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Act 8: Blood Runs Cold

Tension filled the air around me as I made sure to move far from the hotel as possible. Luckily, there was a decent sized lot nearby for whatever he had planned to do. He piloted the Armada, a large military Hoovercar with reinforced steel plating, coated with Krazite - the same materials from the Tonoko walls. The large mini gun was also a concern as he could run me over with the car or decide to mount a ranged attack. I continued to ponder my thoughts as I ran toward the lot, jumping out of the way of several bullets.

"Bah!" I heard Sprock laugh as he came after me. "What's the matter, Silverbane!? Can't handle my new toy! You stole my last one and sent me back to Tonoko at near death. The least you could do is play with my new toy!"

"Play time isn't really my thing!" I called back. "But if you insist!" Steadying my pace, I pulled my pistol out before aiming it at the vehicle and shot at it. The bullets just bounced off of the armor plating, causing a sudden panic in my mind as I began to increase my speed.

"I see you've noticed the bullets clinging away," Sprock yelled out. "Good instincts to run, but futile! You'll die here, Silverbane. Your bullets won't work and your energy will be exhausted!" I heard him let out another cocky cackle as I felt the rain of bullets near me again. The bullets barely passed as I had moved to the right, performing a roll into an alleyway to make the chase a bit more difficult for the crazed man.

Driven by adrenaline and a moderate amount of fear, I managed to travel down the narrow alley. That didn't seem to stop Sprock though. He aimed his gun down the alley and began to rapidly fire. It forced me to dodge the bullets by hiding behind various trash cans and having to roll from a large steel box to another one. The only time I resumed running was whenever he had to reload, which gave me about a five second window. I almost made it to the other opening and toward the large lot before tripping over some slightly elevated asphalt. I groaned and toppled over and into the street. The sound of the gunfire had stopped and the revving of Sprock's vehicle could be heard. I knew he was finding a way around the building to try and finish me off. Through a pained grunt, I began to lift myself up. My left leg felt an immense amount of pain, but I chose to ignore it as I would be face-to-face with a mini gun again soon and that was much more terrifying.

There was a loud screeching noise as I stood up. I looked back, noticing the lights shining on me as they were coming at a definite high speed. I timed a side jump into the lot to avoid Sprock running me down and rolled into a telephone pole. Through more pained grunts, I tried not to scream out in pain as my stomach had hit the pole first.

"Too scared to die, I see," Sprock chuckled. "This is too much fun!"

The vehicle screeched as he began a sharp turn to redirect himself back toward me. I only heard more of his laughter as I tried to stand yet again. My head darted side to side, looking for some way to weaken Sprock's control or just stop the vehicle altogether. The window was closing fast as the lights began their approach yet again. Blood ran down the side of my head, pushing the harsh realization on myself that I had actually also hit my head.

"That's it, stand there and take death like a man!" Sprock shouted. "This'll be a bit too easy, but at least you'll go out with some honor!" More cackling echoed from his mouth in now a manner that annoyed me to death.

My throat vibrated as I let out an instinctive growl. An idea popped into my head, but it would require precise timing. With fists clenched and taking a slightly squatting stance, I waited until the vehicle become closer in distance now.

"Ha, what are ya gonna do, Silverbane?" Sprock asked, grinning wildly. "Roll out of the way again? I'm prepared for that this time! As soon as you do, I'll swerve into the next lane and still hit you head on!"

"My... plan isn't... to move," I managed to state loud enough despite the pain I felt from simply speaking that sentence. "You overconfident... piece... of trash... Your patterns with that damned vehicle... are predictable."

"Insulting me now, huh?" he asked, still grinning. "That doesn't bother me one bit. Soon you'll be one with the road... One with your parents!" A Hyena's laugh echoed from him now.

The lights closed in on me, making it more difficult to see. I had to shut my eyes and rely on my other senses, specifically my ears. They twitched as the muscles in body tensed up. The engine grew closer and louder and once it reached a certain level, I put more tension of my muscles. I jumped.

