𝓦𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 5...

𝐓𝐖 : 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 / 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 / 𝐆𝐮𝐧𝐬 / 𝐝𝐫𝐮𝐠 / 𝐤𝐢𝐝𝐧𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠

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"𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗪𝗘 𝗔𝗟𝗟 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗬 𝗧𝗢 𝗚𝗢?" Julie asked at lunch that particular Sunday, also known as the day of the heist. They spent most of Saturday planning the heist, working out any last minute imperfections in their plan. 

Idris nodded. "We should be all good. Which by the way, did Star ever find out if the guy had any family members?"

"Wait, why do we need to do that? Did I miss something?" Julie asked, looking around in minor confusion.

"Oh, yeah I think you fell asleep by then. Basically, we want to see if the dude has any family members to see if we need a fake body or if there's going to be other people we need to worry about. You know, the guilty conscience that most of us have." Idirs explained, glancing at Cyra, Nikolai and Peyton who all just shrugged as if they'd heard that comment a thousand times.

Julie nodded in understanding as Aster barged into the common room. "Alright, we got lucky today, my lovely star signs. This man, sad as it sounds, is a loner."

The only people in the common room at the time were the Air and Water signs with the exceptions of Idris and Cyra for Fire, but they happily erupted into cheers. The one Fire and other two Earth signs came in later, baffled by the loud noises coming.

"Last I checked, it wasn't game night, what's going on?" Rosanne asked, looking around for some kind of explanation.  The others paused their celebrations and relayed the information Aster had learnt about Victor Whitlock. The late coming trio joined in the happy celebration.

"Phew, that is a huge relief." Ethan sighed and slumped onto one of the couches. "But for the record, we should do game night some time soon too. We haven't had a proper game night in forever."

To which everyone nodded in agreement. Game nights used to be weekly before everyone became Sophomores/Juniors. Now they had to find time to spare between classes, homework and heists.

"If this goes well, game night tomorrow." Sage announced which caused everyone to cheer yet again. Having game night as a reward for murdering someone, in retrospect sounded cruel, but it would help them keep the death off their conscience, which many of them knew would be torturous if it stayed in memory forever. 

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That night, the plan was set into motion. Ethan drove them out into a forest about 30 minutes away from the bustling city. They were triple prepared, however...

"Does anyone else have butterflies doing an olympic gymnastics routine in their stomachs?" Milani asked, her hands wrapped around her stomach. Sage peered at her through the clear divider between the driver's seat and the back.

"Don't worry Mils. It's probably just because this is our first ever...murder case." she reassured the Water Sign. Though it was to no avail as the youngest member was still worried. Yet it wasn't just Milani. Even the signs who were usually cool as cucumbers on every mission, felt their stomachs churn at this but some were too proud to admit it, while otherwise were too busy distracting themselves from the root of the mission.

After what felt like their longest drive, Ethan finally pulled the brakes. "We have arrived at the tea party." he said, lightly tapping his earpiece to keep Aster in the loop of what was going on. 'Tea party' was what the group had decided to call the location. The whole mission was labeled 'Wonderland Wipe-out'.

"Noted. Area security is low. They must've really thought they were safe."

Ethan had parked a little far away from the actual house so that the victim didn't hear the van. This managed to get them the element of surprise and stealth. It also meant there was a 5 minute walk from the drop off to the house, but some casualties were worth risking.

As they walked stealthy through the forest, Aster, or rather, Virgo was giving them instructions through their earpiece.

"Be careful. You must tread lightly. Don't get caught. Don't make too much noise. Did I mention be careful? Oh and don't die."

Taurus lightly tapped her earpiece. "Virgo, you are not helping anyone's nerves." She whispered, trying to avoid sounding too harsh.

"Oh right- sorry. Go get 'em guys! You got this!"

The others sighed. Some of them mumbled something about 'false hope'. It didn't matter in the end, because it was already too late to go back. They had arrived.

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The house itself was a typical cottage-esque cabin in the woods. Out of everyone, Zephyr felt a twang of pain and the reminder of his childhood cabin in the woods. He prayed this went well and fast because he wasn't sure how long he would stare at the cabin without memories flooding through.

They slowed down, each hiding behind a tree. They were a few metres from the house and collectively felt the strain. Even Nikolai, Scorpio, felt the nerves emerge from deep inside him, and he was meant to give the final blow, Sage being his second in command in case he couldn't.

"Are we ready?" Taurus mumbled into the earpiece. Virgo was the only one who replied instantly. The others hesitated.

