Jayson remains by the window, his eyes moving from Samantha's Spa to the rooftops. His foot taps against the floor and his fingers drum on his weapon’s hilt. Nausea rolls inside him; his throat is tight and his controlled breathing is slowly losing to the growing dread. Try as he might, he cannot see Derrick anywhere and thoughts swirl in his mind.
Did Mortimer get him?
Did he crash in the storm?
Should they forget about Derrick and rush Claribel?
He knows Lexia would like that, and glancing out of the corner of his eye, he can see the hybrid pacing and clawing at her hair, muttering streams of curses about Derrick being slow.
Jayson looks out the window again and sees Derrick land on a building across the street from them, but behind Samantha's Spa. The eagle is wearing an urban camo poncho, and looks right at Jayson, gives a thumbs up, and flies overhead, landing on the roof of their building.
Jayson sighs with relief and taps Lexia's shoulder, snapping her out of her pacing.
“Derrick just landed on our roof. He gave the thumbs up,” says Jayson.
Lexia pushes past Jayson, flips her bazooka to wield it like a club and smashes out the window with it. Then she shoots a rocket at Samantha's Spa.
The resulting explosion destroys a chunk of wall and flings rubble into the air. Lexia reloads and jumps out the window, landing on a car, causing its windshield to shatter, and runs across the street, her vision blood red.
Jayson follows Lexia down and runs after her. Their feet splash in the water as a small flood rages through the street. They go through the hole in the spa wall, passing two dead thugs, and Lexia shoots another rocket down the hallway, blowing up two more thugs.
“Jayson, take the left side!” orders Lexia.
Jayson wordlessly runs the opposite direction of Lexia, and Lexia keeps going down the hallway. She flips her bazooka put of existence and draws her minigun from thin air.
More thugs come out with their weapons raised, but quickly go back to cover when Lexia yells and unloads a stream of bullets against them, splashing shadows on the walls and decimating the bricks and wooden panels.
*****
In the lobby, Claribel and her thugs stare at the doorway as gunfire echoes in the building. Claribel tightens the straps on her hat, locking it tight against her head, and her escorts shift uneasily as they prepare themselves. Then a bullet shatters the lobby window and blows a gaping hole in one of the thugs.
Claribel swears and dives for cover behind the receptionist desk, and the remaining thugs scatter.
“What the hell was that?” shouts a thug.
Claribel double checks her rifle. “Sniper! Stay away from the windows!”
*****
Somewhere inside Samantha's Spa, Jayson sprints down the dark, narrow hallway, his cosmic wood sword pulsing its blue energy. As he rounds a corner, he comes face to face with a group of burly thugs. They raise their weapons, and in a snap, the cosmic weapon’s aura explodes, engulfing everyone in blue and bringing everyone and everything inside its borders to a crawl. With time seemingly at a standstill, Jayson unleashes a flurry of swift and brutal strikes with his wooden weapon, each one causing bone to shatter and blood to spurt in a sickening display of violence. The thugs are no match for his lightning-quick movements and vicious determination as he beats them into submission.
After beating them down, the aura disappears. The bodies drop, their flying blood splatters on the wall, and Jayson continues running.
Jayson comes across three more thugs, and with a wild yell, he strikes the nearest thug with his cosmic sword. The shockwave blasts the thug through the wall and into the room on the other side. The remaining bits of the wall crumble, and with time slowed down, Jayson dodges the gunfire of the other two thugs.
Jayson rushes towards the two thugs, and they move as if submerged in molasses, their fingers still pulling the triggers and bullets still whizzing by. Jayson blurs forward, his blue scarf fluttering him like a war banner.
Jayson whacks his first target across the jaw, shattering teeth and spraying blood in a languid arc as they spiral in the air. The thug's eyes roll back in his head as he crumples to the floor.
Jayson then pivots as the second thug slowly turns in the aura, still shooting wildly. Jayson strikes his leg, sending the thug flipping. As he is in the air, Jayson brings his cosmic weapon down on his gut, breaking him through the floor with an ejection of blood from his mouth. The shockwave from the attack shatters the remaining windows and cracks more of the bricks and plaster covering the walls.
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The aura shuts off after that, and Jayson is left panting heavily with blood on his weapon and on his face. He clutches his heart and staggers forward, leaning against the wall for support.
His vision swims and his chest feels like it is going to burst, but he forces himself to keep moving forward, one heavy, wobbly step at a time. He needs to keep going. He needs to find Dixie before it is too late.
*****
Elsewhere in Samantha’s Spa, a thug is blasted off his feet from Derrick’s sniper shot, his blood splattering on the wall, and Lexia walks forward, shooting holes in the wall with her minigun, killing more thugs.
When her minigun is out of ammo, four thugs rush out with their clubs and machetes. Lexia flips her minigun out of existence and draws her combat knife while the howling wind blows cold rain through the gaping holes in the windows and walls.
The first one swings his machete in a vicious arc, but Lexia deftly dodges the blade, plunges her knife deep into his liver and rips it out through the side. He screams in agony as he drops to the floor, blood squirting all over the carpet.
