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Among the streets of Syndicate, the news spread among the citizens like a source of mania that spread through the air.
The news about the birthday party of one of the most powerful women on Discity west side was already on everyone's lips.
The commander of the legion, the Empress of Syndicate was almost turning 36. After the clock struck midnight, the entire Syndicate seemed ready to celebrate the birth of one of their leader. The strongest and most influential woman among the legion, that emanated respect and fear among the gangs. Someone who led the Syndicate's eventual rebuilding and recovery, someone who helped free the mania from the streets and from the hands of the gangsters. Who established her own law among with other allies and made the Syndicate finally prosper again.
Popularly known as Commander Zoya, the face of the revolution and the future of the Sinners.
While many waited to celebrate the birthday of someone so influential, at the legion headquarters, a party had already started early. Zoya's followers were already celebrating in the company of their commander. Music, plenty of beer, food and excited faces mingled with loud conversations.
While many celebrated around her, excited by the honor of being there, Zoya sat in the center of a long table where influential legion members sat beside her. They all ate and talked among themselves, their beer bottles always full, as well as their leader who, despite being happy to see everyone so excited about her birthday, would still prefer to celebrate in a less... openly and social way.
Her half-empty bottle was placed on the table, but her hand never let go of the glass, squeezing it a bit tight, but careful enough so the glass wouldn't break in her hand and draw more attention to herself. She hid her apprehension behind a forced serene look and by raising her bottle to greet other members who approached to wish her well.
The only one who seemed to notice her discomfort was her right-hand man, Earl, who sat next to her at the table. His attentive eyes analyzed the body language of his leader, a noticeable man who had been wondering for hours when it would be the right time to question her about all that apprehension. Even though he already knew the real reason for all that discomfort.
— Just a few more hours and we'll be done with this. — He said as he leaned towards her and murmured softly so that only she could hear.
— I'm not worried about that, let them have fun. — Her response came in his tone, before the beer bottle returned to her lips to take the rest of the liquid that was already running hot down her throat. She looked at the glass in disgust after she was done, complaining in her most annoyed tone. — Hot beer..
There was no need for her to say more, Earl quickly signaled for one of the members to bring Zoya's favorite beer to her.A bottle covered in ice, just like the previous one that had been handed to her. The problem wasn't the temperature of the bottle, but how long it was taking her to finish her drink, causing the bottle to get hot and make the drink no longer so tasty after a while.
As she opened the bottle, the commander's eyes followed to the furthest part of that room. Staring at the close wood door as she had been doing for the last few hours, as if waiting impatiently for something that should have already happened. Something Earl had already noticed as well, besides the celebration she was dying to get up and leave soon, someone whose invitation had been personally delivered by his boss havent yet arrived.
Suddenly she huffed impatiently, taking another sip of her beer which this time gave her some satisfaction and went down cold, relieving some of all that stress.
— Perhaps... she must have forgotten or something came up at the last minute. — He said in a low tone, analyzing her expressions that betrayed her for a moment, showing the disappointment before hiding it behind an false expression of confusion and disdain.
— Who exactly are you talking about?— She questioned, taking another sip from her bottle, her fingers tightening around the glass.
— The only person my commander personally invited and wait for. The Chief of Bureau.
— What makes you think I'm waiting for the Chief? She has been obsessed hunting that woman, I just invited her personally as a sign of mutual respect between us both. She doesn't have the time for such trivial thing. — In one gulp she finished her drink, accidentally popping the bottle between her fingers and catching glances at herself. She cursed in her mind at the carelessness, before shaking her hand across the table and starting to pinch the shards out, which have opened deep cuts she didn't care about.
Before the situation could get any worse, one of the drunk members of the legion stood up, raised the bottle and shouted "Long live the commander" and then broke the bottle over his head. Causing a wave among the other members who began to scream and follow the bottle's example in a supposed tribute to the Sinner who removed the last shard from her hands, watching the cuts close in an inhuman way.
— Stay and enjoy yourself, I'm gonna clean this mess. — She said coldly as she noticed some of the drops of beer that remained in the bottle had fallen onto her new jacket and pants.
Earl wasn't able to say anything else, without moving from his seat he watched his boss get up and leave in silence. He hated seeing her impatient like that, when she wanted something, she would get it no matter what. But he couldn't kidnap the Bureau Chief and bring her against her will to a party that not even Zoya wanted to be at. Earl would do it without thinking twice if it would please his commander, but he knew she would scold him for it.
