Reborn Heart of Steel

Alessandro’s eyes opened wide and got the drift of it. “You want to go after his properties? The real estate belonging to the Phoenix organization?”

I approved this line with a dry smile on my face as I said. “Really,” They ask how do we eliminate them? We locate them and then raze them down to the ground; like the Phoenix, let’s see how they rise again from the ashes. ”

Chase sat before us now, staring at both me and Alessandro, and he looked equally amazed and worried. “That’s it. . That’s crazy ! We could be arrested, or something !”.

‘Well, do you have a better idea?’ I asked. ‘We can’t just continue to run for the rest of our lives; we have to prove to The Raven that we are, in fact, not scared of him and that, hey, we too can cause him as much pain as he causes us. ‘

I was pretty sure that the proposal I just made was the most drastic one they’d ever heard in their lives, or at least in the past day. Finally, Alessandro spoke up.

There was a hint of a snarl on his lips and he simply nodded and said, quite definitively, “I’m in”. “The Raven has over time won a lot from all of us, and it is time we defended ourselves against it. ”

Chase put his hand through his hair and then released a deep sigh. “You two are insane,” but there was a hint of amusement in his voice, “but yes, I am insane too. I agree. ”

The sight of relief for us was that we had a plan of transport back home. It was risky and probably lethal; yet it was something.

“Okay,” I replied, getting more upright. “The first step is to get information; we have to identify the whereabouts all properties of The Raven are.”

Alessandro took out his laptop, and he started typing furiously. ‘I can start digging. The Phoenix Organization is not very secretive about its investments. It should not be difficult to make a list. ‘

While Alessandro was coming up with a plan, Chase and I sat on the bed, bent under the sheet and whispered about the details. Obviously, supplies but we would also need transportation as well as methods to guarantee that nobody would get into trouble in the process.

‘We are not killers,’ I retorted as laid back as I could manage. ‘The purpose of this is to send a message, not to endanger innocent lives’.

Chase nodded, pulling me closer to him gently. “On that we can both agree, let’s try not to get caught, and the place needs to be uninhibited before we interfere. ”

Late at night, the general strategy was starting to form in our minds. Alessandra was able to put together a list of the properties owned by the Phoenix Organization warehouses, offices and even a few luxury apartments.

‘So let’s begin with the warehouses’, I proposed. ‘They will have fewer people inside, and they will be way more attention-grabbing when they burn down. ‘All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

The next few days were spent getting ready in any way that one can possibly imagine. As preparation for the fire making and other things like gasoline, matches, and other things that we would require were collected. Chase was able to borrow his uncle’s old van, making our transport more discreet. Alessandro provided us with some communication equipment to enable us to have contact while avoiding being compromised.

All in all, I felt exhilaration and fear at the same time. What we were planning was far from harmless, and I think we both knew well that we were likely to get ourselves into serious trouble at best, and possibly killed at worst. But the opposite was out of the question: to live with constant fear, to constantly look behind one’s back.

And so it was on the night of the first strike that we were ready for the operation. As stealthily as we could, we left the van a few blocks away from our location; this was a huge warehouse on the outskirts of town which the Phoenix Organization had used in the recent past for storing its prohibited items.

Looking at each other and smiling, we collected our things and I whispered ‘Remember the plan’. “we go in, we place the explosives, and we vacate the area. No second-guessing, no blunders. ”

Chase squeezed my hand. “We have that one. Just mind your step inside all right?”

I simply said, ‘yes’ with an assurance that I knew I wasn’t very confident about. ‘But you too, both of you. ‘

As we walked, we were all dressed in black to camouflage with the night as we operated. Alessandro had turned off the security system, and so we entered the building without many problems. The warehouse was large, and it mostly had crates and boxes stacked from one end of the warehouse to the other.

We agreed to work in sections, each of us choosing the area in the building which would suit us best. I hurried, so I splashed the gasoline on the crates and on the walls of the building. With this aroma alone for several minutes, my eyes teared, and my head began to spin. But I kept up, fully aware that we could not get away with such a ruse for a very long time before someone starts getting suspicious.

By the time I completed what I had to say, I could barely hear Chase murmur into the earpieces we had to wear. “All set here. Alessandro?”

“Done,” came the reply. Let’s get out of here. ”

We convened behind the main entrance; our hands smelt of gas and our feelings weird. I inhaled deeply because I knew what was coming after that statement.

“Ready?” I questioned, looking at Chase and Alessandro.

They all simply nodded their heads; they were serious now. I lit a match, and in the glow of the small flame. In a moment, I was overwhelmed, realizing what it was we were doing, what it was I was a part of.

Then I remembered The Raven, and the grief and suffering he brought not only to me but to so many others, like Aiden. My mind was made up, I decided to throw the match on the gasoline-moistened crate.

It flared up at once, which was incredibly rapid, with the fire quickly engulfing the whole area. We had to flee and, as we moved away, none of us dared to look back at the raging fire that seemed suddenly to have engulfed the entire area. And that’s exactly what we did; run to the van and get in as Chase revved up the engine.

Having the chance to look back, I did it only when we were already driving away. The petrol was ignited, the wires short-circuited, and the whole place was a ball of flame, a colossal column of fire rising to the heavens. It was very graceful and very creepy and all at the same time.

“We did it,” Alessandro said in disbelief.

Chase looked at him in disbelief and then breathed out, shaking as he laughed. “I tried not to think about it until now, but I think we actually managed to pull it off. ”

I settled back into the chair, feeling an odd amalgam of feelings relief, fear, exhilaration, and just a splash of guilt. But over it all lay, for the most part, a feeling of satisfaction. We had fought to get back at The Raven, proved to him that we were not mere easy preys.

When we started driving at night, leaving the burning warehouse behind, I was sure that this was only the beginning. We had more targets, more properties which were to be wiped out. It would be risky and, what is more, I actually didn’t believe we would not get caught one day.

For the first time, I felt a little bit of hope after this nightmare of a journey that I was on. We weren’t running anymore. We were fighting back. Still, no matter the next step, The Raven would understand that interfering with us was a colossal misjudgment.

I would turn to my two colleagues, Chase and Alessandro, who were also involved in this insane and rather reckless undertaking. Nevertheless, I got back a stream of fondness towards both of them. That means we are both in this ’till the better or till the worst, doesn’t it?

‘One down,’ I said, glad to feel the grim smile spreading across my face. ‘Round two, anybody?”

Their answering smiles were enough to let me know everything I had to know. It was just beginning, and The Raven had no idea how the events were going to roll him out.

Until my phone chimed, a message from an unknown number, “Game on, Baby girl”