Thinner gasped, crawling away from the commune. Damn it all, he was bleeding! These damn mutants ruined everything. He looked at his leg and felt liquid in his boot. The bitch hit the artery. Even his enhanced physiology won’t help him any longer if he doesn’t bandage the wound.

He grabbed a nearby stone with a trembling hand, raising up and cursing in pain. He tore a piece of cloth from his anti-heat suit. A simple plan—why did it have to go wrong? How did it go wrong? He threw the literal army at these hillbillies—how in the world had they failed to do a simple task? No matter. He needs to wait for his allies and get patched up. Surely he had done enough…

A shot made him scream and fall from the stone, dropping his makeshift bandage and grabbing his shoulder. Thinner kept screaming in a high-pitched voice, pretending to be afraid, and collapsing his body to the width of a rope and becoming similar in size. Too often, people would underestimate him because of his looks and voice. He knew it, he paid good money to doctors to make sure that his weight wouldn’t affect his heart or health in any other way.

Like a snake, Thinner darted at the attacker, sliding between stones and evading shots this way. Thinner slid beneath his opponent's legs, charging at full speed and springing at the open back. I am in a bad mood, scumbag. I will kill you slo… Thinner felt blood in his mouth, smashing his face down against a shield of air that appeared before him.

"I could forgive fucking me over," Thinner recognized Galaro's voice. The man turned at impressive speed, firing once more and forcing Thinner to revert back to his human form or receive a bullet to the face. Instead, the bullet hit him in another shoulder, making the man scream, "I could forgive lies, even an attack on me. But you dared harm those who were entrusted to me."

"Wait… I can pay!" Thinner gasped, crawling away from him with one good leg, "We can make a deal! I can make you rich! You can get out of this hole forever!"

"And for this," Galaro said with deadly calm, firing once more into Thinner’s leg, "I will end you."

Thinner screamed out of horror this time, seeing the barrel of the gun pointing at his face. His power could help him deal with dull objects, but sharp pieces were always a problem. He wasn’t that strong to begin with, which is why he always planned ahead. But right now, he could think of no way to get out of this situation.

Galaro’s sole good eye widened, and a piece of ice came through his chest, breaking its way through the steel of his power armor. The tip of this ice shard was covered with crimson, pieces of bone gleamed among the ruined stomach and lungs.

"Whose property do you dare to touch, dog?" A man rose behind Galaro, hissing words into his ear. Along with these words came a faint, cold mist that was sucked inside the ear.

Galaro managed to cough, just once before ice spread from the horrible wound on his chest to his entire body. His skin started becoming blueish before fully turning white. His eyes gleamed for a moment, like glass, when the cold engulfed them. Blood and drool coming from his mouth were frozen in place, creating a small stain of red on his chin.

The man behind the dead Breathtaker stepped out, giving a single snap against the head of a dead man. The body toppled, shattering against the stone ground into myriad crystals of red and white. Despite the cruel lights of a morning sun, ice refused to let go of ruined flesh, holding its grip even when the man stepped closer to Thinner.

"Explain your fuckup." Galfo demanded, and Thinner squirmed in terror, sensing the cold spreading from the man.

Galfo was one of the Cartel's top cleaners, one of those responsible for ensuring that the cartel's members always kept mouths shut in prison. He was the one who bargained with other criminal gangs or was responsible for wiping them out for standing in the way. Thinner never could have imagined that the boss would send this monster to oversee the people responsible for eliminating the traders who refused the bribe.

The cleaner wore a white jacket with a black shirt underneath it, a strict blue tie held the collar of his shirt tightly around his bull-like neck. Light white pants covered his legs. His exquisite-looking black boots were pristine, even in this place. Heat and scorching sunlight caused him no more discomfort than a simple warm bath would, and his whitest skin was covered in traces of hoarfrost. Pitch black sunglasses, fashioned after swimming glasses, hid his eyes.

"There were no fuck-ups, sire!" Thinner forced himself to stand on his knees, ignoring the pain, "I got one trader! I tricked them into taking a trip across the lands of these psychos! And Somelhaen, well, now there is no way he will be able to get back to the union in time for the vote. We still won at the end…" Thinner shut his mouth, feeling how the small pool of blood around his legs turned to ice.

"Excuses," The pale lips said, "I demanded an explanation."

"It was the mutants!" Thinner howled, feeling how the cold was creeping up his legs. Galfo’s finger created a small shard of ice between his fingers, and now the man was playing with it, "The blasted reclaimers sent them, and these mutts ruined everything about my plan!"

"Pathetic," The shard disappeared from the fingers, burying itself into a stone behind Thinner’s head and slashing his ear in two, "Boss sends his regards. You are free."

