Night of Lights [Red]

[Vores V. Vyers]

In the slowly fading light of the late afternoon, a large celebration had begun in a particular church of East City. With the high vaulted ceilings the talking of roughly fifty people echoed until it sounded like the chatter of hundreds.  In the back of the church, close to the entrance a lone mat sat at a table sipping a glass of red wine, watching the revelry with a glint of amusement in his green eyes. Occasionally one of the party guests would walk over and ask if he was alright, to which he replied a very polite yes, explaining that he was waiting for his friend to arrive.  People thought it odd, but not so odd that they continued to try and push him to leave the building, simply thinking him a slow person.

Watching the revelry once again Vores began to hum the current song being played by the ten man band in the far corner.  It was a particularly lovely piece featuring heavy focus on the cello, which just happened to be Vores favorite instrument. Vores was rather thankful for it, otherwise he did not know if he would have been able to sit on the sidelines for this length of time.


Why bother with this guy, we were having a fine time on our own.  We don't need him.


Turning to the voice to his left, Vores saw his friend Mors and found himself smiling even as he shook his head faintly in slight annoyance.


"I've told you Mors, our friend who sold us those landmines said that this guy has something big in the works.  I'm curious as to what exactly it is, aren't you?"


At Vores' comment Mors merely frowned for a moment before finally sitting in the chair to Vores' left, finally joining the rest of the family that had desired to attend this meeting. Vores' group was four in total, with Mors, Markus, Charles and Vores attending the meeting while Altos stayed at their hotel room with Miles. Picking up his fork and knife Vores began to go through the process of eating with his friends, never once realizing that only his plate had food upon it. Chewing on a piece of potato Vores raised his gaze to the chair directly opposite of himself, the only chair in his mind that was vacant and the only chair in reality that was pulled out as if waiting for someone to seat themselves.

[Red Mercer]

Vores V, Vyers, or as he's more commonly know as; Legion. The fact that Red had actually been counter invited based on his own spread rumor intrigued him. The name had come up plenty of times before, but everyone knew to stay clear of this man. The man's stature alone was enough to make you question reality itself. Though being eccentric isn't exactly against the law, he was known by everyone as a terrorist. The fact that he took on very high-risk jobs made Red want his help even more.

"Ahh, I remember when I used to come to these," he reveled at the size of the Church, as he slowly made his way through the small crowd that was near the entrance. The double doors sealed in most of the sound from the outside, but behind that maple wood held a large audience. Once opened, sounds from every direction hit him all at once. Finding his equilibrium he held out a burnt piece of paper that on it was inscribed the exact location of this man.

A smile slid slowly across his face as his eyes scoured the entire church. Crowds of people cluttered the middle, and he couldn't see toward the back. The loud sounds had started a ringing in his ears. Trying to ignore the ringing, he set off for the back of the church. Taking his time, he finally made it through the small crowds.

Across the floor laid the man he had came to find. Moving toward him, he paused for a moment. Scanning the entire Church once more, he looked for any sign of booby-traps. The man who sat just across the room was well known for pre-meditated attacks. Red wasn't such to fall for that, and from what he could see nothing seemed really out of place.

The smile slowly slid to a frown, as he made his way to the man. As soon as he reached the already pulled out chair, he took it by the back and slid it roughly as he then scanned it before sitting down. "You know," he said briskly. "I don't take kindly to an explosive message. You're lucky I was unharmed," he said, remembering the package he had obtained. Red had given a basic location for a meeting point, and as he scoured the location he found a package addressed to him. As soon as he opened it a timer began to tick down inside it. Lucky for Red he deconstructed the explosive material. It was the same of Amestris land mines they had used in Ishval. He knew the compounds well.

Taking out the burnt note that was in the package, he gently tossed it toward the man. The note landed briskly right on top of his potatoes. The blast had triggered right when Red deconstructed it, so the note was burned in the process. Red was able to decipher most of it, even though it would have been difficult for some.

[Vores V. Vyers]

When the man he was meeting finally appeared before him Vores found his smile widening ever so slightly. Already Vores found himself having a slight desire to have a little so called 'discussion' with the young man, to extract every single thought that had gone through the mind behind those eyes that belonged to. With slight sadness, Vores set aside the initial wish to question the poor lad and instead focus on what the young man had said.  With his smile becoming a slight frown Vores pierced another potato, skewing the burned piece of paper in the process and proceeded to take the bite.  After he finished chewing, Vores raised a cloth napkin to calmly wipe his mouth before his smile suddenly returned.


