The Meaning Of Eternity (TMOE #1)

Chapter 15: Usurper

Why was it still happening? He thought all those horrid experiences would be over after all that stupid pact shit, but people kept dying. People were always dying and Lucius ended up in one difficult situation after another. He'd thought the scourge's pact would solve all that. He'd rise to power quicker than he could imagine and he'd live a good life after that, but this?

Lucius gritted his teeth as he walked towards the headquarters, hiding his blood drenched shirt as well as he could. This was the opposite. He was still at the bottom of his gang and now Phil was dead. One of his friends were dead. Again.

"I thought you didn't care about these people?" The scourge's voice echoed through his head but Lucius wouldn't acknowledge it. "I thought you just used them to get what you wanted. You even referred to them as meat shields."

He did refer to them as that, but things had changed since then, and as ruthless as he wanted to be it didn't mean he couldn't care about others.

Sounds like a flaw we'll have to work on.

Lucius drowned the voice out and blinked away tears from his eyes. He was almost at the Offshore stalkers' headquarters and he'd just about had it. This time Ravi would have to answer for his stupidity.

The scene was what he'd expected. There was no way everyone would've gotten away from that chaos without getting hurt, and several bruised faces and arms confirmed it. Some were even patching up a bleeding wound or two, likely from one of those knife wielding rivals, but no one seemed to be missing at least. Aside from one of course.

Lucius grimaced.

Ravi had sat down in his usual armchair with Apocalypse by his side, suggesting he at least knew the gang were on quite the edge regarding him at the moment.

"Lucius?" Adrian hurried up to him, and Lucius blinked. He wouldn't have expected him to stick around until they got back. "What happened? Are you hurt?"

Ears still ringing from the gunshot Lucius had to take a second to process what he was saying, and then looked down at his dark red shirt with a wrinkled brow.

"No." His voice was barely audible, and he hated it.

Ravi suddenly looked in his direction, frowning deeply.

"The Waste are you doing here? Thought you'd run off."

Lucius gritted his teeth. He was so tired of that man. The entire day combined with the muffled voices around him gave him an insufferable headache.

"I was doing what you told me to. And if you hadn't burst into the mansion I would've—"

"Those Scourgefucking Phantoms were gonna claim it for themselves!" Ravi sat up straighter and Apocalypse's hackles rose. Lucius noticed this and decided to remain as calm as possible. Still, he saw a chance he'd been waiting for.

For a ridiculously long time.

"I would've handled it. The mansion didn't make any sense and I'd already checked the most likely rooms so with some further stealth I—"

"Shut up!" Ravi looked increasingly angered. He was never the calm type but the failure of the mission must've dealt quite the blow to his temper as well. "I did what was best for us! If only—"

"Phil is dead." Lucius raised his voice only a little but the entire room went silent, and even Ravi stopped moving. Lucius didn't want to look at Joshua further away in the corner. He could already guess what his expression was like. "Phantoms' leader shot him."

"See!?" Ravi finally blurted out, standing up from his armchair. The glares suddenly turning towards him seemed to mess with his nerves. "You wouldn't have stood a chance against them! You're lucky I—"