Everyone was present and accounted for the secret meeting that would decide the preparations for Abel and the others, final but crucial escape.
Standing together was Abel, Kane, the twins Luna and Lena, and the quiet giant Bruno. Their leader was none other than Iris who promptly started the meeting.
"Okay everybody, today's meeting is special, so give yourself a round of applause."
The whole room was immediately filled with a loud round of applause, for some reason it was a weird way to not only start the meeting but to also lighten the mood a little – well… according to Iris that is.
After they stopped she continued her speech "Okay it's time for the Crimson Hawks final preparation meeting."
The whole group answered in unison "Right–"
But Abel squinted the moment while raising a brow
"Waiiittt~, wait, wait, wait… WAIT! SINCE WHEN IN HELL DO WE GO BY THE NAME 'Crimson Hawks'? WHOSE DUMB IDEA WAS IT GO WITH THAT HUH!!!"
Iris fumbled "uh… well I did – I just came up with it now and I thought it be a you know a cool theme for all of us"
Abel snorted, "Like hell a lameass name you 'just came up with' would be a damn theme. If anything it's stupid and embarrassing and there is no way I'm rolling with something like that."
She quickly pouted, "Oh come on it's not that bad – right guy's?"
…
The others looked in silence for a brief moment… after realizing her delusion.
Kane grunted; "Yeah… sorry to tell ya Iris but the runt's got a point, it sucks" he smirked
Though he did agree with him, Abel didn't like the 'runt' part "HUH! THE HELL YOU CALL ME!"
Meanwhile Lena and Luna were also in complete agreement.
"Yeah Iris it is – not to mention completely cringe" Lena said.
"Yeah, yeah what my sister said it's completely cringe ha-ha" Luna added.
Even Bruno was awkward about it, but the big guy tried to say it in a nice way, "Uh… maybe you should give it a bit more thought and it would probably sound better."
Hearing each of their harsh opinions was like a stab to Iris' poor heart, hard enough for her to start pouting and sulking like a spoiled tattler.
"Ugh fine, it's not like I asked for any of your stupid opinions – and besides as the leader I offered to help by naming our party and this the thanks I get?"
She was acting as if she had done them a huge favor – one that they actually will be forever grateful for. Clearly, she was kidding herself if she thought they actually would be, and Abel knew that.
"Like we'd be grateful our so-called leader would come with the most cringes party name ever – keep telling yourself that you dumbass."
That hitted her even harder, until he let out a long sigh and muttered, "I still can't believe we're letting an idiot like you call all of the shots."
Kane snapped him by countering him with an annoyed opinion of his own.
"Right~ like we'd let a scrawny little runt like you actually call the shots quite deceiving yourself."
That stung, but Abel still fired back.
"Well at least this runt got a brain to do so – unlike a loudmouth jackass I know!"
Kane roared "THE HELL DID YOU SAY YOU LITTLE SHIT!"
Lena casually added, "You heard him, he called you a loudmouth jackass – but to be honest…"
Luna snickered "You got a brain the size of a tiny monkey ha-ha."
He snapped his head at the both of them and yelled "SCREW THE BOTH OF YOU IDIOTS!"
Naturally Bruno tried diffusing the tension… "Come on you guys please don't–" but it wasn't working.
Finally Iris got fed up and shouted "Alright that's enough, all of you shut up and listen up!"
Instantly they all froze and she continued, "It's been six years since we all came up with a single plan to leave the estate once and for all and in those long six years – we finally managed to gather all the pieces necessary to put our plan into motion."
After a long stretch of scheming and struggling, the team finally managed to steal and secure a hidden lifeboat from the cargo ship three years ago.
"Honestly it's all thanks to Kane and Abel for not only snagging us a lifeboat, they also managed to find a secret place to hide it for us – so give them a big round of applause guys."
They all clapped and patted both Kane's and Abel's backs, for their bravery but also unexpected teamwork.
Kane scratched his neck. "Yeah well, just be glad the damn runt can be good for something."
Abel smirked. "Says the crybaby who kept on panicking the moment we set foot on the damn ship – you wouldn't stop whining about how screwed we were if we got caught. You must have pissed yourself for sure."
Immediately Kane's face slightly reddened. "Like hell I did asshole!"
Luna then jumped onto Abel hugging him. "Ehehe~ Good job Abel you did great."
Abel's face quickly turned red as he sputtered. "Y-yeah w-whatever, just get off!"
Iris smiled. "Anyway, great job you guys, with this boat we definitely have a chance of escaping so thanks a lot."
Bruno nodded and added. "Yeah nice work you guys."
Abel interjected. "If you really wanna thank someone you should thank the twins for being able to steal us some food rations – that way we at least don't have to worry about starving for a while."
Luna beamed up and squealed even more excitedly. "Ahhhh~ thank you ha-ha."
Abel snapped. "I told you to get off!"
Lena grinned. "Well it was pretty easy to sneak under their noses especially with the damn idiots sleeping on the job."
Iris nodded her head. "Still, all of you guys did us a huge favor, so good job you guys."
They both answered. "Right."
Iris then turned to Bruno. "Let's not also forget Bruno who found us some good tools we can use to sneak around undetected."
Bruno spoke sheepishly, "N-no I just found them laying around and thought they could come in handy – it's definitely nothing compared to what the others had to do so…"
Abel shook his head. "That's not true. Each thing we all do is important and a huge help to the whole party so honestly you did just as great as we all did."
Right then everyone agreed.
"Yeah."
"Definitely."
"Yeah great job Bruno."
Bruno clearly wasn't the type of guy who could easily take a compliment so it was kind of awkward for him as he turned around and hid his red face from them. "Please stop staring at me~"
Iris firmly nodded confidently. "Ah-huh we all contribute to the party which matters most, so good job everyone seriously."
With that said…
Abel grumbled. "That's rich coming from our good for noticing a leader who barely did nothing while we were the ones risking our asses to do everything. You damn slacker!"
Iris retorted, "Hey! That's not true; I'll let you know I was supervising so there you have it."
…
Immediately the five of them all snapped
"THAT'S DOING ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!"
They all pointed at her.
Kane. "You barely lifted a finger!"
The twins. "Or moved it at all!"
Bruno. "Yeah Iris that's not really helping."
"Huhhhh~"
And Abel. "I said this once I'll say it again, I can't believe a moron like you is our damn leader."
Iris puffed her cheeks and stood as if she was in the center of everything, which she was. "I'm the only one who's nice enough to put up with you idiots!"
Everyone sighed and glared at her cause when you looked at it she really was worthless. Eventually she just shrugged it off. "Whatever, let's just focus on the plan."
Abel groaned. "right~."
She explained. "The plan consists of three phases. Phase One Sabotage, Phase Two Diversion and Phase Three Escape – the phase we all leave this hellhole."
Of course, each phase had its risks and sacrifices but it was one they all agreed to face. But Abel suddenly remembered he had forgotten to mention something very important to them.
"Oh yeah – I actually almost forgot to mention something very important to you guys. Salo told me to deliver a message. He told me that if we plan on leaving we need to do it tonight at midnight, he also said that the guards would be distracted so we should take advantage of that."
Everyone paused for a brief moment and stared, they were all shaken but no one objected to it – they didn't smile at it either.
Iris nodded. "Well if Salo says it's true then we should take his word for it, so yeah this is a grand opportunity."
Everyone responded in unison. "Right!"
And just like the decision had been decided, the plan was set and the only thing left to do was to fully execute it.