Chapter 15: Lupy's Patrol

Lupy turned a corner, patrolling the streets of the Twin Cities. Unlike her previous patrols, she wasn’t alone this time. Two new recruits tagged along. Previously, each of them had their proverbial asses handed to them by Lupy. Anne had apparently smooth-talked these young men into joining the cause based on a certain philosophy—If you can’t beat them, join them.

Lupy didn’t particularly desire bootlicking subordinates, but having followers to take care of the less desirable tasks wasn’t a terrible thing. She’d take care of any fighting, if necessary.

While cutting through a network of alleys to reach an adjacent district, Lupy's party encountered a group that appeared to be from a rival organization. What they were doing on this side of the city, she didn’t know. Her party was outnumbered two-to-one.

“What’re y’all doing on our turf!?” one of Lupy’s followers shouted out.

Lupy stomped on his foot, hoping to silence him for a while.

“Gah! Boss, what’d you do that for!?”

“Quiet.”

He zipped his lips.

“Turf? What’re you talking about?” One man stepped forward from his group of six. “These walkways are open to the public, aint they? We’re the public. Now scram.”

Lupy eyed each man, taking note of their equipment. “You have a lot of weapons for the public.”

“Um…” The man looked Lupy up and down, likely noting the eleven different bladed weapons she had strapped to various parts of her body. “I don’t want to hear that from you. Why the hell do you even have all those, uh, axes, swords, daggers, and whatever that thing is…?”

“This?” Lupy unhooked one metal implement from her waist and lifted it with one hand. It was double-edged and shaped like a question mark. Lupy wasn’t sure which way the curve was supposed to face, but it looked cool. “It’s to cut people who are up to no good. Into pieces.”

“People like us?”

Lupy shrugged.

“Hey, you think she’s that strong fighter that’s showed up around these parts recently?” The suggestion came from another member of the intruding group.

“Could be,” their leader offered in a mocking tone. “Why don’t we find out?” Perhaps he wasn’t convinced.

The guys behind him whooped and drew their weapons.

Lupy’s two hangers-on drew their daggers as well. They each looked to Lupy, likely hoping she’d bail them out of this unfavorable situation.

She strapped the question-mark weapon back to her waist. “I don’t know what it is,” she explained. “I just found it and thought it looks cool.”

“Smart,” said the man, staring at the holstered weapon. “If you’re not looking for a fight, why don’t you—“ He cut himself off as he noticed Lupy draw an ax in her right hand and a short sword in her left.

“I’ll save it for when I need to remove your body parts.”

The man’s eyes widened slightly. Lupy’s deadpan delivery of such frightening words clearly had an effect. “Listen, you’re getting in the way. Why don’t you three run along? Last chance.”

Lupy responded with a toothy smile. “Why don’t you six run along?”

Several of the armed men began to fan out.

“Wait.” Their leader’s words brought them to a halt. “I’m not liking this.” He turned around. “Let’s go.”

“Huh!?” one of his men protested. “We’re running away!? What about the…”

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“We’re not giving up on the you-know-what; we’re just relocating. Let’s go.”

The other men reluctantly put their weapons away and turned to walk in the opposite direction.

“Wait.” Lupy brought the six of them to a stop with the same word. "If you’re not going straight home then I’m going to kick your asses.”

The leader sighed and drew two daggers. “I guess we’re doing this. Try not to kill them or hurt them too bad… we don’t wanna draw too much attention. Just knock’em out when you can.”

Once again, the other men cheered as they drew their weapons. One of them was less than eager. “Guys, don’t underestimate her.”

The leader nodded, then gestured for everyone to press forward.

“Boss…”

“You two, get back.” Lupy took a few steps forward, preparing to meet the two opponents who were approaching her from either side. After eyeing each of their weapons, she pivoted at the last moment, turning to face away from the enemy. As a result, the weapons on her left and right were now reversed. She swung each in unison to meet the incoming blades. Her ax dug into the narrower of the two incoming blades, snapping it. Her short sword merely parried the second strike.

She spun again, completing the 360 degree turn. With her ax, she swatted the surviving blade of her opponent to the side while her short sword slammed flat-side into the head of the weaponless man. Stopping her rotation, she lifted both weapons up over her left shoulder, winding up for a dual-strike.

