«   ★   »

► 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑
𝘔𝘈𝘕 𝘏𝘜𝘕𝘛

⸝⸝ ʚ 🧟‍♀️ ! ⌗ °• ━━━━━━━━━ 𝑷𝑨𝑺𝑺𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑻𝑯𝑹𝑶𝑼𝑮𝑯 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑶𝑷𝑬𝑵 𝑾𝑰𝑹𝑬𝑫 𝑮𝑨𝑻𝑬, 𝑹𝑶𝑩𝒀𝑵, 𝑻𝑬𝑺𝑺 𝑨𝑵𝑫 𝑱𝑶𝑬𝑳 𝑾𝑬𝑹𝑬 𝑴𝑬𝑻 𝑾𝑰𝑻𝑯 𝑾𝑯𝑨𝑻 𝑾𝑨𝑺 𝑨𝑳𝑴𝑶𝑺𝑻 𝑨 𝑴𝑰𝑹𝑹𝑶𝑹. Leaping from their seated position on piled up sandbags, three of Robert's men stood to face opposite them. Their guns resting steady in one of their hands, each of them keeping it down by their sides as they waited in anticipation.

Tess was the one to speak up first, "let us through."

"You guys need to turn around and head back if you know what's good for you." The one in the center spoke, wiping the back of his gloved hand on his face, removing some of the grime that was on his dark skin.

"We just want Robert..." Robyn took a gentle step forward. "If you knew what was good for you, you'd step aside. You ain't got nothin' to do with this. Not yet, anyway..."

The man's eyes glance over to Robyn before looking across all of them, "turn the fuck around and leave now."

"We're not going anywhere without Robert."

"Bitch, I will bash your skull unless you turn around and get your dumb ass outta here." The man in the center raised his gun, pointing it at Tess, but before his finger could hover over the trigger, a bullet passed through the center of his skull, the sound echoing from Tess' right side. His body fell to the ground in front of the other two who quickly ran to take cover.

On the other side of the gun that began the firing between the two sides, Robyn shouted for Tess and Joel to take cover, the bullet shot that was aimed for her barely missing as she ducked behind one of the piles of stacked sand bags.

"Robyn!" Joel shouts over the gunfire, capturing her attention before nodding toward the direction of where the men were. Her nod back solidified an unspoken plan, but she crawled along the cover of the sandbags before dashing across to the next one. A bullet landed close by her feet, and she almost laughed at how poor their aim was. "Now!"

Peering over the sandbags, Robyn raised the pistol and fired, the bullet lodging itself in between the eyes of one of the men. Her delayed reaction to the other man peeking from the sandbags allowed one of his bullets to pass through the layer of her flannel shirt and scrape the skin of her arm. Biting her tongue, she ducked behind the sand bags whilst Joel and Tess flanked the remaining one of Robert's men. The three men who refused to let them past lay on the ground, a bullet lodged in all of their skulls.

Robyn raised from her crouched position and joined the other two, tucking the pistol in her waistband before she removed the flannel shirt to take a look at the damage. Minimal, and not bleeding too much, but would still require medical attention.

"Here." The rough country accent filled the air as Joel pulled a roll of bandages from his bag. He tossed it over in hoped of Robyn catching it, and she did so successfully.

She looked at him for a moment and muttered her thanks. But, it was just loud enough for him to hear. Her fingers roughly wrapped the bandage around her bicep, struggling to do so with only one hand, but she was able to manage, tearing the bandage with her teeth before tossing the remaining roll back to Joel.

"Nicely done, Texas..." Tess looked between the two Texans in front of her, watching closely as Robyn pulled her arms through the flannel shirt to hide her exposed skin, "well, I suppose that goes for the both of you."

Joel brushed off the comment ragarding their past, "how the hell did he get all these guys?"

Tess scoffed as they passed through a brick passage way, "if Robert's good at one thing, it's writing blank checks." She budged on the wired gate in front of them, locked and blocking their path. "Shit, not going through here..."

"Up there," Robyn pointed toward the ledge just to the left of the gate. With a boost they'd be able to get up. Joel turned around from the gate, looking up at the ledge the woman mentioned before leaning his back against the concrete, knees positioned in a squat with his arms outstretched for lifting them.

