Waters: Part 2 - Dark May

They decided to accept their fate and grabbed the only few guns that were in the chest. However, when they are about to come out, trying to avoid Vinyl Scratch's questions, W stops walking while looking at some shelves filled with CDs.

"What are you doing?" asks Abe. "This is no time for buying CDs, W!"

The Bedmaker checks his pockets: fortunately, he has a twenty dollar bill in one of them. It is wet, maybe because of the humidity or W's sweat, and also has small stains of blood in the right. He has an opportunity... maybe the last one. "Yeah, I know," he says. "But I saw Coolio's single of Gangsta's Paradise and I couldn't let it go."

"Come on!" shouts Abe, almost spraying smoke out of his ears. "Rarity is in danger along with her friends and you are buying a freaking CD that you can buy at any time!"

"It may be our last," answers W while grabbing the CD single. "Our last time here."

"Wait," says Vinyl Scratch, raising her eyebrows. "Rarity? Her friends? Wait... wait..." She gets out of her spot, the reception, and stands in front of the entrance door. "You were in Canterlot High last year. You three... not you, the guy with the hat, but..."

W sighs and rubs his head. "Look, I don't even want to remember that night, can you let us go and let me pay this?"

Vinyl Scratch nods her head, but says at the same time: "Please, can you explain to me what's going on at least? You just came out of nowhere to look for something I never knew it was here because you want to go for this guy, Plegovich?"

W sighs. "You see," he says.

Suddenly Jack interrupts the situation: "Girl," he says. "I'm afraid we are in a hurry now but..."

"And you are going to leave me alone with no explanation at all?" says Vinyl, serious. "If you don't tell me I won't sell you that single CD."

"Uh, come on," whispers W, looking at the Coolio's single. He doesn't want to miss the opportunity of buying it. Maybe because it may be the last one before the ambush? Maybe, but in all of Equestria's years he's never seen a single copy of Gangsta's Paradise, a song that makes him laugh because it talks about an atmosphere W stays, but now... right now... there is not a paradise. Bruh, it is worse than hell now, right here on Canterlot. Shall he buy it? Because this isn't a good moment to blast this CD on a stereo. "Um... uh... I'll tell you quickly because we need to go."

The Bedmaker gives her the CD and the 20 dollar bill while buttoning his dirty trenchcoat. "I want to know how are you related to Rarity and her friends, and why this Plegovich turned Equestria into a monstrosity," she says, looking for the answer.

While Vinyl gets in the bar to look for change, the attitudes of everyone changes. Abe feels like he has just got a shocking conclusion out of nowhere on his mind and Jack knows that he's got one. Meanwhile, Rushy takes a look outside and finds a black car passing by the store. They didn't stop but lowered their speed for a moment while being on the corner, in front of the Sweet Shoppe, but suddenly accelerated at a high speed and faded away.

Meanwhile, there are only two men on the black car that passed by the store. They are Lucas Plegovich and Mr Howlman, listening to Alice in Chains' song, Brother.

Lucas has the golden gun on his pocket, waiting for the right moment to use it. Suddenly, Howlman lights a cigarette and looks outside. "What's the name of this song?" he asks.

"Brother."

Howlman tries not to make any gestures but he eventually makes one: he raises his eyebrows and raises his teeth. "Pietro, right? I'm sorry, man."

"Yeah," says Lucas. "He was big-headed but... he was my brother. No one kills a Plegovich, you know... uh... and it's a shame I don't have this EP. Sap... I think that's its name. That's why I have it on that CD."

"Yeah," answers Howlman. "We passed by Arpeggio's. Maybe that girl has Sap in one of those empty shelves."

"No," answers Lucas. "I don't have time for that. You know what I want to do now."

Vinyl holds the bill on her hands and looks for change in the cash register. "That man turned Strict Proclamation down because he had an idea he wanted to make... he wanted to change the whole country for his benefit, for his point of view," says W. "The problem is... nobody shares his point of view, except for him."

