Max finally arrived at the alley at the end of 7th Avenue and stepped inside. He''d come to appreciate this spot over the years; the railroad tracks were just across the street, and he knew as soon as he''d crossed them, he''d be in a different world.
Leaning against the wall, slightly hidden behind a dumpster was Raguel; a tall black man with a deep blue bandanna covering his head. The alley was so dark it would''ve been difficult to see him unless you were looking closely, and now that Max was in the alley it was the same for him.
He had a cigarette in one hand, and a bottle of jack in the other.
"Morning Red." He said, "Got a couple jobs for you."
"Daytime drinking is a sign of depression."
Raguel looked at the bottle for a moment, then at Max before finally deciding to toss it to him. Max caught it and stared at it with a confused look.
"If you wanted some all you had to do was ask." Raguel said.
Max opened the bottle and took a sniff "It literally smells like gasoline. I''ll pass."
Max threw the bottle back at him, and Raguel caught it effortlessly.
"You got something for me?" He said.
Max took off his backpack and opened it up. Inside were at least five bands inside a large zip lock bag.
Max started to hand the bag over to Raguel, and the man grabbed it, but Max did not let go.
"Next time, you get this shit off of me the day I get it, not the day after. You got that?"
Raguel smiled and yanked the bag away from Max.
"My bad Red, something came up."
"Not my problem, we have a good thing going and I don''t want you fucking it up."
Raguel laughed, and put the bag away in a backpack of his own, but not before handing Max his cut of the money.
"You''re right man, that''s my bad. You''ve been putting in work, I don''t mean to step on that."
Max had nothing to say to that. Raguel knew he lived in an orphanage, and when Max joined the crew, he explicitly made it clear that he didn''t want personal ties involved in any way shape, or form.
At this point students from this part of the city, usually referred to as South Eden started to pass by the alley on their way to school; Max turned for a moment and watched them cross over the railroad tracks.
"Ah, that''s right, school starting back up today huh?" Raguel said, "Shame they don''t send the buss out this way."
Max turned back to Raguel, "We should probably get on with this. Truant officers are out in force on the first day of school."
Max still had plenty of time to get to school and enjoy breakfast but the less time he spent with Raguel the better. While it was unlikely anyone would see them, he didn''t want to risk anything; he''s managed to keep a clean image at school so far, and he''d rather not risk losing that. Besides, if St. Hope Heaven found out he was part of the Archangels he''d be kicked out in an instant.
"I better get to it then huh?" Raguel said taking a swig from his drink, "well Red a spot''s opened up, and I vouched for you."
Max''s eyes widened, "you don''t mean."
"Yeah, I do, Azrael is up for grabs, and I threw your name in the hat."
Max furrowed his brow, and looked past Raguel into the distance.
This was a big deal. The Archangels have always had seven lieutenants, and Azrael was one of them; if the spot''s open then that means whoever held that was likely dead. Being a lieutenant meant your own territory, crew, and flow of money; not to mention the insane amount of protection it came with.
"Alright then what''s the catch?" Max asked.
"Jegudiel threw a name in the hat too. Way I see it, it''s gonna come down to you or his candidate."
Max had never met any of the other lieutenants aside from Raguel; he wasn''t even sure about their names, but the theme wasn''t anything complicated so with some time he knew he could piece them together if he wanted to.
Max wondered why only two names were put forward. It could be the case that only Raguel, and Jegudiel had the authority to do so, but it was also possible that the other archangels simply didn''t have anyone to nominate.
His thoughts shifted to the previous Azrael - how did he die? Max hadn''t been paying much attention to the news lately, but maybe he''d start; the death of someone like that would''ve definitely made the news if the cops knew about him.
"So, let''s talk about what this is gonna come down to." Raguel said forcing Max to refocus.
"Alright then, lets."
Then as if on cue two students appeared in the alleyway. One of them was a boy with red hair, and a careless smile. His hands were up behind his head, and when his eyes met Max, he seemed to grin even more.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
The other student was a girl with long jet-black hair, and green eyes. Unlike the boy she was not smiling, and if anything, she looked very irritated.
"Woah Raguel, so this is Red huh? It''s nice to finally meetcha!" The boy extended a hand to Max who did not take it. Instead, he turned and looked at Raguel expecting an explanation.
"They''re both new so you''ll be taking them with you on your assignments for a while. Just make sure they don''t fuck anything up."
Max raised a brow "My own crew? Was not expecting this when I came here."
"It''s not just you. Jegudiel''s guy is getting a team too." Raguel tried to take another swig of his drink, but it was empty. Instead, he threw it to the ground, the glass shattering into pieces.
"You know littering is a misdemeanor." Max remarked half jokingly.
"Knock out your jobs and the spot is yours." Raguel laughed. "I guess you can look at it like a video game; the more you fuck up the less points you''re gonna have by the time we grade you."
"And what happens if we both knock out all our jobs?" Max asked.
"Hell, if I know," Raguel said taking a puff from his cigarette.
"Awesome."
Raguel turned his attention to the two students who''d just arrived; the boy''s hand was still in the air, but he started to slowly lower it.
"This is Draco, and her name is Ava."
"Yo," Max said.
"Anyway, I''m gonna ask you three to make a statement at the store off of 4th," Raguel pulled out his phone, and showed the three a picture of a middle-aged man, "Him and his store, don''t care when you do it as long as it''s before the end of the week."