"Alright, c'mon..." Joel nodded his head over at Tess, motioning for her to hurry up. She got a running start, landing her left foot center in the palms of his hands before he lifting his arms. Tess pulled herself on top of the concrete wall, using her arms to drag her legs over the ledge so she could stand and wait for the other two.

Tess looked around for a moment, making sure none of Robert's men were behind them, only giving a thumbs up once the coast was clear. "All good. You two are safe to come up."

Joel and Robyn's eyes briefly meet and she slightly looked away. She really hated how much Joel had been helping her the past few days. Joel's voice broke her from her thoughts, "if you don't hurry up, at this rate we're never gonna beat curfew..."

She scoffed, "har har, you're hilarious, Joel. Maybe I'd hurry up if you readied your position. I don't exactly want a face full of concrete because you weren't ready to lift."

"Robyn..." Joel warned.

"Can you two hurry it up?" Tess grew annoyed at the pairs constant coming for each other's throats.

Robyn found herself looking up at Tess before she clenched her jaw and walked backwards. She nodded at Joel, and he gave a firm nod back as she began her running start, following in Tess' footsteps as he lifted her above the concrete wall. Tess gave her a hand, pulling her arms until Robyn's feet were planted firm.

"Give us your hand, Joel." Tess leaned over the ledge, outstretching her hand as Robyn followed her actions. Joel grabbed onto the both of them as they lifted. Robyn gritted her teeth. The man sure was heavy.

      With all three up and ready to go, they passed through the empty space, no sight of Robert's men until they reached another wire fence, with a convenient hole cut by the bottom for them to drop down to the lower level.

      "We gotta pass through there," Tess pointed to the main door of the building opposite them. "It will lead us to the other side and closer to Robert."

      "You sure know your way," Robyn dropped down the ledge, careful not to have her clothes or hair latch onto the metal wire that was cut. Landing in a crouched position, she motioned for the other two to follow quickly as she spotted a few men moving within the building. "More of Robert's men."

      The trio crammed themselves behind a row of boxed materials used as a barricade, tucked in a line as they overheard the conversations from the thugs ahead of them.

      "How do you know they're coming?" One of the men asked, a gun steady in his hands as he looked around weary.

      "Two of our guys died trying to take Tess out. I guarantee that she and Joel are on their way here right now to get Robert." The other replied.

      Robyn looked over at Tess, but the woman in mauve shrugged her shoulders with a smile, proud of the things that the men had said she did.

      A deep sigh left the first man they heard speak, "Jesus. We shouldn't have taken this job."

      Keeping the pistol in her waistband, Robyn took out the blade instead. The position they were in required stealth. As one of the men passed her, she jumped from one barricade to the other, leaping over before taking the man in her arms as Tess ran for the other.

      Both men got ready to alert others nearby, but Robyn quickly used her hand to cover the scared man's mouth. Whilst the men were in the two women's hands, Joel took the opportunity to run around the edge of the area, placing his back snug against the wall of the building as he heard nearby footsteps running toward the scene.

      Using her blade, Robyn embedded it beneath the chin, pulling it out to allow the man to choke on his own blood for a few seconds before carving the blade through the skin of his throat.

      Tess followed the woman's actions and both of them dropped the bloodied bodies before ducking behind a barricade and Joel took the head of one of a third men who ran from the building, smashing his skull against the wall and painting it red.

"Move up," Tess nodded her head toward the door and Robyn followed her lead, making sure to watch her back as she wiped the bloody knife against her red flannel, leaving her hands blood soaked.

Joel looked around through the builing before raising from his crouched position, "all clear."

"Easy enough," Robyn tucked her blade away for the time being as she picked up a brick, tossing it in her hand.

"Not so easy form here," Tess responded, crossing her arms over her chest as they walked through the building, "beyond here is the warehouse filled with Robert's men. This was minor security. Most of them will be guarding where he is."

"Robert's probably cowering away in the corner of a building," Robyn declared. "I think I know exactly where he'd be, too. Not the first time I've dealt with this shit."

"Then we remain stealthy, we might not have to kill every one of his men. We just need Robert," Joel suggested, but was silenced by the click of Robyn's tongue.

"Who knew the big bag brood didn't wanna kill them all..." She teased before shrugging, "would be a great plan if it weren't for the fact that the building Robert will be hiding in is one practically out in the open. Swarmed with his men. They're hidden in shipping containers. They know that field better than us."