"And what about the police? The army?" she asks. "I've never seen anyone since all of this started."

"He fought against both, but I'm not sure about their fates. I've heard they suspended the police institution," answers Jack, coming out of the store. "I don't know about the army. Maybe they are also suspended."

Vinyl grabs money to give W back for the single. "And what about you? You will..."

"We will rescue my granddaughter, Rarity," says Abe. "And also her friends."

She only nods her head while hearing that, and when the girl is about to give W the money along with the single, the Bedmaker only grabs the CD. "Goodbye," he says. "Good luck with the store."

"Hey... wait!" she shouts. "Your money! You didn't grab the change!"

"No," answers W. "Keep it."

Jack and Abe look at W, surprised. Something has changed. The girl slowly puts her headphones again but doesn't plug it in on her cellphone. She waves her hand while looking at the four men who didn't even say goodbye. "Good luck," she says, but only W answers to her, by raising his thumb. Rushy is outside, looking at his right while lying his back on the car.

"What happened, Rushy?" says Jack, while getting on the driver seat. He is going to drive now, especially because W, Rushy and Abe's faces show something else. They are too focused on their thoughts.

The ushanka man gets in the car's backseat with Abe. W sits next to Jack. "I've seen a car passing by," says Rushy, while holding the sawed-off shotgun. "I didn't like it."

"It's no time to look for the car," says Jack. "We need to go there..." While Jack switches on Big Kahuna's car, he looks at W, chuckling for the first time. "How weird of you..." he whispers. "You told the girl to keep the change. I thought you were going to threaten her to give you the cash, showing that typical greed in you."

W shakes his head, rubbing his temples with his dirty hands. "I'm not OK, Jack," he answers. "If I were OK, I would have immediately asked her for the change. I wanted the change but... I'm not OK."

"Is it the pills, buddy?" says Rushy, while looking behind him, on the rear window.

"No," he answers. "Remember me? Remember the man I was before all of this shit?"

"Yeah," says Jack, while turning to the right, getting nearer the highway. "You were an immature, clumsy, pervert, greedy boy that only found the purpose of life on getting high and going to parties to fuck blondies. You were a bad boy, but a stupid one."

W wants to say something, but he knows that Jack in the inside is right. "Thank you for the flattery," answers W.

"That was a nice love letter," says Rushy, laughing.

"Yeah, but..." says W, looking through the window. "When I was younger and when we entered Canterlot to take care of Rarity and Sweetie Belle and then we got into that shitty thing of the Pegasus Fort... I was always trying to find... the funny thing of the situation."

"Funny thing?" asks Jack. "When we were against Blueblood?"

"Yeah," says W. "Even if we were against Blueblood, I was still making jokes or being the funny thing of the gang. Ron, Abe and you were always with the same faces... serious grin... I was trying at least to smile, but now I feel my smile is gone. I am no longer the funny man." Jack and Rushy don't answer to that. Abe is still thinking about something. "I feel... this is not something I can do."

"What?" asks Rushy.

"Revenge... I want to kill Plegovich, I want to get rid of him. He ruined my life but... I am destroying, killing so many people in the process... You see, I decapitated an asshole with a fucking katana... that Doom Kid bitch deserved to die but... I feel I'm becoming something I don't want to turn into."

Jack takes a breath... he knows what he's talking about. "A killer," he says.

"Gangsters are killers. I killed one of the Barnes a time ago and I didn't talk about this like the way I am doing it right now," says W. "But this... I am turning into something else... I think I'm turning into a hitman..."

"A punisher," exclaims Rushy.

W turns around and looks at Rushy. "Yeah, something like that. I feel my parents wouldn't like that... my father was a gangster, but neither a killer nor a punisher. I'm becoming the red sheep of the family."

"That punisher thing reminds me of someone..." says Rushy, letting W to find the answer for himself. The Bedmaker knows who is he talking about, and looks at Jack waiting for the moment to say it aloud.

