Badass

Yo sup guys; it's been quite a while hasn't it? Sorry about not being able to post for the past few months, but alas, life has gotten in the way, and I suspect will continue to. Anyway, this is the before promised 'Battle Chapter!!'(Lightning strikes and thunder and other epic shit), which revolves around the battle between The Hand of Aegis, and Boris and his guys. There are a few things though that you guys should actually take heed of. One being that I refer to Steve and Don as twins through out this Chapter, as I'm sure I mentioned it before, but they are twins. Another thing is that I have changed the way Corruption Vision looks, because the image I had in my head of it when I described it the first few times was completely different from what I actually wrote down, so the description that you will be reading in here will be different to what it was in previous Chapters .Anyway, that's pretty much the foreword done with, so I hope you enjoy Badass Chapter 6.

The lift ride was spent in total silence, as Zdenek and the rest of the group were still recovering from the emotional moment they had just had. The lift reached the bottom floor and they all made their way to the parking. Zdenek saw both cars parked and waiting, with Mays' car parked behind Erykahs. Erykah didn't even turn her head to face the approaching group, as she had no idea how Zdenek would react to her having told everyone else what he had told her. As they got closer, Amy sped up slightly to get in front of Zdenek, before opening the door for him, which he acknowledged with a nod of appreciation. After he got in the car, Amy closed the door and gave Zdenek a look which couldn't exactly decipher, but figured he knew the meaning of. Erykah started the car, and drove out of the building, with Amy and the rest in the car behind them. After riding for a bit in silence, Zdenek looked over to Erykah who was still yet to look at him or acknowledge his being there, although he completely understood why. He maintained his gaze on her for a bit.

"Good morning Rica."

Erykah, upon hearing her name looked over at Zdenek with her usual scowl looking slightly different.

"Good morning Zdenek. I--"

"I'm not angry that you said anything, they just caught me off guard. Also, even though I really appreciate the feelings and sentiment which you all threw at me, I'm still alone, and that won't change. Anyway, let's discuss the plan."

The scowl on Erykahs' face changed to one of confusion over his last statement, however then it changed to one that looked of relief because he wasn't angry, before molding back into its' normal state. They drove for a little while longer in silence before she looked back over at him. She felt as though she had to break the silence, which felt quite awkward.

"How confident are you in Plan A working Zdenek?"

"Honestly? I think that Plan A is nothing more than a technicality. A technicality which has allowed us to gain relatively safe entry into the stronghold of the boss of the area we are trying to swallow up and take over. The only problem is that I'm pretty sure Boris himself also knows this, so once we're inside, we're either leaving as the victors, or the losers and I don't plan on leaving as the latter."

Erykah looked at Zdenek, noticing how even though he looked how he normally did, that his face and his posture just oozed confidence. He looked back at her, and they kept on talking. Those in the car behind them noticed that there seemed to be a conversation happening in the car, and they seemed to be more anxious than the two in the car ahead. Not a single word had been spoken between the four of them, and when they saw that there was a conversation happening, there was nothing they wanted more than to be in the car with them, or at least have some kind of listening device planted in there. Amy gripped the steering wheel hard and pulled a face filled with frustration.

"I don't know about you guys, but I would kill to be in that car right now."

The rest of them all grunted and nodded in agreement, before Steph shook her head, snapping out of the mini mob mentality.

"No! What's being said in there is none of our business! We don't even know if he is okay with Erykah having completely shared what he said to her with us, bearing in mind that as the first time that he had opened up to her. For all we know, he could be berating her with a calm expression on his face, and we wouldn't know it."

There was a brief period of silence in the car, as everyone contemplated and considered what Steph just said. About a minute later, Amy spoke again.

"I don't know about you guys, but after hearing that, I would DEFINITELY kill to be in that car right now!"

Amy, Steve and Don all nodded their heads in agreement, and after a brief period of resistance, Steph just gave up and agreed with them.

Zdenek and Erykah had just about finished their conversation before Erykahs' phone rang. She looked at it, and saw that Amy was calling her, which meant that they were about to reach the club. She answered the phone, using her Bluetooth headset.

