Children of a Lesser God

"You think Remi is crazy, don't you?" Remi asked while Laz wasn't paying attention.

"Yes. I mean... huh?" Laz felt like she had read his mind.

"You must not understand. No one does. But you will, perhaps...." Remi actually seemed a bit sad at the moment. After standing up to face Laz, she sat back down and brought her feet up to her chest while hugging her knees.

Laz had the distinct impression that she had just checked out...

"Uh... ? So... You...."

"She won't answer you...." Damien said, propping himself up.

"Excuse me?" Laz said, turning his head to look at the man who was still laying in the ground with a broken arm. Laz had to give him props in that he wasn't complaining. Although it was a dislocation more than a broken bone, that shit still hurt like hell. But Damien actually seemed unaffected.

"She's gone. Checked out. Light's on but no one's home. She gets that way sometimes. She will fuck you up if you try to like touch her or something. But even then she's not actually in control of her actions," Damien explained while inspecting Laz. He hadn't even entertained the idea that this young man who looked to be just out of high school could be this strong. Damien had been trying his best to figure out how to fight using energy and the armor thing was the only idea he came up with. It would be the equivalent of soaking a baseball bat in lighter fluid, setting it on fire and hitting someone with it. With that, at least the fire would do some damage.

And it wasn't like anyone else had any better ideas.

But after today, Damien figured out just how useless doing that was. Laz had taken them all down without using a hint of energy.

If that was the case, why even use it in the first place?

The only thing the members of the council had to go on where their own insights which were lacking to an extreme degree and the information they got off the net from underground sources like Blood Moon.

None of them had any training at all.

Now though, Damien had a new idea in the form of this young man who had shown up from nowhere.

"Well, that's different. Is she ok? I mean... this isn't normal right?"

"Normal?"

"I don't know. I mean like... shouldn't she get some help?" Laz couldn't help but wonder if Remi wouldn't benefit from some professional guidance.

"How is she suppose to get that? As soon as someone figures out what she is, they will take her away in chains to live the rest of her life in a cage. Why do you think we even made this organization? None of us have anyone else to rely on..."

"And yet each and every one of you is so hungry for power? Do you honestly think that what you're doing here is going to end well?"

"Some one has to be in charge. The council needs leadership. So yeah, we fight over it."

"But now that you have her backing, that leadership is you?".

"She's stronger than any of us... or even all of us. And she trusts me..."

"Hold up. Stop right there. She doesn't trust you. This girl... she isn't capable of something like that. She's like a lamp with no oil. No matter how brightly she burns, eventually, the wick will be gone and she will be useless. You're using her which means you offered her something in return. There is no trust, just business." Laz caught on to what was happening after observing Remi. It reminded him a lot of his Grandpa Crowe. Even if she had moments of clarity, they would be few and far between. But in those moments, she made the best choice she could while understanding her own condition.

'This must be what she meant when she said they were her cannon fodder. Or maybe she should have said meat shields...'

"Fine. It's business. But either way, she left me in charge."

"Yeah. And somehow this all important to your survival council ended up in a strip club eh?"

"Well... you got to relax sometimes."

"This is soo amazingly stupid I just can't... Alright. From now on, I'm going to run this council and you all will take orders from me and those I tell you to. Any question?"

Damien wanted to say something after hearing this, but he held back for two reasons. The first reason was that he knew that Laz could take them all no problem. And the other reason was that he knew that someone else would speak up.

"YEAH, I GOT ONE. WHY THE FUCK DO WE GOT TO LISTEN TO YOU?" Greg yelled. Laz hadn't really gone hard on him since he didn't see a need for it. Greg was by far the weakest of the foundation realms here. Because of that, Laz just knocked him out with very little effort. But now that he was coming awake, he noticed that this insect he had originally wanted to deal with for daring to steal away a girl that he was going to make a toy seemed to be in control of everything.

He was not happy.

It had taken Greg an immense effort to break into the foundation realm. He had spent tons of money he didn't have on supplements that were meant to strengthen infected. He had found them in the same way that everyone did, by using the net to track down suppliers. And even with all of the money he wasted at various sites buying various things, a good portion of those things didn't even work. By the time he discovered that only the things sold by Blood Moon actually had an impact on his power, he was already drowning in debt.

But in the end, he had gotten his wish and broke into the foundation realm, allowing him to be on equal terms with the others in the council.

This was his one chance to make it big.

Using the power of the council and his newly formed connections, Greg was planning on getting the money to pay back his debts by taking it from the lower leveled members. Although the information on building to the next realm was scarce at best, he was going to do everything he could to achieve it. And the starting point was suppose to be this night.

