Moderating To Moderate

  Later that evening, with the setting sun declaring the relaxation of countless as they drove or walked home, and others to signal it would soon be their time to do the same. In the basement of a small building, which ended up being much larger than the 3 connected buildings above, Fox walked down the stairs with 2 goons atop the stairs and another 2 on the basement floor.

  He carried a suitcase with him, which swung heavily and spoke of money. Coming down the stairs, with his suit and all, Fox saw a man with balding hair sitting at a rectangular table, although his sides were as hairy as one could grow horrified to look at.

  Fox walked past the goons, who motioned their hands towards him to check him, but a light tap from his fast-moving left hand left them mouth agape. They held one of their wrists, feeling something was wrong with them, before their hand hung limp.

  “Is that how you Lys welcome their business partners? Or do you start showing that when you finally want to get rid of those who give you the money!?” The man spoke, elevating his volume a bit more and more as he went on.

  Slam. Fox ignored it and slammed the heavy suitcase on the table before sitting on his chair, lifting dust and some splinters. The goons he crippled of one of their wrists looked at him with furrowed eyebrows and squinted eyes, but they dared not announce a mere blow from their lips as a sigh or heavy breathing.

  “Oh, it’s tougher than it looks,” Fox said after sitting down. Caressing the table’s surface. The man looked at Fox with a tiny frown, his eyes moving to the suitcase before looking at the table, and then back at Fox.

  “It seems it’s true what they say.” The man leaned over after all this, thinking as quick as he could in his head. His mouth open, showing his teeth and his mobile tongue as he spoke. The man adopted a fearsome yet passive stance. “Lymoca didn’t have the most notorious organized crime for no reason. Looking to extend business outside your homeland now?”

  “Is that the so-called passive-aggressiveness?” Fox commented, unrelated to anything happening around their ‘meeting’ table, made of wood and orange. His polycoria eyes rolled up and down in clear, fake contemplation. He spat without life. “Dull.”

  “…” The man’s eyebrows relaxed, and so did his face as he reclined back into his seat. Fox looked at the man before patting the suitcase, heavy and pretty; shiny from the outside. It made one, specifically the man sitting before Fox, wonder how shiny it would be from the inside.

  Fox said nothing; just staring at the man, who waited for him. The man moved his eyes to the suitcase and back to Fox repeatedly, unsure at first, then confused. At last, he couldn’t take it anymore and slammed his forearms on the table, “What are you doing!? Show me the goods!”

  “Clear objectives are the number one priority when making business, be it honest or shit work. Let’s limit ‘shit work’ to the likes of the criminal world.” Fox spoke immediately after the sound of the man’s words finished.

  “Wha-…” The man’s mouth gaped, and his eyes squinted, further confused. Fox didn’t stop there, lazily lying on the chair’s backrest, “To not have those, and I’m not using sophisticated studies or knowledge, it’s completely retarded.”

  “This is my proposal,” Fox sat upright and emphasized like to a kid to help them understand. He leaned his head a bit forth, looking into the man’s eyes. “Miguel, you currently run the ‘largest’ and definitely most efficient criminal group in Terka. Even better, you have most of the DLMs that were salvaged by your kind during the war, and the training from some Terkan special forces soldiers you already killed. Not bad.”

  “How do-” The man, Miguel, frowned, unbeknownst to himself. But his words were complemented and interrupted by Fox. “You know that? Mn. Instead, you’re lucky to have ignored all Lymocan soldiers you found back then, but you didn’t report them to the army, letting them get kidnapped later on. Anyways. Surely you’ve heard of larger groups than yours disappearing during the war? As I said, lucky.”

  Fox continued speaking with a lifeless tone, “And you see. You are a bit spread out, making some Lys terrified. Everyone knows how much insecurity brews in any war-torn country. Every political identity here in this globe has records of such things.”

  “You can mobilize your people well-enough, and you know the stations of all the others. You also control what, 30 large farms around?” Fox placed his right hand on his left knee and extended his left arm, which was followed by Miguel’s semi trembling eyes. Unlocking its lock at the middle, Fox revealed the countless piles of 1,000 credits paper money. “It just so happens I have something that I want happening to all of them. See this? It’s not for you. It’s to show you how much I don’t need you.”

