Whipped into action by Bryn’s threat, the remaining thugs charged at the eldest Vongs. Seeker’s fingers moved, and two of the thugs recoiled, pieces of concrete replacing their eyes. Bloodsworn took after her husband, meeting a thug head-on. The woman’s fist crumbled a crowbar aimed at her head and landed in the man’s face with a wet thud, followed by the sound of cracking bones. The thug’s nose, lips, and entire face ended up being caved in. Vasily guessed that the woman must’ve held back, because her arm didn’t spear the man’s head all the way but left him with extensive damage to the skull.

Seeker showed no such mercy. He jumped, landing both of his feet on the blinded thugs’ throats. And he bounced off them, sending the men back into the alley, leaving a trail of red behind them. The man landed with almost unnatural grace, twisting in the air to dodge two shivs aimed at his hide. Only a few strands of hair were sliced from his hide, and as Seeker landed, he caught an attacker’s hand with his tail and spun around, breaking both of the man’s legs with a full roundhouse kick. His hand closed around the man’s throat, and only a snarl from his wife saved the thug’s life from having his neck snapped.

Joanna Vong grabbed another thug by his chest, lifting the man high before slamming him against the stone. Vasily saw the mad spasms of the man’s legs and heard his back break. Vongs were frightening. Out of curiosity, Vasily had seen some of the recorded footage depicting Instructors Augustus and Akebia in action. Where Rho had been known for slaughtering his way to the target with cold efficiency, never wasting a single breath, Akebia used overwhelming force to turn any opposition into a bloody mist. Vongs were closer to Akebia in their methods; they brutalized the opposition with little to no regard for their lives. One move. One death or takedown.

“Vasily? What are you doing here?” He heard Eliza’s question and tried to answer, ending up with blisters of blood on his lips. Damn. He could breathe somewhat through the nose, but the wound had essentially turned him into a kitten.

“Kittens have soft fur, mister,” the mutant girl said. Nadya hugged the girl closer, mistaking her words for panic, and began to whisper reassuring words to her.

“He invited us to the mall and played a game with us,” Wedge said, helping hold Vasily upright while Eliza injected him with a medical compound used to prevent a victim from choking on their own blood. Vasily felt his heartbeat slow and a fresh wave of weakness spread through his body, but now he could breathe a little easier, thank God. “And acted all creepy, asking personal and general questions about you. Like those guys on TV, what’s their name... Stalkers!”

“Come on, Wedge, he’s not a bad guy.” Nadya helped Eliza prepare a bandage, still holding the mutant with one arm. “He probably wanted to get to know you better to ask you out, Ratty.”

Suddenly dying doesn’t seem like that bad of an option. Vasily decided.

“Please don’t die, mister,” the tentacle girl asked.

It was a figure of speech. You can read thoughts?

“Don’t worry, Vasily is tougher than he looks,” Eliza said quickly, bandaging his wound. “Ain’t no way he’ll drop dead like a wimp from a paper cut like that, ha!”

“Yes,” the girl answered.

Cool. Please ignore the memories of the cartoon I saw yesterday. You’re a bit too young for that. Vasily thought, fighting back the memories.

“Will do, mister,” the mutant girl replied.

Bryn lunged, jumping over the last falling thug. The man was completely undeterred by the fact that his entire crew had been brought down, or that he had caused enough chaos to attract the police. His hand swung like a piledriver, aiming for Seeker’s head. Instead of dodging, the man’s tail joined his wife’s, and Joanna pushed Seeker out of harm’s way. Bryn’s hand connected with the pavement, going elbow deep and sending ripples across the stone.

“Sucker.” Joanna brought her fist down.

Bryn tore his locked arm free, uprooting a good chunk of the ground with it. Bloodsworn retreated, smashing the rubble out of her path. Bryn tried to follow, only to come face to face with Seeker’s claws, who used the distraction caused by rising debris to sneak up on the assailant. The claws touched the air as the man leaned to the right and countered with a brutally swift hook aimed at Seeker’s liver. Vong parried the blow with his palm, cursing as the impact sent him reeling and drew blood from his skin.

