The world around him sounded thick and distorted, like everything was happening underwater. Voices overlapped, blending into an incoherent mess that made it impossible to tell what anyone was actually saying.
Wyatt sluggishly opened his eyes. he had found himself unconscious more times than he had liked ever since he met Craven.
He was greeted with the sight of two faces dangerously close to his own, Julius and Randy glared at him with all their might, not breaking eye contact even after Wyatt opened his eyes.
"Wha—?!" Wyatt yelled, jolting upright. This was definitely not what he expected to wake up to.
"He's awake." Randy announced while still eyeing him.
"Hey, I have a question," Julius leaned in, whispering into his ear. "Are you and Tai dating?"
"What?" Wyatt had just woken up and this was the first question they asked.
"No, right?" Julius sounded borderline desperate.
Wyatt glanced around, confused and dazed. They were all in his room. But the last thing he remembered was standing outside the base, fighting beside Tai.
"What happened?" Wyatt asked. He could feel a painful ringing in his head.
"I mean it's just not possible, your not even her type, I'm sure there's someone else here who loves you way more." Julius ignored his question and continued to ramble on.
Wyatt frowned deeply when his question was left unanswered
"Highly doubt it. Did you see what she was wearing, The legendary red dragon dress." Randy chimed in.
"She's only worn that dress once and that was when-" Their mouths were suddenly sealed by an iron grip.
They turned around in slow-motion horror—Tai was behind them. Glowing. Healed. Pissed.
Without a single word, she dragged both of them out like a mom tired of her kids' nonsense.
"What was that about?" Wyatt wondered
Moments later, the rest of the crew entered the room to check on him.
"I told those idiots to let you rest." Callum said with a disappointing expression.
"It's your fault for choosing those two no brains to watch over him." Candy said casually.
Ignoring Candy's snide remark, Callum turned to Wyatt. "How are you feeling?"
"Apart from the ringing in my head, good. thanks" Wyatt smiled.
Callum considered telling him that his body had mostly healed on its own, but decided now wasn't the time.
"We were really worried." Bob said as low as he usually spoke.
"Tai especially," Candy added with a grin. "She wouldn't stop pacing around the entire time you were out."
Wyatt smiled back. He really didn't know how to reply to that.
"Hey, Annie was just as worried." Callum said. "She came to check on you every tow minutes."
"Really?" Wyatt looked over at the little girl. "That's... really nice. Thanks."
Annie blushed slightly then left the room. Wyatt had never heard her speak.
Everyone turned to look at the one person who hadn't said anything yet.
"What?" Lung snapped, folding his arms. "Until we confirm you didn't hurt Tai, I'm not saying jack."
"He's just trying to act tough." Bob smiled, he always spoke in a low tone, almost as if he was afraid to let people hear him. "He was worried too."
"Hey! I'll punch you in the face." Lung's face grew a shade redder.
He turned and saw Wyatt smiling at him. "What?" he barked.
"Nothing." Wyatt shook his head as he wiped a tear from his face. 'They were all worried. I've never had this many people worried about me before...It's feel so nice.'
"Now you're crying? Dude, don't make this weird!" Seeing Wyatt's reaction made him turn even redder.
"We probably let you rest for a little longer. We also have make sure Tai doesn't kill those two idiots." Callum finally said after they all talked for a while.
"Oh, crap!" Lung suddenly blurted. "We haven't heard any of them in a while, are they dead?"
"I really, really don't like dead people." Bob said lowly.
The door opened and Randy and Julius came inside as composed as ever, with Tai following behind them.
"We sincerely apologize for the idiocy we demonstrated earlier," they muttered in perfect sync, bowing with all the dignity two beat-up clowns could manage. "Wishing you a speedy recovery… and we hope you forget our earlier moronic outburst." Their faces looked like they'd lost a fight with a wall.
They exited without a sound. Probably afraid she'd finish the job.
"W-what did she do to them?" Callum whispered to Lung.
"You don't wanna know." Even Lung looked a little scared.
"How long did they even rehearse that? They were only gone for like three minutes." Candy added.
They all eventually left, leaving Tai and Wyatt alone in the room.
Remembering Julius' earlier question, Wyatt tensed up. He didn't know what to do in this situation.
'Crap, crap, crap—what do I say?! I've never done this! Annalise doesn't count, she was like my sister. What do normal people even talk about?!' They both sat there. Silent. Painfully silent.
"I see you're getting better." Tai finally said, breaking the ice.
"Yeah," Wyatt said.
