"What?" A chorus of questions erupt from the audience.

"Shut up! Adrien's trying to speak!" Jay leaps from his seat, slamming his fists down on the table. He fixes everyone with an icy glare

"But you saw what they did to us when they swarmed our base! Hawk got captured, and many of our own died! My sister is now laying in a coffin. What if we can't take them? What if this is the end of T-LOOT-D?" Someone looks to Adrien as they speak. Their voice cracks.

"What if Guthrie Harper is too powerful? He ripped Hawk in half, splitting his Blended form apart from him."

"I will not force anyone to go if they do not wish to. All I ask is that you hear me out. If we let Guthrie Harper and his Wasteland guards have the chance to attack first, we would be letting them prepare and work out every last detail. We would be giving them the opportunity to make the attack that they want. If we attack first, we would have the chance to catch them off guard, and flush them out."

"And how'd that work out last time?" Jay laughs humorlessly at the sneer.

"You have all seen Guthrie Harper's might. And yeah, he's strong. But he's not invincible. We've gotten countless Gladiators out of the Wasteland. We rescued Hawk. We-." Jay is cut off by Lily as she makes her way to stand beside Adrien.

"You all got me out of the Wasteland. Quoting Bear and several other Gladiators, nothing can last forever. You can't stay at the top for eternity; you have to come back down. I'm fighting with Adrien. Guthrie Harper won't get away with all the blood on his hands." Lily crosses her arms.

"How are you going to fight? You won't draw the first drop of blood." Adrien's losing them. People are giving up. What if we can't get enough to fight against Guthrie Harper? Ask the Raydownians. They believe in T-LOOT-D.

"I'll work behind the scenes. I'll help plan, and help those who get injured."

"I'm fighting too," I start as I join Adrien and Lily on the table. "If you guys don't want to, then so be it, but I'm going to be extremely disappointed if it's just the three of us. We've stood against Guthrie Harper for so long, working under the radar. Raydowne didn't know we existed until the fight I got captured in, and we rescued so many Gladiators. If you don't fight with us, you're giving up. You're giving up on T-LOOT-D, and everything we've stood for. You're letting everyone who still believes down. If you aren't going to fight, then get out, and I never want to see you again. The only people I want to see in here are those who still hold the unshakable belief that we will bring an end to Guthrie Harper and his Wasteland guards and free the Gladiators and all of those who are trapped under his control. So, who's fighting?" I shake with rage at the thought of any T-LOOT-Dian who no longer believes that we will defeat Guthrie Harper. Rex growls with a murderous glint in his eye as he trots up to the table, jumping onto it and sitting next to me.

"I'm ready." Jay joins us.

"Count me in!" Vladimir jogs to stand beside Adrien.

"Don't leave without me." Sasha drags Sarah alongside her as she walks up to stand next to Lily.

"Can I come?" Remy looks up at Adrien.

"Um. Well, how about you stay here with Hawk and guard the base?" Adrien crouches to address Remy one-on-one. It takes me a moment to fully process his words.

"Wait, what?"

"Hawk, you haven't fully recovered from being captured. You got home yesterday, and you need time." Adrien's voice is gentle.

"So you expect me to stay behind?"

"You are going to protect the base."

"Like hell I'm gonna do that. I'm coming whether you want me to or not. I'm going to fight beside you all. There's no way I'm missing the second when Guthrie Harper falls." I glower at Adrien. Does he really think I'm going to stay behind?

"Hawk, you're injured. We're keeping you safe." Jay places his hand on my shoulder, and I slap it away.

"I'm fine. I'm going. I'm not going to stay behind when your life is on the line. We're going to keep each other safe."

"Please, Hawk. Stay behind. It's for your own good."

"Do you honestly expect me to willingly stay behind, bored out of my mind while the rest of you are out there bleeding and dying? When you guys go out there, there's a good chance not all of you are going to come back. If I don't go, who knows how many more would return? How much more could've been done? I'm not living with that guilt. I'm going, and that's final." I'm right up in Adrien's face when I'm finished talking. I rarely challenge him on anything, but this is something I'm not debating.

"Hawk," Adrien's face falls as he speaks. "I can't let you go. You're not... You're injured, you're tired, you're dehydrated, you're not healthy. I can't let someone fight when they're not at full strength."

"I'm fine. Remember that I've got strength just like Jay's got speed? Trust me when I say that the Wasteland guards will regret ever crossing me."

"No. I'm sorry, Hawk, but I can't let you go."

"Do you really think that's going to stop me?" I have to go. I can't let Jay go without me, or let anyone go without me. I have to be there. They can't be fighting without me.

"Hawk. I need you to stay behind. It's for your own safety. You need to take care of yourself, and you can't do that when you're on the battlefield," Adrien pleads, begging me with his eyes.

