Maids VS Apocalypse

"I can’t believe we’re going ahead with this," Elya grumbled under her breath.

"Same," Alex replied, doing his best to contain his excitement.

Mark glanced at his petite squadmate and then at her crush who was walking behind them. Both had changed out of their blue PK uniform, but while the former wore simple civilian clothes, The latter was entirely different.

A Red cloak was draped over his body, its hood covering his head. His face was hidden behind a black mask. The clothes he wore under the cloak were different as well. At first glance, even his allies would mistake him for an enemy.

"I hate this plan..."

Elya might have been exasperated by the way things were going, but not as much as Franco. The tall and skinny Italian was walking with his back hunched. His face was covered in cuts and bruises as if he had just received quite the beating. Mark was bruised as well, but he was in a comparatively better state.

"Suck it up."

A familiar voice came from behind, through the one it belonged to looked different as well. Ramsay had changed into the same attire as Alex, with the red cloak covering most of his body.

This was the brilliant plan the blonde Peace Keeper came up with; disguise as the enemy and lead the others as captives straight to their ranks. When he first presented it the others were quick to dismiss it altogether, but the Sergeant gave it some thought and decided it was worth trying.

They got the clothes from some of the Red Hoods he killed before. Since they fit him and the blonde one the most they were the ones picked to play the role of captors. Mark and Franco were the idiots who dared fight back and got beaten while Elya was the frail helpless girl who was barely able to stand after seeing so much blood.

Ben and Lara were forced to stay behind. With one being almost three meters tall and the other having silver hair and red eyes, they were too eye-catching to participate. Not that they were hiding and doing nothing.

"I have located the intruders!" Someone shouted in the distance.

A moment later, a dozen Red Hoods ran past Mark and the others. A few glanced at them but continued running as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

"Seems like Ben and Lara are doing a great job," Elya muttered.

"We should hurry," Ramsay said.

The plan was working far better than expected. Before long they spotted a number of red hoods gathered in front of a door. They appeared a little too relaxed as if they had nothing better to do. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"There is more?" One of them asked while sizing up the three captives.

Ramsay was about to reply when Alex stepped forward.

"Yeah, I got a bad feeling so I went back to check. Don’t know how we missed them the first time."

"Seriously..." The Red Hood clicked his tongue. "Well, doesn’t matter. You two go this way. The kid goes into the other other room."

"Pffft"

Franco started coughing uncontrollably. Mark’s expression remained unchanging but on the inside, he was holding on to dear life.

"A kid huh..." Ramsay suddenly decided to become an arsonist and started spilling more fuel into the fire. "She tricked you as well?"

"... What?"

Ramsay held up a small card.

"She’s twenty-four."

The Red Hood took the card and stared at it for a few seconds. As much as she hated it, Elya had to always carry a bunch of IDs with her just in case people didn’t believe how old she really was. Most of them were real so there was no need to worry about a random mob seeing through it.

"Seriously." The Red Hood Looked at Elya one more time. "This is terrifying..."

The other red hoods were starting to take notice and comments were being thrown left and right. Only the four Peace Keepers felt the chills created by the dangerous monster standing among them. Just then one of the large double doors opened and another Red Hood appeared.

"Hey! Quit messing around already!" He shouted. "Elder Zhang asked for the next batch! This will be the last one so get them inside already!"

"Alright!"

Ramsay shoved Mark toward the door. While passing him the Red Hood at the door almost said something when he saw the girl with but went silent when the disguised Sergeant tossed him her ID card.

"I’m definitely coming back for them."

Mark felt that he was the only one who heard that quiet murmur. There were far fewer Red Hoods on the other side of the door, all of whom stood at the corners. A large crowd was gathered in the room. They were mostly adults, which wasn’t too surprising considering what just happened.

"You can go ahead and rest now." The Red Hood who led them inside said. "We will depart as soon as the Elder is done dealing with them."

At his prompting, Mark, Franco, and Elya went to join the crowd of frightened civilians. Ramsay watched them go then turned to the red hood after a moment of silence.

"This is the last batch, huh?"

"Yup." The Red Hood replied.

"Did we get a good harvest this time?"

"Fewer than expected. Elder Zhang seems to be in a really bad mood."

"You don’t say..."

The silence returned to the room. After a few seconds, a door opposite the one they entered from opened, and the Red Hoods near it started instructing the civilians to get inside.

"Say, there is this girl that caught my attention earlier. Mind if I go check if she passed the test?"

The Sergeant’s voice was a little awkward, but that was deliberate on his part. He wanted it to appear that he was doing something unbecoming as if he understood the connotations behind making such a request.

"C’mon now." The Red Hood smiled with his eyes. "You know you shouldn’t get your hopes up."

"The earlier I knew the easier it would be to get over it," Ramsay replied.

"Alright." The Red Hood gestured for a side door with his head. "No touching, though. They are already traumatized enough."