"So, we kill them all?" Tess asked, bringing out her gun.

Robyn nodded firmly, "can't risk him whistling for them to come to his rescue once he sees us. Less of his men the better..."

⸝⸝ ʚ 🧟‍♀️ ! ⌗ °• ━━━━━━━━━ 𝑺𝑶𝑨𝑲𝑬𝑫 𝑰𝑵 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑩𝑳𝑶𝑶𝑫 𝑶𝑭 𝑹𝑶𝑩𝑬𝑹𝑻❜𝑺 𝑴𝑬𝑵, 𝑹𝑶𝑩𝒀𝑵 𝑾𝑰𝑷𝑬𝑫 𝑯𝑬𝑹 𝑯𝑨𝑵𝑫𝑺 𝑨𝑮𝑨𝑰𝑵𝑺𝑻 𝑯𝑬𝑹 𝑪𝑳𝑶𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑺. The blood filled the cracks in her slowly aging skin as she tucked away the knife and pulled out her pistol. For now, the area was clear, leaving them standing among the bodies of all of Robert's men. She no longer had the brick she had been tossing in her hands, small pieces of a brain from one of the men sticking to the red flannel.

      "That building there," Robyn whispered, pointing a finger to the room beside the large shipman boat. She got up from the concrete floor, stepping on the dead body with her heavy duty boots. "Only place left for Robert to be."

      "You sure?" Tess asked.

      "Positive," Robyn responded, pushing open the white metal door with one hand as she swept around the room with her gun raised in another.

      Joel pushed ahead of her, his stride angry as they grew closer to Robert with every step. The amount of men they had to kill just to get to the man was astronomical. Robyn hadn't killed so many men in years. Robyn steadied her gun as Joel opened the second door. A single shot rang out as the sparks of a bullet hitting the metal door frame forced the three of them to hide on either side of the door.

      "Oh shit!" They could hear Robert's panic, and sensing it even further as he fired a few more shots through the doorway despite the group being hidden to the side. "Get back! Get the fuck back!"

      Tess's eyes rolled, "we just wanna talk, Robert."

      "We ain't got fuckin' nothin' to talk about! I saw that bitch with ya! If ya wanted to talk, you wouldn't have brought her along!" Robert shouted at the empty doorway, gun raised but no longer firing bullets.

      Robyn's eyes rolled at the earned title.

      "Just put your gun down!" Tess shouted back. Peeking her head around the corner scored another bullet passing through the doorway, scraping the metal by Tess's head.

      "Yeah... Go fuck yourself!" He attempted to fire again, but Robyn heard the click of an empty gun. Robert's gun flew past their heads as he made a run for it through the door to his right, leaving him defenseless if they managed to catch up.

      "He's running!"

      Joel hadn't wasted a second in kicking the door open, getting a quick look at Robert dashing to the right through a back alley of the port. "C'mon! He ran in here!"

      The three passed through Robert's path as Robyn instructed the two of them on where to go. A series of "rights" and "lefts" lead them through a door protected by plastic hanging from the doorway in strips. Running through the building, Tess and Joel leapt through the large window that had been recently shattered, careful not to cut themselves on the remaining glass.

      Robyn almost laughed at the sight of Robert trying to push the metal gate in front of him, leaving him to be stuck at a dead end with the three blocking every possible path he would be able to run to. "That was beyond pathetic, Robert... I thought you woulda been able to escape better than that after all these years."

      His head hung low as Tess smiled, "Hello, Robert."

      Finally, he turned around to face them and they finally get a good look at the weasel. Black hair pulled into a man bun and his ears littered with a few earrings. "Tess. Joel." And he looked over at Robyn before looking down at the two stumps where his fingers should have been, "Robyn... Look, no hard feelings, right?"

      He takes a few steps but Tess stops him, motioning for Robyn to step forward, "none at all... Robyn."

      Robert tried to take the open opportunity to escape as the older woman brought her blade out. Robyn's hand found its place around the mans collar before pinning him against the wall, slamming him hard enough to force him to fall to the concrete ground when she removed her hand from his clothing. "Not so fast..."

