Everyone was gathered in the main room of the cave.
Tsuki was on Etsy's shoulders, running her fingers through crocodilian's silky hair.
Jericho stood near Etsy with Cypher standing in front of both of them with a giant duffel bag.
"Open them, inside lies the key to the future."
Whenever Cypher spoke it was so soul moving, as if you couldn't resist but to listen to his commands.
Looking over Jericho saw Etsy already rummaging through the bag, she examined all of the dark colored pieces of clothing that filled the bag.
Her expression went dull as if she was looking for something exciting.
Jericho returned his attention back to his duffel bag, at first he was hesitant to open it but after seeing that Etsy's was just full of black clothing he assumed his was no different.
The zipper was pulled slowly unveiling its hidden contents.
Inside were 5 pairs of midnight black body suits, with day clothes tucked neatly besides them.
Jericho continued to rummage through the bag until he hit something hard beneath all the assortment of clothing.
The metal clank of Jericho's hand connecting with the steel object sent ripples throughout his body.
Jericho pulled the metal object out from within the confines of the bag; to his surprise, it was just a long hunk of metal.
'Huh.'
He glanced over at Cypher, who was already in his face, having anticipated Jericho's questioning of such a seemingly trivial and meaningless piece of trash within their important terrorist duffel bag.
"Open it."
Examining the hunk of metal closer, Jericho noticed a small button on the bottom. A small clicking sound was made as he pressed it.
Inside was a virtual map of the entire Omnibus; it was constantly changing, as red markers appeared throughout each city of all the quadrants, except for the west.
"What you're looking at is a map of the Omnibus; it's frequently updating and changing based on what's currently happening in the world."
Cypher pointed at one of the many red exclamation points; this one was much larger than all the rest; it also happened to be the one closest to them.
"The exclamation marks are essentially markers that tell us where there's conflict or crime, and this just so happens to be the one that's one of the current biggest markers right now."
Cypher tapped on the exclamation mark that he was pointing at; when it expanded, Jericho's face dropped.
Highlighted in flashing red was a picture of Etsy and Tsuki.
"Oh, and look who's in the corner."
Jericho repeatedly shook as he looked to the bottom right of Tsuki's photo.
It was Jericho's severed head in Tsuki's hands.
"You know what this means. He knows where you are, maybe he's always known but now you're sure."
Cypher's words sent chills down Jericho's spine. His entire body was spazzing as the memories began to flood in, his legs gave in causing him to fall to the ground.
Cypher sighed and smacked the traumatized man on the floor.
"Is your conviction really that weak? You cry and tense whenever you're reminded of the past. That's pathetic, get up we have too much to do."
Jericho was still on the floor, he'd been through so much. He held his red cheek and began to ponder, people were relying on him. He wasn't in the same situation that he was a few days ago.
Snapped back into reality Jericho put his attention back on the duffel bag; there was still much left to unpack from within it.
After unpacking everything Jericho lied them neatly on the floor beside him.
The metal hunk that contained the map, black clothing seemingly for sneaking around, day clothes, a Cantine, an assortment of different types of weapons, 3 oddly different colored pills, and a mask.
'Interesting to say the very least.'
"Hey, what are these pills for?"
Cypher glanced over at Jericho.
"You'll know when the time comes, for now keep them safe. Don't ever lose them."
'This man never gives a straight answer does he'
Jericho sighed and neatly put everything but the weapons back into his duffel bag.
'Hmm. What to choose.'
Back in Jericho's prime he had used a sniper rifle, he was referred to as the "Miracle Shot" because of his skills with a rifle and the fact that he never killed who he sniped, they were shot just right enough to incapacitate them for a long while.
But there were no guns at all, just blades lay below him.
"Heyo! What weapon ya gonna choose!"
Etsy appeared to the side of her unnervingly close.
"Uh, I don't know yet."
Jericho spoke uncertainly.
Etsy took one of the bigger blades from the ground.
It was a thick, sharp, longsword with a dragon emblem carved into the handle.
"What about the… DRAGON SLAYER!!!"
She cackled while waving the sword around, her mouth was open as if she was imitating a dragon spitting out flames.
Jericho he'd in his laugh-- he knew she was being serious.
"I'll pass, I'm not well-versed in wielding blades."
Etsy's demeanour shifted to confusion.
"Huh! You're not good with a blade?"
The ground rumbled as she scuffled quickly to Jericho.
She was all in his face now.
"BLADES ARE THE GREATEST CREATION OF ALL HUMANITY!"
Cold, scaly claws gripped Jericho's face.
"I am a blade, Jericho."
Sweat profusely dropped from Jericho's face as a crooked smile appeared on his face.