"Plegovich," they say at the same time. W feels his wrath and revenge are slowly changing his attitude... and he's afraid of becoming a punisher, something that neither his parents nor Trixie wanted him to become. Even Ron wouldn't expect to look at a Bedmaker, a funny and maybe clumsy guy, decapitating a man with a sword and also killing an elder woman. He feels he's becoming into a Plegovich... into a Sergei, the Robot, the... punisher. However, W is not the only one reflecting on something.

"Abe," says Jack. "I know you... what are you thinking about? Rarity? We are about to save her, don't..."

"No, no," interrupts Abe. "I'm just thinking about something W reminded me of."

"What?" asks W.

"You weren't here but..:" says Abe, looking through the car window. "Plegovich brought SP down in January 28th. He fought the police and the army... but there's something I still don't understand..." he whispers between his lips, and then he looks at Jack. "Jack, how long did Plegovich's fight against the army and SP take? Do you remember?"

Jack tries to remember it closing his eyes. "Two hours," he answers. "I remember he put us in a building in Manehattan, left at 4 P.M. and came back at 6... or half-past six, maybe?"

"Two hours?" asks W, shocked. "Only two hours?"

"Yes," says Abe. "I know Plegovich is a powerful man and has lots of people working for him but.... if you put all of Plegovich's men, in a nutshell, you can't compare it with the army and the police, even if some of them had those pills. It could have been easier... but that doesn't mean a few men can destroy a whole army..."

"I feel," says Jack. "I feel there's something else."

W's back freezes. "Something else? Does that mean we have to get Ride of them too...?"

"No," says Abe. "I have a hypothesis." W turns around while Jack opens his ears to listen to Abe. Rushy also pays attention. "Maybe the ones who are helping Plegovich are the Equestrian Elite."

"No way!" shout both Jack and Rushy. W gets shocked by his partners' reaction.

"We are not sure, but it's something!" shouts Abe. "Just think, Jack... when the Ashton shit happened, you know who Mr Stanley Ashton, the father of the family, was, right?"

"Yeah," replies Jack. "He was the owner of the National Bank of Equestria, but that doesn't mean he was in a kind of Elite, Abe! The Elite stopped existing in the '90s when the Clock of Canterlot separated into two parts. There's no way, no possibility that there is another fucking elite up our asses!"

"Then," says Abe, reaching to his partner. "How can you explain that after Ashton's death, Plegovich becomes out of nowhere into the King of Equestria, and his brother Montreal magically appeared dead, with a shot on his head?"

"I agree," says Rushy, but W still doesn't understand what do they mean with the Elite.

"What elite are you talking about?" he asks.

And then everyone came back to their spot. "Uh," says Jack while calming himself down. "You see... when you were born the elite had been already disintegrated. I was younger than you, W, when it stopped."

"We still don't know if that Cornelius guy is out there," says Abe.

"Cornelius is dead," exclaims Rushy. "A friend of mine from La Lima told me that."

"And who's Cornelius?" asks W, but suddenly Abe touches his back.

"Leave Jack alone, W, he's driving," he says. "I'll tell it to you."

Rushy chuckles while looking at that scenario, like a father telling a tale to his son. W turns around to look at his partner, grandfather of Rarity and Sweetie Belle.

You see, W, since the day we got you out of that orphanage with Ron and Jack, you learned that in Equestria there are two groups of people: The good ones and the bad ones. You had the policemen, the politicians and the president on one side, and gangsters, thieves, from the other one. You also know that civilians and normal people cannot escape from this. They can be also divided into those two famous groups of good and evil because the bad ones are not only criminals or murderers and not all of the good ones are cops. We always told you that there was no escape to this, and it was impossible to be completely neutral. There was no third group.

However, in the past century, there was a third group.