"Yes Amy? How close are we?"

"Oh, we're actually about two minutes away. We're on the correct road, so we'll see the Aftershock sign in a bit."

"Oh, okay. Well we'll see you there then."

Erykah cut the call, and looked over towards Zdenek.

"Zdenek, we'll be arriving at Aftershock in a bit."

Zdenek, who was facing straight ahead, gave a slight smile, with his hair shining slightly in the sunlight, and his eyes having a look that seemed to make their colour look more intense.

"I see. Well, this is the first step in the expansion of Aegis Erykah, so I hope you are ready as the first step is almost always the hardest."

The smile on his face disappeared and was replaced with a look that couldn't be described as anything other than steel and determination and because of that, Erykah seemed to catch her breath. Just then they arrived, and she was completely stunned with what she saw before them; the entire lot was filled with cars, all of which were lined up next to each other in formation, restricting all paths besides the one that had been created by their positions. After both cars drove down the narrow manufactured corridor, a large SUV drove out from the side and blocked the entrance, meaning that there was no way for them to leave unless they were allowed to. Erykah looked over at Zdenek, who seemed to be completely fine with the current state of things. Zdenek looked back at Erykah and that same steel and determination she saw earlier was still there, and seemed to reassure her and ensure that she wasn't apprehensive in the slightest.

"Don't worry about a thing Rica, I was expecting this. They are trying to take away our spirit before we even get inside the building, but trust me; we'll be leaving here as the winners, with Boris having joined Aegis, trust me. Now, let's park in those two conveniently empty spaces."

Erykah drove into the space, with Amy and the rest of the group parking next to them. Zdenek got out first, and walked around back of the car, waiting for everyone else to get out. As they did, he looked at them and saw how their spirits weren't all that high, and that their focus was way too zeroed in on the cars and how they were parked. He noticed how even Amy was quiet and didn't seem to be her usual confident self.

"Guys, gather around. Come closer."

They all did so, gathered around Zdenek in a small circle, looked around the parking lot, and seemed rather intimidated.

"Just by looking at your faces and body language, I can see that you all have absolutely no confidence, and that your spirits have been squashed by this act."

Amy looked up at Zdenek, slightly frustrated at his statement and by how it was actually quite true.

"Yeah, well just look all around us! They are basically telling us that we're useless, that we're small, that we're weak, that we're—"

"Amy, if you believe what you just said then you actually are all of those things. Besides, if we really were all of those things, then they wouldn't have bothered with such show dominance now would they? The fact that Tundra did all this when only 6 people were coming here proves just how seriously they take you. Don't let Boris and his people try to intimidate and bully you into submission, because if you do, then they've already won half the battle."

Everyone then started raising their heads, and looking at Zdenek. He just looked up into the sky, and didn't seem to have any worries. His obvious confidence caused the rest of them to gain some confidence of their own, with their body language changing slightly.

"Don't worry, have faith in yourselves and your abilities and you'll get out of this alive. You all have the ability to more than hold you own against the people in that building. Personally, I'm not scared of anything they have to offer, and neither should any of you. You are the metaphorical fingers of the Hand of Aegis, which means you are powerful, capable and I can think of no better five people at this point to be fighting along side with. So steel yourselves and get ready to walk in there and take over Tundra."

Zdeneks' speech had not only driven away any and all doubt in their minds, but also fired them up like crazy. Zdenek then clenched his fists and activated Corruption Vision silently, and had is eyes burst into purple flames, with the entire eye completely bright purple, with just the outline of his pupils having a white outline. The flames freely flowed out from his eye sockets, making Zdenek look truly epic.

"Now Hand of Aegis, I shall be walking right down the middle of this lot, down the little corridor which Tundra made to intimidate us. I'm going to walk right down it and completely suppress their confidence with my own and take over their group, through words or through war. If you want Aegis to expand, then walk along side me right into the enemy stronghold, and take over it with me."

"Yes sir!"

