Chapter 23

Alice and I walked the busy streets as she began to point out different places of interest in the city. There was genuine pride in her voice as she guided me around the city. I could see her love for her home city plain as day.

I had to admit, the city was a damn sight better than my own home city. Just as before, I noticed the differences between grey rock city and anarchy city. Even public order was much better here. There was an assortment of different people from different walks of life mixed in among the crowd. Rich rubbed shoulders with the poor. That was something rarely seen back home.

The city was by no measure a paradise of course. At one point a group of 5 men arrogantly walked down a busy street only to have the crowd almost fearfully part before them. When I shot a questioning look at Alice she scoffed and explained.

"You see the tattoos on their necks?"

I could see them. They were the image of a snake wrapped around a dagger that was stabbed through the crown of a skull. The colors were vivid and I could even make out the red tears dripping from the white skulls eyes.

"They are part of the legion. Not friendly at all. Very arrogant. The Legion is part of the unofficial anti-council faction. If the city was run the way they wanted, there would only be those with power having any right to speak. So only pilots."

As we walked Alice gestured with her hand at the backs of the group that had gone around a corner.

"Groups like that work to undo everything the council has achieved. They are the blight of our city. But... They follow the law, mostly. As such, the council can't do much to them. People fear them and they give the other groups like the Steel Eagles a bad name by association."

She went on and explained the political situation of anarchy city as best she could.

The city wasn't as peaceful as it looked. There were deep undercurrents here. On one side you had the council. A fledgling representative government attempting to bond all the varying factions of the city to a common goal and keep the peace.

Then there was the council supporting mercenary guilds like the Steel Eagles. They didn't number very highly as the council had slowly but surely reigned in the rights and powers of these mercenary factions as time went on.

As such the second group of mercenary guilds was the largest of the lot. They didn't support or oppose the council. They supported their own bottom line. Most of this group knew the importance of the council but still sought out terms that would best benefit themselves. They were merchants of war. They wanted to have balance between the council and the mercenaries.

Then there was the third group. These groups felt that as fighters and those with power, it didn't make sense to obey a council and would prefer to be free to do as they wish. They didn't like the idea of having common citizens voting representatives into the council and believed the council should be occupied by only those with the military force to back their words. They undermined the council's authority wherever possible while attempting to gain council seats.

The council was an oddity in of itself. Part of its make up was representatives voted for by the common citizens. The other part was made up of those supported by one mercenary group or another.

The balance of power was a tight rope act. But the council had been able to achieve balance with only minor problems along the way. Minor as in attempted usurpation of power and rebellion by mercenary troops unhappy with the status quo. Luckily all put down in the end.

The lines between these forces shifted and seemed to blur at times. A lot of the infighting in anarchy city was done behind closed doors or with cloak and dagger. Even worse, the fighting could happen outside the city walls. It wasn't unheard of for one mercenary faction to be preyed upon for one reason or another by another while outside. In the last 30 years, many mercenary guilds had risen and fallen. Most due to trickery or betrayal.

Eventually, what knowledge of the subject Alice had was given to me and we moved the conversation back to her showing me the city.

We came to our first destination and I was happy to see it was a clothing store. As Alice explained to me that this was the best store to get quality and a good price, we stepped into the shop.

The clothes hanging around the shop were of better quality than anything I had ever worn in grey rock city or even seen other wear. I felt at a loss to pick as I was used to very limited choices.

After Alice had greeted the shop owner and began to look around she noticed my lost look. Alice walked up to me with a puzzled look.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing... I'm just not used to such selection. Neither am I used to such high-quality clothes. I'm not sure what to choose."

She smiled and laughed a sweet laugh.

"Surely you have some preferences. Like color at the least."

Thinking about it, I really couldn't think of anything. I never chose my own clothing before. Mother picked them out for me and they were usually second-hand goods.

Alice saw that I was coming up empty for words and smiled a reassuringly. I could almost feel her pity. She already understood my economic situation up until recently.

"It's alright. We can find what suits you together."

Very quickly she began to grab up different sets of clothing off the hangers and set them on the front counter.

"Black. I think your color is black... or dark grey. With your dark hair and beard, it could work. It will give you a dark and mysterious look."

Raising an eyebrow at her I spoke with obvious sarcasm.