They were the only ones who were over the top. The biggest fishes around town. The only human beings that could control a politician and a capo at the same time. It was a table with only ten or twenty guys, I have no idea, but those twenty guys had more money and power together than the rest of the country. You can do whatever you want as a president and a capo, but if you try to cut the wires that make you an elite puppet... consider yourself dead.

I had a brother, W, you never met him, even Jack didn't. He died before you were born. His name was Llewelyn Flanks, aka Lemur, a founder of the Clock of Canterlot who had a friend of the Elite called Cornelius Cinch. That's when I found out the Elite was not a myth, but a reality. We had a thing on the '80s with the Clock being separated and the Nightmare Queen... but they never entered that shit because they were not affected. They never messed with our problems, the only thing we needed to do was... respect them... and of course, not to touch the companies and properties that belonged to them. If we tried to... hehe. Besides, you hardly got any orders from them, telling you what to do. It was so weird to hear something that got out of the Elite directed to you. The only thing I remember was when Ron, Gordo and your father killed a Canterlot Governor, Shiny Estate, because of their orders.

Now Rushy starts talking:

Yeah, but once the nineties started... they faded away. Some of them were almost broke because of bad decisions, and the government took advantage of it. The companies which belonged to them were privatized and sold to international corporations and external countries. Almost everyone left Equestria and stayed in other countries, died, committed suicide, were imprisoned in the '90s... only a few of them survived. I think only the Ashtons... and the Oranges. They disappeared, and neither the good guys nor the bad guys have a leader right now. The Master of Puppets is gone.

W's eyes shine again. Too many things revealed in one day. One long, long, hectic, historical, long... how many times I am going to say long? Gosh, it's a LONG day today. "And you say..." says W. "Plegovich is working with those guys."

"No," says Abe. "Plegovich is working FOR those guys."

"The elite must be a non-existent thing now, Abe!" says Jack. "Calm down."

Suddenly, they realized they are in the middle of the highway and they didn't even find out. They are near.

Everybody knew he was a big fish at the moment he put his left foot inside the school. Lucas Plegovich, holding his golden gun, showing it to innocent students around, starts playing and messing around while heading with Howlman to Celestia's Office. He smoothly knocks the door and waits for an answer.

"How do I look?" says Lucas, showing his teeth to Howlman. "Handsome? Like a good, good G? I need to behave like a real capo today, Howlman."

"Yeah," says Howlman. "Why do you worry about your appearance now?"
"
"My uncle gave me a gun, an important one... It's the first time I'll use this," says Lucas in a funny tone while pointing with his finger at the golden gun. Then, Vice-Principal Luna opens the door. She knows this is not going to end up well when he looks at the swan tattoo in Lucas' neck. "Hello, lady," says Lucas. "I thought you were going to be with brighter skin colour and... was it purple hair? Ugh, nevermind..."

"That's my sister."

"Oh... turns out you are two sisters. Two? Or how many?"

"What do you want?"

"Hey!" says Lucas, smiling while raising his arms. Luna looks at the golden gun on his right hand and her whole body starts trembling. "Take it easy. Take it easy. We are not in the army, miss!" says Lucas, moving his index finger and laughing. "We are in Canterlot High! The School of Friendship and Happiness!" However, the roses rot when Lucas whispers to Luna's ear: "Thank my uncle we let you open this fucking building instead of delivering you to Cabbage Town. Now, if you don't let me in to have a conversation... I'm afraid I will have to use this," he says, moving his gun. "And your nice dark head with blue hair will turn into red and I wouldn't like to get my clothes dirty." Lucas, in a desperate way to soften the situation, says aloud. "Isn't this jacket cool?"

Luna doesn't say anything, showing her blank face, and lets both Lucas and Howlman in, closing the door. Outside the room, Flash Sentry looked at everything. He's angrier than before.

"What happened?" asks a voice behind him. It is Twilight.

"Go," says Flash Sentry. "If they see you, they may get mad. Hide in the cafeteria, Twilight."

Celestia and Luna take a seat in front of both men. "What's the matter now?" says Celestia.

