Chapter 415: Resolve
Hundreds of troops, dozens of armored vehicles and who knew how many other things had pointed their weapons at the old god and young Laz. In most cases, getting out of here alive would have been impossible. As far as Laz was concerned, it was impossible. But then again, he wouldn’t know for sure if he didn’t try.
"So boy. Are you that willing to die today?" Tezcatlipoca asked, wondering just how this young man felt it was possible to get out of here. After all, even if he had spared his life, the Aztec god owed Laz nothing and therefore had no reason to fight on his behalf.
"Die? No. I’m not going to die here. I might not walk away from here though. Seems they want me alive, but I guess they will take me dead. Still though, how do you plan on getting out of here alive? Not like you’re in a better place than me right now..." Laz pointed out to Tezcatlipoca.
"You think I can’t get away from here?"
"I SAID DON’T MOVE. GET ON THE GROUND WITH YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR BACKS!" The loud man shouted once again after noticing Laz and Tezcatlipoca not listening to him as they walked towards one another.
"YOU’RE NOT THE POLICE SO SHUT THE HELL UP. WE’RE HAVING A CONVERSATION HERE!" Laz yelled back, annoyed. And he was right. Legally speaking, these men had no actual right to arrest them as they weren’t police as far as Laz could see. Between the military garb and the fire power, that wasn’t something even a swat team would possess.
"GAS THEM. MASKS ON!" The man ordered out loud as gas canisters rained down around Laz and Tezcatlipoca.
One of the chosen, sitting in the back of a big black SUV quickly came out as the clouds of tear gas started forming.
"STOP THAT YOU IDIOT. YOU’LL JUST MAKE IT EASIER FOR THEM TO HIDE..."
But he didn’t get the words out in time as the entire clearing they were standing in, made much larger by the bombardment from above quickly filled up with smoke.
The commander of the operation looked at the young punk dressed in expensive clothing and didn’t say anything before turning back to look at where Laz and Tezcatlipoca had been. Weapons had been leveled at them and any movement from them would have resulted in a hail of bullets coming right at them. As the wind picked up and blew the tear gas from the clearing, both the young man and old god were gone.
"WHAT THE FUCK? WHO’S GOT EYES ON THEM?" The commander bellowed out as everyone reported in negative.
"Fuck," said the punk chosen as he quickly typed something on his cell. Soon he was joined by almost two dozen other chosen as they stood in front of him with relaxed and carefree attitudes.
"Split up and find them. Stay in teams of four and don’t go getting yourselves killed," the kid ordered, much to the annoyance of those he had gathered.
"Ha. Mark. I’ve killed several of those fucking infected shits already. You think two more is going to stop me?" Said one kid who was even younger than Mark. Unlike the others, his eyes seemed a bit more bloodshot and his face a bit more pale.
Mark looked back at the kid for a moment before replying.
"You killed them in a cage fight after they had been locked up and tied up for weeks. Don’t act like you’ve actually fought before. No one here is dumb enough to think that we were in any real danger in those ’training’ matches. You want to go get yourself killed? Then feel free to go alone. But I won’t be responsible for anything that happens to you out there," Mark finally replied, not averting his eyes.
He knew the signs as they had been instructed and warned about it. When one of them was started to lose their grip on sanity and their power was reaching the maximum, this would happen. If they failed to control their minds, they would be killed by the power they loved so much. And this kid was right on the brink. If it weren’t for a lack of man power and the target being who he was, Mark never would have agreed to bring him, not matter what Tommy said.
The crazed kid, not taking Mark’s words to heart, quickly ran, heading right across the field as he made his way over to where Laz and Tezcatlipoca had been just moments before.
Mark could only shake his head as he looked around.
"How the hell did they escape?" One of the other’s asked as Mark shook his head, unsure. Just as he was about to assign everyone to spread out, screams echoed from the other end of the encirclement.
"FUCK. THEY ARE KILLING MY MEN," screamed the Commander as he heard an update from one of his teams.
Sure enough, Tezcatlipoca had ripped a man’s head off as several of his shadow demons had come into being and began attack other troops. Laz wasn’t being Lazy either, knocking one after another out cold as he followed behind the old god who seemed to be enjoying this more than him for a change.