His eyes averted from Etsy's.
"Heh, yeah. Blades are so cool."
Digging into her pocket, Etsy pulled out a small pocket knife with her initial carved into it. She put her hand forward, offering Jericho the knife.
"Take this, a part of my soul is locked within this knife. I'll be your blade, Jericho."
Jericho scratched his head in discomfort and confusion before warily taking the knife that lay on Etsy's giant hand.
"Thanks…"
He gave a half assed crooked smile.
Etsy gave a big one, showing all of her crooked fangs right back.
The knife was extremely light-- nice. He tucked it into the pocket of one of his nightclothes and placed the rest of the weapons back into the bag.
As he was finishing packing his duffel bag, he noticed that the mask was still on the ground; it seemed he had forgotten to put it back in when he had put all of the clothes and items into his bag.
He grabbed the mask and inspected it.
It was an unusual mask; it wasn't one you'd think would be on a terrorist. It was a cartoon superhero mask of a man with a chiselled face and a butt chin. He had a giant smile on his face that oozed heroism and radiated light as if he were a real person.
What an odd mask.
Jericho threw it into his bag; he assumed Cypher just liked cartoon masks.
"Hey, Etsy, what kind of mask did you and Tsuki get?"
Etsy looked up in confusion.
"Huh, a mask?"
Jericho was slightly perplexed by her response.
"You didn't get a mask?"
Etsy grabbed her duffel bag and opened it. She pulled out two midnight black balacalva.
"Ya' mean this thing? I wouldn't call it a mask."
Jericho's face flushed red.
"Why the hell did I get this goofy superhero mask instead of a normal balaclava like you guys?"
She shrugged.
"Hell if I know"
In dismay Jericho grabbed his duffel bag and dragged himself to the entrance of the cave.
"Well I'm ready to get the hell out of he-"
BOOM!
Debris flew from the entrance of the tunnel leading into the cave.
The loud explosion rang through everyone's ears making their vision blurry and their perception of reality dizzy.
"Fuck, they're here already!"
Cypher yelled but no one could hear him or understand what he was saying.
Both Tsuki and Etsy were on the ground covering their ears trying to shield them from the constant ringing.
Jericho, who was right by the explosion, was flung over near Cypher.
Cypher took a katana from a sheathe on his side and swiftly chopped on Jericho's head in a single motion.
He quickly took all of the duffel bags scattered along the ground and put two pieces of rubber in both Tsuki's and Etsy's ears.
Tsuki was profusely shaking and spasming.
Etsy grabbed her and paced after Cypher who was already at one of their exits.
Suddenly Etsy felt a blade cut her achilles. She reacted quickly blindly sending out a fierce kick with her other uninjured leg towards where the cut was delivered.
Her foot connected with nothing causing her to do 360.
As she spun around her eyes met with a sleek dark man. His eyes pierced through hers instilling fear into her core.
He was wearing any armor, just a black skintight suit and a wrap made of lionskin around his waist.
Etsy got into a stance to fight ready to stand her ground.
"Don't fight, just run!"
Cypher yelled out, still not stopping towards the hidden exit.
Closely behind, Tsuki was frantically running with him.
Etsy gritted her teeth.
Two ginormous elephant men came in, stomping behind a man in an all white suit.
The white man wore a white top hat lined in gold with feathers that wrapped around the brim of the hat; it cast a shadow upon his face. Beneath the hat was silk, long, flowing, elegant, blonde hair that rested upon his suit.
He wore a scarf-like piece of clothing on the left side of his attire. It was also covered in white feathers.
The dark man vanished before appearing beside the white suited man.
"Where is he."
When the white man spoke, it was as if it weren't a question but a demand. It was as if he already knew where whoever he was talking about was.
His words cast a shockwave of fear that rippled throughout the entire cave, hitting even Cypher and Tsuki, who were already nearing the exit.
It even awoke Jericho.
When Jericho regained consciousness, he didn't think about why he was a severed head; he instantly thought of what that voice was.
He knew that voice very well.
Cypher had made it to the exit. Near it was a lever and a button.
He pulled the lever, opening up a fake wall, revealing another tunnel.
This tunnel was not a straightforward one; it led to an array of different tunnels that led to different areas.
Cypher looked back at Etsy, who was still standing in front of the commanding man and his band of seemingly threatening people.
He hovered his finger above the button but hesitated.
Cypher put Jericho's head into the hands of Tsuki and pulled the lever.
"Go in and take a left. Stay in that tunnel until I come and get you, if I'm not back push the button below the rock in the left tunnel."
And with those words Tsuki listened and frantically run into the tunnel.
Cypher stood by Etsy's side ready to take on the mysterious foes.