“Ratcatcher! Your staff!” Seeker ordered, and Eliza obeyed without hesitation, throwing the weapon at his open back.

Vasily became concerned as he anticipated how the flying weapon would hit the man. In the next moment, Seeker had dropped to all fours, caught the staff with his tail alone, and used the weapon as a ram, striking Bryn in the midsection with enough force to knock the man back a step, leaving marks in the stone with his foot. Bloodsworn used the moment to come at Bryn from the side, breaking through the remaining debris in the air.

Somehow, Bryn managed to react in time to meet Joanna’s blow with his own. The glowing fist struck the fur-covered one, and Vasily’s ears rang. Neither fighter flinched a bit; the sheer force behind their attacks had bloodied the Bloodsworn’s fingers, creating a small shockwave that moved the fallen bodies aside.

“Strong, I’ll give you that,” Bloodsworn said, unfazed by her own bloodied fist.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

“I’ll give you nothing but oblivion,” Bryn snarled.

They traded attacks, not bothering to block or dodge. Fists slammed into fists, filling the air with crimson strands of fur as Bloodsworn’s knuckles rapidly became more and more torn. The woman was strong; Vasily shuddered at the thought of taking one of Bryn’s blows, and she had eaten at least twelve and kept returning the favor.

Bryn and Bloodsworn matched each other in strength, yet Vasily struggled to understand why Vong was the only one who was bleeding. Bryn could not have been stronger than her; both the woman and the man had their shoes shattered and their fingers dug deep into the stone. Both trembled after receiving hits and matched each other’s speed perfectly. Bryn had a slight advantage in having a smaller frame; the man was a head shorter than his opponent, but all that meant was that his muscles were spread over a smaller area. But regardless of the situation, he should’ve been the one to suffer too; the man still had the red mark on his cheek from Wedge’s elbow, and Johanna’s blows eclipsed that by far.

Seeker came to the same conclusion and decided against waiting and finding out. He sneaked at the opponent from behind, only grinning at the furious look in the crimson eyes of his wife. With an apologetic shrug, the man brought the staff to Bryn’s neck, forcing the man to raise his left arm to protect himself. His opponent immediately took advantage of it; her tail struck at Bryn, wrapping around his neck when the man tried to dodge the talon.

The trainees, Nadya, and Wedge all looked at the fight at once, startled by the sound of bone scraping against metal. Bryn’s neck stretched at least twice, making the talon harmlessly scratch harmlessly against the metal bar installed within his neck. The cloth around his shoulder exploded outward, unleashing a gust of tendrils that wrapped around the staff and snatched it from Seeker’s hands. With a single sweep of his left arm, the cyborg made deep slashes across Bloodsworn’s chest, neck, and face, narrowly missing her eyes.

“I’ve had enough of you, muties. Dodge this!” Bryn roared, and his fist exploded.

The glove was torn to shreds, revealing intricate mechanisms underneath. Covered by the synthetic skin, his fingers flexed backward, sliding across the hand to allow a barrel hidden in the palm to extend forward. Bloodsworn’s tail jerked the killer to the side, ripping Bryn’s entire body off the ground, and a searing blast flew past the woman’s head, setting fire to the fur on her ear. Laser. Vasily understood.

Bryn landed on his legs, and the tendrils whipping out of his hand drove Seeker back. The man raised his second hand, and it too exploded, revealing another barrel within his hand. Vasily heard Eliza’s shouts for Wedge to drag everyone away. He saw her rush to her parents’ aid, kicking a shiv in her hand, and knew it would be too late. Bryn was already aiming at Bloodsworn.