The enthusiasm and power behind that acknowledgement caused Zdenek to grin, and they broke the circle up to stand in a formation which just seemed to fit, with Zdenek as the spear head, Erykah standing just behind him to his right, with Amy and Steph slightly behind her to her right, and the twins to her left. Just then, a gust of wind blew and all Zdeneks' coat fluttered in the wind, as did his ponytail. The flames from his eyes also burned and flowed out in the direction the wind was blowing. He then turned his head back to look at everyone, and saw them all looking dogged and bullish, pumping out their chests and clenching their fists as well. The sight of them being this fired up made Zdenek give a wry smile.

"Steve..."

"Sir!"

"Don..."

"Sir!"

"Stephanie..."

"Boss!"

"Amy..."

"Boss man!"

"Rica..."

"Zdenek."

Zdenek closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath, collecting and composing himself.

"Let's go!"

Zdenek said the line with his eyes closed, and as he said 'go', he opened them and the flames from his eyes fluctuated and grew in both size and stature, becoming longer and more intense. The twins then flexed, bringing their clenched fists in front of their respective stomachs and punched them into each other, Stephanie gripped the rims of her glasses and Amy ran her right hand through her hair while Erykah just stood with her hands by her sides, and tensed up her muscles, causing her ridiculously cut muscles to ripple. They all did this at the same time, and with the exception of Erykah, screamed.

"YES SIR!!!"

Zdenek faced forward and started walking, with the rest of them all following behind him. As they made their way to the clear bit of parking lot, Zdenek decided to make an intimidating entrance. As they were about to emerge from the ocean of cars, he focused his energy on the final car, before unleashing an invisible bolt of energy at it, causing that car to be launched into the air and flipping and twisting a few times before landing on another one, causing the alarms of both cars to go off. The group then emerged from the space that the car had previously occupied, and turned almost in unison and continued to walk down the path, looking completely confident and unfazed. They could hear music coming from the building and it got louder as they got closer. They reached the door quite quickly, and the bouncer having seen what happened to the car just stepped aside and opened the door for them. They walked in to see quite a large number of low level AE users all on the dance floor doing their thing. Someone who looked to be a host approached the group, realizing once he got closer just who they were. Well, all of them except Zdenek, who was completely unknown but seemed to be leading them. He looked at the beautiful purple flames which were emanating from his eyes and got completely caught up in them, not even noticing when they had actually reached him.

"Excuse me."

The sound of Zdeneks' voice completely snapped him out of it and forced him to look away from his eyes.

"Excuse me, we're here to see—"

"Yes, you are here to see Boris. Please Hand of Aegis, follow me."

They did exactly that and followed him up some stairs. They kept on ascending until they reached what seemed to be the third floor. As they got there, they noticed that they were in a rather large room, adorned completely in red with a table near the centre. Standing behind the table was an absolutely massive man, slightly shorter than the twins but much larger in terms of mass. He had a large gut, but tree trunk like arms and a massive chest. He had long blonde hair and looked to be a rather attractive man, but his size really held their focus. To his left stood Ronald and Andrew, the Black Bear AE users and to his right stood Jason and Q, the crocodile and Bison AE users. Judging from their demeanor, they had been waiting for Zdenek and the others to arrive. Boris then walked around to the front of the table, and smiled.

"Greetings to you Hand of Aegis and unknown fellow with the flaming eyes. I welcome you to Aftershock, the home base of my AE group, Tundra."

Zdenek took a few steps forward before looking Boris in the eyes and speaking.

"Yes, greetings to you too Boris, and thank you for agreeing to this meeting on such short notice."

"Forgive me Flame Eyes, but I do not know your name, in what capacity you are here in, and why you are speaking for The Hand, when the alpha of the entire group stands behind you."

"Oh yes, I must apologize for the lack of an introduction on my part. My name is Zdenek, and I am here in the capacity of...well, kind of as an advisor of The Hand, and I speak on behalf of the alpha because she wants me to."

Boris didn't seem to buy the last part of the introduction, however he just shrugged it off and went back around the desk and sat down in his chair.

"Please Hand of Aegis, take a seat. I was told that there were six of you rather than five a few minutes ago, and the sixth chair arrived just before you."