"Is that how you see me? As dark?"

She rolled her eyes and waved a hand as if she was shoeing away an annoying fly.

"Enough of that. I'm never wrong. Just try a few sets out."

I did as I was told and in the end, I had to agree. Dark colors did seem to suit me. Changing out of Nicholas's old clothing and into ones that fit me also changed my look completely.

Looking at myself in the mirror on the wall of the shop near the changing room, I felt that little bit a narcissism creeping up again. Wearing dark pants made of some synthetic material and a comfortable black grey t-shirt that hugged my chest to reveal the muscles I didn't have until recently, I found myself to be pretty darn dashing.

Alice seemed to agree and I tried on a few different sets of clothing. I liked the idea of keeping my style uniform, so the clothing sets we chose were mostly like the first that we liked. Simple but extremely well made and form fitting.

After we had selected most of my clothes Alice, who had been standing behind me while I turned this way and that in the mirror, suddenly had an idea and danced away only to return with a stylish black jacket in her hands.

"You need a final touch."

She motioned for me to put it on and I did. Standing before the mirror, I began to zip the front of the jacket, only to be stopped by Alice.

"Leave it open."

I didn't understand. What was the point of a coat if you didn't close It?

Alice rolled her eyes.

"It's style. It's all about style."

Looking at my reflection, I had to agree with her opinion again. Closed, the coat hid my body structure and muscles. Open, the coat showed my chest muscles peeking through the contours of my dark grey shirt.

"Yes. It's perfect. You have a rogue look about you now. The coat is the cherry on top. Dark clothes really bring out your green eyes while working well with your dark hair. God, I'm good at this."

It was my turn to roll my eyes.

"Are you done patting yourself on the back?"

She stuck her tongue out and we went to pay. When the shop owner revealed the total price of the clothes I thought I misheard. 9 gold. 9 gold!

I nearly put all the clothes back right then and there, but Alice assured me I wasn't wasting money or being conned. Things were more pricy here in Anarchy city. People had more money, so prices rose to match. The unique way this city obtained goods also played a part. I begrudgingly paid the price and my clothes were bagged.

We left the store and I felt like a new man wearing these clothes. I had never felt such comfortable clothing before. Nicholas's clothes made me feel like a child wearing his father clothes. The man was a giant. My old clothes felt rough and ill-fitting.

"Where to now?"

Alice cupped her chin and looked me over before answering.

"Haircut. The beard needs a trim too."

Running my hand through my overly long hair, I felt a little embarrassed. She was right. My hair looked awful. It almost hung over my eyes.

She dragged me down a street and to a barber shop. When we entered she dropped all pretense of asking my opinion and simply told the barber what she wanted.

20 minutes later I had somewhat short hair still long enough to style but short enough to let it be wild if I wanted and a perfectly trimmed beard. The girl knew her fashion. I wouldn't question her judgment on that front ever again.

She nodded with a grin and obvious pride at her handiwork. It felt sorta weird. Like I was some sort of pet she was dressing up. Or a toddler.

On the next part of our journey through the city, she brought me to a chaotic market area. Apparently, this was the best place to buy the soap and shampoo as well as other essentials.

While I followed behind Alice like a baby duck following its mother, she zipped around here and there while quickly obtaining all the day to day requirements I would need. A towel, soap, shampoo, razor, toothbrush, and toothpaste.

I enjoyed walking the market with Alice a lot. She liked to pick up and check out any little trinket that caught her eye. She also checked any books on armor she could find to see if they would be useful to her. Sadly most were something she already had or just plain bad.

While Alice strolled around the market, I noticed many sets of eyes following her. She was someone who stood out in a crowd for sure.

When we passed a table with an assortment of computer tablets on it, I remembered I would need one. As I stopped and looked over the selection Alice approached the table and sneered at the tablets.

"Junk. All second hand refurbished crap. Mostly out of date. Crappy security measures too. Don't buy here. I know a better place."

The stall owner took offense at her words but Alice didn't care and we moved along. She quickly led the way out of the open air market and down another few streets before I was dragged into another shop.

Inside was glass display tables with all sorts of different model computer tablets and electronic devices. Alice tried her best along with the shop owner to explain the differences to me. Eventually, I gave up and asked Alice which model she used. She showed me and I bought it on the spot. Another 18 gold gone. It was a good tablet though. It doubled as a wireless phone and had good security measures.

