Enforcers

Cloud burst through the doors jumping down the stairs three at a time as he landed at the bottom.

He felt a wave of intense heat and heard the loud clanging sounds as the blacksmith apparently worked on something.

"Oh? You"re the recruit I made the cane and suit for right. Cloud?"

"Yes sir!" Cloud announced saluting the man slightly. "And thank you for the cane! It has been very good. Way better than my other one."

"I"m glad you liked it. I worked pretty hard on forging it. Shaping Rivion down into a small shape like that, isn"t easy."

"You made my coat out of Rivion. I figured that would have been harder, to make silk clothing out of this stuff."

"Well for any normal blacksmith I"m sure it would have. But my Attribute allows me to negate that weakness. I"m a normal human so my ability isn"t very strong. It"s called Silk Metal. I can give clothing such as wool, or silk, the properties and durability of various metal, while keeping it light. I made several of the threads a mix of these materials. Some of the layers have the property of Rivion, others have Tungsten, some have steel, and the layered coat you have his t.i.tanium. They"re all layered together stacked up, but still as light as normal silk would be. Layered together like that allows for lightweight durable armor."

"Wait that isn"t important!" Cloud shook his head growing serious now. "I need Big Brother Hero"s armor. His Enforcer uniform. I a.s.sume you have fixed it now?"

"Oh? Yeah. I fixed it up a while ago. By fixing it up, I mean I had to make a new one, as only his boxers were still pieced together." The blacksmith gave a shrug for a moment. "But yeah. I made his new outfit. It"s still basically the same but I added an undershirt to it, and some extra threads to the jacket and pants. I also made it out of some elastic material so he can stretch and expand it easier. Pretty problematic as he sprouts bones. So that"s why I added a simple T-shirt underneath. He can take the jacket off ditching some armor to sprout more bones out of his arms. Still though. The blasted idiot will likely rip it up anyways."

"So it is done?"

"Yeah."

"Good! I"ll personally deliver it to him then!" Cloud announced holding his arms out.

"I figured he would come to get it himself."

"He"s actually out right now."

"What?" Clause frowned scratching his hand through his white messy beard. "That"s odd. I don"t recall Squad Six getting any missions. We"re still in trouble. Only allowed to break up the bandit fights in Oleander?"

"Well, I don"t know about it exactly but it is apparently an unofficial mission or something. Big Brother left me out of the loop!" Cloud let out a huff shaking his head. "So I need to go out and find him."

"I see..." Clause let another hum as he shook his head with a nod. "Okay. Catch." He threw a black box out to Cloud as the blind boy surprisingly caught it. "His outfit is in that. Also..." He hummed slightly staring down at another black box in his arms. "Also take this. I have a feeling you may need it." He also tossed it over to Cloud, who once again caught it. 

"What is it?" Cloud asked with a small frown as he held the two boxes now.

"It"s a bit of an experimental weapon," Santa stated letting out a deep bellied laugh apparently finding it funny. "I"m sure you"ve heard of that Mantra c.r.a.p or something? Only Superhumans can use it. Anyways this weapon is only a prototype but I think it might be able to deal with it. Or at least maybe give you an edge against it."

"Ahh." Cloud gave a nod as he stared down at it. "Cool. Who is this for exactly?" He asked?

"It"s for anyone really. If you want it you can have it. Or you can give it to one of those allies of yours. It could work pretty well if you gave it to that North fellow. Or that Ken girl. Or even Hero. Then again it could also potentially work with your style. Just make sure you know who you want to give it to for sure. Whoever activates it first, it"ll bond to their Equation Of Life and only they can use it."

"Oh?"

"Anyways. If that"s all you should hurry. I have a bad feeling."

"Right! Thank you Mr. Blacksmith." Cloud announced saluting once again. "I"ll give this outfit to Hero, and also figure out what to do with this weapon you gave me."

"Good. Now run along lad. I have more work to do."

"Right!"

Meanwhile

In Dandelion City...

Irene moved down the street slowly folding her arms up. "Maybe dressing up in my armor wasn"t the best idea..." She muttered. She was still fully decked out in her official Enforcer armor that the blacksmith Santa Clause had made her. She had decided it would be a better idea to wear it, then walk around in my civilian"s clothing. Someone could mistake me as a girl if I was like that. I hate having dress up like this though... And keeping my hair so short. Kitsune doesn"t even notice me like this- Not that I care if he does or anything!" Her face lit up slightly as she covered her face and shook her head.

The Enforcer girl let out a loud sigh as she looked up staring ahead now. 

Several feet across from her rested a simple black gate. 

Past the gate was a large hill with a long trail snaking around it.

And at the top of that hill rested a ma.s.sive stone manner.

It was large. Larger than the other buildings. It also looked old. And dark. Something that stood out in this bright city. It looked so cold. And lonely. 

Irene couldn"t imagine even living in there. 

It had several large windows, that were also black allowing someone from the inside to see out, but not allowing anyone on the outside to see in. The gra.s.s around the manner was brown and withered away. Dead. There weren"t any trees, or anything. The building still looked like it was in good shape, even if it was old. It was still quite an impressive sight. 

Just dark.

"The Organization..." Irene muttered. "Here"s what we know of them... There are twelve members. Some claim they don"t kill, yet others burnt an entire city to the ground. They are apparently led by a guy named Mr. Snow, but they also mentioned someone named the Jester? As for their co-leader, it is apparently a guy named Bunt. A ma.s.sive criminal who was in Nightshade, but escaped making him the only man to ever break out. They also work in teams... That"s some of the information we"ve gathered. As for the members we know of... Something doesn"t add up. Kitsune mentioned four people that worked in a bar, who all had tied to the organization. September, and October, and a guy named Harrison, and Tom... So that"s four out of twelve. Hero fought a guy named Ben, who was held here being tortured and interrogated. He broke slightly and gave some information such as the leaders... He was busted out by a man named David. So that"s six. Plus Mr. Snow, and the Jester, and that guy named Bunt. So Nine members. Captain Katrina, and Mr. Blight fought two other members. A girl named Viper, and a mysterious man named Turron. That"s eleven. And finally on Hero, and Ken"s mission, they met four people. That"s fifteen... Plus that skeleton guy they mentioned which could be sixteen. That"s four members to many. Our information doesn"t add up...." The girl gave a sigh as she looked up. "On top of that, this n.o.bleman was at the same city as Hero, and Ken when it was destroyed... And this city was also attacked... So why do a few claim their group never kill, while the other side blew an entire city off the face of Ava? I"m going to find out what"s going on."

Irene slowly reached out placing her hand on the gate.

"I"m gonna solve this case-"

"That"s lovely and all. But if I were you, I would wait..." A voice stated.

Irene whipped her head around seeing the smirking face of Max.

"h.e.l.lo." His orange finger began to glow with a small wisp of lava. "Don"t open that gate."