"No… No!" No one ever walked away from the Cartel alive. Once you were inside the organization, it was a final stop in your life, "Anything but that! I will make up for this mistake, sir! I will lick your boots, I will…"

"Silence," Thinner squirmed at the sound of Galfo’s voice. The man never raised his voice, not once in all the years that Thinner knew him. And never tolerated shouts from others. He once frozen the tongue of a full who broke this rule, "You are now my property, Thinner. Yabor needs someone to help with the girls. Some narcs tried to stab one of them and run away without paying. Find them. Make an example out of them. Even you should be able to do something as simple as that, right?"

"Y…yes!" Thinner bowed to him, feeling the crack of ice on his knees. He couldn’t believe his luck. Galfo, out of all people, was taking pity on him! Galfo! "Sir? Pardon the words, but it is unwise to try and take down the trader right n…" The man spoke quickly after noticing Galfo turned around and begin walking toward the commune.

"I am not going after him," The tall man replied, "It is time to send a message to the reclaimers in blood. Knowingly or not, no one messes up with the Cartel and lives to tell the tale. Oh, and Thinner," Galfo turned around, "Yabor is a very sensitive and passionate person," A genuine warmth slipped into these words, "And he is very passionate about his pleasure house. If you call one of his girls a whore, mistreat them, or otherwise offend him... Your value as a tool for me will drop to zero," The coldness of the winter came back into Galfo’s tone, and Thinner felt shivers of fear running down his spine anew, "Keep him and his girls happy."

****

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"…No, seriously, Virginia, did Annie ever told you that she… You know?" Svetlana jumped over the rocks, looking at the wolf hag.

"Had a sex with one of the males?" Virginia scratched her chin, walking backwards, "We never talked about that."

"Aranea?"

"Well, it’s a bit of an embarrassing story. See, I and four others experienced heat all at once, and…"

"I was asking about Annie!" The medic shrieked, pressing her paws to the ears.

"Oh, sorry," Aranea smiled, "No, never had a talk with her about that."

They were coming close to the place where their buggy was left. Aranea could see it already, to her surprise, insectoids and various vultures of the Ravaged Lands indeed left the vehicle alone. Typically, these pests' sharp claws would have an open car like a tin car, searching for anything that could be eaten. Not this time.

Huh, I may need to ask Janine if our markings really do work… Aranea saw something flying toward them, speeding up across the sand: "To the left, watch out!"

Virginia pushed Sveta aside, sending the medic flying into Aranea’s arm, and took the flying projectile head-on, unleashing claws on her legs to keep herself steady on the rocks. Something that looked like glass, pierced her side beneath the right lung, coming from the back and spearing through the cloak’s cloak.

"Yikes," Virginia said, making no attempt to rip the thing off her body in order to avoid bleeding herself, "It hurts like Alpha's claws. To the car!"

The group made an attempt to race toward safety when a furious cloud swirled around them. Dark and heavy clouds formed right before the wolfkin’s eyes, forming a perfect circle around the group. The clouds moved silently for a moment before spouting out white particles onto the trapped…

Not particles… Aranea gulped, feeling panic rise in her body. The corner of her crimson eye twitched from the distant memories. This… This is snow.

It was impossible. Snow could not exist in the Ravaged Lands, not in the open. It should have melted in an instant instead of covering the group's furs. Aranea caught one snowflake and crushed it between her fingers, feeling how the small thing refused to turn into water.

A crimson streak of blood ran down the glassy projectile sticking out from Virginia’s side. Aranea finally recognized what it was. Ice. The ice shard pierced Virginia. Ice, like the one at the side of the cave in which she and…

"Incoming!" Aranea roared, snapping out of the terror that bound her and nearly throwing Svetlana backward.

Three ice shards tore through the cloud shroud, aiming at the wolfkins. By leaning backwards and throwing Svetlana backward, Aranea evaded shards aimed at their neck. She fired her gun once, knocking out the ice shard aimed for Virginia, while the wolf hag helped Svetlana get back on her feet.

Following Virginia’s example, Aranea released claws on her legs, biting deep into rocks and standing up, firing in the direction from which the ice shards came. Nothing. But her ears caught the sound of something. Sound of… friction.

"Is someone skating around us?" The medic inquired, fearfully looking around.

"Skating?"

"We had a small hall for people who like to skate across the ice back at UNU. This reminds me of how Zeke once got in there in his boots, failing face down...Ayyyy!" Sveta ducked, evading an ice shard coming from the cloud.

It nearly touched her head, ready to slice a patch of skin, when Aranea kicked with her elbow, shattering ice. Once more, a cold feeling ran all the way down her spine. She remembered it: the small girl, imprisoned in the cruel ice cave, hugging the massive beast that had once been her mo... The wolf hag shook her head.

"Skating… Gotta try it sometime," Virginia smirked, brushing aside a shard that flew at her neck, "Aranea, now!"