With a wave he instructed the members to clean up the mess before Zoya returned and worsened her mood. He had barely noticed that his boss had not even taken ten steps before freezing in the same place. Her eyes were suddenly empty, expressionless and for some reason she couldn't focus on her surroundings. She felt disconnected from reality, the sound of the music and the voices around her slowly faded away, giving way to a distant, muffled sound, which was gradually becoming clearer to hear.
For some unknown reason, Zoya felt suffocated and drops of something gross and hot ran from her forehead down to her mouth. An unpleasant smell and the taste of rusty metal bothered hers nose and mouth, a familiar taste, but she couldn't understand at first what it was. Without the time to think about what were going on, abruptly her head shot up towards the sky as if something strong had hit her chin so hardly that she couldn't hold herself. She felt week, defenseless. She couldn't move, she didn't want to move anymore because every time she did something in her body started to hurt extremely as if something inside her have it broken or torn.
The lips reddened by that grotesque liquid that dripped from her forehead parted for a moment. And from her mouth, the words "sinners lover" were whispered repeatedly as it seemed to be carved into her mind by something sharp and uncontrollable.
The eyes that stared at the ceiling of that hall, sudden moved to met the ground, finding a reddish puddle that seemed to be flowing from inside her body. Zoya had never been so confused and lost as she was at that moment, her ears were ringing, her body was crying out for help by the excruciating pain that hit her and the words stuck in her mind were still repeated by her for no explianed reason.
As the vision of terror took hold of her, all the eyes of the legion members were upon their boss. All the festive atmosphere had disappeared in seconds when they were faced with the sight of the commander standing, eyes open to the sky, shining a flaming purple while red spikes shot out from her body, preventing her from moving. She was stuck in the same place, without showing any reaction other than whispering meaningless words to herself.
Earl quickly stood up, eyes attentive on his commander and around, he knew those spikes, the Chief's Shackles that imprisoned the sinners had been activated. That was a sign of danger, a sign of betrayal, a silent declaration of war. If his boss was helpless and under control, he could only understand that MBCC was nearby and had finally moved to catch Zoya and deal with the Legion.
With hurried steps to his Boss, he began one of the many plans he had created for that day, mobilizing the members of the legion to enter into a state of conflict, abandoning their drunkenness to fulfill their duty. Protect the Legion commander at all costs, even if everyone was wiped out. They were aware of this, they would fight for Zoya until the last of them were no longer standing.
Zoya's right hand reached out to her paralyzed body, he couldn't touch her not while the Shackles were active on her.
— Boss, can you hear me? — His apprehensive voice rang out, his eyes studying her face, but all he saw was disorientation and meaningless whispers.
While chaos unfolded outside, for Zoya the sudden silence was torture, something inside her tingled and burned at the same time, as if something was wrong. She didn't know how, but she could feel the presence of someone watching her within that silence. Lifting her face, she only found her own image looking back at her in the reflection of what appeared to be a glass wall. The pain was completely gone, the grotesque smell and taste of what she identified as blood was no longer there. In the reflected image, only she was there, standing still, with an expression of confusion on her face.
Her eyes followed to the floor where the pool of blood she had stepped in was no longer there and when she regained her attention to her reflection, she found more than her blue eyes. In the distance, someone lay sprawled on the ground inside what looked like a glass box in the void.
She could saw a woman lying there. Long strands of dark hair fell over her face, her social shirt looked more darker stained with blood which, as it was not dry, Zoya knew it was recent. The body didn't move, but whoever was on the other side seemed to be breathing in a controlled and standardized way, trying their best to not move her body. The identity of that person might not interest Zoya, if it weren't for the strange glow stuck to that stranger's belt.
Her attentive eyes analyzed all the details on her clothing, from the fancy buttons on the dress shirt to even the types of shoes the stranger was wearing. As she approached, the silhouette became recognizable, almost familiar. Unfortunately for Zoya, this invisible wall prevented her from approaching the figure on the other side.
Her hands touched the cold glass as the fallen figure seemed noticed her presence, slowly lifting her face and staring at Zoya with a blank, lost gaze.