  “…?” Miguel’s eyes shook with excitement. His mind thought out multiple situations to act according to what Fox was talking, including boot licking. But those last few words left him more confused than ever so far.

  Fox’s polycoria eyes turned impassive, yet they somehow seemed deadly. Especially to Miguel, who didn’t even notice a pair of lips moving up and down, each time, slow, and filled with disdain. “You have 4 days to prepare. In the 4th, you will be moving. All the criminal groups will be erased. And if you want to, you can survive that.”

  “You want me, haha, to kill them all!? You are nuts, pinche idiota!” Miguel laughed out of rage, smiling from ear to ear with dimples threatening to form around his cheeks. Fox remained impassive.

  “Eduardo, Elías, and that Lalo. He actually has a family and has been working a way to find out if there is a ‘way out’ of the crime world for his family, like in Lymoca, but you already know that.” Fox casually spat before looking up into Miguel’s eyes.

  Miguel had a flabbergasted expression, completely wordless. When he remembered his actions of pulling a gun from under the table, realizing he couldn’t and has been struggling, he realized it was a shoe that didn’t let him pull the pistol out.

  “You-” Miguel wanted to protest, forgetting anything else and focusing on taking that pistol out, but Fox interrupted again, closing the suitcase that made the goons salivate. “My patience shouldn’t have been played with. Listen or die.”

  “Gulp.” Miguel gulped, slowly letting go of the handle. Fox’s voice became… lower, “This money can be your group’s, if you do something even more important and meaningful. Pu. What I will be asking you will not get out of your head unless you want it shot. Your priority.”

  “Wh- what?” Miguel’s head was in ruins. Not a single thought could be formed in there. Fox added, “As much as I know the 47 idiots you placed around here, I know all their families.”

  “Now, keep listening.” Fox sat on his chair with his elbows on his thighs, acting like a good kid. “I see some foreign companies who have done a bit too much damage to this territory, which is now Lymoca’s. You will visit them, and in a rage for the past of whoever is in your group, they were barraged to death— no executives were left alive, with the witnesses of your masterpiece telling the tales.”

  “That’s how you gain this money,” Fox turned to the suitcase. Miguel tried to search for the gun again, but his palm was stabbed by a long screw, peeking from under the table, as he tried to choke a curling scream from his mouth. Fox slowly returned his head to look at him.

  “So, do you want the money?”

  ‘I want my life!’ Miguel thought, not stupid enough to believe this was for the money, but the ticket to survive. Fox, this ‘Senior Minister’, never intended to negotiate. He sweated and looked at Fox with a contorted countenance that made his goons step up, but he stopped them with a hurried gesture with his arm.

  “I will- we will take it! Agh! Can you-” Miguel sweated more, thinking of how much was broken, when he felt the tip of a shoe poke his wrists. He looked up at Fox, who turned his head left and right, gazing around the place with calm before setting his eyes on him. “Miguel, I’m serious. For the thoughts of one, the others won’t allow you to let their families suffer.”

  “I said we will do it, aaaagh! I promise! Please, what else would you fucking want!?” Miguel screamed for his life, feeling a pressure on his wrist that made his veins tingle and jolt like touching the strings of a guitar.

  “Hmph~,” Fox smirked, contented with the reply. He stood up and left the suitcase’s lock open. Then, Fox swung his left arm upside down, crushing the table and freeing Miguel from the screw nailing him to the table.

  Bam! Cruuushhh…

  “Aaagghh…!” Miguel plummeted to the floor, with a gray syringe falling before his face on the same. When he looked at it, Fox’s voice sounded again, “You appear so stoic to your group, but you’re naughty, too. Let’s cooperate. I’d rather not bother, but someone roots for you back in ‘homeland’.”

  Fox walked to the stairs. Just when he was about to step out of the basement, his voice echoed yet again, like a nightmare returning to one’s mind in broad daylight. “Let me see your results, Miguel.”