The landing was accurate as I still felt myself breathing and could hear the sound of the engine from the Armada. I had jumped up and forward, onto the hood of it. I noticed Sprock's surprised expression and let my own grin appear on my face. He began to fiddle with the mini gun, figuring he had a definite opportunity to gun me down. I socked him hard in the face, right between the eyes. Grabbing his collar, the punches kept fleeing from my body. Over and over, he was bombarded with my attacks. This may not have dealt serious injuries, but it left him occupied enough to try and block as I climbed onto the mini gun carefully. With a swift kick and thanks to my boots, I managed to jam the trigger very hard into the mini gun itself, rendering it inoperable. The vehicle began to swerve out of control as I continued my assault on Sprock, giving him several uppercuts in a row. I felt alive and I felt like I had a purpose again. My grin widened to the point of where it turned into a smile.

"You thought you had me, huh?" I asked, letting out a chuckle of my own. I ducked down, avoiding Sprock's attempt to hit me with his own large hands.

It became more difficult to dodge or connect any hits, however, as the Armada was spinning out of control now and soon we crashed into a large building. It sent me flying into the top floor, while sending Sprock into the middle floor. I decided to use this time to take a quick rest. I heard my Communicator go off and answered it.

"What?" I answered as I tried to catch my breath. I could still barely stand, my legs feeling like they would give away at any moment. "I'm a bit busy at the moment. I don't... mean to be rude, but I'm trying my best to not, you know, die."

"At least you still have that confidence," Tay's voice echoed, making my eyes light up. It was hard to keep my tail from wagging. "Lane, hang in there. Don't die, got it? From the sounds of it, it seems like you stopped that military vehicle. Now all you have to do is finish him off!"

"I know what to do, Tay," I coughed and leaned against the wall that was still intact. "Come to... South Spire District... In about ten minutes. I should be done by then."

"Got it, Lane," she replied. "Just don't die on me."

"I won't," I said, hanging up.

"You... sound awfully confident," I heard Sprock chuckle from below me.

I looked around out of habit, but then let out a scream as the floor crumbled beneath me and I fell right into one of Sprock's large fists. It was straight into my already injured stomach. He then grabbed me and proceeded to toss me into a nearby wall. Groaning out in agonizing pain, I immediately coughed up blood as I fell to the floor.

"I may have not fully recovered, but you certainly haven't either," Sprock said, approaching me. "This will be easier than my dad thought. I won't even have to use the ace I have up my sleeve."

"Figures you'd need to cheat even more," I said through my coughing. I grabbed onto a nearby file cabinet as I used it to help myself up.

"It's not cheating," he said, grabbing my shirt collar. "It's assuring the win. I won't need it though. I'll finish you off right now."

At an alarming rate, my body became a punching bag for the psychopathic man before me; several punches to my gut, to my face and to my limbs all in succession. I was once again slammed into the wall as I was bleeding profusely from the wound on my forehead and two more on my legs. My vision became blurry as I tried to remain calm and not let myself fall into a panic.

"Any last words for you, Silverbane?" he asked, holding me up in the air now as he hadn't let go of my collar.

"Just... one..." I said through the grit of my teeth now. "Gotcha."

As soon as I spoke, I swung myself forward with most of my remaining strength and kicked Sprock in the stomach rather hard with my one good leg. The attack surprised him as he let go of my collar and I fell back into the wall, watching him stumble back with nothing to grab onto and soon fell backward from the open wall, down into the street below us. I heard him scream and curse my name until it became silent.

"Finally," I grumbled, grabbing onto the file cabinet again amongst the rubble of the building to help myself up. "Good riddance to you, piece of trash." I began to turn toward the doorway that was still intact from the rubble, making my exit for the door before a disturbing noise stopped me.

"You should always look before you do something that stupid," Sprock said as he climbed back up to the floor. "Fine, it looks like I will have to use my ace up my sleeve after all."

I looked back at him in total shock, not understanding how there was anything to hold onto to prevent his fall. I then watched him pull a small vial out of his pocket. It was of a purple liquid, which momentarily made me flash back to the boy that was apprehended last year possessing a similar substance. He popped the top and chugged down the contents as if it were mere drinking water.

"I'm more than you can handle," he chuckled, his eyes becoming a strange shade of purple. "One dose of this stuff my father gave me and I was good enough to come after you again. Now, the entire bottle? I'll be good as new and you will truly know pain and death."

I just stood there, frozen as I heard him let out an immediate pained groan after he taunted me. He began to cough a bit violently as he held onto his chest. I kept myself balanced by holding onto the file cabinet again, watching the color in Sprock's eyes become misty and completely become enveloped in a shade of purple. His coughing was soon replaced with a growl equivalent to a feral animal. Standing back up, he let out a loud roar and turned to me as the shade of purple now began to dye his fur. His shirt began to tear apart as his muscles grew at an alarming rate, doubling in thickness and size. Along with his muscles, his hands grew in comparison. His fingernails seemed to grow out, fusing to the fingers to create sharp claws. Soon enough, a large purple furred beast in only a tattered pair of pants stood before me.

I backed away slightly, trying to get to the door slowly. I didn't know what was going on or what Sprock had just done to himself, but I knew he wanted to win much more than I had anticipated. As I neared the door, he swiped down toward me and managed to knock me off my feet. I groaned and coughed, barely stopping myself from rolling over the edge. More feral roars emitted from the transformed Sprock before I was picked up again. I looked down toward the street and saw Tay and the others arriving, only to find my predicament had worsened. Despite my blurred vision caused by my crippling pain, I saw Tay climb out of her car and look on, terrified.

"You think I'm scared of you now?" I managed to ask through the painful squeeze on my body from Sprock's massive hand. "I'm... not... afraid... of you."

Sprock seemed to only roar out again as his arm lifted up before throwing me toward the building that was on the other side of the lot. I smashed into the wall, letting out a very loud scream.

"Lane!" Tay shrieked, running toward the building now.

I watched her as I fell, unable to really move in this direction or at all. Surprisingly, she made it in time and caught me in mid-air, but we both ended up rolling backward and into the same wall. Tay let out a small whimper as she made sure I was alright and looked me over. She trembled a bit, seeing the number of bruises and scars I had from Sprock. There was even a burn mark in my right arm from leaning on the heated mini gun.

"Oh, Lane," she said. "When we get back to the hotel, you bet your ass I'm going to scold you. But first... We need to take care of that thing first. Stay here. I'll try to kill it."

I let out a grunt as I tried to grab her pant leg, but missed. Tay ran out into the battlefield, pulling out the laser pistol she had obtained when we first arrived in Jaden. Tay jumped out of the way of a swipe from Sprock. She landed safely and dodged another punch and an uppercut. He roared out, causing Tay to become startled before attempting to dodge more swipes. She was finally slashed when she had been backed into the nearby wall. She held her arm that held her gun gently, trying not to let out even a small whimper of pain. She fired her gun, hitting several bullets into his left arm. Assumed it was now rendered useless, Tay smiled. However, her and I both saw the bullets suddenly fly out of his arm and into the rubble behind him.

"What?" Tay gasped, gulping. "W-What is this thing!?" She let out a shriek as Sprock grabbed her roughly, his large hand wrapping around her neck very easily.

"Tay, no!" I cried out. With a painful push, I finally pulled myself to my feet. "L-Let go of her!"

I heard Tay let out a scream of pain now as Sprock seemed to tighten his grip on her neck now. I watched in horror as I could still barely walk, but as soon as I heard her scream again, I felt something snap inside of me.

"I said stop!" I yelled out, suddenly surging with strength I had lacked almost moments ago. I was able to run toward Sprock now and used my new strength behind a punch to his rib cage.

The punch connected and caused him to roar out in pain as he let go of Tay, causing her to fall onto the ground, and stumble backward. I was letting out low, but very audible growls of anger. My left eye twitched as it had done earlier with my talk with Yuno.

"You'll... have to kill me first before you even think about killing anyone else," I said, though I coughed in the middle of the sentence.

Sprock just looked at me and roared out again, more than likely in aggression. He sprinted toward me, though it seemed slower to me this time. I watched him inch closer as it seemed to take twice as long to charge into me. This heightened sense allowed me to move to the side and dodge it. It also allowed for me to use some of my newfound energy to kick him hard in his gut, causing him to trip and roll as he fell onto the ground.

Tay was sitting up in the rubble she had fallen into and rubbed her head. She then looked up at me and blinked. "H-How are you standing?" she asked, trying to get up now.

"I don't know, but stay back, Tay," I said as I was panting from how much energy I was exhausting. "I don't know what happened, but to me... He's slower now. I know you don't want to be told to stay out of it, but the bastard nearly broke your neck."

Tay began to protest as soon as I finished.

"Shut up!" I snapped. "Don't snap back at me right now. Do it later. For now, let me handle this."

"Alright, fine," she said, then blinked. "L-Lane, behind you!"

I looked back and blinked, suddenly being hit by Sprock's large left fist and it sent me into the wall like the throw earlier had done. The pain was so intense that my scream was loud enough to make Tay cover her ears. However, I didn't fall over this time.

"You... got weaker..." I said, chuckling through my heavy panting.

Sprock charged at me again and this time I was ready for his attack again. I grabbed his ears once he was close enough and shoved his head toward the ground as he ran past me, causing him to scream out in pain now. Somehow, the ability to run returned to me as my strength only seemed to be returning. I did so, kicking Sprock hard in the face once I reached him. He flipped over, snarling and holding his muzzle as I pulled out my only melee weapon - a sheathed army knife. It was definitely an emergency weapon and this was an emergency. If bullets didn't work on Sprock anymore, I'd do the next best thing. The knife was plunged into his chest, immediately causing his now purple colored blood to begin to leak out and make him scream again in pain. I backed away as I pulled my knife out, watching the alarming rate the blood was pouring out. Sprock suddenly stopped moving and I gasped and stumbled, losing all of my regained strength at once. I noticed Tay staring at me as I fell face first into the ground. In my state, it was as if the ground was a thousand miles away but Tay was next to me. She looked at me in both horror and amazement. Horror perhaps in how I handled Sprock and amazement perhaps in how I reacted in trying to prevent her death again. I didn't get to contemplate much further before everything turned pitch black, lying in my own pool of blood. I only heart the faint cries of Tay as she ran over to me, sounding like she was frightened to death now.

When I woke up sometime later, I let out a pained gasp as I suddenly sat up. I looked around and then let out a pained groan again as I ached all over. I had stitches in several places - on both of my arms, my chest and my forehead. The ability to walk was still out of my grasp as I could barely move my legs. Blurry vision was also a problem, though it began to clear up once my eyesight adjusted to the lighting. I then noticed Juno smiling as she waited at the doorway, but I didn't see Tay in my room. I looked around now, wondering where I was as it did look like a hospital.

"You're finally up, boss man!" Juno cheered and skipped over to me. "You had us quite worried, but I told everyone that you'd be okay because you don't seem to stay down that easily. All of us saw the latter half of the fight though. You got pretty beat up. Probably more than any of us could handle."

"I'm fine," I said, trying to silence my wincing noises and more pained grunts. I managed to finally sit up and look at Juno. "Where is Tay though? Is she alright?"

"She was spooked pretty badly when you just collapsed," she sighed. "She needs a neck brace for a few days, unfortunately. That man hurt her that bad just by holding her. That had to be scary. Though she keeps constantly wanting to see you. The doctor my hubby hired kept insisting that it wasn't wise. She was in shock and seeing you passed out would only worsen that feeling. Though I think she snuck in here once. I personally don't think she lost it since we found her sleeping so cutely next to your arm, as if afraid you had entered a coma. Which, by the way, you almost did. But you won the jackpot and didn't!"

"Gee, I won the jackpot," I said, rolling my eyes slightly. "I can't remember a thing. I don't know if I even woke up before now. It's doubtful, but at least she seems okay."

Bernie suddenly popped his head up from the foot of my bed, giving me a glaring look.

"Lane, what were you doing getting beaten up like that!?" he asked, sounding as panicked as I had remembered Tay sounding. "We're a team now. We shoulda helped, but you ran off to fight that guy one-on-one. We noticed he cheated, but Juno and Tran said we needed to stay out of it because you didn't say it was okay to help. Now look at ya, Lane! All beat up, nearly dead. You got Tay worried sick. To the point of where she can't do anything but sit in her room."

"Is she crying?" I asked, coughing. "If so, then let me go to her." I tried to move my legs and get off of the bed, letting out a pained scream as I was pushed back onto it.

"No way," Juno pouted. "You need to rest like she does. We couldn't put you two in the same room 'cause the way she's acting right now. There's a good chance you two could either become all depressed and end up dead within a few hours or start a big fight that would lead to you two lovebirds not wanting to see each other anymore." My entire face suddenly flushed, rapidly fading into a heavy red blush as Juno called Tay and I lovebirds.

"Ooh, I knew it!" she smiled, letting out a cute giggle. "See? Neither of you should see each other yet because you'll blame each other for your injuries!"

I sighed and gave a soft nod, looking up at the ceiling now. "What the hell was that stuff...?" I asked, looking over at her. "Sprock took out a vial after getting lucky enough to survive my attempt to kill him with falling from a building. He swallowed it all and then transformed into that beast. It was the same color and texture as that substance from an arrest over a year ago in the Cryptic Guard. I know it's some sort of hallucinogenic drug, but I didn't know it went as far as altering your chemistry and mind that much."

"I dunno," Juno shrugged. "My hubby can get that guy's body examined though. As a matter of fact, he's gettin' it examined right now! Maybe we'll have some answers soon."

"How is he getting it examined?" I asked.

"He knows people," she smiled. "I married a smart, connected man, boss. Told you he'd be helpful!"

"I guess you did," I said, coughing again. "How long have I been out cold?"

"Probably almost a day now," she said, shrugging. "You were completely out of it when you collapsed, like your soul wanted to leave this world but you wouldn't let it. That's what I'd call a near death experience since apparently this Sprock guy caused that. Was he from the Gavel?"

"Yes," I said. "He was the son of Don Vinchi. I wonder if he even knows he's dead yet. He spewed nonsense about it, but mentioned Vinchi giving him that vial. To me, that has a connection with the Baron somehow. I know the Gavel and Guard are going to work together to get to the Shadow Vault. You have to go warn Roland, Juno. I'm not really in the condition to do it myself."

"Warn the mayor?" she asked, and then cheered. "Alright, you can count on me!" She then turned and ran out of the room, which I didn't really expect.

"So Lane, what roughed ya up so badly?" Bernie asked, hopping onto a part of the bed that could be used as his seat.

"Sprock did," I said. "He drank something strange and transformed into this primal beast with such strength; enough to throw me from a building and into another one across the street."

"Jeez," he blinked, scratching his head. "I dunno what could have caused that weird stuff to happen. But that did sound like you couldn't take it on your own. I'm not sayin' Tay wasn't any better trying to run out there to help you with disregard to her own safety."

"I know," I said, looking toward the window now. "I don't know what happened that made me get enough strength myself to get Sprock to ignore her and focus on me again. Quite frankly, I expect Tay to be upset that I nearly exhausted all I had left in order to stop him from crushing her."

"Oh, I see," he nodded. "Well, there's nothin' wrong with showin' some concern, Lane. Minnie's been by my side this whole time and she was worried for ya both. Mostly because you're Tay's boyfriend now and all."

"What?" I blinked, looking back at him. "Who exactly told you that?"

"No one," he chuckled. "The fact you were so concerned and a bit protective kind of gives it away."

"It does, huh?" I asked. "Well, drop it. Right now, I need to focus on what exactly Sprock did to nearly quadruple in his strength. We're not going to use the same methods, but it wouldn't hurt to know what we're up against. I believed this was just a co-op thing between the Gavel and the Guard, but it might be more than that."

I then sat up, grunting softly. Bernie tried to hold me still, though I chuckled when I easily lifted him off of his feet with my arm.

"Are you trying to stand guard?" I asked. "It's not working too well for you."

"Hey, shut up!" he said. "Us Promus are small, ya know. And apparently light. I'm supposed to be watchin' over ya, Lane. I promised Minnie I wouldn't let you get hurt and promising her is basically promising Tay."

"Is it now?" I asked, resting my head against my pillow. "I suppose you're right then." I closed my eyes, finding myself drifting to sleep shortly after.

I woke up to the sound of an alarm going off a few hours later. I tried to sit up now, embracing for the sudden pain I would feel. However, I felt nothing as I sat up, as if the pain had vanished. I looked over my arms and the stitches were also gone with the wounds fully healed. I clenched both my fists to make sure my hands and arms were functioning as I also moved my arms around.

"What the hell is going on?" I grumbled to myself as I attempted to climb out of my bed.

As I stood up, the power was suddenly cut and the room was completely dark. The moon was still out, but the moonlight wasn't getting into the room. I heard a humming noise and saw a small spark out of the corner of my eye. There was a split second before a large physical blast inched past me as I moved forward in a lucky guess to where it was. I couldn't see anything else still besides this assailant's opening attack now. I prepared a defensive stance before suddenly being uppercut by the invisible intruder. I let out a pain cough as I fell back and over the bed, onto the other side. I stood up, rubbing my chin as I held onto the bed for support. I then heard a small clacking of shoes before finding the outline of a boot ram into my face, knocking me into and through the window. Luckily, I caught a pipe on the outside to avoid a long fall.

The assailant approached the window, readying another charged up blast. I couldn't tell what weapon they were using, but at the moment, it didn't matter. I took the opportunity to fling myself to a more elevated pipe and then climbed up it. They seemed to notice as their hands - their bare hands - were facing toward me as a purple orb formed between them. An energy blast of some sort, it seemed. I made a leap from the pole back to the window, landing a punch into the assailant's head. I noticed from the fabric I touched, the head was completely masked and the grunt I heard was altered by a voice modulator.

"You're from the Cryptic Guard, aren't you?" I asked, jumping back into the room. I grabbed their collar now, knowing where it was because of the now apparently moonlight in the room.

They seemed to give up before abruptly kicking me rather hard in the stomach. I let out a surprised gasp and ended up letting go of them before I received a swift roundhouse kick to the side of my face, causing me to fall over. Quick to my feet, I turned to throw another punch, but noticed they were gone. My ears twitched as I heard movement on the roof and let out a small smirk before darting toward the window and jumped to the pipe again. I jumped from pipe to pipe, ascending to the top of the building. I managed to somehow land in front of the intruder when I did reach the roof, immediately landing a blow to their gut with my right fist. They toppled over, rolling on the ground before jumping back up like I had.

They obviously had some sort of skill as they weren't knocked out cold yet. I looked over their attire, noting that the colors did confirm my assumption that they worked with the Cryptic Guard. The suit was bulky, but not like the normal soldier uniforms. It was slightly tighter and obviously easier to maneuver in. However, it was very difficult to tell the gender or any likeliness I could recognize due to the similarities this suit had with the soldier uniforms. It was obviously padded underneath the surface, letting any sort of blow deal less damage. I was then broke from my train of thought as a painful blow was dealt to my jaw as the assailant performed a rising kick, knocking me slightly into the air - enough to make me turn over and land on my stomach. I coughed a bit hard, letting out a small groan. I wasn't fully recovered anymore - as I begun to feel the pain again. Rising to my feet, I narrowed my eyes at them. They had a great amount of skill but they were still playing defensively, as if afraid I would actually succeed in trapping or killing them. The silence from them annoyed me more than Sprock's cocky attitude did as well.

I then charged at them, watching them jump to the right. I countered this quickly by swinging my own roundhouse kick and connecting to their gut, sending them tumbling on the ground and toward the edge of the rooftop ahead of me. They did let out a surprised grunt as I kicked them.

"I wouldn't be so surprised if I were you," I said, holding my stomach since it did ache now from the impact from earlier. "You're from the Cryptic Guard, where I was trained. That was probably their biggest mistake, you know."

The assailant just seemed to stand up, though moving in a way that told me they were now somewhat injured themselves.

"A quiet one, huh?" I asked, letting a soft chuckle escape me. "Typica; stereotypes. The assassin must be quiet, they must get the job done and they must always try to conceal their identities. Unfortunately for you, I know that outfit you're wearing is very similar to the soldier uniform." I took out a small pen and held it above my head. "This is something I snagged from a real good hacker from my meeting with him earlier. Guess what it does?" I noticed the assailant beginning to back up slowly now, almost to the edge of the roof. I pressed down on the top of the pen without uttering a single word about it as I naturally assumed the Baron may have been recording or watching through a live stream. Both of us let out pained grunts and gasps as an incredibly loud frequency began to play, though it was focused around the pen and extended perhaps half a football field. Luckily, that meant it'd be a while for the assailant to get out of range of the frequency. I watched as they let out whimpers and whines s their suit began to malfunction, cutting off their vision and closing the ports that allowed oxygen into the suit. They were gasping for air before they fell backward and off of the roof. However, there was one final blast from them that hit me head on as I was weakened as well by the frequency, causing me to fly back and crash into the door to the stairwell, completely ripping it off of the hinges and fell down the first flight of stairs. When I stopped rolling, I felt the immense amount of pain all over my body once again and noticed I was bleeding heavily from my head and my arm. I coughed a bit more violently and more often as well. I forced myself to stand up, holding onto the destroyed door as I held my right arm to my stomach. I looked down and blinked, noticing a mark burned into my stomach now. It looked familiar, but I couldn't think why it did. It had a dot above a straight line and a curved line to the right, going through it. There were two more dots to the bottom right hand corner of the marking, which meant it was below the lower curve of the marking. Even though I didn't know what it meant, a strange feeling began to rise inside of me, as if I did know but I chose not to tell myself yet.

I managed to make my way down several flights of stairs as I pondered the thought of what the marking meant. It could have been just a series of burn marks, though it was a bit too elaborate to just be burns. I was shirtless, so that didn't help much at all with anything that happened. My jeans were torn due to climbing up the pipes and they were rather dirty with how often I had fallen onto the cement on the rooftop. I let out more coughs as I neared the floor with my room. I opened the door to the hallway, only to be surprised and find Tay standing near my room, looking upset. I nervously gulped as she immediately noticed me and ran toward me. Her eyes were red, tears coming from them still. I expected to be punched or kicked for fighting on my own again, but all I felt was an embrace. Then I heard sobbing.

Time stood still for me as I heard her cry into my shoulder, mumbling over and over about not wanting me to die. I looked down at her and tried to put one of my arms around her. I succeed, but it still felt like something so little that it wouldn't help Tay feel better at all. There wasn't much I could do, other than try to wait for her to calm down. I wished that I could see what she was thinking. I could never know the feeling of fearing someone you've become close to now having the real possibility of dying. I had grown to accept that after my time with working with the Crimson Gavel. I guess Tay didn't expect things to get this bad, even though I told her everything.

"I'm here and I'm fine," I spoke softly into her ear. "Calm down, Tay. Help me to my room and you can stay there with me as long as you like. Just stop crying." I lifted her chin gently. "That beautiful face shouldn't be covered in tears and your ambition shouldn't be thwarted just because I got into a couple of serious scuffles." I forced myself to not blush this time as I complimented her, noticing she had stopped crying. "I will promise you this, alright? You can always be my partner with any assignment I carry out. Anywhere I go, you'll go, too. Is that good?"]