— C-chief! — Zoya's shaky voice came out as she finally identified the woman in front of her, bloodied and with cuts all around her face and her clothes. That woman looked so hurt that she didn't seem to have the strength to get up, her eyes didn't seem to recognize Zoya, she just knew that someone was watching her and the lack of expression on her face only showed that something was off inside her, that completely triggered Zoya. — Hold there Chief, I'm coming! — The commander said, concern seeming to show on her face.
With determination she raised her fist, willing to use all her strength, she struck the first blow on the box that imprisoned her, but no sucess. The glass did not move or tremble with that punch, no apparent damage. However, Zoya didn't give up, she continued punching the glass increasing her strength with time, but all she managed to do was stain the box with her own blood whe her bones started to rip her skin cutting a way out, hurting by all her attempts, forcing her to pause the strikes so her hands would have time to heal while she thought of another way.
— Chief, can you hear me? — she asked Ignoring her own pain, her voice, though louder, didn't seem to have any effect. The woman continued to stare at her in silence, her eyes distant, slowly decreasing as if it could go out at any moment. — Chief, it's Zoya! — She persisted, her open hands returning to the glass as she stared at the disoriented woman.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something moving. Like a figure shrouded in a red mist that cover it face and body, making it unrecognizable. The figure began to approach the Chief and unlike Zoya, it seemed to pass through that glass box with immense ease, getting the woman's attention that carefully lifted her head to face it.
— Hey! — The commander screamed as she saw the stranger crouch down next to the Chief. — Get away from her! — She tried again, using all her strength to punch the glass that remained intact. Her words seemed to not even be heard, unlike the unknown figure who seemed to be saying something to the Chef, inaudible to Zoya, but clearly heard by the woman who seems to give her slow answers.
The Chief never looked so fragile and unprotected as she was at that moment. Her physical condition worried Zoya, the connection between the two seemed shallow as if the Chief's side was weakening by each second. The amount of blood she had lost could lead to her death in a short time. But Zoya wondered, where were the sinners who were supposed to be with the Chief? Why was she in that condition? Why was there no news from the Chief or the MBCC? They were supposed to be taking care of her, but at that moment everything seems lost and confusing.
Looking at the figure that whispered inaudible things to her, more questions arose in her head. She could feel slightly the Chief's emotions. She was scared, lost, confused, not even she seemed to know what was going on.
Suddenly, pain. Something seemed to have hit Zoya right in the pit of her stomach, making her fold and spit, the metallic taste filling her mouth again. However, nothing had really come out of her. She raised her eyes again, just to catch the Bureau Chief hunched forward, more blood leaking from her mouth as she writhed in pain. The sight of her was beginning to ignite something inside Zoya, the fury she held back seemed to be growing, her eyes seemed to burn along with her body that succumbed to the purple flame.
For the first time, the Chief's gaze lifted towards the commander, finally seeming to notice her through her pained expressions. Her mouth opened for a moment, but only blood escaped in an inevitable cough. The fury Zoya carried seemed to grow even more, as if it burning all her bones and skin with it, but there's really no pain, just the feeling of her mania growing incessantly inside her.
With another punch the glass finally seemed to give way, shattering quickly, suddenly spreading the mania in the void and increasing the connection between Chief and the Sinner. She could feel her better, as if they were close, but somehow so far at the same time. Zoya was ready to take the first step, but the Chief's voice finally filled her ears, making her focus her eyes on a familiar male face.
Earl suddenly appeared in front of her vision, changing completely the ambient from the previous Chief's torture, switching to a confused sinner that had his neck grabbed by the commander's hand holding him tightly in place.
— C-commander.. — Earl's voice caught her attention, making Zoya finally realized the situation and quickly release him.
Confusion seemed to establish itself between the two, the shackles no longer controlled her body, she was free, surrounded by several other sinners who watched suddenly worriedly at her. Zoya closed her eyes in an attempt to establish the connection between her and The Chief again, without any success. Despite feeling their shackles intertwined, she was so far away that her presence was almost unreachable. She suddenly growled, her hands clenching in fury as the flames seemed to return to her body, starting to consume her again.
— What happened, Commander? — A serious Earl asked, noticing Zoya's active mania filling the air.
— Gather the council. The Bureau Chief needs our help. — Her eyes opened, staring intently at Earl, carrying an unbridled fury as her words came out filled with hatred. — Someone's going to die.