"You know, you and I made a pretty good team. We should get into fights more often." She laughed.
"Count me out, I can still taste my own tongue." He joked, making Tai laugh even harder.
Silence.
"Well, I should probably let you rest." She walked towards the door.
"I'm glad your alright." Wyatt said, making her stop.
"Me, too." She replied with a smile and left.
"I wonder what happened to those jerks anyways.... I remember seeing Craven." Wyatt murmured thoughtfully.
…...
Craven now stood face to face with the Vipers' faction leader, Bumi. The man sat behind his desk, calm on the outside, but with sweat trailing down his pale forehead.
'What the hell is this brute doing here? And why is Chuck with him? No—no way this ends well.'
His thoughts were chaos, but his face didn't budge. Not even a twitch.
"Craven." He said coldly. "What makes you think you can barge into my office, with my student all beaten up, and demand to talk to me?" He asked.
Craven cracked a grin. "Dunno. Maybe 'cause yer student and his pals stormed into my home and picked a fight with my kids."
He leaned forward. "Or maybe this is your way of declaring war."
Bumi took a slow, steady breath.
"I didn't know they were the ones at fault. I apologize for the trouble they caused. They'll be punished accordingly," he said calmly. "But that still doesn't give you the right to cause chaos in my office."
Craven smiled wider. "Aw, don't be like that, Bum Bum. Thought we were pals."
He walked over to Bumi's desk and poured himself a glass of whiskey.
Bumi's eye twitched. Twice.
"If that's all, then please see yourself out," Bumi said flatly.
Craven raised a single finger, signaling him to wait. Then, without breaking eye contact, he downed the whiskey in one slow gulp.
"Meh, whiskey ain't as good as my booze." he muttered to himself before turning back to Bumi. "I also came to tell ya—if you or any of yer boys lay so much as a finger on one of ma kids again, I'll come back. And next time, it won't be for whiskey and chit-chat."
"Is that a threat?" he asked flatly, one brow raised as his energy pulsed out like a warning shot. He was scared of Craven but that didn't mean he would let him do as he pleased.
"Of course not," Craven said, flashing a grin that didn't reach his eyes. "Just thought you should know." Then his energy flowed out, quiet and crushing, filling the room like a rising tide.
The pressure pouring off Craven was too much to ignore—even Bumi knew that. So he reluctantly backed off, letting Craven win this round.
Craven took one last sip, muttering more complaints and left.
"Bye, Bum Bum."
Bumi waited till Craven left his property before angrily lashing out and throwing the whiskey bottle against the wall, only a few feet away from where Chuck was lying.
"That son of a—!" He rubbed his head like it would calm him down.
"It's always the strong ones… acting like gods. I'll kill him. I'll f**king kill him!"
He hurled the glass cup as well, shattering it across the room.
Back at the Dark bulls base Craven had returned and went to see how Wyatt was doing.
"You up and runnin' yet?" he asked.
"It's been only two hours, what do you think?" Wyatt replied dryly.
Craven laughed. "Well, yer snappy attitude's still intact, so that's good."
Wyatt smiled. Despite his tendencies to do act stupid, he really did care for all of them.
"I came to tell ya—Julius and Candy'll be handling that missing girl case. They start tomorrow."
"What?" Wyatt shouted. "Why? Callum already healed me. I should be good to go tomorrow."
"I know. But I had somethin' else in mind. Tai told me you tried to help, but let's be honest—you were pretty useless out there."
Wyatt winced. Although Craven's words were harsh, he knew they were true.
"Which is why I think it's time we kick your trainin' up a notch," Craven said.
Wyatt raised a brow. He thought he was already training as hard as he could.
Craven pulled out two daggers and handed them over.
Wyatt recognized them immediately—They were the daggers Taffy tried to skewer him with.
"Consider 'em a gift from the Vipers," Craven said with a crooked smile. "What d'you think?"
"I like them." Wyatt's eyes sparkled. "My very own weapons." He was so excited, he completely forgot he wasn't investigating the missing girl's case anymore.
"Great. I guess we'll start training when you get better." he smiled. "Now I just have to figure out how to tell Tai." His smiled dropped a little.
"That girl sure loves her investigations."
"CRAVEN!!" as if on cue, Tai's voice thundered across the entire base.
Craven and Wyatt both gulped.
"Oh,boy."
*********
We're starting mass releases from the next chapter (chapter 21)
So I'll be posting once a week from now on, every Friday 3:00 WAT
1 Extra chapter = 20 power stones
2 Extra chapters = 30 power stones
***********