The first thing I did with my new tablet was trade numbers with Alice. She explained how calling worked and how I would need to attach a bank account to my tablet to make calls or transfer data wirelessly. The council built and maintained the wireless network of Anarchy city and using it cost money.

With the mention of a bank account, we made our way to one of the branches of the anarchy city banking guild and set up an account for me. The bank teller gave me an odd look when Alice immediately transferred almost 7000 gold into my brand new account. I pulled 50 gold coins out of my account to carry around with me and we left.

When we exited the bank I felt my stomach grumble and looked to Alice.

"I'm pretty hungry. What about you?"

She pondered for a bit.

"I could eat. Let's go to Della's. It will be nice to eat something not cooked by me for once."

"Sounds good. My treat of course. As thanks for helping me out so much."

Alice shook her head.

"You don't have to-"

"Just let me show my gratitude. Please?"

She let it drop and we eventually came to a large building with a sign in front. Della's was written on it in large stylized cursive.

Just as we were about to enter, a cheerful jingle rang out from Alice's tablet and she put it to her ear.

"Yes dad, I'm fine. No. Nothing happened. We are almost done with the shopping. We are going to eat right now. Yeah. Ok. I know. I love you too. Hmm? Oh! Della's. I haven't been here in a long time and I thought it would be a good choice. Ok. Bye, dad."

She rolled her eyes and stuffed the tablet back into her bag.

"He is always worried."

I nodded and pushed the door open for her as we entered. The inside of the restaurant was clean and well furnished. The restaurant was well lit and the tables were spaced out just enough to offer a little privacy to speak.

A waiter soon sat us down and we ordered. I ordered two large meal sets for me alone. That earned me an odd look from Alice. I just shrugged and smiled.

My appetite was endless lately. For the last week or so I simply hadn't been eating until I was satiated. I planned on making up for that now. We talked as we waited for the food.

"My mom joined the security forces after my dad and mom left the iron eagles. She is a big supporter of the council. She calls it retirement without being bored to death. The security forces are much safer than the mercenary troops and she still gets to be a pilot."

"What about your Dad? What's his story?"

I definitely wanted her father's back story. Call it recon.

"He was the co-leader of the Steel Eagles. He eventually got tired of battle and also wanted to stay close to me as I grew up. He retired from piloting and passed his armor down to the man he chose to replace him. I'm still a little ticked off he didn't leave the armor for me. It was an old world armor. I never even got to see it in person!"

She paused and propped her chin up with her hand.

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"When he retired, he bought the Lonely Crow and the rest is pretty humdrum. That was about 5 years ago. What about you? Any family?"

I smiled at her interest in my life and told her about my mother. Talking about my mother with Alice felt nice. Alice smiled along as I told her stories about how I was a little wild child back in "the day" and even told her about some of the shenanigans my friends and I would get up to.

"Your friends sound like total jokers."

I laughed loudly and nodded along in total agreement.

"It would be fun to meet them."

She must have noticed the stiffness in my face because she quickly asked what was wrong.

"You won't be able to meet most of them. Not many are still alive. Those that are alive are hundreds of kilometers away. Maybe I can bring them over here but I'm not sure."

She had a sad look on her face as she reached across the table and gripped my arm in a friendly and comforting nature.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have mentioned them."

I shook my head and motioned in the negative.

"No. It's fine. You couldn't have known. And it's not like I can't talk about them."

She nodded and smiled before her smile faded again.

"And... your mother. Is she still..."

I smiled.

"Alive?"

She noticed my good mood and smiled lightly.

"Yup. She's alive. I am going to go get her and bring her to anarchy city soon. You will get to meet her eventually. I just have to figure out how."

Alice wondered what I meant by figuring it out, so I filled her in on the situation with my mother. As I told the story, small tears began to drip from her eyes. Alice immediately took up an interest in helping me find a solution to my problem.

In the end, the best suggestions she had was high-end smugglers or joining a mercenary troop and having them help me. Of course, her first recommendation was the Steel Eagles. I promised to remember her suggestions and the conversation moved on to other topics.