"Come on guys. I know it is scary and pretty much unlike anything we've ever done. But we've got this. We've spent years training for any task. It's going to be fine. If the nerves get too much, just remember, this guy is horrible. He's been doing bad things for 20 years. Now, we finally get to stop him."

This was the pep talk they needed. After that, they all took a deep breath and 10 people mumbled in unison.

"Let's do this."

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They creeped up to the house. All was quiet, which was slightly unsettling but they knew the victim was home due to the bright van in the driveway.

"Oh my gods, he pretends to be an ice-cream man-" Ethan whispered furiously, nodding to the white van with pink accents.

The others had grim expressions as they walked, Milani and Vincent taking their places around the house to  keep watch. "Good luck." they both whispered to the group, before telling Virgo that they were ready.

"Alright guys, once activated, you've got about 35-40 minutes to pull this off. Good luck. In 3..2..1. Go go go!"

The Air signs released a smoke bomb and they made their way in.

"This is where I leave you to get back to the van. Good-" Ethan started, walking backwards to leave and go to the van.

"If one more person says 'good luck' I will shoot your brain." Idris, Sagittraius, interrupted in a grumble. "I have a gun too, so don't test me."

"Who gave Sag a gun?!" Cyra whispered.

"Aries, we all have...okay we're wasting time..go." Taurus mumbled with a sigh, going in.

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The inside, to their surprise, looked homey.  It actually made them pause for a minute. They looked around to reassure them of being in the right place, however the second they stopped the skinned animals and packets of drugs, they got their confirmations.

"Let's kill this bit-"

"Leo. Shut up."  Gemini mumbled.

They creeped around before they heard a sound. Scorpio pulled out a gun in position as they turned to the sound before lowering it immediately, not knowing what to do because the person who made the sound, was a boy, of about 5 years. He seemed panicked and looked like he was about to scream. Everyone turned to Libra, who out of the rest of them, had the best result with children.

"Shh. We're your friends." she said quickly, making sure to keep her voice low.

"F-friends?" the boy asked.

"Yeah. We wanna help you so we're playing hide-and-seek with someone. What's your name?"

"M-Mateo." The poor boy seemed like he was trying to cry.

"Okay Mateo. Can you tell me what you're doing here?"

"Big..s-scary man. He says my mamá will get hurt if I don't get in this house. He says people will pay money..to buy me..to...k-kill me." Tears were streaming down his face and everyone felt their rage rise higher than a mountain.

"It's alright Mateo. My friends will help you. We're gonna teach the bad man a lesson so he can't do this. Are there more of you?" Everyone gave severe props to Julie managing to keep a calm tone when she was often the first person to yell complaints. She knew what to do and when to do so she made sure her voice was neutral to not scare the child.

Mateo nodded his head and pointed to a locked room. "Please help. No food...no water...my friend is dying."

Taurus nodded. "We will help them." she said, turning to Libra.

"Change of plans. Libra, Aquarius, Gemini, get the kids. We'll figure out what to do afterwards but for now, leave none of them behind. Clear?" she whispered to the Air signs, who nodded immediately.

"Good. Me, Scorpio, Leo, Sagittarius and Aries will fix the rest of the casualties."

Suddenly a voice yelled out from the room in the far back. "WHY CAN I HEAR SOUNDS?! YOU RUNTS BETTER BE IN THE ROOM."

Mateo whimpered and Taurus felt her jaw clench in rage. She made a simple gesture to instruct everyone to get moving. The Air Signs took off, Aquarius immediately working on the lock, which was already half undone due to Mateo's tinkering. The remaining 5 walked to the back room. Each of them pulled out their guns. They all had them. However, this was probably the first time they would have to kill an actual person and not a dummy in the training room. 

As they approached the door, they felt their heart race as they slowed their breathing and tried being as quiet as possible. That is, of course, till they realised they had forgotten about a door next to the one they were heading to. The door that they were now using flung open and they were faced with 3 not-so-friendly looking bodyguards.

"Who- who are you?" one asked in confusion, clearly not expecting to see 5 highschoolers staring at them, and one another in anticipation.

"Oh you know..we're here for...the tea party?" Taurus tried, her friends backing her up with nods.

The guard's face changed immediately. "Oh, you're the 'customers'. Aren't you a little young to be in the business?"

'Oh my gods he thinks we want drugs.' Sage thought, absolutely appalled.