"No, no, no," says Lucas. "It was me the one who had to ask that question."

The principals look at each other. "Why?" asks Luna.

"A little bird..." he says, pointing to Howlman. "...told my uncle and me that three fugitives were here. You may know two because we've seen them with you on the Canterlot High War against that asshole named Mortimer Blueblood. Tell me... why are you hiding Jack Tyler, Abraham Flanks and another guy called Rushy from us?"

"What?" says Celestia, shocked, holding her heart with a hand. "What are you talking about?"

"What I'm talking about is that both of you are sneaky, meanie rats!" shouts Lucas while holding his gun.

"I absolutely have no idea what are you talking about!" shouts the Vice-Principal, slightly frowning and getting up from her chair. "Jack Tyler, Abraham Flanks haven't been inside this school for months and that another man was never here!"

Luna sits down again and Celestia takes a breath before commenting: "If you want to complain about something, mister, you should look up for the real events first."

Lucas Plegovich instantly gets up from his chair and approaches to Celestia so much that the Principal has to move her head back. She told him what to do. To a Plegovich. Luna, who is next to her, wants to do something but she's afraid her decision may worsen the tension. "You are not going to tell me what I should do, señorita. I came here to complain about something you did, not to listen to you complaining. Isn't it, Howlman?"

Howlman, who was silent all this time, nods his head while cleaning his aviator lenses. "I saw them, Ms Celestia. Right there on the courtyard," he says. "And what I say is a real event."

Celestia raises her shoulders. "They never entered here and we didn't see them."

Luna also makes a comment: "And what we say are real events..." but suddenly Lucas slams his fist on the Principal's desk.

"You're lying!" he shouts. "How can you not see them when you control everything inside this school?"

"You are saying it, mister!" shouts Celestia while getting up from her chair and confronting Lucas. "We control everything inside, not the outside. If those men were outside the school, in the courtyard, we absolutely have no idea because we were inside. Now, please, I'd like you to go immediately. There are innocent students having classes here."

Lucas eventually decides to sit down, looking at the sisters with fiery eyes. Howlman decides yo soften the place by nudging Lucas' shoulder and winking an eye. That means something and Lucas knows what he's trying to do. "We'll be kind this time, Celestia," says Lucas, while looking at Howlman. "And we'll let you go, but this is not over yet. We'll come back and we will keep asking you, to look for the truth."

"I've already told you the truth," says Celestia.

"Stop lying, please," says Lucas, sarcastically smiling. "Stop trying to be innocent, Cellie. All of us know you are not the one these students of Canterlot High see every day. You are not the good-hearted principal that everyone believes in. You too, Luna. You are the daughters of a man who lost a stupid war of wrath and became a cripple..."

The ice breaks when Celestia stretches her hand and slaps Lucas in the face. Howlman gets up and tries to grab the golden gun from Lucas but the man puts it inside his pocket. Luna grabs Celestia from behind and tries to cover her from them, but nobody does anything.

"How dare you to talk about my father in that way?!" says aloud Celestia while rubbing her hair, which is dishevelled after her abrupt movement. "You dishonest, impolite!"

"See?" says Lucas, covering his nose and cheeks with his hand. "You are showing your true face, Ms Celestia! Showing your true feelings! Are you also hiding what we need to know?"

"GET OUT!" shouts Celestia while holding a small paper on her hands which is being wrinkled.

Lucas gets the gun out and shows it to them. "This is not over yet. This has just started."

Lucas and Howlman get out of the office in silence and pass by Flash Sentry. Howlman recognizes the young kid but doesn't say anything. They leave the school, heading to their car while being looked by every one of the teenagers studying and take a breath.

"You wanted to take me out," says Lucas while still rubbing his face. "That hurt, man. That bitch knows how to slap."

"Yes," answers Howlman. "I took you out, winked the eye because the tension was really bad."

Lucas smiles. "Come on, Howlman... I know you. You are older than me but... I know you like a father knows a son."