We chatted up until the food arrived and beyond, which seeing as I wasn't eating like a pig but still had twice the food, took a while. We talked about Anarchy city, rumors, music. But mostly we talked about piloting armor. She was obsessed with armor. Whenever the subject was brought up her eyes seemed to glow.

I also noticed a difference in her demeanor towards me. When I tried to be all dashing and flirty to the extreme, she seemed to ignore my attempts to make an impression. But when I stopped attempting to be charming and just talked with her openly and naturally, she became much more animated and less closed off from me.

Realizing I was trying too hard to make an impression, I decided to cool my jets and let it rest for a while. It's not like there weren't more important things happening in my life right now. The slow and steady route seemed to possibly give better results in the end anyway. I would simply take this a whole lot less seriously. What will be will be.

With my new decision on how to treat Alice made, I felt some of the stupid youthful tension drain away. I became less stressed about my interactions with Alice

Long after the food was finished our conversation came to an end, Alice pulled her tablet out and nearly jumped out of her chair.

"Uh oh. It's getting late. We have to get back. Well, I do at least. I'm already late to start the dinner roast for the inn."

I paid the bill and we stepped outside.

"If you want to go and see the city still, you can probably go by yourself at this point. If you get lost use the GPS on your tablet."

I thought about it and decided against going out alone. I had already gotten most of what I needed, and I didn't want to carry all these bags around the city.

Having both decided to return to the inn and call it a day, we began walking. We kept our chat from earlier going and weaved our way through the less crowded streets.

At one point I made a crude joke before thinking and was shocked when she burst into laughter. I figured she would be offended but instead, she told me she loved crude jokes. So I began searching my mind for every crude joke that wasn't too awful and recited them to her.

I had a grin on my face as Alice burst into peal after peal of laughter with each punchline I delivered. She was an odd girl.

Just as I was about to begin a new joke amidst Alice's boisterous laughter at the prior one, a shaven-headed man stepped out from around a corner. Alice in her laughing state failed to notice him.

She ran directly into the man head first. Both she and the man stumbled back. Alice got the worst of it due to body mass differences and I was forced to drop the bags and steady her for a moment to keep her from falling.

"What the fuck! Look where you are going. AAH..."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bump into you. Are you ok?"

The man rolled his right arm in its socket and twisted his neck.

"I'm not sure. I think you hurt me bad. Somethings up with my shoulder."

Alice didn't understand what was happening just yet, but I did. I had seen this scene play out plenty of times in grey rock city.

"Yeah. I'm going to need some compensation. You should know better than to run around injuring people."

Alice was dumbfounded for a moment before anger surfaced on her face. She was beginning to catch on. This was a shakedown.

"I didn't run into you that hard. Stop trying to pull something. Move on to your next target."

She flicked her thumb in a gesture that told the guy to get moving.

"Now you are calling me a liar!? First, you injure me and now you slander me! Fucking little bitch."

That was enough. Words were not going to work on this asshole. I stepped forward and between Alice and the man.

"Alice save your words. He isn't going to be reasoned with."

I motioned Alice to calm down before addressing the man.

"How much?"

That's what it came down to in the end. It was a matter of price or fists. I didn't really want this to become a brawl with Alice here. So while it may deem slightly cowardly, I decided if the price was low enough, I would just pay it and move on.

"How much? What kind of attitude is that? What do you think I am? Some commoner to be bought out by the likes of you? Are you going to throw a few silver at me and slink away? Fuck that. I'm seriously injured here!"

The man was a horrible actor. I could feel Alice getting pissed behind me. I motioned for her to let it go while I kept my gaze level with the asshole scammer.

He giggled after staring back at me with ill-disguised contempt for a while. He shrugged his shoulders and raised his arms in a gesture of mock surrender.

"Haha. Alright. I'm a fair man. I guess a fair payout will work. Hmmm."

He rubbed his chin while he thought of a number. I wanted to punch the man. I probably should have right from the start. I would have if I wasn't pretty sure this man had back up. These types always do. There should be one or two men waiting in the wings to back him up should things get messy.

Plus if I coldcock him out of nowhere on a street with pedestrians and cameras... I don't think it would be big trouble for me on paper, but I need to be free for the next few weeks to set things up and get mom.

"Ok. 1000 gold. That's my price."

