Chương 28: Chapter 27. A Little Mischief

"Wait! Where are you going?" Cry called out. Oscar turned around and rubbed his temple.

"We don't have time to mess around and rob… churches."

"Oscar, did you want to buy new gear or not?" Gita asked.

"I say let's join them and get a nice little payday." Sob clapped her hands excitedly and giggled.

"Yeah! Stay and help us, it'll be fun! Plus, I know this really good [Armorer] that'll give you a discount if I tell him too!" That made him more interested. Make a little money and get discounted gear? He'd be dumb to not try. After all, it was just a church. It wasn't like they were going to rob a bank, or some rich prick. The worst he had to fear was being smited down by the churches god, but he'd always been apathetic towards organized religion anyways, and being in a new world hadn't changed that belief yet.

"Alright, fine. I'm in, but I don't want to hurt anyone," Oscar said.

"We don't roll like that, don't worry," Sob said.

"I mean not to regular folk. There are tons of assholes that try and mess with us, and we will gladly mess with them." Wail chuckled and cracked his knuckles.

"Not so much anymore now that we have the boss around."

"You gotta meet our boss after this job, you two," Weep said.

"He's totally wicked and an absolute badass. You look decently tough, Oscar, but… not enough for him." It wasn't that Oscar had an ego. After all, he'd just recently gotten even remotely a little strong, but… he felt confident he could take on a couple of teenagers wannabe gang leader. But he didn't say that, instead he just nodded his head in recognition of their praise for the mysterious leader.

"So, when's the best time to rob a church?" Oscar asked.

"Ideally at night, but it just so happens that the District Seven church just went under renovations the other day," Sob said with a devilish grin.

"There'll be a few people inside working, but I think we can draw them out with a good enough distraction." Weep and Wail chuckled and elbowed one another.

"Leave that to us," they both said and chuckled some more.

"Right… Well, we don't have all day, so let's get to it," Gita said. With his arms stretched outwards in a wide dramatic fashion, Cry spoke.

"Let the audition for Oscar and Gita to join our group… begin!"

"Don't think that we're joining…"

"As if I'd join a group of kids…" Cry and the rest ignored them and left the market. Reluctantly, Oscar and Gita followed. Even though this wasn't what either of them had in mind for today, at least this wasn't anything dangerous. He hoped at least that'd be the case...

Oscar stood behind Cry and the others on top a roof as they watched Weep and Wail knock vigorously on the churches wide, wooden doors. They both began to frantically scream and holler, pleading for help. From what? He didn't know because they kept it vague. Which in his opinion, felt it was obvious that this was a prank, but he didn't say anything. After a few more moments of the charade, the doors opened, revealing two men, and to his surprise… the people that had been inside looked genuinely worried.

Or was that annoyance?

"Okay, so they took the bait. Now what?" he asked Cry.

"Eh, no clue. We don't really ever know what those two have going on in their heads, but… typically this ends the same." Gita was about to ask how, but the answer came immediately. Wail kicked one of them, a man in his late forties, right in the balls. Weep followed up and opted instead to punch the other man in his balls. Both men keeled over in agony, their wails loud and no doubt alerting the others inside.

"Yep, checks out," Oscar said flatly.

"Classic…" Bawl breathed out.

"So dishonorable…" Sob said in disgust.

"But is is effective." Gita groaned loudly.

"Do we really need everyone to react one-by-one? What the fuck is next?" Angry, well-dressed workers filed out of the church and began to chase after the two mischievous boys.

"Well, now we loot the place as gods damned fast as possible!" Cry said and leapt off the roof. Thankfully, the roof wasn't that high up, so Oscar had no issues following as well. He did a small roll as he landed and took off in a sprint towards the churches now-open doors. His speed was far greater than everyone else, and despite Cry having the slight head start, he was first inside. Once the other three had made it, he shut the doors and locked them.

The inside of the church was in a state of disarray due to the ongoing rebuilding efforts. Despite how it looked now, it was pretty much identical in structure to the churches back on Earth. There were stained glass windows, an altar, rows of pews, and a section dedicated to the musical performers. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Cry was at a door to the far left, his hands struggling with picking the lock.

