The Ghost Shepherd

S*** got Real

Sly moved along with the crowd towards the outside and he was able to spot Anku and Allan that were further ahead on the opposite side from where he was standing. They were also trying to see what the fuss was about.

The crowd moved towards the west side of the Bunker a little ways away and there were many bots scanning the area and creating a perimeter to stop people from getting too close.

Whispers were starting to come like a wave.

"Poor kid"

"It is awful"

"They did a number on him"

"Did they have to torture him like that. Bastards!!"

Sly picked up information here and there managing to piece together that there was a dead body and that it was in pretty bad shape.

The closer he got to the scene, the harder it was to move through the crowd but thankfully, the other two members of team overpowered were able to reach a lot closer to take a look.

The reaction of Anku was immediate and Sly was able to decipher even more information from her lips. Even though he couldn't hear her, Sly didn't know why but he was able to make out what she said to Allan.

"How could it be... Gonzo"

Sly's body started forcing his way through even harder and finally saw it. The body was still resting against a tree but the rope that was keeping him attached were his intestines. There were no other organs on the floor but the face of the corpse was extremely distorted showing to the audience that saw it, the horrors that it lived during the torture.

Sly looked around and saw a raging spirit encased in a dark cloud of resentment slashing towards a certain individual that was really inconspicuous among the people looking at the scene. The skin on his body stood up everytime the spirit of Gonzo struck him but it was the extent of the damage it could do.

"GONZO!!"

Sly yelled at the top of his lungs and caused an even bigger commotion, but his purpose was calling the spirit's attention towards him.

The man looking around waiting for Steelforge that had not shown up yet turned towards Sly meeting his gaze and then a grin formed on his face.

Raol wanted them to know who did it and how stupid they were for picking a fight with him. In Raol's mind they should have died the first time they met his headhunters and not touch the merch that was his.

Sly on the other hand, was not looking at him. He was looking at the spirit that had turned and was now floating towards him with a sad smile on his face.

"I am sorry Sly, I was careless"

Gonzo tried to communicate with Anku earlier but to no avail and although he didn't have high hopes that the person in front could hear him, he still tried.

"You did nothing wrong, it was those bastards’ fault"

" !!! You...you can hear me?"

"Yes,!! But this is not a good place to have a conversation so let's move to another location"

The people standing around looked towards Sly with confused expressions and some even pointed at themselves but the white humanoid with a blind fold just ignored them.

Allan looked around for Sly as well but when he saw that he was no longer around, he put his arm on the whipping Anku and guided her towards the Bunker.

It was not difficult for them to understand who had done it, the only question was how.

Sly and Gonzo’s spirit reached the bunker and they picked an empty spot to have their conversation but before anything happened Sly took some of his spirit energy and transferred it to his friend.

Gonzo felt rejuvenated and the thoughts that were starting to become fuzzy once again became crystal clear. It was a wonderful feeling but there was more, the resentment he was feeling also diminished proportionally contributing to a more calm state of mind.

“How Do you feel?” said Sly while he and K.C observed Gonzo carefully.

"I feel good...I feel like the anger is not clouding my thoughts as much as before"

"What happened? How did you end up in their hands?"

"The moment you left, the party sort of died down and the only ones that stayed were Clayton and me. I remembered that some people at one of the tables in the corner of the room said that there was an underground club were all sorts of gambling games were happening on the regular"

"I asked Clayton if he wanted to go but he refused. He said that steel forge.. blah blah ...so I ditched him and went to talk to the guys at the other table and joined them in their little adventure"

HURT THEM!!! (Gonzo’s Outburst of Rage)

Pant… pant

Sly was still analyzing the spirit and since K.C told him to ignore it, he continued, "Was there an underground club?"

KILL... KILL THEM…AHHHHHH…. KILL

Pant...

"There was… the problem was that it belonged to that Raol guy. He is from the Nazekiel race. You probably have seen him inside the Bunker, he is really fat…"

Gonzo's spirit agonized at the thought of what happened inside the room at the back of the club where his organs were eaten one by one while he was being asked about every one in the team. Everytime he remembered it, words of hate came out as he grabbed his head and shook it really fast in an unbelievable feat of speed.

"I am sorry Sly, I didn't last long and told them everything I knew about the team. They tried to ask about Steelforged but I didn't know much so they hurt me even more"

"Do you remember where the club is?" Sly provided even more spirit energy to pacify the resentment that flared up everytime Gonzo tried to recall what happened.

"It is on the west side about a mile from here. It looks like the door to a Silo and there are two guys standing by the door. I was surprised by how many people were coming and going. The moment you are allowed in, there are some steel stairs straight down towards the ground. Once you reach the bottom, there is only one way to go and that is towards a huge set of doors that open into a paradise for the wicked. There is a huge casino-like place and there are many screens where you can see and bet on real live fights happening inside a few rooms.

"The security is super tight and almost everyone working inside is a thug from their organization. It was an amazing experience until they took me to the back room where that fat Nazekiel was waiting and the rest is history"

"Sigh… you suffer enough for three lifetimes my friend so rest well. I promise they will pay for what they did and their souls would be no more"

“Thank you”

Whoosh

The core sucked Gonzo’s soul, the resentment was gathered and the Spirit energy was circulated through Sly's body a lot faster than before. The core extracted the resentment while the soul rested inside the core waiting to dissipate.

Gonzo felt calm, he felt like all its worries were left behind.

Sly made his way towards Steelforge and his mood was incongruous with his expression. He wanted to tear things apart but the energy coursing through his body cancelled the feeling of rage and pacified him.

So what was it? Said Steel.

“Raol killed Gonzo and they hanged him from the tree using his organs. Sly put up a creepy smile that made him look like a demon and continued, " I want to do the same to them, the fat Nazekiel ate his organs while they asked about us so I'll eat their brains"

"And how are you going to do that?"

“I know where they are, so all we have to do is go and kill them”.

"I am not going" said Steelforged looking very serious

“ARE YOU A COWARD!!”

SMACK!!!

Sly spun 3 times in the air and fell to the floor while the other clients of the restaurant turned to look at what was happening.

"Why should I risk my life to avenge somebody I barely knew. I am your carrier and do not forget I did tell them not to go out while I was not around … I aint a babysitter"

Sly looked at the enormous person standing in front of him and felt really small and powerless. He wanted to avenge his friend but he knew that it was not possible without Steel and the worst part of it all was that she was also right. She had no reason to help, she didn't owe them anything and even helped them instead.