Both Alice and I were shocked at the number. Alice burst onto angry yelling.

"Are you kidding me? 1000? Gold?! You greedy ass! No way. Go row a boat! You must be insane to think we would pay that!"

I was similarly shocked. But for an entirely different reason. Shakedowns don't work like this. Asking for 1000 is insane. No one will pay that even if they did have it. Asking for a price you knew would never be paid was a fuck up. Or worse. Something was wrong. More than just some scammer trying to shake us down. Even the scammer himself was odd. He was fit and clean. He seemed to carry himself more like a soldier than a thug.

"You got a mouth on you girl."

He smiled a sickening smile at Alice and licked his lips.

"Yeah. 1000 sounds about right. Gold of course. I'm worth a lot don't you know?!"

Alice continued her angry debate with the man while I kept myself between her and the man and began to scan the street and the pedestrians around us.

"I don't care if you are a fricking high noble. A bump isn't worth a thousand gold. We aren't paying! Stop wasting our time."

"Hehe. If you don't have the money we can always arrange something else. You are a real cutie. How about you spend the night with me and we call it even."

Alice nearly launched herself at the man when he spoke those words. I was forced to hold her back once again as she tried to reach for and hit him.

My eyes were still scanning the pedestrians around us and sadly I began to spot what I was looking for. At discrete locations here and there surrounding us, were men slowly moving into position. I started counting. 1, 2 ,4 ,6. Damn. One of them was a truly big bastard too. At least 6'7".

These men were all fit men who moved with practiced ease and confidence. Nothing like normal scammers and street rats. They had already cut off all escape avenues.

"Caleb, what are you doing? He's just one man. We shouldn't just giv-"

I cut her off with a motion and gestured around us. The men had been casually closing the distance between us the entire time.

Alice noticed the situation and I heard a startled exclamation from her. I kept my eyes tracking the men. There was something off about them besides their abnormal look and feel. They were all eyeing ME.

At first, when the man had named a price of 1000, I thought for sure he was naming a price too high to pay for the obvious outcome of pressuring Alice to join him for the night. And he did say that. But on further evaluation, the man and his companions kept track of me before anything else. The man maintained his conversation with Alice before but his eyes kept flicking to me with some unknown animosity in them.

Finally, I got it. This wasn't any sort of shakedown at all. This was an ass beating about to happen! I was the target here!

Who the hell would send people to attack me though? I hadn't even met anyone yet worth mentioning. I'm sure I made some waves coming here alone with two old world armor, but it had only been a day.

The good news was the men all avoided placing their hands on their holstered side arms. There was a big issue if you pulled a gun or God forbid fired it without damn good reason in the city. Parts of the council are even pushing for a firearm ban.

The streets were monitored with CCTV cameras with pretty good coverage. The network of cameras may not solve a crime before it happened, but they were good enough to catch a gun-toting idiot after the fact. None of the men covered their face. So this wasn't a hit. Just an ass beating.

I turned to Alice and gripped her shoulder while keeping my body bladed to the man in front of us. Making sure she was paying attention, I spoke in my best low and authoritative voice.

"It's time for you to go Alice. Just go home. I'll catch up in a bit."

Alice showed a completely confused expression followed by an offended one.

"I'm not leaving you here! What do you even think of me? I can take care of myself. Don't worry about me holding you back. Besides, they are after me anyways. They won't let me leave."

I looked away from her and to the "scammer".

"No. I think they will actually let you pass without a problem... won't you?"

I addressed the last part of the sentence to the man before us. I wasn't quite sure I was correct just yet, but the man's answering reaction solidified the conclusion. He took his forefinger and tapped it on the side of his nose before chuckling and pointing the finger at me.

"Bingo. You got it, kid. We are here for you! You pissed someone off. A little late on the uptake though. A minute or so earlier and you might have been able to slip away."

Alice was completely speechless. She just looked to me for confirmation. I nodded to her.

"You see. You can go now. This is my trouble."

A warm feeling began to spread from below my breast bone and my head felt... I guess you could call it... tight? I can't really explain it. My vision seemed very odd. Like it was both in focus and out of focus. Normally such a phenomenon would make it hard to see but for some reason, it only improved my ability to focus while also keeping track of my surroundings. It was freaky but instinctually it felt right. My altered body always seemed to be doing funny things when I was stressed out or amped up.