"It's for our parents, obviously. Can you believe this idiot? Must be new to the 'business'. Everyone knows adults look hella suspicious. Teens on the other hand, people won't question too much. Especially ones who are, in our case, straight A students." Leo said, adding some extra attitude to hide the fear that was travelling among them.

The guard seemed to get offended. "Hey miss, I've been doing this a lot longer than you have. But I've never seen anyone use children for this."

"Yeah because you're so old. You've never learnt the newest black market tips and tricks have you? It's all in blackmarketandmail.com, you should read it sometime."

"Oh I'm subscribed to that newsletter!" a guard said from behind them. Leo's face flickered to shock for a moment. It was clear she had just made up the name of the website but if this guy was subscribed to it, it made her job of manipulation much easier.

"Then you would know this. Unless, you're illiterate. Or pretend to be subscribed to seem 'cool'." She said to which the guy looked worried as his co-workers turned to him.

"Of course not. I have actually read that. Let's just bring them to the boss sir."

'Too easy.' Rosa thought with a slight smirk. "Good thinking. Wouldn't want our parents to think the deal is off." she said out loud, to which the guards nodded in agreement, going in front of the group to lead them to the room.

"Well done." Sage mumbled to the Fire Sign, who smirked in response.

The main guard opened the door and said to someone inside. "Sir, the dealers are here. They've brought teenagers as their representatives."

"WHAT- I was not told that...ah whatever. The money is the money. Bring them in." a gravelly voice said, the same one who was yelling earlier.

The guard gestured for them to come in. They complied, being extra weary of their surroundings. The man before them definitely looked like what they thought of, and matched his voice. He looked like he had been doing drugs most his life, his voice clearly affected by the nicotine consumption.

"My word. Well they didn't mention children but anyways. Whatcha got for us?" he asked, turning on his chair.

"Oh you know, roses." Aries said, the others were unsure where she was going with that.

"Roses? I expected money...what's so special about roses."

Aries mouth tugged up to a nearly sinister smile, walking up the guard closest to her. "The thorns." she said, punching the guard in the face. The others smirked and that's when the fight began. Victor Whitlock was yelling at his guards. Aries, Leo and Sagittarius started kicking and punching the guards as Scorpio and Taurus approached the Mad Hatter.

Victor grumbled. "Who are you pathetic people anyways?"

"Irrelevant information.'' Taurus replied, the duo having their guns outstretched in their arms.

There was a sudden thud and Taurus saw Scorpio get knocked on the head. There was another guard. This left Sage alone with Victor. Victor had a smug smile, clearly already imagining his triumph.

"Just a little girl. All on her own. With a gun too. But everyone knows girls can't hold guns. Why, I bet you would be too afraid to even pull the tr-"

Victor's insulting comments were cut off by the bang of the gun in Sage's hand. The sound caused everyone in the room to freeze. The guards, in mid-fighting positions with the Zodiac,  seemed at a loss for a moment when their boss landed on the table stiffly, dead. The Zodiac looked in shock at the Earth Sign, an initial shock that was replaced with a flare of pride at a member of their team ending the main man's life.

"Sorry boys." Taurus smirked, turning the gun in her hand, facing them. "Teatime is over."

The main guard let out a grumble that sounded like, "never", before charging at her, dropping Aries.

Taurus was about the shoot again but her gun was knocked out of her hand.

"Not so big and scary without your weapon, are you?" the guard said, getting too close for her liking.

"Woah, personal space! You know, my friend was right."  Taurus scoffed, drawing a dagger and without a moment of hesitation, plunging it into the guard's stomach. "You really are an idiot. Especially for thinking I don't have a backup plan."

The Zodiac let out a small cheer, before finishing two more guards. The last one ran to the table and Scorpio was right behind him, and just as the guard pressed a button, Scorpio pulled the trigger.

"What did that button do?" Sagittarius questioned and Scorpio looked at it before responding with a shrug.

"Guys, 10 minutes." Virgo's voice chipped in.

"Almost done here V. Hey, random question, but let's say a guard pushes a button before he dies, what does that mean for us?" Taurus asked sheepishly.

"Well if that was the- oh my words, get out of there right now. I left that out because I didn't think it was too important but I read that Victor has self-destruct bombs around his house to make quick exits." Virgo said, her voice rushing with panic.

"HOW IN THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS CONSTELLATION IS THAT NOT IMPORTANT!?" Scorpio yelled.

"That is not our main concern. Not dying on the other hand is." Aries said. Just as she said that, rumbles were heard across the property and wood and debris started falling.