"What’s wrong boy? These things are like sheep to the slaughter yet you refuse to take their lives," Tezcatlipoca pointed out noticing Laz’s lack of killing intent.
"They are just normal humans," Laz responded as though it was the most obvious answer in the world. Laz ducked behind a jeep and waited as three men emptied their clips into the vehicle before darting out and knocking all three of them out before they could reload.
"BOY. GET IT THROUGH YOUR HEAD. THEY ARE TRYING TO KILL YOU. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN ONE OF THEM WAKES UP AND SHOOTS YOU IN THE BACK? AND BESIDES WHICH, I’M NOT WAITING AROUND FOR YOU!" Tezcatlipoca shot back, annoyed as he had actually been holding back to keep pace with Laz. It was only now that he saw Laz not killing.
As for Tezcatlipoca, he had to admit that massive bloodshed felt good to him after being stuck underground for five hundred years. Even if it were just mortals. The hallow points in their guns might be enough to injure Laz, but to his god body, they barely stung as he was shot time and time again but ignored it.
As one of the squads saw this, thy brought out a grenade launcher to which Laz quickly jumped forward and tackled Tezcatlipoca out of the way. Several of his shadow demons were lost in the explosion before the rest could eliminate the threat.
"That wouldn’t have killed me boy," Tezcatlipoca scolded, although even he had to admit that something like that might have caused him harm.
"If you want to leave me, then do so. I won’t have more blood on my hands then necessary," Laz shot back, getting up and continuing to make his way forward.
As for why they were able to break this encirclement, the answer was simple. Tezcatlipoca took them underground and traveled to the far edge of the ring, allowing them to appear behind the enemy line and start reeking havoc. If Tezcatlipoca had his way, they would have just fled, but even if he didn’t owe Laz anything, he wasn’t going to forget Laz’s act of sparing his life. He might have been a criminal to his Pantheon back in the day, but even he had a code of honor he refused to abandon. As such, even if he felt he didn’t owe Laz anything, taking him to escape wouldn’t have been a problem for him.
Or it wouldn’t have been if Laz didn’t bother stirring the hornets nest before they escaped.
The entrance was in the distance as they made their way forward, the surrounding troops were slow to react but did so once they made their position known. Right now, everyone who had gathered were going towards them and away from the woods, exactly as Laz had planned.
Just when they thought they were in the clear, a red eyed, pale skinned chosen suddenly blocked their path. Bringing his hands together, a massive torrent of fire shot forward, engulfing the two men in a one hundred food cone of flames that melted the ground, the vehicles close to them and even the few solders who hadn’t been killed.
He laughed the entire time as he channeled the flames longer and harder.
"FUCKING STOP YOU IDIOT. WE NEED THEIR BODIES!!!" Mark yelled having been running after this flaming idiot after they heard the news on the Commander’s radio.
The red eyed teenage let the flames die down finally as his manic laughter continued, obviously pleased with himself.
Just as the flames came to an end, the red eye teenager’s eyes practically popped out of their sockets.
When he had launched his attack, Laz and Tezcatlipoca had been located almost fifty feet away from him, dead center of the cone. Now, they were both standing right in front of him without a singe mark on their clothes. Laz reached his hand forward and grabbed the teenage by his neck before he could object and drew him close. A golden light flashed in his eyes before a sick look came over Laz’s face. With the other chosen and Tezcatlipoca looking on, Laz squeezed the red eyed teenagers neck until a pop was heard followed by the sound of crushing bones as the teenager’s head slumped freely to the side, his eyes a reflection of pure terror.
Tezcatlipoca looked the most dumbfounded at this event, having been totally sure that Laz would have just knocked this kid out since they had emerged unharmed.
Seeing the look on Tezcatlipoca’s scaly face, Laz simple responded,
"He wasn’t innocent."
Laz then casually tossed the body to the side before hopping in one of the SUV’s that had brought the chosen, signaling Tezcatlipoca to join him.
As the stunned chosen looked on, Laz causally started up the vehicle and punched it, sending it flying out of the gate.