The group then slowly sat down, with them keeping the same order that they had in the formation. Boris sat down in his chair, and was sitting directly across from Zdenek.

"Well Zdenek, would you all like some tea?"

"Yes please, some tea would be nice thank you."

Boris made a gesture with his hand and Q left the room, before returning just a few seconds later. He took his place next to Jason and Boris looked back at Zdenek. He leant forward and placed both elbows on the surface of the table before placing his rather large chin in his rather large palms, and gave Zdenek with a curious gaze.

"So then Zdenek, would you care to tell me what the purpose of this meeting is? It was quite surprising when your messenger arrived yesterday with that note you had written. The note itself wasn't what made me agree to this, but rather the fact that the note was sent. I have no idea what you may wish of me, however I am curious as to what it is, so please go ahead and tell me."

Zdenek looked Boris in the eyes, and decided to deactivate Corruption Vision as it was a technique and sapped his energy, however small its' energy requirements were, so he closed his eyes and when he opened them again, they were no longer purple and burning, and his pupils were amber again.

"Well Boris, the alpha of Aegis sent the message as the group is going to be expanding rather soon, and thus has a proposition for you."

Boris seemed to be even more interested now at the thought of this proposition and his curiosity made him smile.

"Ooooh, a proposition? Now what kind of proposition could Aegis possibly have that would interest me?"

Boris slinked forward on his elbows slightly, causing him to move forward ever so slightly. Zdenek saw how Boris was rather curious to know what the proposition was and just knew that based on how his attitude was before knowing what it was; he probably wasn't going to go with Plan A.

"Well Boris, the proposition is that you and Tundra join Aegis."

Boris' eyebrows rose in shock, as he wasn't expecting this. After a second though, he regained his composure and chuckled a little bit to himself.

"You want Tundra and I Join Aegis; in what capacity? Do you want Aegis to join Tundra as maybe a smaller sister group and I lead them both, while Erykah retains control of Aegis, or Aegis gets swallowed up by Tundra, and I take over the new conglomerate?"

Zdenek couldn't help but give a wry grin at the questions posed by Boris. He found it quite funny that Boris had practically said what their proposition was, but just got the order switched around. Boris noticed Zdenek grinning and didn't really like it, but before he could say anything, there was a knock on the door and a woman carrying a tray and six tea cups and a rather large tea pot entered the room. She placed each of the cups down in front of an Aegis member before pouring the tea for them and leaving. Zdenek looked over at Boris' side of the table and noticed that they weren't going to be drinking any tea.

"I'm just wondering Boris, why you or your men aren't drinking any tea."

Boris just smiled at Zdenek and sat back into his chair, removing his elbows from the desk and folding his arms across his chest.

"Well Zdenek, we already had something to drink earlier, so we are quite alright. Anyway, about this proposition of yours..."

"Yes, the proposition. It was actually the second one, although you seemed to get the order lightly mixed up."

Boris looked slightly confused, not knowing exactly what Zdenek was trying to say.

"I'm sorry Zdenek, but what do you mean?"

Zdenek sat up straight and folded his arms, and looked at Boris with quit an uncompromising look on his face.

"Well Boris, what I mean is that Aegis is going to be swallowing up Tundra and taking over your territory. What Aegis is offering though is that you join willingly and accept a high ranking position within Aegis, making you a captain commander of sorts. You would be vital to the progression and evolution of Aegis and thus, The Hand would like to avoid making this a hostile take over and have you join of your own free will."

Boris looked at Zdenek and saw just how serious he was being. He then looked around and saw the expressions on the faces of the rest of the Hand of Aegis and he closed his eyes before laughing softly to himself. After laughing he looked at Zdenek and resumed his more relaxed position from before with his elbows on the table.

"Well Zdenek, I don't think I'll be able to take Aegis up on that offer. While I appreciate being valued so highly, I can't just agree to allow my AE group to be swallowed up by a smaller and weaker group. Also on a personal note, I cannot submit to and follow a person who is currently weaker than me. If you understand, please drink your tea and leave. I'll send word down to the gate for them to let you out."