"Well, I was thinking about something," says Howlman. "Plegovich decided to re-open the school on April but... this is not good. You know why?"

"Why?"

"Because we are not there. We are not inside."

Lucas raises his shoulders. "What you mean with that?"

Howlman nudges Lucas' shoulder. "I think we should hijack Canterlot High."

Lucas starts laughing. "Don't make me laugh, Howlman! You can hijack a plane, a ship... but a school? What do you want to do?"

"When you hijack something... don't you take it to another direction?"

"Yes."

"Well, if we get Celestia and Luna out of there... we can take Canterlot High into our direction."

Lucas is still not convinced. "But... how do you want to do this? I just..."

"We can take the Blue Mares here in only an hour. How time is it? Half-past one? At 2:30 P.M. the Blue Mares will have already taken the school, and it will be ours."

Lucas' ears are now paying attention while getting into the car with Howlman and keeps adding salt to the plan. "I like the way you are telling me this now, Howlman," he says. "I have an idea too."

"You?" says Howlman while driving. "What?"

"We can hijack Canterlot High... but we still have Crystal Prep round the corner... what if?"

Howlman stops listening and answers: "No," and the young man stops talking.

"Um... why?"

"You shouldn't do that."

"Why? Principal Cinch isn't..."

"I strongly recommend you not to touch Principal Cinch."

Lucas' eyes are now like golf balls. Why would Howlman deny that so fastly and strongly? Is it... "Uh..." says Lucas, smiling. "Are you in love?"

"No!" says Howlman. "I wouldn't fuck Principal Cinch even if someone gave me a million dollars."

"Then, why don't you want me to hijack Crystal Prep?"

Howlman knows. Not so much, but knows something. The main problem is that the answer ins his mind is not a nice one. "Look," says Howlman. "If I tell you, your uncle will eventually hang me in the gallows. As you said, you treat me like a father to his son, but I am older and I know much more things than you."

Meanwhile, in the house, Plegovich is messing around the President Room when Sergei interrupts the moment with a huge smile showing his blank teeth. The madman knows that a smiling Sergei is not something normal, so he asks what's going on.

"Guess who has just arrived for a visit, sir," says Sergei.

Plegovich raises his shoulders. "No idea, Sergei," he answers. "Let him go. I'm not in my mood."

"Are you sure, sir?"

"Yes."

Sergei decides to go further this time. He knows this guest is more than special. "Are you sure?"

Plegovich raises an eyebrow and turns around to look at Sergei, and then, someone else starts speaking. "Where's the new president of the Equestrian Republic?" shouts someone. A tall, thin man with light-blue skin, purple short hair, formally combed and a small, refined purple moustache that shows royalty. He's wearing a smart, striking purple tuxedo with a red tie, a white shirt and a yellow tulip pinned to the jacket. His physical appearance lets you know he's not only a high-class, formal man but also someone who knows how to control things. The man enters the President Room and looks at a Plegovich who is surprised and smiling after a long, long time in the day.

"Oh my..." says Plegovich, laughing. "AUGUSTUS CORNELIUS CINCH! THE MAN IN FLESH AND BONES, IN PERSON!"

"Not necessary to flatter me, Nicholas," says Augustus. "I must be the one who has to flatter you. Look at this. This is... oh, I don't have words to describe what I'm feeling. Your great Sergei, right-hand man received me and I knew I was in the perfect Equestria. How are things?" Plegovich's face changes when he sits down and listens to that question. Cinch sits in front of him and looks at the chimaera painting with gunshots. "Oh... may I know what happened to the chimaera? It was a pretty nice painting. I asked Strict Proclamation to change it. The roof is no place for chimaeras, they shall be at the entrance... by the way, did you do that thing with Strict?"

Plegovich raises his eyebrows. "Yes, but honestly I didn't want to," he answers. "It was a gruesome plan, Cinch, and when I say it was gruesome... I mean it was fucking nasty. You have a really dark mind, Augustus."

