Bound To Evil

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[Lazar's POV]

***

I brought a spoonful of my rice pudding to my mouth then pointed my spoon at Amandla who was intensely glaring at me with a hint of envy in her eyes, "It's rude to stare at someone who is eating." I complained with a face paradoxically filled with satisfaction since I was enjoying the savor of what was for me a very tasty and addictive dessert...

Amandla sighed angrily with theatrical exaggeration then grabbed the hand with which I was holding my spoon, "And it's rude to point at someone." She retorted while guiding my hand towards my jar of rice pudding.

I wanted to say that 'I was a big boy and I didn't need help eating' but I knew that Amandla would find a way to turn this sentence in a weird fashion, so instead of speaking I shrugged her hand off and continued to devor the content of my jar under the heavy gaze of the latter who was taking great pŀėȧsurė in staring at the back and forth of my spoon between my mouth and my jar as if the whole process was one of the greatest curiosities of this world.

I had planned to eat 6 jars, I was still on my first one and I was already fed up...

If I was listening to myself right now I would spit in her face what I was currently chewing, but due to some past bad experiences I restrained myself while telling myself that it would be disrespectful to the food...

Instead of doing that I settled for an insult that was… rather weak considering the fact that Amandla was ruining one of my rare moments of pŀėȧsurė of the day.

"Fuck you." I said to her after swallowing a mouthful, instantly regretting that I hadn't attacked her on something that would actually hurt, like... the lack of originality of the names of her skills?

Yeah... 'fuck you' isn't that bad in the end.

My insult suċkėd, but at least it had a beneficial effect; Amandla stopped making me feel uncomfortable by looking at the ceiling instead of me…

Being finally free to eat without being observed, I took advantage of it.

Two jars later I looked up at Amandla, surprised that she hadn't said anything for a while now...

She was still staring at the ceiling and I noticed that her eyes were full of optimism, "Weird." I said with a raised eyebrow after having removed the lid from what was my fourth jar of rice pudding.

Amandla lowered her head and mimicked the same expression of incomprehension that I was currently displaying, "What do you mean?" She asked me in response to the lack of context of my remark.

"Nothing, I'm just surprised that you're so..." I was trying to find the appropriate word.

"...Cheeeerful?" She asked with an uncertain voice, her slightly squinted eyes adding even more certainty to the possibility that she wasn't convinced of what she had just said.

'Cheerful' wasn't the word I was trying to find but not far from it, "Yes." I responded while dipping my spoon in my jar.

Amandla crossed her arms then took on a thoughtful expression, "I'm keeping in mind that this isn't over but with what we just did, I'm approaching our situation with more lightheartedness."

*TOC*

Someone knocked at my front door...

Logically it had to be Sullyvan, but since we had been separated for only a short time, there was a slight doubt as to the identity of the person behind the said door.

***

[Amandla's POV]

***

I couldn't possibly let Lazar open the door, not with that much vanilla cream staining his lips, "That's fine, I will go check it out." I told him while motioning him to remain seated.

When I arrived in front of the door I looked through the eyepiece to identify who was on the other side of the latter and I wasn't surprised to see Sullyvan there...

I opened the door after unlocking it and didn't leave room for an unnecessary small talk, "I can't wait to hear you tell me why you came back so quickly and why you're smiling like an idiot." I said with a sarcastic tone.

Like a good punching ball, Sullyvan didn't counterattack after he took my jab, "Can I come in?" He asked while taking a quick glance inside the house, presumably to see where Lazar was.

I heard Lazar's voice but its low intensity made me understand that he hadn't left the kitchen table, "Major, I hate to be interrupted while I'm eating and I'm sure that if it wasn't long then there's just not much to say, so no, don't come in and say whatever you have to say from where you are." He said, being as always, not interested in pleasing those he didn't like.

I supported Lazar's statement by putting my hand between the door step and Sullyvan, which accentuated even more the visible discomfort of the latter, "Ok." He responded with puzzlement before explaining in great details what had happened on his end.

***

As Lazar and I expected, this 'meeting' between Sullivan and the other top officers of the army complicated our lives rather than simplifying it...

Overall, we could say that what came out of these discussions was positive because a cooperation between the army and us had been negotiated according to our terms, but on the other hand it implied guarantees that we were asked to provide.

Before the reunion we asked Sullyvan to mention to the other participants of the event that the monsters we were fighting against were extremely sėnsɨtɨvė to sound to the point that it could be used as a means to fight them and in response the common consensus was to demand from us a proof that this supposed weakness could be exploited...

On another note, the possibility of the Ganipotes and Garaches having a global gathering point was also discussed during the meeting and, of course, it was said unanimously that there was no one better than Lazar and me to find out if this hypothesis was true, which wasn't incorrect...

In fact, I was quite hypocritical in my judgement of these requests because what pissed me off wasn't doing what was asked since even if Lazar and I had to act as a pair we were still going to ascertain those two ȧssumptions, it was feeling like I was obeying the military by doing so.

'At least they trust us enough to let us act alone...' I put it into perspective as I headed for the front door with Lazar behind me.

Instead, we were about to do what was 'expected' of us...

Curious, I asked Lazar a question that was bothering me, "How do you plan to proceed?" I inquired him while turning to him, keeping in mind that Sullyvan had specified during our conversation that the army had no sound devices at its disposal to help us.

"Sound cannons are mostly used at protests, so surely the Boston Police Department has some." He answered me serenely.

"Not dumb.." I merely said before opening the door.