The second thug hits Lexia in the head with his club, disorienting her and forcing her back as he and partner wail on her with their blunt weapons. Lexia’s ears ring, and with a vicious snarl she stabs one through the arm and kicks his knee with her metal boot, shattering the bone. He screams and collapses, after the third thug hits her again with his club and the one with the machete slashes her, she snarls rams the club wielder into the wall and rapidly stabs him in the gut until his stomach is shredded while his partner continues hacking at her back, screaming profanities.
After Lexia’s victim drops, she turns around and slashes the machete wielder. He stumbles back, clutching his wound while Lexia stomps towards him. He tries to flee, but Lexia tackles him to the ground. They roll around on the carpeted floor, both cursing and yelling and beating each other bloody while the injured thug writhes on the ground.
Soon Lexia gets the upper hand, grabs her target’s head and starts slamming his skull against the floor. Over and over and over again. She screams while doing this, and his attempts to push her off get weaker until he is limp, and his blood is all over the floor.
Once he is motionless, Lexia gets up, plucks her knife off the floor and draws her pistol. She shoots the last thug in the head and marches down the hallway until she steps into the lobby.
Claribel and two more thugs immediately poke up from the receptionist counter and shoot at Lexia with their rifles.
Lexia retreats into the hallway and presses her back against the wall as she draws two pistols. She pops out and unloads on them, forcing Claribel and her thugs to duck, but one of the thugs loses their brains due to being too slow.
With the coast clear, Lexia runs and jumps on the counter and shoots the remaining thug in the head and Claribel in the shoulder.
Claribel shoots back, grazing Lexia's cheek, and they both fall on their backs. But Lexia quickly rolls on her side and shoots through the receptionist desk wall, and Claribel moves away from the holes popping into the wood while shooting back. The bullets from Claribel's rifle tear through the counter wall, forcing Lexia to move.
The counter collapses on itself, and Claribel rushes out and keeps shooting at Lexia.
Lexia evades the shots and shoots Claribel again, but the shots strike her vest, and Claribel shoots Lexia, striking her armor.
Both fall down again, and both mimic each other as they roll to their feet.
Claribel attempts to reload, but Lexia throws her pistol at her, forcing her to block, and this distraction allows Lexia to tackle her.
The two roll around, dealing punches and kicks. It ends with both drawing their knives and holding it against each other. Lexia growling and Claribel hissing, and both bleeding and struggling against their weights.
Soon, Claribel kicks Lexia away, and the two roll to their feet, panting and bleeding while rain and thunder rattles the lobby windows.
“You made a big mistake going after my mom,” says Lexia.
“That’s your mom?” says Claribel.
“Yes! Who’d you think it was?”
“Your sister!”
“Wow, you’re dumb.”
“You know what? Screw you! And screw your hobo boy toy! Both of you are going to die tonight!”
“Good luck with that. You've failed every time!”
Claribel hisses and swings her knife viciously at Lexia.
Lexia parries Claribel's knife strike, the clang of steel against steel echoing through the ruined lobby. Rainwater drips from the ceiling, wetting their fur and scales as they circle each other, their fierce eyes locked onto each other.
Claribel lunges forward, and Lexia dodges and retaliates with a swift slash, nicking the snake's arm and drawing a thin line of crimson. Hissing in pain and rage, Claribel presses her attack, her blade rapidly slicing through the air in a wild web.
Lexia stumbles back, blocking what she can, and hissing and cursing painfully with every rip into her flesh from Claribel’s blade. She lands a solid kick to Claribel's midsection, sending her staggering back. Seizing the opening, Lexia charges, knife primed for a fatal slash.
But Claribel deflects Lexia's blade at the last second. The knife clatters to the floor. Undeterred, Lexia throws a hard right hook, her fist connecting underneath Claribel's jaw with a sickening crunch.
Claribel staggers, spitting blood, and stumbles back as Lexia delivers a few more brutal punches to her gut and face. When Claribel goes slash Lexia again, her arm is grabbed, and she is flipped to the ground. Lexia kicks her knife away, but Claribel wraps her tail around Lexia’s leg and tugs her down.
Lexia lands flat on her back, ears ringing and eyes spinning. Claribel leaps on top of her, screaming and eyes wide with rage. She attempts to plunge the knife into Lexia, but her momentum is used against her.
As Claribel lands with a thud, Lexia rolls to her feet and picks up her knife. She turns and blocks another stab, and the two press into each other.
Claribel flexes her muscles and digs her feet into the ruined floor as she tilts her head up, glaring into Lexia’s eyes, hissing and rattling her tail. Lexia pushes back, grunting and also pressing into the floor, and tilting her head down to look into the snake’s red eyes.
As they stand in their stalemate, chests heaving, the thunder rattles the broken window and rainwater rapidly drips on them from the ceiling, soaking their clothes and forcing hair over their eyes.
Both know it is do or die tonight. Only one will walk out of the room alive.