"Can we kill him?" Draco asked excitedly.
A look of excitement and glee was painted all over his face; it didn''t take a psychiatrist to know that this boy had more than a few screws loose.
Suddenly Max realized why Ava looked so disgusted earlier. Something was wrong with this boy. What in the world gave Raguel the idea to bring this guy on?
"I don''t care what you do." Raguel said.
"We aren''t killing anybody. Is there a message you want us to send?" Max asked.
"No, a trip to the hospital should be enough."
"Got it then." Max said, "is that everything."
"Yep, you know how to reach me if you need anything," Raguel started to leave, headed further into the alley.
"Have I ever asked you for help before?"
Raguel ignored that, and threw the butt of his cigarette onto the icy ground, before disappearing into Eden''s foggy embrace.
After no response Max turned to his two new recruits. They both wore backpacks, and so Max concluded that they were both likely students.
"Well, let''s get going then."
"Hell yeah!" Draco exclaimed clutching his fist.
"To school."
"What? We have a job to do don''t we Red? Fuck school."
Ava sighed in frustration, and due to the freezing temperature Max could see it in her breath.
"It''s the first day of school." Ava said interrupting "it''d be especially obvious that we don''t belong if we go anywhere but there. Additionally, we don''t know the working hours of the location, possible employees, number of cameras etc. The fact that I have to explain this to you is directly correlative to how useful you''re going to be."
Draco turned to Ava and got in her face, but she didn''t move; the tension in the alley was so palpable Max could taste it.
But before Draco could open his mouth Max grabbed his arm and pulled him aside.
"Three things," he started. "Number one do not call me Red unless we''re in the middle of a job. Number two, Ava is right, we don''t have the information to pull it off today, and number three do whatever the fuck I tell you."
Draco raised his hands, and backed away from Ava, "Alright, alright my bad. You got my respect man so whatever you say, okay?"
"Let''s get to school," Max said.
The three finally started to leave. It was about 6:30 so the trio had plenty of time to get to school. The number of students trickling across the railroad tracks started to decrease, but Max suspected that number would rise again the closer to 8:00 that it got.
"Wouldn''t it be best if we split up? Being seen together could cause problems later," Ava said.
Max shook his head, "We''ll probably be meeting up pretty often; so, establishing a relationship now is important, hiding it will likely just make us look suspicious."
"I see."
The three finally crossed the railroad tracks. From here on out the city of Eden Springs began to look more vibrant, and colorful. No more dilapidated buildings, or homeless people on the streets. Max often thought about the orphans he lived with, and how they''d never even seen this part of the city.
The Archangels didn''t operate that much on this side of town due to the increase in police presence, and surveillance. Luckily for Max the general store he''d have to vandalize later that week was a part of South Eden.
"Are you two new here? I''ve been going to this school for a while, and I haven''t seen either of you before," Max said.
"Guess you could say I''ve been home-schooled till now." Draco said with a light chuckle.
"Home-schooled? Why start going to public school then?"
"Why? Because things were always so boring, and predictable," Draco looked up at the gray sky, "That''s why I have so much respect for you Red. You do what you want without a care in the world, and you''re so calm and collected. I want to be just like you!"
"You don''t even know me," Max said.
"I know more than you think, and man I''ve done some crazy things too, haha honestly if the cops knew about me, I''d be in jail for life, I might even get the chair!"
"That''s enough," Max said shutting him down, "What about you?" He said, turning to Ava.
"I don''t want to talk about it."
"Man, a chance to cozy up to Red and you pass on it? Hey Red, is this what they call playing hard to get?"
"What did I tell you about using that name?"
"Relax man, it''s fine. Ain''t no one around anyway, don''t worry once we get to the school, I''ll keep my mouth shut," he grinned at Max, and used his fingers to imitate zipping his lips. “Promise."
If it weren''t for where he was Max would''ve already punched this boy in the face, his blood was boiling. How could Raguel set him up with someone like this? Was this some kind of sick test or a joke? Wasn''t he supposed to vet everyone that ran under him? He''d have a word or two with Raguel later, but for now he''d leave it be, after all what could he do about it now?
After another block the three finally arrived at Eden High. It was the only high school in the entire city, and if it weren''t for business mogul Reginald Sinclair the school would be just as bad as the orphanage.
It was only a decade ago that the old school was torn down, and Eden High was built right on top of it; but in addition to tearing down the old school they also bulldozed a lot of houses in the vicinity so they could also expand it.
Max overheard a conversation going on between some students just behind his group.
"Man, It''s August shouldn''t we be getting some sunlight? I don''t remember it being so cold this time last year!"
"Looks like Autumn is here early," the other student said.
It was true, the weather was exceptionally cold today, and the weather was so foggy he could barely make out other students in the street.
The pair paid Max and his group, no mind as they entered the school grounds.
"This is where we go our separate ways. I''d like to talk with you both one on one so Ava, I''ll start with you. See you after school," he said turning his back on the two.
"You know there''s a chance we''ll all be in the same class, right? Is there anything we need to be cautious about?"
Max had opened the door to the school, and waved both of them off clearly, not intending to answer her question. Max would find out what class he was in later, it just wasn''t important to him right now, and that knowledge wouldn''t make any difference.