"C'mon, stupid lock… just open already!" Suddenly, Gita shoulder charged the door, blasting it off the hinges. Oscar didn't think she even knew her strength because as the door fell, so did she. Bawl and Sob whooped and cheered before running over to pick her up.

"Up these stairs is where all the [Priests] and other crazies have their offices," Cry said as he climbed the steps.

"I don't know where they keep all of their donations, but we should split up to cover more ground."

"No need, I think I remember where the safe is," Sob said. Cry and Bawl looked perplexed, causing Sob to stomp her feet in annoyance.

"I used to attend, okay? I grew up and stopped buying what they were selling, that's all."

"Uh… yeah, right," Cry said.

"Feel like you should have mentioned that earlier…"

"I… didn't know if I should. I know how much you hate Praxios worshipers…"

"We're on a clock you two know, right? Can we get a move on already?" Gita asked impatiently.

"Sorry, you're right. Just down this hall is the stairs down to their cellar. It's where they store their wine, and just about everything they need for sermon. The [Bishop] also has his office down there because he hates how noisy the courtyard can get." Going down into the cellar, Sob led them towards the [Bishop's] office. The door was unlocked, but when they stepped inside there wasn't a safe, just enough dust and cobwebs to trigger Oscar's mom's allergies for a month.

"Um… oops! Guess they moved it…" Sob said, and did her best to give a cutesy look at everyone. It was ineffective. The group split up to search around the cellar to try and see if it had been moved somewhere else, but found nothing. Oscar was becoming increasingly frustrated, but he did his best to keep it contained within him.

"It's not here. Do you know anywhere else it could be?" he asked.

"Maybe in the [Treasurer's] office?" Sob suggested. Everyone went silent and just stared at the girl. After a second, Gita cracked her knuckles and slowly approached Sob. Oscar had to quickly step in-between to stop any escalations from occurring.

"Okay, so… in the future when you're robbing a place and it has a [Treasurer]… it's likely best to target them first over anyone else," Oscar said very slowly.

"Right… Um, before you get even more mad at me… I should probably tell you that I don't know any [Armorers]. But I bet Oz—""The cellar door is open! I bet some more of those damn kids are trying to steal the wine!" a voice shouted from above.

"The wine being stolen isn't what I'm concerned about, you dog," someone replied. Sob let out a little eep and jumped. Bawl and Cry seemed to be much more composed, thankfully. Cry gestured for Bawl to do something, but Oscar couldn't decipher the command. Bawl stalked over to a barrel that was close to the ladder and crouched behind it.

"Everyone, hide! Once Bawl does his thing, we all sprint up the ladder and get the fuck out of here! The mission is a bust… but perhaps we can leave with something," Cry said, and then retrieved a knife from underneath his socks.

"Everyone grab the oldest looking bottle you can find and get ready to run. It's not the payday I was looking for, but it's better than nothing." It wasn't quite the haul that Oscar was looking to get either, but he supposed that wine could fetch a good sum to the right buyer. Which meant he needed to find a buyer. Or hope this inept little gang knew of one. Something told him that none of them quite had those kinds of connections.

Even still, he grabbed the most vintage-looking bottle he could spot and hid behind a cabinet. The sound of footsteps coming down the ladder made everyone tense. Which was a little silly as these were just your regular working class civilians. There wasn't any threats posed to be feared.

"Little shits, I'll kill them if there are any more down here," one voice said.

"Calm down, Durante will kill us if we make a big scene on such a simple job," a new voice said.

"Kev, don't come down! Watch the ladder in case a rat tries to slip past," he called up.

"…'Kay," a deep voice responded. A tap on Oscar's shoulder made him flinch, but then he remember Gita was next to him.

"We're gonna have to brawl our way out. I don't trust Bawl to get us out of this," she whispered.

"Let's just wait and see. This likely isn't the first time they've been in situations like this. I'm sure they've got something planned that'll—" A loud crash cut Oscar off. As he peered around the side of the cabinet he was hidden behind, he saw one of the men on his knees, hands clutching the back of his head. Wine was dripping off his body and he was cursing up a storm at the sneak attacker. Just like Gita had thought, Bawl's plan wasn't enough as the man was already rising back to his feet.