  “Wait!” Miguel screamed. A bit too far away to be loud enough, Fox’s impassive voice sounded through the door, where bright lights made it a bit blinding for Miguel. “What is it?”

  “What’s going to happen after killing those executives!? They will just send more— it won’t matter! They’ll even demand your protection!” His face spasmed, and he could feel a bit of a fever from his outburst from the situation.

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  Fox’s voice sounded like a whisper that sharply traveled from the distance and covered his ears for a clearer understanding. “No. You won’t have to worry about those.”

  “…!!!” Miguel’s eyes contents shrank. His heart was throbbing from just one realization, far surpassing anything else he felt so far from Fox… this mad Fox.

  … Coming out of the building, with the Green Bloods having subdued all goons outside, their necks kissing the ground by the uniformed agents, Fox nodded at them before re-entering his minivan. The female White Blood nodded when he closed the door and drove forth.

  Fox leaned his elbow on the window side and took his WID out, bloody and rather disgusting to look at for the first time. It can really give bad first impressions. Then, he hoarsely gave the order, “Eyes locked. Trigger as intended.”

  ***

  At the same time, from various countries around the world, specially Cerka, Torka, Marcoplix, Gupi, Queorian, Orxa, Pexa, Orcesta, Fresna, K Tribe nations, and, of course, ANS.

  Dozens of PSD special agents moved through the streets, walking with bags holding food, drinks, items, purses, backpacks, and cases for instruments walked from a corner or wall to the surroundings of large companies standing tall.

  From headquarters to branches; from the country they started to the installations in others. Multiple people moved, be it in the morning or at a similar hour but the next day in the calendar. It was— something was— set in motion.

  ***

  Fox went to the palace after just 40 minutes driving outside the capital city. Terka was much safer at night, with the tall grass since several months ago not cut because of the communities’ focus in the improvement after the war covering trails better than the night.

  Lymoca’s army was up to date, so they met no difficulty when employing their intelligence functions. Furthermore, Piya Sanctum District was also here, with all their bases in each city built without a fault.

  Before entering the palace, he went to a small cottage, which was planned to become a greenhouse, but that was for after Fox left. He didn’t want to deal with something requiring such commitment when he would leave and won’t be here as he is in Lymoca.

  Furthermore, it would be better to see something untouched, where one could create a little garden and whatnot.

  When he entered the cottage, Fox was welcomed by Miros, who smiled, “Hello, boss!”

  “Step aside, kid.” Fox side glanced in the opposite direction, shoving the boy by pushing his chest away, but couldn’t help curl his lips. Miros grinned, closing the door before following Fox back inside. There, Elega stood beside a large table, with the rest of Nala’s team listening to her.

  There were also others, like a certain ex-organized crime group leader, Carlos Medena, with his head shaved with growing hair. Seeing him finally come, they stopped and looked at him. This Raging Blood, Fox, Phesx Caolia; however many names he could gain, was the man whom they had to respect, even if they did not want to.

  Elega was the bigshot among everyone here. She stood with her bright, dark chestnut, short and extra smooth hair swinging a bit in the air here and there. Elega looked at him with a casual face, hugging Miros’s shoulders when he passed by, forcing him in place.

  Fox flashed a glance to Miros, barely moving his head, before addressing everyone. “Time to play babysitter. It’s also time the District started its own farm. So, who are your picks?”

  Akina, Nol, Lyan, and Alea smirked with those words. Each had their own team, but they wouldn’t stop being Nala’s team. In fact, they were on their way to have their own platoon, let alone a squad. Meanwhile, the only person ‘unfit’ for PSD matters was Carlos Medena.

  Nala’s team and Elega chose their picks, targeting the people whom they now have their eyes on for the following cleansing operation, making everything clear for Fox.

  Nodding at them, Fox glanced at Carlos Medena, who seemed a bit lost and unwelcome around, but that was normal. He addressed the man, whose weak build only seemed right in his polycoria eyes, “Carlos, your place here isn’t needed, but it will mean something. Are you ready to meet your benefactor? That of yours… and your people.”