Alice tried to step past me and almost succeeded. She seemed extremely pissed. Both at these men and me.

"I'm not leaving! I'm no coward. I'm a damn warrior too!"

I hissed out a breath.

"Alice. You are causing me trouble plea-"

Just then Alice yelled and showed a horrified look before pointing behind me and the "scammer". I turned my head instinctually. Confusion racked my brain. There shouldn't be anything close enough to shock her behind me. The men were closing in but they were not that close yet and they were being damn leisurely about it.

That's when she pounced. Unluckily for the "scammer" in front of us, he also fell for Alice's trick. While he turned his head to see what had shocked her, Alice slipped from my grasp expertly, took one leaping stride forward, and kicked as hard as she could, directly into the man's groin.

He released an animalistic squeal and dropped to his knees with his hands cupped over his devastated neither regions. The veins in his neck stood out starkly while his face contorted into a look of pure agony.

Just as the man gasped out the last of his shrieking breath and began to inhale another scream of sorts, Alice wrapped both of her hands around the kneeling man's neck.

I watched in fascination and bewilderment as Alice viciously brought her knee up in a perfectly formed knee strike. The stunned man was left with little time to react and took every blow squarely on his chin, nose, and eye sockets.

After half a dozen blows, Alice released the man allowing him to crumple on the floor. There was no sign of any movement from the man who now had his face firmly planted on the ground.

Taking my cue from Alice, I whirled around and attacked the nearest assailant while the man still gawked at the sight of an elegant and lovely young girl completely destroying one of his mates.

He was just within reach of the massive leap I took and had only barely begun to react when my right first struck him like an atomic bomb across his jaw.

Even I was shocked by the effect of my punch. An audible crunch and cracking sound could be heard and the man flew back 3 meters to land in a heap, motionless.

I looked down at my right first and found it unscathed. Flexing my fingers sent no sharp or stinging pain shooting down them. Just how tough was my body? I had punched men before. It was nothing like this, however. I'm pretty sure I shattered that man's jaw.

Very quickly the momentum of the fight forced me from my momentary side thoughts.

"Fucker."

The man who screamed the unimaginative insult at me whipped out a retractable baton before lashing out at my head with it.

Despite the blow coming from my right and behind, I clearly saw the path of the swing in my peripheral vision and instinctually ducked below it. While twisting to face the man I dodged another swipe of the baton. The man was a practiced hand with the baton for sure.

I really can't praise the implants abilities enough. I was nowhere near this capable of a fighter before. I didn't even have a fighting style or martial arts training. This was all the implant and the nanites at work.

It felt like everything was moving slower. Or was my brain moving faster? It felt like I had so much time to think. Even my own, obviously faster than normal movements, felt slow to my eyes. Being impatient with the speed of my own movements was a very odd sensation.

The baton wielder kept his constant barrage of whip-like swings up and did a good job of sealing me off from getting within striking range. After a second or two of weaving through his attempted strikes, I decided that pussyfooting around with this asshole while his friends surrounded me was a losing plan of action.

I stopped the half step by half step retreat I had been doing and stepped into the attack. The real issue with the baton was it added a lot of reach to the man's swing. I needed to cross that distance and the man was an experienced hand at this. My body was damn fast now. More than I could have ever hoped for. But I wasn't quite fast enough... yet. I would have to pay a price to approach the man and strike.

Trusting to the alterations done to my new more sturdy body, I brought my left forearm up into the path of the man's next cruel swing and felt a shock run through the arm with a *tink* sound accompanying the feeling.

Ignoring the pain, I slammed my right fist into the surprised man's unprotected solar plexus. He released a guttural wretching noise and collapsed to the ground to flop like a fish.

Paying no more attention to the man I spun around. The situation was getting chaotic and fast. The other three men had already almost reached striking range and were coming from multiple different angles.

Wait. Three?

My first thought was of Alice. If the fourth man wasn't here, a second away from launching his fist at me, where was he? I was sure he would be attacking Alice.

Flicking my eyes in the direction Alice should have been last, I found she had moved. She currently had her foot planted in the arched back of the fourth man with the long strap of her carrying bag wrapped around his throat.