Suddenly, all three fighters were covered in foam. Eliza stopped and jumped back as another stream of foam landed where she had just stood. The girl looked up in a mixture of shock and confusion, retreating in vain as the gray substance finally reached her, trapping her entire body in seconds as the foam hardened. The same thing had happened to the three fighters. Vongs were completely immobilized, their legs and arms frozen in mid-air, cocoons of foam forming shells around their bodies, leaving only their faces exposed. Bryn broke through the substance and aimed his arm at Bloodsworn’s face.

The laser shot out, bursting into countless sparks as it hit the figure that landed in front of Bloodsworn. Two great wings made of metal rose high, shielding the woman. The special alloy of the newcomer’s azure-colored body refused to heat under the energy assault, and Vasily smiled, realizing just who came to break the fight.

An Archangel. A VI created by the combined efforts of Lada and Artificer, the perfect safeguards of Iterna. Their bodies mimicked those of a normal human, right down to the fingers. A police badge was the sole golden decoration on the man’s frame, proudly shining on his chest. Twin oculars, burning with a soft blue flame, looked at Bryn as the robot raised his hand and fired an EMP discharge from his wrist.

Electric whips struck Bryn’s body, causing the man to gasp for air and cut off the stream of particles leaving his hand. The Archangel stopped his assault at once, allowing his opponent to reboot his system to maintain life-support systems, but at the same time he strode to the thug and crumbled both of his hands with effortless ease.

“This disturbance is over,” the policeman said. “All wounded will be delivered to the hospital.”

“We’re not criminals!” Bloodsworn growled, trying to break free.

“That’s true, sir!” the cabbie said, sticking his head out of the car. “Those bastards stabbed that kid over there, and my passengers were trying to save the kids, only fighting in self-defense.”

The Archangel looked around, spotting dead and dying people scattered around the place. With a soft hum, five more Archangels landed, turned off their gravity engines, and folded their wings. They moved and walked like humans; no crackling or hissing accompanied the movements of their joints. But at the same time, Vasily saw how easily these men and women opened their chests, releasing an array of medical instruments, and began immediate treatment to save lives.

“Everyone involved will be detained until the situation is resolved. Forgive the inconvenience, citizens,” the officer said, standing before Bryn. “Central, we need medics on the scene, pronto. Sending in the visuals.”

“Police… But how… So soon…” Vasily had managed to say. Another Archangel landed before him, gently touching the kids. Wires and syringes emerged from her opened chest, and the trainee found an oxygen mask pressed to his mouth. More and more archangels landed. The newcomers ignored the wounded and captives and set about securing the perimeter and recording evidence.

“I made a pro-gamer move and dialed their number when we were running out of the alley. They know everything these losers had said to us,” Nadya said. The girl approached Eliza and giggled. “You okay in there, Ratty?”

“Can’t move, but otherwise vibing!” Eliza sang back. “Why didn’t you answer my calls, Nadya?”

“Turned my terminal off for a game and then forgot to turn it back on.” Nadya shrugged.

“Going senile at such a young age? How sad.”

“Hey! Don’t forget who has a marker and free hands around here!” Nadya started rummaging in a pocket.

“That’s cruelty to a prisoner!” Eliza shrieked.

“Does it look like I care?”

“Can I come out now?” The boy’s voice asked from the car. “I want to draw on Eliza’s face too.”

“No!” His parents snapped.

“You’re dead,” Bryn spat at the Archangel. “The Cartel will eat you alive, Tin Can. Then they will end these muties and cut up the fool who stole our property. None of you will get out in one piece for standing in our way.”

“Cartel?” the officer asked, ignoring the spit on his armor.

“A criminal organization. Sells drugs, guns and slaves. Hates Iterna,” said an officer working on the woman with the broken spine. The thug spilled blood with every painful breath, turning the Archangel’s frame crimson.

“A little more specific?” the first Archangel said.

“They operate out of Pearl City.”

“Ah. Them.” The officer nodded and addressed everyone. “Sirs, madams, you have the right to remain silent; anything you say may be used against you…”