  “Yes… sir,” Carlos Medena, ex-leader of the Lyclan Cartel, awkwardly addressed Fox with his head low. The low self-esteem made even the special agents around him lift their eyebrows with a quick jump.

  “Good, she’s arriving in a few minutes. I saw her parked at a street to order like a thousand pieces of bread. Mind your manners, she is a lady of quality.” Fox nodded and spoke without a care, finishing by sitting at the edge of the table.

  “!” However, Carlos was awestruck the moment he heard a word: ‘she’. The person who would face tens of thousands of criminals and dictate them how to behave and instruct, would be a single person? Fox even made it seem like it was a young woman!

  “Miros, your ‘babies’ will debut on a large scale in the next several weeks, how are you feeling?” Next, Fox asked Miros, whose face was taken hostage by Elega, whose hands pulled Miros’s cheeks. Elega forced Miros to look at her up close, with their eyes connected.

  Miros separated his sapphire eyes from her face with difficulty, which made Elega pout, she glanced at Fox and said with elegance. “They will be ready. I even helped him build a few more sets. You don’t have to pay me, I- he got it all covered.”

  Elega licked her lips, while Miros’s face blushed redder than a tomato, covering his mouth, trying to ‘unremember’ something. Fox rolled his eyes.

  Fweep~. A few minutes later, wearing a pale pink cap, and a pink sweater that accentuated her delicateness, Andrea Crescar entered the greenhouse. A Green Blood opened the door for her, letting her inside with a bunch of bread packages on her dainty arms.

  “What the hell are you waiting for?” Fox looked at Carlos with a feral expression. Carlos’s shook for a second before he hurried to help Andrea, Fox’s previous fellow student from Ojazul, with the packages.

  “Oooh~, aaah~, a gentleman. Thank you~. You can have one piece extra. But only one, okay? This is for the people who need it. Some need more assistance than others, aiyo. Can you move them now?” Andrea spoke behind the packages, finding them falling back into her arms.

  Carlos sobered up and grabbed all the boxes, facing some difficulty, as he was just a few months old from being more or less healed of his previous sickened, unhealthy body. From looking almost emaciated to starting to get in form was good enough for any non-agent person in this period of time.

  “Oh, dear. Are you okay?” Andrea noticed this, frowning, before Carlos’s sweaty face struggled to look in her direction. “I- it’s fine. Let me move them, quiiiiick.”

  Carlos tripped towards the table, landing the packages safely on the big table, like his life depended on it. By then, when Andrea saw his face for just a second and a half, she had realized who he was. She looked at Fox, who tilted his head and innocently blinked.

  Andrea pouted, placing her knuckles on her hips. Then, she moved her head as she pointed at everyone, “Oh, look at you. Doing agent-tie thingies and being so strong. But none of you came to help me and let a person weaker than you do it.”

  “Oh, it’s not an insult. These guys are scary,” Andrea rapidly looked at Carlos, whose torso moved with batted breathing. Then, she returned to the agents, “Since you’re okay with this, then no bread for you! It’s still warm, but not for you— not anymore!”

  “…?” Nobody said a thing, while Carlos felt good deep inside, which he dreadfully tried to keep at bay, not wanting these monsters to ‘detect’ it. Although that was an exaggeration. Only no-longer initiated, 1-year-old special agents in a hoog’s service or longer are that familiar with sentiments.

  However, everyone looked at Fox, no longer seeing him as the man to follow. Who wanted to openly trace the footsteps of a person who takes away from them instead of giving to them?

  “Aish, Andrea. For old times’ sake, maybe we can get something to work out and-” Fox slowly walked to Andrea, his hallways arms spread. Carlos’s eyes narrowed, not wanting this gentle princess touched or neared by the mad Fox. But Andrea didn’t need a half-emaciated man’s protection.

  “Hold it there, mister, miser.” Andrea cruelly spoke, planting her palm on his sternum and pushing with the tiny itty-bitty force behind her delicate strength. Regardless, Fox was ‘pushed’ backwards 3 steps, with her closed eyelids and crossed arms, as she opened one of them to side glance at him.

  “I might not deal with matters that concern all of Lymoca, or the territories’ priority. But my work is good for the future, you will see. So, I have a large saying in this place…” Andrea opened her eyes wide and shyly looked around, “Right?”

  “… ‘Boss’, can we keep her?” Nol asked, stepping sideways closer to Fox before leaning over to ask. Andrea kept looking around with her cute, clear brown eyes. Akina added, whispering so only agents could hear. “Yea, ‘Foxy’. I want to do non-hetero things to this tender babe.”

  “Ahem,” Andrea lightly blushed. Fox smirked a bit, feeling a tiny wee warmth, which Andrea seemed to notice. She kindly smiled to Fox, who walked to her again. This time without pretenses. He placed his hands on her shoulders while she looked up at him and thinly smiled.

  Her large smile captivated everyone’s hearts. Fox cocked his head and said, admonishing her with his polycoria eyes and tone for thinking so wrongly of them, ignoring the fact she is more annoyed at him than anything. “Taking care of just one life is tedious enough. Now imagine having tens of thousands of dangerous people whose discipline you must ensure.”

  “You’re all you can be, but you’re not alone.” Fox rubbed his left thumb on the upper center of her forehead and flashed her a quick smile before staring at Miros. His chin alone went above the top of her head when he looked straight.

  “Miros, you go and accompany miss Crescar. Anyone who threatens her well-being is to be executed on the spot.” Fox commanded the still a young boy.

  Miros escaped the hooks of his beautiful woman and saluted, his right fist hitting his left chest. “Yes, boss! Miss Andrea Crescar will be safe and sound!”

  “Ah- eh~! Fox. That won’t be neces-” Andrea jolted, her eyes widening in a panic before shaking her head. She didn’t want to be the cause of anyone’s death! But Fox tapped her upper back and said after shaking his head in a light manner, “That’s not how things will work.”

  “But-” Andrea refuted, but this time, it was Carlos Medena who corrected her. “He’s right.”

  “…” She looked at him. Her eyes in full attention. Carlos elaborated, looking down, feeling ashamed. “I also wouldn’t let you near any of them. Even between ‘normal’ people, 60,000 are enough for more than one to harm you. These? Many won’t care if they are killed or terribly tortured after… raping you.”

  “Gasp…” Andrea stepped backwards out of shock, but Fox’s firm palm kept her steady, with her back straight. She looked up at Fox. Her gaze worried and saddened. Then, she looked at Carlos, “Carlos Medena… you are their leader, right?”

  “Hmf, of the 60 thousand who came here? No.” Carlos twitched a frown, momentarily cocked his head, and shook his head dismissively. Andrea stepped twice towards him, almost skipping. She spoke a little louder, cuter. “But you are a leader of some, right?”

  “Humph,” Carlos scoffed. His eyes diverted to Fox and some agents, before answering without an ounce of irk, “There are no leaders among us.”

  “But you could be one.” Andrea motioned with her head, a small movement, but it was firm and sudden. Adding something to her lower tone.

  “…” Carlos Medena looked at Andrea, and stupidly after, he teared up, crying in silence as his chest felt who knows what, bouncing and suffocating. She slowly walked towards him. No agent stopped her.

  “Woah…” Nala’s team was quiet, but Nol wasn’t as heart-absorbed. He leaned into the space above Fox’s shoulders again with his arms crossed and spat. Fox smirked, “Isn’t she terrifying?”

  “En,” Nol nodded, flabbergasted with Andrea’s natural ability to work people through.

  Andrea stepped before Carlos but didn’t stop, balancing her arms around his torso, below his armpits, and hugging his body. Carlos’s arms hung down the sides, past her arms, before hugging her upper back, crying more abundantly with his face upwards; wailing.

  Fox smirked, looking at the sudden, emotive scene. He suddenly looked at the ceiling and thought, ‘Hey, is that a 1 up for me… Pheli?’

  …