The rust-colored wolfkin punched, propelling air forward. Like a missile, it tore at the shroud that surrounded them, opening a hole and revealing a man in a white business suit, sliding across the sands on a thin layer of ice, holding one hand behind his back and an ice shard in his other hand.

Aranea fired five times, hitting the bastard each time. The first bullet hit the pale-skinned man in the adam's apple, second landed across his temple, three more bullets hit him in the chest. The man stopped, turning around to arrest the bullet's impact, and gracefully turned to look at the group. The bullets failed to even scratch his skin or rip his clothes, left frozen pieces stuck to his body. The man raised his free hand, snapping his fingers, and all the bullets that covered his body cracked, coming down in a shower of ice.

Aranea used this moment to fire both pistols at the same time, aiming at the man’s forehead. Their attacker saw this, raising his hand, creating a transparent chunk of ice between himself and the group, shielding himself from the attack.

"Galfo! Ha, I knew that the Cartel was after this mess all along!" Virginia shouted happily, while the clouds around them were slowly dying out, no longer held in place by the man’s power, "I looked all over for you when we took down the Arena. But ya leg it!"

"You know too much," Galfo said, running his hand through his short white hair, "The last time an accident saved you from our clutches. And now fate has brought us together anew. There won’t be a third time…"

"Agreed!’ Virginia cut him off, leaping from the place.

Her jump surprised everyone, including the attacker. Galfo jumped to the left, coming out from a shadow over him, and Virginia punched the ice, shattering the ice road that circled around the group. Galfo merely lifted his brow at this, jumping from the broken ice onto the sand and creating a new pool of ice beneath his feet.

Virginia grabbed the chunk of ice, leaping from it at Galfo, who rose his arm, readying to throw the shard of ice at her. Aranea fired, hitting him in the finger with the first bullet, making his hand twitch a little, and landing a second bullet into his right ear. The killer pressed his head against the right shoulder, twisting his lips in an angry leer.

This is why you protected your forehead... Aranea quickly let empty gun magazines fall to the ground, reloading her weapons.

The wolf hag failed to help Virginia in time, but her new friend needed little aid. The right paw closed around the man’s wrist, holding him in place. Ice covered her paw the moment her claws reached for the man’s sleeve. Still holding him, Virginia kicked with her left leg in full force, sending Galfo backwards a good ten steps and landing the killer on a nearby dune.

Virginia landed on a patch of ice, lifting her right paw to the sun. She shouted loudly, clenching her fist and shattering the ice prison around her paw, breathing happily, before doing the same with her leg.

"You really are mad." Galfo stood at full height, throwing an angry glance at his wrist. The sleeve of his shirt and jacket were torn and scattered around Virginia. Five holes marked an area around his chest, Virginia’s claws tore through his jacket before Galfo’s power had frozen her leg, saving his life.

"Hecktricktsen wasn’t afraid of your ice power," Virginia breathed at her paw and rubbed her paws together. Virginia clenched and unclenched her fist twice, checking to see if her fingers were moving. After this, she jumped on her right leg, "This means your icy power aren’t that big of a deal!"

"You are not Hecktricktsen," Galfo said, raising his right hand upward, "And never will be."

"Thanks! Hated that fucker too!"

"It wasn’t a compliment," Galfo said coldly, and thin ice blades came from between his fingers, raising upward and upward, creating four blades double his height, "But a statement of fact."

The ice below Virginia turned to water, and the wolf hag ended up being submerged into the sand by the waist. Aranea tore a cloak from her shoulders, throwing it for Virginia to grab onto. The wolf hag made a desperate lunge for the cloak, grabbing it only with the tips of her claws. Aranea felt Svetlana’s arms wrap around her, pulling her and Virginia away from the edge.

Galfo walked toward them, keeping his arm raised for a swing. Aranea and Svetlana manage to pull Virginia out of the sand just as the killer swings, threatening to slice one of them in half.

The hit never came. Galfo made a misstep, falling from the ice into the sand all the way to his knee. Aranea reached for her gun and nearly dropped it, feeling how the stones below her were shaking.

"What in the hell is going on?" Galfo asked in confusion, creating ice below himself and pulling himself free. His deadly ice blades fell to the ground nearby, trembling on the sand.

Everything was shaking. The rocks were falling from mountains in the distance. The rocky road on which Aranea and the others were standing was slowly crumbling, and the wolf hag grabbed both Svetlana and Virginia, running to the car.

Cracks appeared on the surface next to the vehicle. These were small ones, not big enough to swallow a person or even a limb. Virginia broke free from Aranea’s embrace, tearing out an ice shard from her body, and turned the car away from the field of sand with a kick. A dent appeared in the driver’s seat, and Virginia leaped in through the window.

"Hop in! An earthquake is coming!"

Aranea threw one last glance back, seeing a white form of Galfo retreating across the sand field. It would seem he was no longer inclined to take them in, not on a solid surface.