      "Fuck you... Goddammit!" Robert held the back of his head, looking up at all three of the individuals. "Look, whatever it is you heard, it ain't true, okay? I just want to say-"

      "Joel..." Tess nodded at the larger man, and he happily took Robert in his hands, throwing him face first into the ground before using his boot to do damage to Robert's face. "The guns. You wanna tell us where the guns are? If not, I'm sure these two could stay here all day roughin' you up."

      "Fine! Sure, but... it's complicated. Alright?"

      "Ya hear that? It's "complicated"... biggest load of horseshit I ever heard," Robyn looked at both Joel and Tess.

      "Look! Just hear me out on this-"

      "Robyn," the woman's name sounded angry in Tess's voice, now fed up with Robert's shit. They'd need to give him a bit more of a scare. Robyn nodded at Tess's command, lowering herself down to the ground and pressed her knee into Robert's neck while the other made sure to steady his arm.

      Leaning in and whispering, Robyn sent a chill down the man's spine, "time to kiss a third finger goodbye, Robert..." Using her left hand to hold the man's fingers still, and slicing her blade though the man's ring finger, she left a bloodied mess that mingled with his screams. "Wanna tell them where the guns are now, huh? You still got seven more... so you better start talkin', yeah?"

      "Continue," Tess moved around Robert's body to crouch in front of him. "Hurry up."

      "I sold 'em!"

      Remaining in silence, Tess clenched her jaw as she looked up at Joel who motioned for Robyn to move as he prepared to break the mans arm. "Excuse me?"

      "I didn't have much of a choice!" Robert squirmed under Joel's touch as Robyn kept her blade steady, moving to the side as she looked around the any more of Robert's men lurking around the corner. "I owed someone!"

      "No..." Tess leaned forward, "you owned us. I'd say you bet on the wrong horse."

      Robert finally opened his eyes, trying his best to look up and both Joel and Tess, "I just need more time. Just... gimme a week."

      Tess picked up the bloodied finger that Robyn had cut from the mans hand before chucking it over her shoulder, "you know, I might've done that if you hadn't tried to fucking kill me."

      "Oh, come on-"

      "Who has our guns?!" Tess shouted at the man, growing beyond fed up.

      Robert remained silent, "I- I can't. But, look-"

      Robyn watched as Tess firmly nodded at Joel, looking down at Robert's laid out arm. The snap of the bone echoed in the alley, and Robert's scream followed as the bone of his arm peaking from the hooded jacket he wore. Impressed by the sheer strength of Joel, Robyn found herself smirking slightly.

      "So, you wanna cough it up yet?" Robyn laughed at the state of the man on the concrete as Joel moved away. "Who has their guns, Robert?"

      "Shit..." He whispered, "It's the Fireflies. I owed the Fireflies."

      "What?"

      Robert laughed, rolling onto his side, "look, they're basically all dead. We can just- Just go on in there, finish 'em off. We get the guns. Whadaya say? C'mon. Fuck those Fireflies! Let's go get em!"

      Tess, Joel and Robyn shared a look. "What do you guys think?" Tess asked.

      "I think I got a better idea..." Robyn pulled the gun from her waistband and fired, leaving a bullet hole in Robert's skull. She let out a sigh of relief as she watched the man bleed, unmoving on the ground. Finally the runt was dead. In this situation, she supposed Robert wasn't her man to kill, but she did it anyway.

      Joel shrugged, "well, what now?"

      "We go get our merchandise back." Tess paced around Robert's body.

      "Look, I signed up for getting Robert," Robyn tucked the pistol back to its place, "I didn't sign up for going after the fuckin' Fireflies."

      "I know! I know! Dammit," Tess gritted her teeth, "we just need to find a Firefly. Explain it to them-"

      Robyn scoffed, "find a Firefly? You do hear the words comin' out of your own mouth, right?"

      "Robyn's right. Usually it would be hard..." A voice came from the shadows, and all three pulled their guns from their waistbands, "but I suppose you won't have to look very far..."

      Joel shook his head whilst looking at the wounded woman, her dark hair in a bun while she bled through her grey tank top, "what are the odds... queen Firefly."

      "Marlene..."

⸝⸝ ʚ 🎮 ! ⌗ °• ━━━ '' - «❕»‧₊˚𓍯 𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙚
╰┈➤ i hate writing action bruh. but anyway, here's the chapter 💪🏻