Her opponent recognized he was in trouble and hopped back, desperately pushing his sword in front of him and assuming a fighting stance as he landed.

Lupy transitioned into a thrust with the sword in her left hand, aiming for the man’s center. He sidestepped, narrowly avoiding the thrust rather than deflecting it. Lupy’s ax was already descending into the location where he came to a stop. It was too late for him to try to deflect the ax with his blade. The ax’s head was entirely reversed; the butt slammed into his man’s shoulder with a horrifying crunch, removing him from the battle.

Their leader was not amused. “You two, circle around and take on the boys one on one.” He took a step toward Lupy. “Ya wanna fight me? You sure your friends’ll be alright?”

“Probably not.” Lupy stepped toward the leader, sizing up his daggers.

He stepped back to his previous position, likely not expecting Lupy to so coldly abandon her allies. “I know I said we won’t kill you, but they really might get hurt, you know.”

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger?” Lupy’s pitch increased at the end, revealing her lack of sincerity. “Whatever. For each injury they take, I’ll give you one.”

“Bitch…” The leader raised his daggers, but he paused and turned his head when he noticed his final ally running in the opposite direction. “Where are you going!?”

“I aint fighting that!” The guy sprinted for the nearest alley as fast as he could.

“Bastard…” The leader pointed at one of Lupy’s followers. “See what I mean?” With just the right timing to catch Lupy off guard as she turned to look, he threw his daggers at her. Not waiting to see if his attack was successful, he turned on his heel and began sprinting away as well.

Of course, his sneak attack didn’t work. Lupy had never taken her eyes off him, so she easily deflected the daggers with her own weapons. Immediately following, she winded up and hurled her ax as hard as she could at his retreating figure. The blade buried itself into the back of his thigh, bringing him down to the ground.

“You’re lucky. I’m not that good with weapons once they’re thrown.” Lupy turned to look at the remaining two opponents. They were each attacking her followers. The assailants weren’t having much luck; Lupy’s allies were focusing on evading and deflecting rather than attacking, and their efforts to buy time were, so far, effective. “Hm, not bad.” She drew another short sword.

“Boss, help!” One of her followers wasn’t liking his odds if the fight dragged on. He circled behind Lupy at the first opportunity.

The pursuing hoodlum froze when he suddenly noticed Lupy between him and his target. Before he could recover, Lupy kicked him in the balls, not even bothering to raise her weapons. “No reason why only Nina can do that.”

“I… I’ll go help!” Saved from his pursuer, Lupy’s follower ran to help the other, double-teaming the last remaining opponent.

“D–Damn!” Not liking his odds, the man tried to make a break for it. Lacking in situational awareness, he ended up running in Lupy’s direction. Frantic at having two opponents on his heels, he made a crude attempt to swat Lupy aside with a horizontal swing of the fist on his unarmed side.

In a flash, Lupy raised her short sword to the height of the incoming fist, pointing the blade directly at its center.

The fist skewered itself under its own momentum as the man screamed in pain.

Lupy swept the guy’s legs out from under him with a kick, causing him to slam head-first into the cobblestone. She pulled her blade from his hand and shook the blood off. “Take all their weapons and tie their arms behind their backs. I’m going to talk to the dagger guy.”

The man had finally managed to remove the ax from his leg, but he was in no condition to walk. Despite all the pain he was in, he was the only one left who was conscious enough to talk. One guy had gotten away, and he was nowhere to be seen.

“I have a couple of questions for you. If you tell me the truth, I won’t kill you.”

The man spat off to the side. “I aint telling you shit.”

“That’s too bad. I tried so hard not to kill anyone…” Lupy kicked the side of the guy’s head, causing him to collapse again sideways. She then holstered the short sword in her left hand and grabbed his hair, lifting his head while his arms and legs remained limp. “Sure you won’t talk?”

“Go to hell…”

Lupy raised her right arm, preparing for a horizontal slice through the man’s neck. As the sword glided through the air, a tentacle spawned from the ground below and wrapped around her wrist, preventing the decapitating slash at the final moment.