Cinch chuckles. "Thanks."

Plegovich laughs and keeps talking. "And well.... things are... well, they were good but today there was a small tremor, you know... I had to visit Filthy Rich."

"Uh, yes," answers Cinch while grabbing a glass of water delivered by Sergei. He's the only man that received water from the Plegovichs. "Filthy Rich changed his mind a time ago and left the table... he clearly doesn't understand how are things. He doesn't understand your way is also our way, Plegovich. It's our only way to have our old companies back. The nineties, SP, Mayor Mare, the Project Nine... all of those motherfuckers..."

"Well," says Plegovich, not looking at Cinch in his eyes. "At least we got to the top, didn't we? Strict Proclamation fell, the pills worked, my father's words are relevant again... and I also thank you for helping me against the army and the police, Cinch. If it wasn't for your Elite men nothing of this would have happened."

Cinch knows something is wrong with Plegovich because he is often deviating his sight while talking to him. His heterochromatic eyes are moving away. "You shouldn't thank me, as I said before," says Cinch, smiling. "I should thank you for giving the Elite a new path of our resurrection... anyway, how's Lucas? The boy? I didn't see him."

"Um..." says Plegovich. "He went on a trip to Canterlot. I gave him the gun."

"Which one?"

"The one that belonged to my grandfather. I also told him how I ended up here, you know. After Ashton's death. It was a conversation."

Cinch opens his eyes because of shock. "Oh," he says. "Did you... Did you tell him the whole story?"

Plegovich chuckles. "Of course not, Cinch. I'm not stupid."

"The one-seat thing... did you tell him?"

"No," says Plegovich. "How will I tell Lucas that I became the King of Equestria by killing his father, my brother Montreal? He will turn against me."

Cinch nods his head. "Yes... but I still feel something's wrong."

"About what?"

Cinch stays in silence for a couple of seconds. "Are you sure everything's alright?"

Plegovich thinks about what's he going to say. He can't lie. He can't play. It is hard to admit it, but this long day has been trembling since it started. "Well," says Plegovich. "I had a thing."

"What?" says Cinch, paying attention.

"Two of my main men died on two ambushes. There's a small rebellion out there, but I've got to admit I'm not giving it so much attention... I like to plan everything. You know me, Cinch."

"Really?" says Cinch. "Who died?"

"Gail Garry and Doom Kid."

Cinch gets up from his chair and turns his head above him, looking at the wounded chimaera on the house's roof. "Hmmm... do you think Kobolov will go through the same thing?"

Plegovich nods his head. "Maybe."

"And what are you going to do?"

Plegovich also stands up and stays in front of Cinch, looking at the chimaera too. "You know, Cinch... Most of my men are busy, at my fort in Butter Valley, or round Manehattan. Saik City and La Lima are empty, and I'm trying to recover them by sending some of my boys. Honestly, I didn't like Garry's idea of making a harbour but I've gotta admit..."

"You are making this longer, Nicholas," says Cinch. "What are you going to do?"

Plegovich sighs while looking at the elite man in front of him. "I'll send some."

"Some?"

"I told you, Augustus," answers Plegovich. "Most of my men are busy... but..."

"But?"

Everything again. A silent Plegovich looking at the chimaera, opening his wardrobe to look at himself in the mirror. He has something inside him that wants to say. Cinch would not believe him, but it's true. He sees it in a way he cannot understand what is happening for real, but his ego is now bigger, so huge that he wants to face the man that mocked his gunshot. That laughed at his failed try of killing him. He doesn't consider him as an enemy anymore, but a loose end that he has to tie to fulfil his mind, his ego, his way of life... and no, no, no. He doesn't want a stupid midget, a rookie, to get rid of him, no. He wants to handle this situation personally... he betrayed him... said his father's plan was Hellquestria and now he is magically alive... how does a 25-year-old asshole turn into a loose end of his? Is Wade Waters' ghost laughing at him, out there in hell? Of course not! Nobody laughs at Nicholas Plegovich. Nobody. "I think I may handle this personally."

