Jay-Jay's POV
The heavy, dramatic silence didn't last long. From the corner of the floor, Clyde-the pathetic rat-started thrashing around, his face purple with rage and fear.
"Take me to jail at least, you assholes!" he shrieked, his voice cracking. "Do something! You can't just leave us here!"
The insult hadn't even finished echoing when Elara moved.
In a blur of motion, she stepped forward and landed a brutal, lightning-fast punch right on Clyde's jaw.
The sound of bone meeting fist echoed through the warehouse, and Clyde slumped back, silenced.
Smack!
Before Elara could even pull her hand back, a hand came down on the back of her head again.
It was that handsome, older uncle-Uncle Kier-looking both exhausted and amused.
"Ugh!" Elara groaned, clutching her head. "What now?!"
"Are you crazy?" Kier asked, crossing his arms. "Why did you punch him? He's already bleeding out on the floor!"
"Ughhhh!" She groaned, stretching the sound out like she was losing her mind.
"I. Don't. Like. People. Cursing. Around. Meeeeee!"
Uncle Kier raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. "What is your problem? Do you always react like this? Every time someone says a bad word, you break a jaw?"
"Yes," she snapped instantly, rolling her eyes so hard I thought they might get stuck.
"Why?"
"I feel irritated!"
"Why?"
"What do you mean 'why'?" she shouted, throwing her hands up.
"I'm telling you, it's annoying!"
"Why?" Kier repeated, his face a mask of stone.
"Ugh!" Elara let out a sound of pure frustration.
She reached into her waistband, pulled out her gun, and shoved it into Uncle Kier's hand.
"Take this! I'm going! If you want to know 'why' so bad, ask the gun!"
She started to stomp away toward the warehouse exit.
"Wow!" Kier called after her, holding the weapon like it was a piece of dirty laundry.
"What if the people outside curse too? What then, Princess?"
"I'll kill them!" she shouted back without turning around.
"Anything else?! God, you're so irritating!"
I stared at her, my jaw hanging open. I had seen her as a student, a fighter, and even a "devil" tonight, but I had never seen her this genuinely... annoyed.
She looked less like a secret agent and more like a teenager arguing about chores.
Uncle Kier sighed and jogged a few steps to catch up, shoving the gun back into her hand.
"Take this and complete your work. We're not leaving until this is finished."
"No!" Elara barked, pushing the gun away. "I'm not doing anything. Whatever. I'm done."
"You still owe me ," Kier reminded her, his voice low and firm.
"No!" she countered, pointing a finger at his chest. "Now you owe me more for hitting me three times in front of all! Go to hell!"
They stood there, the most dangerous man and woman in the room, bickering like two kids fighting over a remote control.
It was so surreal I almost forgot there was a dead body in the center of the room and a drug lord at our feet.
CN chirped from behind me, "Is there a comedy movie going on? Can I take part too? I've got some great lines."
I didn't even think. I let go of Keien for a second and landed a solid smack on the back of CN's head.
"Ow! What's with you now?!" he yelped, rubbing his skull and looking at me with betrayed eyes.
Keifer, standing right by my side, didn't laugh.
He was watching the whole thing with a deadly serious expression, looking exactly like Kuya Angelo-sharp, focused, and analyzing every move.
Edrix just scratched his head and muttered, "Damn," while Felix let out a long, exhausted sigh. "I don't even know how to react anymore," Felix whispered.
"Is this real life?"
Then, a voice ripped through the bickering like a lightning bolt.
"ENOUGHHHHH!"
I jumped, nearly losing my balance. It was Keigen. He looked like he was about to explode from the sheer absurdity of the situation.
Elara blinked, looking over at him with a bored expression.
"What happened? Why are you shouting now? You're going to give the police a headache."
"Can you two please take anything seriously for five minutes?" Keigen growled, gesturing toward the dead body, the crying kids, and the literal army of officers standing around.
"Oh, yeah, you're right," Elara said, nodding slowly. Then she pointed a finger at Uncle Kier.
"But... why are you yelling at me? He started it!"
Uncle Kier looked offended. "What did I do? It was you! You're the one who started throwing punches because of a few bad words!"
"Just. Shut. Up," Keigen said, his voice dropping into a dangerous, low warning.
"U-sh-u-t-u-p," Uncle Kier mocked, repeating the words in a squeaky, childish voice that definitely didn't match his tough-guy appearance.
"You know you're ripping my respect to shreds right now," Elara muttered, crossing her arms and pouting.
"Wow," Kier barked back. "When were you ever respected?"
Suddenly, CN decided to intervene. "Hey! She's respectable!"
I immediately facepalmed. CN, please, just stop talking.
Elara's face lit up. She looked at Uncle Kier with a triumphant smirk. "See? Even the classmates agree."
CN cleared his throat and added, "...but not among us."
The silence lasted for exactly one second before Uncle Kier burst out laughing. He laughed so hard he had to lean against a crate for support, while Elara's smirk vanished into a look of pure, murderous irritation.