“Stay the fuck put!” Cyrus snarled.
“Okay, but what about the gem rods?!” Ender whined.
Soren let out an angry chirp. “We’ll check for the goods after your pregnant ass is safely in one of our explosion and bulletproof SUVs.”
Ender barely stopped himself from snapping when Cyrus lifted his ass into the car, buckled him in like a toddler, and slammed the door shut. He sat there glaring as the Fate, and the rest of Team One, quickly got inside the vehicle.
“What the fuck was that?!” Cyrus growled, as soon as the SUV took off.
The Cryptid had removed his Shadow Shell while they’d waited inside, so he got to experience the full force of the Fate’s glare.
His irritation at being ordered and dragged around waned a bit under the look. “Well, I mean, it worked out, right?”
“No, I agree…What in the fuck was that, Ender?!” Soran roared, accent out. “You knew going in that the bastard was agrade-A creep, one you have met before, so why the fuck did you endanger yourself by attacking?!”
Ender cleared his throat under the collective glares he both felt and saw being thrown his way. He managed to stay silent for just a moment more before defensively, with a hiss, blurting out, “I mean—you saw it, right, Cyrus?! The look in his eyes. He was lying! He was going to hurt my babies, I saw it! He HAD to die! He had to!”
“Cyrus, you tensed there for a moment, so you obviously saw something as well. What was it?” Soren asked.
Cyrus sighed. “He was lying. Well, it was more that he was debating his options. Ender attacked before I really got a chance to warn him to at least have his guard up. We weren’t, however, in such immediate danger that you had to attack at that very moment.”
“Maybe you should have warned me sooner then!” Ender huffed.
“I would have, but I had visions before I got a chance.” The Fate grimaced before admitting, “I couldn’t control them, and I couldn’t do much while they were happening, even with how fast they came and left. So, it appears, being your lie detector isn’t going to work out.”
“No, but your ability to stop time and kill everyone would come in handy,” Jossy, the woman currently driving, said with a chuckle.
Cyrus tensed, his face darkening as he growled, “I’m not an assassin! I only did what I did because the last thing we needed was Ender’s foolish ass getting shot!”
“As foolish as his ass was, based on the info collected on everyone present, we far outpowered them, even if they outnumbered us by a fair bit,” Soren drawled.
“It doesn’t matter! None of this was worth the risk!” the Fate snapped.
Tired of one, being called a fool, and two, them talking as if he wasn’t there, Ender cut in, “The risk was minimal. Now, what did you see?”
The Cryptid’s face went oddly pale as his purple-reddish eyes swirled to forest-green. “I saw…multiple timelines. Some were fine, but…many involved Jurosso going after the babies. Most were ones of him cutting them out of you, then others were of him attacking and going after them once they were laid. I’m pretty sure the former would have likely had to take place within hours of us leaving, as the outfits?—”
“I FUCKING KNEW IT!” Ender cried.
Soren let out a groan. “You just had to confirm his fucking paranoia, didn’t you?!”
Cyrus scoffed. “What’s there to be paranoid about? The Cryptid was a part-time fucking trafficker! Of course it’s what he had planned!”
“None of that matters. What matters is that I wasn’t being paranoid at all! And considering we got the data we wanted, not to mention the goods without spending a single dollar, I’m taking this as a win!”
The Fate sputtered, “Y-you endangered yourself, and we just murdered a bunch of people…in what universe is that a win?!”
Ender waved his hand dismissively. “It’s fine! No big deal. Toddles, call clean up, tell Jojo to take care of the bodies, but to have a crew with her in case more of Jurosso’s people come. Dessa is going to have to keep an eye on the Condi Syndicate. Taking out Jurosso means there is about to be a power struggle that could blow up further at any time.”
He wasn’t too worried they’d come for revenge any time soon, especially without their leadership in place. Either way, their borders were heavily monitored, so they’d know as soon as people came anywhere near their territories.
“I’ll just talk to her directly when we get back,” Soren grunted.
Cyrus sighed. “So that’s how your group carries on, you just kill and then hide the bodies?”
Ender chuckled. “Yep! Welcome to the wrong side of the law, Cyrus.”
The Fate’s jaw clenched, his gaze flicking away just as Ender spotted a bit of uncertainty inside the man’s eyes.