"Personally?" says Cinch. "You mean...?"

"This night I will be at the abandoned fort of Manehattan and will wait for that son of a bitch."

However, Plegovich is wrong. He won't wait for those sons of bitches because they have already arrived before him.

It is almost 2 P.M. when Rushy tells Jack to turn into the right in the middle of the highway. A long road with no asphalt at all that leads to a green container, next to a small, squared, abandoned fort. "I think this was Jakob Diesel's house. It was a fort used by the Manehattan Government, I don't know for, but once they left it rotting for itself Diesel took the fort and started living there."

"Jakob Diesel," says Abe. "That reminds me of old, old times."

The four men get out of the car. Cloudy sky, still no sun. It's also cold. Time for a jacket, maybe. They try to focus on the fort, figuring out how to enter and if there's any sound that may alert them, but the place seems desert. They don't hear anything nor see something. Abe doesn't hear Rarity while looking around the wasteland. Then everyone focuses on the only thing that stands out there: the container. It has no locks but the doors are still closed.

Rushy puts his ear against the container's door but doesn't listen to anything from inside. "Um... I don't listen to anything."

"Nothing?" says Abe. "Rarity may be here... No!" he shouts, rubbing his head. "If they put her inside that container... I swear..."

"With Grey Blackle," says W.

"Shut up, you!" shouts Abe.

BONG.

Something did make a sound inside the container... or maybe someone? The four men jump because of their shock and try to open the door. "Rarity!" shouts Abe. "Rarity!"

The four men, after a minute, open the container... and the doors welcome the men with a putrid, vomitive smell from the inside. There are no teenage girls neither girly voices... it's just silence along with the deathly smell of something.

"OH MY GOD!" shouts Abe while smelling the container's inside. Everyone has to take a breath outside to don't pass out.

"Holy shit..." says Rushy. "What kind of smell is that?"

Jack dares to open completely the doors and the circus show is on their eyes. There's a man, a decomposed corpse who may have been there for months, hanged through a hook stuck on his head. His chest is opened, showing his insides although his organs are not there. It looks like he had been left there to dissect. He has still pants and shoes, but are covered and stained with dirt and blood.

"Who's that man?"

None of them recognizes it, especially because the corpse has started decomposing. Right under the dirt and blood, stays a beige skin. "Who's this man and why did he have such a horrifying death?" says Abe. Meanwhile, W discovers that there is another man in the corner of the container. He is not hanged or opened but is lying on the floor, being almost naked. He only has white underpants. W tries to touch it, but the suffering man immediately touches him back and starts strangling him. Jack, Abe and Rushy are about to kill him but something comes to the rescue:

"WAIT!" shouts W, while still being strangled. "WAIT! DREAMO!"

And turns out he was. The grey-skinned man with a torso full of tattoos reacts and immediately stops strangling his friend. His whole body is not only filled with tattoos now but also with bruises, scratches and dirt. He can barely move. "Dream Raider?" says Abe. W immediately recognized him. "Your friend from the orphanage?"

W looks at his friend of the same age and tries to hold him. He touches his shoulders while looking at his completely haggard appearance. "What are you doing here? Who did this to you?"

Dream Raider can barely talk too. He only hugs his friend while looking for help. "They... they grabbed my neck from Sombra and took me here, man... Sombra Jail is emp...ty..."

"You are now with us, Dreamo," says W. "Stay here."

"Do you know who's this man?" asks Abe to Dream Raider. Jack and Rushy are still looking at the horrifying body. "God... the smell..."

Dream Raider opens his eyes for real now. He has the light he hasn't seen for so long right on his eyes, and now he looks at the horrifying show. He starts pointing out at the corpse, desperately looking at W. "Who is him, Dream?" says W. "You know him?"

"That man... that man, Walter... he is none other than Strict Proclamation."