"Awww, don't be like that, I was just keeping you on your toes. On the off chance you could not have somehow defused that little firecracker then it would have meant you have no understanding for my toys. If you can't understand something that small then you would never be able to appreciate my work."


As he spoke Vores' right hand moved to cradle the small wine glass, with the stem resting between his middle and ring fingers.  After a gentle swirling of the contents Vores proceeded to take a long drink while his left hand moved faintly the the rhythm of the music. Setting down his glass his smile returned, if a touch more faintly.


"Let us put this small talk aside and get to what's important. I heard you have something big in the works and could use some help. My associates and I are willing to lend you a hand."

[Red Mercer]

Eccentric, short of a few words that could be used to describe the man who sat across from him. There was no need to beat around the bush, and Red knew this. "Ah. Though I'd just appreciate it if you didn't try and surprise me like that again," he said, as he now leaned back in the chair. "I am very amused that you of all people came to find me." Red ignored the talk of associated, he had heard enough of this man to understand not to question things like that.

"Let's just say,"he paused for a moment, as he leaned toward Vores for dramatic effect. "I don't want Central nor Ishval to exist anymore." His voice calm and sure. The bushes weren't beat by this point, and he was fine with outright telling this man what he had wanted. He knew for sure that he wasn't a snitch, nor would he. The man in front of him loved nothing more than destruction and turmoil. Just as Red did, there was no holding either of them back when it came to things such as this.

"Actually," he continued. "I was hoping you of all people would assist me," a smile spread across his face as he leaned back in his chair once more. The music in the distance seemed to pick up in pace, and Red caught himself tapping his own foot to the beat. "I could use someone of your expertise." The fact that Red was even here showed that he was interested. "Trust me, you can blow up and destroy anything you want," he said, a very demonic looking smirk now overtaking the small smile that had crept up earlier.

"There's not much in the works, but I need you to do me a favor," he said, pulling out a sealed letter. "I need you to do everything on this paper, and after that is done, you can do whatever you want. You're already a wanted man, so this shouldn't be a problem for you." This much was true, both of them were wanted, but Red was the lesser evil of the too. Or at least he was right now, all this would change soon. Sliding the letter across the table, he leaned back once more, tipping his chair slightly.

"If you can do this for me, I will have a large stolen cache of explosives waiting to be used at my place. Just for you," he said, the smirk now fading back to a more serious look as he awaited a reply.

[Vores V. Vyers]

Let's just say. . . I don't want Central nor Ishval to exist anymore.


Those words were enough to bring Vores' interest in the job to an all time high. Over the course of the years Vores had used his toys on people, vehicles, buildings and even the occassional small town.  Never before though had he been able to demonstrate his fireworks upon an entire country. It was possible that this job would be one of his greatest masterpieces. Even more impressive was the young man's promise that Vores could target whatever he wished in exchange for his help. It was a very rare occurrence for a potential employer to not try and limit him in anyway.  It never really worked in any case, but the lack of an attempt was still refreshing.

As the young man reached the pull something out of his jacket, Vores watched Mors and Markus both reach for their weapons of choice with Markus reaching for a concealed pistol and Mors reaching for a small cleaver he had taped to the underside of his chair. To this Vores merely tapped the table, followed in quick succession by an additional two quick taps. This signal merely told his friends to stand down and not kill the young man who had managed to interest him.

As the envelope was slid towards him, Vores reached into his outer jacket pocket, slowly pulling out a pair of gloves so as not to alarm his guest. Sliding them on quickly Vores picked up the envelope now protected from any contact poisons, glancing casually for tell tale signs of needles or anything of the like meant to injure or kill him. Turning the back of the envelope to face him, Vores tore it from the bottom left corner to the top left tilting the envelope afterwards and pressing in on the edges so the contents would fall onto the table.

Staring at the single sheet of bone white paper, Vores opened it gently and commenced reading it, starting to shake about halfway through with a silent laughter made all too clear by the grin on his face. After reading, Vores imagined passing the note to Mors who proceeded to pass it to Markus followed by Charles before coming back to him. In reality however Vores merely set the letter to the left of his plate.


"My my, I believe this will be the most fun I had since I was first imprisoned. Funny that it will be under similar circumstances. As for your cache, I would be happy to take them off your hands.  I do however plan to do a little more shopping as well, after all with this type of goal I am presented with a fine opportunity for some field testing for my new toys. Also, a word of warning to you.  Now that I have accepted this task, don't even consider getting cold feet. . . if there is one thing I can't stand it is people who only go half way on something."