It had been his idea to not only visit a more 'relaxing' environment, but to also break up the lower level teams and integrate them into the higher level ones as a means of 'protection.' The true nature of his idea was that he wanted more underlings with which to make him money. By saying the right words to the right people, he was just a step away from getting his wish.

But then this asshole kid had shown up and it looks like his plans were going to be ruined.

'Fucking Damien and that white haired bitch. They couldn't even get rid of a damn kid. Fuck it. I'll do it myself.'

With this thought in mind, Greg called out to Laz.

"Simple. Strength! You got a problem with that, feel free to challenge me anytime. Until then, shut the hell up." Laz was actually getting annoyed by Greg's villain like behavior. Even if Laz didn't know Greg's intentions, he could already feel that he didn't have any good intentions.

He turned back to Damien to speak with him some more, leaving his back to Greg. At least Damien had a bit of intelligence and the idea that he wanted to do right. Although that was a far cry from actually being a good person, it was better than nothing.

BANG!!

A loud gunshot echoed out across the club, causing everyone to freeze in place, including Damien. Looking over, he could see that Greg had a gun in his still shaking hands that was pointed at Laz.

"STRENGTH? POWER? WHAT THE FUCK USE ARE THOSE? ONE OR TWO SHOTS WITH THIS AND ALL OF YOUR STRENGTH AND POWER ARE LIKE FUCKS FLYING OUT THE WINDOW!!!"

Before anyone could stop him, Greg took aim at Laz's back and fired three more times, causing a loud noise that made everyone cover their ears.

'FUCK,' Damien thought to himself before rushing Greg, along with a few of the others who understood what was going on.

Although they were worried that Greg would fight them, his eyes seemed to be glued on to Laz's back as he laughed to himself, more than just a bit crazy like. Because of this, they were able to easily wrestle the gun from Greg's hands and held him down.

Damien could help but walk over to Laz who was standing there frozen. At this distance, there was no way Greg would miss but Damien was surprised that Laz was still standing. Had anyone been noticing, they would have discovered that Remi was even awake a bit and looking at Laz as well.

Just as Damien was going to help Laz out, he heard something from him.

"Fucking every time. Every god damn time. Why don't I learn? Had I just did what I wanted to from the start, this would have been a lot simpler..."

Hearing this, Damien was shocked. But then he was even more shocked when he noticed that although Laz had bullet holes in his clothes, there was no blood anywhere.

Turning around, Laz's eyes lit up with a deep red color as he calmly walked over to Greg.

Greg had finally come to his senses and was staring at Laz walk towards him, his body shaking as cold chills ran up and down his spine.

"All of you came here for the protection that being a group meant, yet each one of you had your own reasons for doing so. Fine. Whatever. I don't care. But since I need a bit of help with something, I'm going to be borrowing all of you for a bit. You're free to leave if you want, but just remember something..."

As Greg lay their completely frozen in fear, the ones holding him down backed away. Seeing Laz approach with that look in his eye was enough to scare them away.

"If you fuck with me, you'd better run far, far away. Because if I catch you..."

Laz brought his hand up to Greg's head and laid a single finger on his forehead.

"Bang!"

As Laz spoke, a single wisp of black flame shot out and pierced into Greg's head. In less than a second, his entire body arched in pain as he screamed.

"AAAGAGGGHHHHHHHH"

It took only another second before black blames engulfed him.

Within another three seconds, all that was left was a smoldering pile of ash and a bit of black goo. Laz was actually surprised for a moment about the lack of leftovers before he realized that the strength of his flame increased when his strength increased.

"Any more questions?" Laz looked around the room, especially at Damien and Remi.

Damien looked like he might shit himself if Laz even took a step towards him while Remi looked like she was super excited while smiling as she was shaking.

"Alright then. Julia, If you would?"

Julia walked over, although it seemed like she was having trouble staying upright. Even though she had seen Laz in action before, this was something else. He had taken four gun shot wounds to the back and yet he was fine. That wasn't something anyone else there could do.

"So now what?" She asked, wondering what his plan was.

"You needed them to listen to you right?"

"Uh... well. Yes."

"Good. Damien?"

"YeS?" He squeaked. He had never actually seen a man killed before except in movies. When the real thing happened before him, he had no idea how to react.

"Listen to Julia from now on. The problem that she brought up will no be everyone's to solve. And don't worry. We are going to be organizing a bit more than that too. But for now, focus on this. Whatever she tells you to do, have someone do it. Got it?"

"Yes."

"Good. Now then..."

Laz had a force with which he could work with. Although they were basically useless, he could solve that with a bit of time.

It was time to start making some moves against the church. But he wasn't going to do this alone, no matter how much they didn't want to get involved.

He was going to drag everyone into this mess, one way or another.