"Stop talking about how I need to take care of myself. I'm doing that. I'm fighting, and that's final. When I joined The Loyal Order of Thorny Devils, I wanted to put an end to Guthrie Harper's miserable little life, and I plan on being there when he falls to the ground in a lifeless heap. Nothing you say or do will stop me from seeing that moment." My fingers curl into fists as I tremble with fury. I'm a few short seconds away from lashing out.

"I'm in, but have we talked with any Raydownians who aren't a part of T-LOOT-D? They've probably got their own bone to pick with Guthrie Harper."

"For sure! They could provide a lot of help."

"Adrien, should we set up a sort of meeting?"

"The open-air market. There's always lots of people." Sasha turns to Adrien who thinks for a few moments before responding.

"I take it you are all in since you haven't left?" Everyone nods.

"Let's go! We'd better get moving. Every second we waste standing here is one Guthrie Harper spends telling his Wasteland guards what to do," Jay shouts, clapping his hands as he ushers people out of the cafeteria and towards the door.

"I'm going to get Sparkles, but I'll be right behind you." Adrien sprints upstairs as we make our way onto the street.

We arrive at the open-air market a short while later. All forty or so of us pile into the center of the market. Adrien leaps into the air, Blending himself, and the golden eagle explodes to life. Sparkles rests on his shoulders, unfazed by the fact that her owner just morphed into a feathery creature. Adrien's two sets of wings beat in unison as he shrieks, tail feathers flaring as he lands on top of the water fountain. He removes his Blend before he can do any damage to the intricate designs on the stone. Sparkles crawls into his hands. I sit on the edge of the water fountain with Rex next to me. "Attention to everyone shopping! Listen to what we've got to say!" Adrien cups his hands around his mouth as he shouts.

"It's The Loyal Order of Thorny Devils!"

"Come quick! I see Adrien Sauyer!"

"Hawk's there too!" People race over to us, grabbing their friends as they hurry over to the water fountain.

"Come on over; there's plenty of room." Adrien waves them all in, and we're soon packed into the middle of the open-air market.

"Hawk, how are you doing?" Wha? I turn to find the person standing next to me waiting for an answer. She eagerly awaits my reply.

"Tired, but good. You?"

"I'm doing alright. I can't believe The Loyal Order of Thorny Devils actually exists. How did you guys hide it so well?" She smiles, and I return it.

"We were very careful to never leave a trace. It was hard though since we wanted you guys to know, but we couldn't risk Guthrie Harper finding out."

"Why are you all here?" She watches Adrien as he waits for everyone to settle down.

"We're in need of some assistance." Adrien should probably be the one to tell them- after all, he was the one to come up with the idea.

"With what?"

"All of us in The Loyal Order of Thorny Devils need your help," Adrien starts. "Yesterday afternoon Jay and Vladimir returned home with Hawk. As we speak, Guthrie Harper is planning his revenge attack, but we are going to strike first. Guthrie Harper has the advantage in numbers against us with his Wasteland guards, Clicks, and now Click 2.0's and at least one fully robotic Rottweiler. But with your help, I know we can win. It's not going to be easy, and there are going to be casualti-."

"You want our help when we're going to die?" Someone asks. A few others voice their agreement.

"There's a chance for anyone who goes that they're going to die, but I know we can win. I'm not going to force anyone to fight if they don't want to. All I ask is that you consider it. When I first started The Loyal Order of Thorny Devils, I wanted to bring an end to Guthrie Harper and his Wasteland to free the Gladiators and stop the killing of Blenders. I hope that you will join us. Are there questions?" That was an awfully short speech. I look out at the crowd. Some are talking with their neighbor, seeing if they're going to fight, and others are looking at Adrien with a look of disappointment. They're not going to fight, I think with a sinking feeling in my stomach. We're going to need all the help we can get. Someone raises their hand. "Yes. You in the yellow shirt." Adrien points to them.

"Two questions. One, is that a thorny devil?" They gesture to Sparkles.

"Yes. This is Sparkles. She's my pet thorny devil, and the namesake of The Loyal Order of Thorny Devils. What's your second question?"

"When do we leave for our attack against Guthrie Harper?"

"In t-." Adrien is cut off when an arrow whistles through the air, landing with a sickening thud in his arm.

Thank you so much for reading! I'm hoping to get the rest of the story out really soon, so I'll be posting every time I get about two thousand words or so. Please check out my next book, which will be called The King's Remorse! I might put a little blurb about it at the end of this story. 

Is Adrien going to make it?

Will T-LOOT-D going to get the help they need?

What will happen now that Adrien, the leader of T-LOOT-D, has been injured?

Will T-LOOT-D be able to catch Guthrie Harper off guard and make a successful uprising?

Thank you!

-Werewolf14-