[Red Mercer]

The music seemed to stop as the band went into recess. It was a nice thing, the calming silence let his ears rest. The ambiguous words that swarmed the room kept buzzing, but the music that had drowned it out was now gone. Red knew what this man was capable of, and knew how eccentric he was. Taking out his gloves, he took every precaution to make sure there was no way he would get harmed from his envelope.

Snickering, Red slid his hand underneath his chair and deconstructed the small bomb that had been placed there. Red had felt and seen it as he sat down earlier. The table seemed to be filled with explosives as well, but Red knew that there was no way for him to blow them up without him also being caught in the blast radius. There was also no reason for Vores to feel threatened at this point, Red was quite friendly.

The dust that had been accumulated from the now weightless matter that had been deconstructed now filled his hand as he placed it on the table. Leaning back in his chair once more, he smiled cooly at him. "I can be trusted, y'know," his voice was smooth and calm. "I've already spread rumors around central. I'm going to be killing a military family." What he said was true, and telling Vores was even better at this point.

"No need to worry about me though, you just do as the note says. Do whatever you like, but don't stray from the instructions. You can kill whoever, you can blow up whatever. Just do what is listed, and I will be grateful," he said, the chair now falling back into it's rested position. "Now, I just have one more thing to ask. No more surprise bombs. I'm not invincible. I can't always predict your moves." he said, not knowing how many hidden bombs he had placed in this place before he arrived.

Putting his feet firmly on the ground, he moved up to stand. Making sure not to move too quickly, as Vores might interpret it as ill intent. Red bowed gently, his smile still on his face. "I trust you can do this without dying? It'd be a shame, I need your explosive behavior." he said, chuckling at his own joke, as he turned toward the door. "Now, I'll be off. I have some plans." Now taking small steps toward where he had came.

[Vores V. Vyers]

After listening to Red ask for no more of his little care packages, Vores was about to protest to what he considered such a harsh condition until he realized that  the music had stopped around the time he had first received the envelope. As Charles went on to say in Vores' mind how he would do his best to have Vores not send anymore of his care packages, Vores himself stood shortly after the other man had quickly falling in beside him with his friends falling in behind them.


"I would be a poor host if I did not give you a proper send off. . . don't worry though. I promise that you'll probably be fine. . . so long as you're out soon."


After saying his rather loose promise Vores quickened his step slightly, quickly exiting the church just as two dozen of the party goers began to release various balloons with well wishes written on small tags attached to the strings. Several bunches of these balloons however were tied to small boxes that some of the guests exclaimed over, thinking that some of the other guests must have placed them there. In truth however it had been Vores that had placed them there, little gifts from the terrorist known as Legion for the newly wed couple.

Taking out a pocket watch Vores waited for thirty seconds, ensuring that Red had enough time to leave before he proceeded to pull a small detonator from his pocket. It was a radio detonator, one of the many little designs the military had never received from him. For a few additional moments Vores' thumb simply rubbed the cap on the detonator, content to just enjoy the moment. After those moments though his grin widened and he quickly flipped open the cap and pressed the button within.

At that moment a radio signal was sent to three destinations.  The first was several tanks of oxygen that had been concealed underneath the pews which had been pushed to the sides.  These did not burst into flames, but rather a small device knocked their valve off allowing the oxygen to quickly escape. With the oxygen filling the ground now the second recipient's timer which had been turned on by the detonator reached zero causing the boxes in the air to detonate which in turn ignited the oxygen that now filled the church. As the blast originated from above, the majority of the pressure was released downwards towards the party guests who were then either killed from the sudden pressure wave or were burned alive.

Vores watched with a childish joy as the flames that suddenly appeared within the church blew out stained glass windows, Vores not even noticing when a piece of glass cut his left cheek. It was simply amazing to Vores how brightly the night sky now was. Still, his little show was not yet finished.

Finally the explosives set up in the basement of the church had their timers activated by the detonator reach zero. These explosives were located by the various support beams that extended from the ceiling, through the floor of the first floor and into the basement.  With all of the beams being destroyed simultaneously the church simply sunk into itself burying the charred remains of all those in attendance save for Vores and hopefully the young man Red.

Staring at his work, Vores simply smiled with joy at seeing everything go exactly as planned. He had thought to simply destroy the entire city block, but had felt that a true demolition was a better example of his skill for his new employer.


"Night of light so very bright bringing joy to my sight, bring the world to a new height by purging this blight with your fearsome bite."