Another man that hadn't been attacked had joined now and was gunning for Bawl. Oscar and Gita jumped out of their hiding spot and rushed towards the men. Worried that any shadow weapons he created might be too powerful, even if blunt, he went the traditional route and slammed his fist into the wine-soaked man's stomach. Gita went for the unscathed man, shoving Bawl out of the way right before the boy was about to be hit.

Oscar didn't need to see her face to know she was smiling, no doubt excited to try out one of her new skills.

"[Enfeebling Strike]," she said as her fist connected with the man's side. The hit didn't look particularly powerful, but clearly it must've been as the man went limp. His arm had been mid-swing prior to Gita's skill connecting, but it suddenly fell to his side like a wet noodle. The effect didn't last long, though, as he looked to be recovering.

"[Redouble Effects]," she said, but this skill wasn't used with a punch, instead she had just gripped the man's head before activating it. Once more, the man went limp, except this time he slumped completely to the ground. He was still conscious, but unable to move his body aside from some slurred mumblings. The three Lamenters gawked at the display before coming to their senses.

"Fuckin' gnarly…" Cry breathed out.

"We still got at least one more clown up above. No doubt he's heard the scuffle, so what do we do?"

"Leave him to me," Oscar said and approached the base of the ladder.

"Yo! We beat up your friends down here pretty bad. If you don't want the same to happen to you, then step away from the ladder and let us leave." Oscar heard Bawl whisper, " That's his plan?" but a quick snap of Oscar's fingers made him shut up. The man above, who he now remembered was named Kev, poked his fat head over the cellar hatch.

"Huh? Peter and Deter lost?" he asked in a deep voice. Kev sounded remarkably like a rock that became human.

"Eh, oh well. Kev only has to guard ladder. Stupid kids can't escape with Kev—""[Black Out]." Kev suddenly went berserk at having lost his sight. Oscar didn't know what he had thought would happen from here, but it most certainly wasn't what followed. In a wild frenzy of movement, Kev lurched forwards and tripped down the hatch." Oh, fuck!" Oscar shouted as he lunged himself away from the ladder. Right after, the massive body of Kev landed at the base of the ladder. Everyone looked at Kev in horror.

His leg had snapped to the side in an unnatural angle, with the bone sticking out. Panic about whether or not he'd accidentally killed the man or not quickly vanished as Kev let out a loud wail." Everyone, go!" Gita shouted, spurring everyone to snap out of their shock. Oscar was first up as he was closest. Once everyone was up, he shut the cellar and ran out into the hallway. Cry was now leading and was heading back towards the center of the church.

After everyone had arrived, Cry let out a whoop followed by a brief bout of laughing.

"Gods! That was insane!" Cry said with a clap of his hands.

"I don't see anyone else, but there was definitely more than just those three that chased Weep and Wail, right?"

"I counted around eight," Gita answered.

"Maybe those three caught on before the others and came to check it out?"

"We should leave before anymore come," Oscar said.

"Based on how they looked, I don't think those were ordinary workers." Bawl, who had been suspiciously quiet since escaping, called for everyone's attention.

"Guys, why does a church have a crate full of pills?" he asked and plucked a small capsule out of the crate he was standing next to.

"Praxios, be damned…" Cry muttered as he picked out another pill.

"These are Desire pills. My Pa used to be addicted to these damned things… Why does a church have them?"

"A church doing morally corrupt things? No way," Gita said in a monotone voice.

"We could spend all day theorizing about why those things are here, and we'd likely never figure it out. Let's either rob that [Treasurer's] office, or get the fuck out."

"I like stealing as much as the rest of you guys, but… if this is a drug operation, I don't think we should stick around," Sob said. After a minute, Cry and Bawl agreed as well and made for the front door. Just as they were about to open the doors, angry rumblings came from outside.

"That's why I hate kids. Just some fuckin' brats looking to cause mischief for no reason other than they're bored. And now we're going to be behind on progress for the day…"

"Fuck! They're all returning now. What do we do?" Bawl asked.

"We create our own exit, dumbass," Gita said and pointed at the stained glass window. She then picked a hammer off of a nearby crate and chucked it at the window. The glass shattered with a loud crash, evoking alarmed cries from outside the door. Without saying anything, Gita ran and hopped out the window. As the door swung open to reveal five angry men of nefarious profession, Oscar and the others were already gone.