The group ran out to meet the Air Signs, who were with about 4 children ranging from ages 3-9.

"What is going on here?" Gemini asked in concern.

"This place is going to collapse."  Taurus exclaimed before realising there were children. "In the..safest way possible..." she added, despite knowing that it was the most pathetic add-on since it was literally useless.

"Alright kiddos, playtime is over, we gotta get out of here." Aquarius picked up two of the kids.

"Guys!" Libra exclaimed from the room.

Taurus and Sagittuirs went to her, only to see her cradling a child in her arms. "She's lost a lot of blood and still is." Libra mumbled, worried out of her mind.

"V." Taurus called into the earpiece.

"You've got 5 minutes T so I better hope you guys are leaving."

"What do you do when a kid is bleeding and has already lost a lot of blood?"

"Blood? We can't stop it but we need to make sure not to leave the wound open. Find a cloth or something and secure the wound, and make sure to apply pressure."

"Got it." Taurus replied, repeating the information to Sagittarius and Libra. Sag immediately started looking around and passed a worn out blanket to Libra who used it to make a makeshift bandage to secure the bleeding.

"It's not pretty but it'll do the trick till we can get proper medical care."

They went outside, Libra carrying the young girl. Mateo ran to them. "Is she okay? I-is she? I c-can't lose her. My sister. I ca-can't. Mamá can't lose her." he mumbled.

"Mateo." Taurus leaned down to be of the same height and held the crying boy by the shoulders. "It's going to be alright chico. Don't worry. Your Mamá wont lose her. None of you will. What's her name?"

"N-novelia. We call h-her Nova." he said between sobs.

"We're gonna help Nova and we're gonna help you too. You won't lose your sister."

Not like my brother lost me

Mateo nodded and Taurus held his hand just as Virgo's voice rang in her head.

"2 minutes."

"Let's get out of here." Sagittarius mumbled leading the two agents and two siblings out. The walls were coming down on every corner and the Zodiac were shielding the young kids as they ran out.

The others were already waiting outside. "Come." Taurus instructed and they all started running just as the house collapsed into a pile of wood and stone.

"Well that just puts a whole new meaning on 'not a moment too soon' ay?" Aries questioned as they began their journey back to the van where Capricorn, who was not expecting them to return back with 5 extra passengers, was waiting.

He didn't question it however and immediately started up the van. While it was a little cramped, the kids still managed to squeeze into more comfortable positions. Sage sat next to Ethan.

"V, send a message to the bosses. Let them know that the house collapsed and tell them about the kids. Oh, and mention the fact that one of them is bleeding." Taurus told the Earth sign who did just that and in a few minutes, had a response.

"There'll be three cars right outside the entrance of the HQ. just let them take the kids and will help them. That's what the bosses said."

"Alright. Thanks V. were almost there." she said this a little louder for the others in the back to hear as well.

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Soon, they had arrived at HQ and just as Cap was going to open the garage door, Taurus stopped him, pointing at the three black cars that were just outside. She knocked the clear divider to let the others know they had arrived and got out of the van.

Gemini got out and took one of the kids from Aquaruis's grasp, holding the young girl close to them. Aquarius had the next girl and got out. Leo helped Mateo jump down and Pisces took the final boy. Libra was still cradling Mateo's sister close, who was knocked out due to the loss of blood.

A chauffeur from each car came out and took the kids from Gemini, Aquarius and Pisces. The door of the final car opened and while they couldn't see anyone nor did anyone get out, they heard a deep voice call from the car.

"Mateo, Novelia."

"Papá!" Mateo called out.

"Vienes, con tu hermana."  the voice instructed. Come, with your sister.

Mateo nodded, just as someone came towards them and took Nova from Libra's grasp. She muttered something about needing a hospital as soon as possible. The person seemed to nod and walked back to the car with the young girl.

Mateo turned to Taurus, motioning for her to bend down to which she complied. He smiled at her and said, "Thank you for helping us."

"You're very welcome chico."

"And...thanks for saving my sister. Even if she isn't healed, she will soon sí?"

"Sí, she'll be better. Now you take care of your hermana. Make sure you protect her."

"Por supuesto, I'll make sure of it." 

Mateo proceeded to give the teenager a hug. Once the initial shock wore off, Taurus hugged back with a small smile. When Mateo pulled back, he grinned.

"Bye hermana." he said and before she could reply, ran into the car, which drove off the second the door shut close.

