the whole meeting, "if we're going to do a lot at once, we need the teams for that."

   "Yes, but you're not going to drop defences around Everwinter for that. There's still a lot of activity in the north after that horde Angelo brought in. We can spread them out and give those lookouts more room to cover, but we're not getting rid of them. That leaves the whole east wall exposed." Noah explained.

   Mack frowned, crossing his arms, as he watched Noah rise from his seat. He moved towards the map and pointed to where the horde had first been stopped. "That horde was spotted here. We still don't know what Angelo is planning, and if they initially came for this wall, they're more likely going to come for it again." He turned to Mack. "So it makes no sense to get rid of the lookouts. He's been dormant for almost three months, he's coming back sooner or later."

   "Who's the leader, you or me?" Mackenzie questioned. The two men stared one another down.

   Noah then smiled, "It was nice of you to keep my seat warm, but I am the leader of Everwinter. We're keeping the lookouts and sending a team to the mains. Those trains need to be running soon, it'll be harder when it starts snowing in a few weeks."

   "I agree with Noah." Sebastian said. The girls followed suit, leaving West and Mack silent. "I'll need four teams. Engineers up north, an engineer and patrol at Liverpool Street, and another patrol at the museum."

   "Aight." Noah nodded, taking one last glance at Mackenzie who hadn't broken his menacing glare once, before returning to his glass of whiskey. He gulped it down and sighed. "We get this done this week. I'll brief you all in the next few days; Sebastian, I need you to fill me in on the progress."

   "We'll walk and talk." he affirmed, standing and leaving the conference room with Noah.

   In the silence that filled the air, Sasha chortled in awe. "God, I love Noah." She stood up and left with Zara who was equally surprised at his power.

   Once the door had shut, Mackenzie smashed Noah's glass in a fit of rage. He glanced at West who couldn't hide the shock in his features. "I am killing him." he announced strictly. He left the room, leaving West with no chance to debate.

|𝟐𝟑| 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬:
Hello! Chai, I took my time, but I'm here, frennn! So, Mack is crazy and the build-up is coming!
Apologies for any errors. Hope you enjoyed!

~𝐠𝐥𝐝𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐧𝐬.