We all rose on the morning of the exchange early, all of us moving into our positions before the sun had risen. I had gone as far as to offer my services as a waiter to the café, and started my shift at 7:00, when the first people started to wander in. I have never been a people person, but I had a way of appearing like I did, which meant that I was alright at drama and public speaking as well, although I avoided it whenever possible. Guisarme was doing the drop, with Loch sitting on the table behind her, and I even made him an espresso, which I had learnt how to make the day before, just so he didn't look too suspicious. Katana was in the bookstore across the road, always keeping a careful eye on the events unfolding in the café. Sling was on the roof above the bookstore, not only as our eye in the sky, but also as our sniper in case we needed one. Voulge and Rapier, accompanied by Raven and Glaive were in the coffee shop acting like totally stereotypical teenagers, with textbooks and false assignments in tow. They sat over the other side of the room to Guisarme and Loch, but in no way did that mean that they were out of the fight, from where they were, they would be able to effectively assist in the exit of civilians, on top of the fact that their table was less than five metres from Guisarme, as it was a tiny café, even by township standards, meaning that they would be able to quickly move into the fray should a fight break out.
We all waited in place for about an hour, which meant that all of us, except for Sling and myself, got strange looks from shopkeepers and customers, although, Voulge's group had less of a problem, as they constantly pulled out more homework whenever they completed their page, which they did agonizingly slow. Katana had probably read all of the blurbs of all the books in the bookstore by now, and probably finished reading half of them, and ready to write a thesis about each one, as he was an amazingly quick reader and had a photographic memory. Sling was doing school work while listening to music, as she found that made her work better, but in no way did this mean she wasn't paying attention to what was happening in the coffee store. As for Guisarme and Loch, the less said the better. They were giving off the impression of important business people, with half drunk espresso's to their right, while apparently engrossed in a newspaper, which didn't even fool the four year old boy in the store, who pointed at Loch and said.
"Mummy, that boy has been reading the same page for the time we had our brekkie in." He was obviously trying to get everyone's attention, but barely even got his mother's.
"Hush Malcolm, don't be rude, this young boy is probably doing an assignment of some sort and needs to memorize the paper, don't simply start accusing him." Her swift and blunt manner made me sigh with relief, fortunately I was clearing Voulge, Raven, Glaive and Rapier's table, so no one gave me a peculiar look for it, but Rapier still shot me a warning look, which I replied with by going and giving the child a lollipop which I had a packet of for such problems. The mother was reluctant to part without giving me money for it, but I waved it off explaining that my little brother was just the same.
The wait continued for another half an hour until finally Bianca walked in. I had never seen Bianca before in my life, but she bore starch resemblance to Glaive, so I remained quite sure that it was her. Bianca knew who she was meeting, but as code of conduct, I still had to ask where she was sitting, she explained that she was meeting an old friend of her's and sat down facing Guisarme, I asked if she wanted anything, but she replied that she was in a hurry and wouldn't have a chance to catch anything to drink. Now it was my part of the plan. As I was clearing up, I knocked a glass onto the floor, it smashed on impact, making everyone turn their attention to me for a split second, and in that second, Guisarme and Bianca switched bags, then went back to chatting, as if nothing had happened, part two of the plan was a success. Guisarme started wrapping up the conversation, saying that Bianca should be going, which Bianca played along with, checking her watch and exclaiming that she would be late, she took off, but as she was in the process of leaving, a big man blocked the door, in response, she opened Guisarme's original case, which had a swarm of bees in a jar inside. With a smash, the jar hit the floor, allowing the bees to escape, they flew towards the closest available light, the sun, which was out the door, which was where the man was standing, the bees swarmed at him, taking him by surprise, and making him stumble back, out of the doorway, giving Bianca just enough space to weasel through and escape. She wasn't going back to C.L.O.U.D. that was for sure, she clambered into her car and took off before anyone could call out her name. She took off, heading in the direction of the big city, where Glaive had explained they had extended family living, who would no doubt take her in, as they were a family with a great sense of community.
Sling remained in position, just in case the juggernaut of a man tried to attack us as we made our way out of the coffee store, across the road, Katana bought a book, obviously not to look too suspicious, and exited, Loch came out first, followed a minute later by Guisarme, who the man, apparently not knowing what he was getting himself into, tried to attack, aiming for the briefcase in her hand. Her foot slammed into the crown of his head, sending him tumbling backwards, she then ran. Glaive, Rapier, Raven and Voulge came out, and were confronted by five heavily armed men, two of whom fell dead after receiving a stone each the the back of the head, another fell from Katana's sword slashing him down the side as he turned around, the fourth was killed by the Bec de Corbin, and the last was skewered by Voulge's instrument. Meanwhile, I had clocked out of work, changed, and driven the truck around the front, picking up the eight armed passengers, and heading off down the road after Bianca's car.
And so we were kicked out of yet another home, this time we at least had somewhere to go. We had bought up a nice house in the city that Bianca would be staying as well, far from the agents of C.L.O.U.D. why we hadn't made the move always confused me, but I remained sure that everything was going to be fine, and that there was nothing that was going to get in our way from being able to return to a normal life, apart from whatever was in Guisarme's briefcase, which was obviously extremely secret and supposed to be kept quiet about, so, like we are, we wanted to open it as soon as we could. The trip to the city would have been a short one, if not from all of our stuff piled in the back of our truck, which slowed us down considerably. We all worked out that when we had moved into the house, a mansion built to accommodate 10 people, so would therefore accommodate nine people and nine animals, we would get five separate cars, so that we weren't depending on something so large and bulky as our getaway vehicle. The road was quite straight, which made me paranoid that there might be pursuit, and if there was, they wouldn't have much trouble catching us, however, they would have issues killing or capturing us. But nothing of the sort came up the road, which calmed my nerves so much I turned on the radio to a music station. I never listen to music while driving unless of course I am completely calm and am confident that nothing bad was going to happen, the rest if the group took it as a sign that we were safe and started talking, making me turn down the music so I could here them, they were discussing whether or not to open the case now, or wait until we get to the house. Most people said the house, and I agreed, but others weren't so sure, but when a majority makes it, then that is what happens.
We were all having fun playing simple games to pass the time, like truth or dare, would you rather and other games of those sorts. There was nothing else we really could do to pass the time, apart from maybe find a way to avoid thinking about the problems we were going to have to face when we reached our new house, which we were all day-dreaming about secretly, even if we would not admit it. There was little to no conversation after one hour on the road, so I decided to ask for a change in drivers, as for the hour and a half that they had sat in their various areas, I had been forced to stand and work non-stop, without ever getting a break or a rest. Glaive volunteered so I pulled over and we swapped drivers, while letting everyone stretch our legs and have a drink and food break. We were in no real rush, there wasn't much going on around us, agricultural pastures spread across the countryside as far as the eye could see, which meant that there was no real threat, unless potatoes were savage killers in disguise, which I wasn't so keen on throwing away that for an idea, even though the rest of the group thought it was stupid and idiotic.
Glaive climbed back into the truck's cabin and honked the horn, signaling for everyone to get back into the truck for the trip ahead. We all climbed in, after doing a routine bomb check, and sat down, ready for the rest of the trip to Portland, where we would be settling down, if only for a little bit. This meant that we were all able to relax and let Glaive do the work.
We would have all died if it hadn't been for the air conditioning system. It may have required more of the truck's energy, but if it saved our lives, I was happy with it as an outcome. The road itself was straight and easy to follow, but on top of that it was smooth, which Voulge's leg liked a lot, to the point where she took off the prosthetic limb and laid it down, in the place where, if looked at just right, gave off the illusion that Voulge still had both legs, which we all wished she did.
I became convinced the potatoes were out to get us when I saw people working in the fields, picking them, I could see that if I was a potato and I decided that I wanted to take this to court, I would win on moral grounds, as well as genetic mutation of my species, which would one day would lead to Potato Hulk, the most powerful monster ever ever created.
We all sat in silence however, staring off into space, every now and then making small talk, but not to any real effect, as it was quickly shut down with blunt and boring one worded answers, which made conversation making hard for those of us who wanted to be social, which was an unheard of characteristic for most of the people present in the truck. The people in this truck had spent there lives killing their own species, they were hardly about to go and start chatting on social media and gossip and be like the rest of the teenage human population.
The truck slowly made it's way from agricultural land into livestock land, filled with cattle, sheep, pigs and horses for the most part, which didn't sound all the interesting, but when every animal you drive past looks up and stares straight at you, there is an unnerving tingle in the back of your spine. We continued on until we reached the end and it went back to being agriculture, although we could see the city's high walls barely a kilometre away.
But that was when we heard the whistling noise and, before any of us could react, the RPG hit the truck.