"Looks like you've got another sibling T." Virgo said, who had come out to greet the others just in time to see the black cars drive off.

Virgo glanced at her in curiosity. "Are you doing okay? Nick said you had to do the main kill."

Sage looked at her and nodded. "Surprisingly, yeah. At the time, it felt horrible but everything was moving so quickly that I didn't really have time to process it. But that," she said, referring to the conversation with Mateo, "was worth the kill.'

Aster smiled at her, almost relieved. Ethan had gone to keep the van inside the garage and the others were standing outside watching the encounter with Mateo.

"When did you learn Spanish Gigi?" Peyton asked.

"I take Spanish. Granted, I'm not as good as Rosa but I'm learning." Sage replied with a smile.

They started walking back, each feeling a mix of emotions. Unsure whether to feel happy or upset, the walk back into the building was silent, each lost in their own thoughts of what had just happened.

Cyra finally decided to break the silence. "Anyone else weirdly hungry?"

Murmurs went across the group as a similar feeling went through all of them.

"I'll make something for us." Sage decided, taking a detour to the kitchen, followed by Ethan to help.

"Tum theek ho?" Ethan asked her. Both signs spoke Hindi, Ethan also knew Marathi and Sage knew Malayalam. They would often speak to each other in the official language. This particular question was Ethan being worried and wondering if she was okay.

"Haan." yes. Her tone indicated that there was no lie behind the statement.

Ethan seemed satisfied with this answer but still kept a close eye on her as she glided through the kitchen, being in her element. She started the stove and started making tea, putting the specific sugar levels of each Zodiac in their cup and making the black tea before adding milk to whoever needs it.

She glanced at her brother skeptically. "Kya aap madad karne ki soch rahe hain ya bas vaheen khade hain?"

Are you planning to help or just standing there?

He laughed and joined her, making a batter by following her instructions. Sage nodded in approval, cutting something up to fry, while also heating some oil .

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Ethan and Sage joined the others in the common room. Ethan carried the chai and Sage placed a bowl on the coffee table in front of the others. Everyone immediately took their cup but glanced at the fried goods in confusion.

"What's that?" Vincent asked.

"Pazham pori. Aka banana fritters. They have been one of my favourite snacks since I was a kid. There's something about getting these at a train station that made it feel special. They're essentially just fried bananas. Countries like Malaysia and Indonesia have a similar thing they call pisang goreng, literally meaning fried banana." Sage explained, but the second she started going into detail, the others grabbed the fritters and started eating it resulting in a chuckle from her.

These were the moments that made Sage feel like she made the right decision starting life anew. Sure she had days where she wondered why. Why did she put her family through so much pain and suffering just so that she could run away to some unknown mafia gang? But getting to be around the Zodiac, people she learnt to call family, she's reminded how amazing her adventures with the group have been. She may have regrets but her memories were something she would cherish forever.

She pulled out of her thoughts as everyone was talking and laughing. It was like no blood was spilt. They healed the wounds, both figurative and literal, and laughed as the witching hour struck, leaving only one thought in all their minds.

What was next?

Right?

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𝗡𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿...

𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝟲  ⁞ ➴

𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘇𝗼𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗰 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗲𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿
𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝗱𝗮𝘆. 𝗮𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘁, 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁
𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱

ˏˋ꒰𝐀/𝐍꒱ ˊˎ

✎ ..• Chapter 5 comes with its own murder heist! Man I absolutely loved writing this. I'd be lying if I said I didn't finish this weeks ago but I'm only posting it now cause your girl got writer's block for a while when writing chapter 6. Oh that and both the Covid vaccine shots left me in a daze. Add that with school work-

Basically I'm really sorry about the late update- but I really hope you like it. I'm quite proud tbh- of this and the chapter to follow it. I honestly love this book sm and if you've been following me for a very long time, then you know that this is the longest a book I've published has ever been. I plan to finish it too so let's hope I do-.

The next chapter may be a bit of a filler but it was so great to write and tiny spoiler : it's a Vincent chapter :)

Please leave thought/remarks/predications in the comments and I'll reply to them too! I love reading the comments so please try not to be a silent reader.

You don't have to vote but it would be appreciated and thanks to everyone who is enjoying the story because that means a ton to me! Alright, that's all from me, don't let me catch you in the underworld Ghosties!

© 𝚂𝙴𝙴 𝚈𝙰 𝙻𝙰𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝚁𝙴𝙰𝙳𝙴𝚁𝚂!