She had him perfectly off balance. He stumbled around while trying to claw the strap away from his throat with little success. I could even make out that, over the strangled man's shoulder, Alice was keeping an eye on me and my fight.

I wanted to watch more, but the precious half second I had to evaluate Alice's situation was completely used up now. My three assailants had arrived.

This was going to get messy no matter how I did this. Six hands would be faster than my two. So I reverted to thug tactics 101. Hit hard and fast. See who is left standing when it's done. Sounds dumb right?

I abandoned all defense against the two normal sized foes and took their punches directly while stepping around the two men to keep them in between the big guy and me. I still wanted to avoid being hit by that bruiser.

One fist struck me clean on the nose. The other found its way to my left rib cage. The nose shot hurt. I was not passive, however. My own blow shot out simultaneously and shattered the front teeth of the man on my right. His hands flew to his face and he doubled over in pain.

The man on my left had taken a half step back and launched another punch. Just as I was about to send out another trading blow, the big bastard bristling with muscles stepped around the body of his mate and fired off an explosive haymaker.

I abandoned all attempts to hit the smaller man and whipped my arms up to take the massive man's blow. His meaty fist landed on my arms and sadly the laws of kinetics were on his side.

His mass was such that I was nearly knocked off my feet. I simply didn't weigh enough to counteract the inertia behind the blow. I stumbled back three steps before I regained my balance and got my guard up again.

My arms tingled dully where the giant had struck me, but they still functioned fine. I leaped back into the fight and towards the smaller man on the left.

He had stepped up beside the big man and approached in unison with him. A mistake. He should have hung back behind the big bastard and harassed me with blows.

Sliding to the left and away from the big guy, I fainted a left jab towards his face. He reacted with recently learned fear of my punches and his guard shot up in a tight wrap of his face and head.

While his vision was blocked by his own arms, I sent out my real attack. My leg swept up and extended out in a heavy kick to the man's stomach. He flew out a few meters with a loud grunt and rolled on the ground clutching his stomach.

I didn't have time to celebrate as the big man's oversized fist came sailing in between my now loose guard and struck me square in the chest.

The wind got knocked out of me as I tumbled back and off my feet. Despite that, I quickly rolled to a standing position and glared the big man down as I attempted to regain my breath. I could already feel a large bruise begin to spread across my chest.

The massive man bared his teeth at me and roared in berserker fashion at me while his right hand beat his chest. He looked like an ape. Under different circumstances, I would have laughed.

He was the last one. All of his other companions were either silently laying on the ground or moaning in pain. I felt some confidence sprouting. Without his friends to distract the hell out of me, the big guy would have trouble landing any blows. I didn't need to have a slugfest with this big ape.

I abandoned my overly aggressive blow for blow attitude and readied myself for a drawn-out fight with this mountain of a man. All I needed to do was finesse him. Dodge and weave and pepper him with some vicious blows in between.

Just as the man I was staring down seemed about ready to charge me, we both heard a dainty cough to our left. We simultaneously looked in that direction to see Alice standing less than 2 meters away, untouched and seemingly unbothered by the events that just happened. She had a big smile on her face.

"Hey, big guy!" She waved to the giant with one hand while raising a small cylindrical object in the other hand and leveling it at the man's face. "You forgot about me!"

A cloud of orange gas and liquid bloomed from the object and spread in a 2-meter long cone of orange mist, completely engulfing the big man's upper body.

The mountain of a man began to stagger around and cough, while fighting back the urge to puke. He kept rubbing at his eyes crazily and yelling in a roar.

I have to admit, her tactics for taking this beast out seem much more efficient and elegant than the way I planned to do it.

"Fuck!! Bitch! You fucking bitch!! aaagh! You bitch! I'll fucking kill you."

I had about enough of listening to the man's pathetic cursing at Alice and watching him stumble around blinded. Walking up to the blinded man and punching him in the side of his head was easy for me with his current condition. He went silent and crumpled to the ground.

Everything became mostly silent then. I looked around the ground littered with unconscious men laying here and there. A few still moaned lightly or clutched at a part of their body.

My eyes came to rest on a smiling Alice. Yup. She was still smiling. A very odd girl indeed. I decided to speak first.

"You gave them quite the surprise! Hell, I'm pretty damn surprised myself!"