Tay eagerly nodded and clung to my arm, now helping me walk back to my room. Once we were there, she carefully laid me on the bed and then climbed into it; she wrapped her arms around me gently, her chin resting on my shoulder.

"Juno says we could possibly find out what happened to that man." She said softly through her sniffling. "But... I'm curious about someone else. You, Lane. I want to know what's happening. You were beaten to a bloody pulp. I tried to help and almost got killed. Then I saw you get up and charge at him like nothing had happened to you. You... You even killed him with no remorse or struggle with the deed. You... had a burst of energy to save me while I tried to save you. Now there's this. I snuck over to this room as I heard noises before I heard glass break. I checked on it and you were gone. What happened, Lane? What's going on?"

"I don't know what happened for the first part," I said, looking directly into Tay's beautiful eyes. "But the second part I can answer. It seems like the Cryptic Guard has started an Assassin's Force of some sort. One of them tried to blindside me while I was supposedly weak. I proved to them I recover fast - faster than even I expected of myself. I made them fall off the top of the roof with one of Toro's gadgets. They're probably dead now, but with the Guard's technology, they could have survived and retreated to tell the Baron the results of their assignment."

"Assassin's Force?" she asked, her grip on me tightening a bit. "That means ninjas, right?"

"Well, not necessarily ninjas in the way you've seen in movies," I said. "This one was able to channel some sort of energy and hurl at me as a beam. It left this with the final attack." I lifted my right arm, revealing the strange marking the attack left.

"Whoa," she said, looking at it, obviously bewildered.. "That's... an unusual marking..."

I nodded and gently pat her head. "Don't worry about it," I said. "Just rest like I'm trying to right now, alright?"

Tay nodded herself and rested against my shoulder again, closing her eyes.

I recovered at a remarkable speed again over the next two days, though this time there were no assassins to try and stop that. I was already walking around and talking like it had never happened. I was on my hotel room's balcony as I was talking to Toro about his plan. He wanted to sneak several special bombs he had made that he referred to as Electrolytes. They were apparently non-lethal if the enemy was behind a wall but still packed a big enough punch to blow a wall to smithereens.

"Do you have a location to set these things?" I asked, having an eyebrow raised as I looked over the briefcase with about four Electrolytes sitting in it.

"I do, but I'm afraid these points might draw out Don Morta," he said, scratching his neck nervously.

"You do want to get back at them for freezing your accounts, don't you?" I asked.

"Well, yes and get rid of the Gavel as a whole as they are nothing but a nuisance," he said. "They might be prepared for it though. I'm sure Bortelli has told both of the Jaden Dons about your arrival."

"Don't worry about me," I chuckled. "I have Tay accompanying me to the first point. I'm hoping this does draw them out. They could be our first challenge and victory over the Gavel. I wouldn't count Sprock going bezzerk and a stab to the chest a victory against them."

"Well, alright," he said, standing up. "I'll go with Juno and Tran to set up the traps. How will you let your presence be known?"

"That's pretty easy," I said with a cocky tone of voice now. "We'll just drive into the Shallow District. I wouldn't worry about any casualties, by the way. There are no good people that live in the Shallow District willingly. If I suspect someone is there by force, I'll get them out of there, but otherwise, don't let possible casualties bother you."

Toro nodded before closing the briefcase and standing up. He looked nervous, already sweating slightly from the pressure of placing these bombs. I looked over at Rolio now and then looked toward the Shallow District as I could see the damage from the fight with Sprock already being repaired across from the freeway that separated that district and the Gavel's district.

"Go with him, Rolio," I said, looking back at him sternly. "He may need a backup and I already know you can fight if you need to. You don't get those muscles from worrying about getting hurt."

Bruno nodded and walked with Toro out of the room as it left myself, Bernie, Minnie and Tay in the room.

"We're all going with you then?" Tay asked, adjusting her sunglasses. She had recently bought them when we were at lunch and thought she needed to look 'cool' considering she was in a renegade group now. Typical nonsense I had expected from her. She was now dressed in a tight pair of blue jeans, with a holster for her laser pistol on the left hip, and in a v-neck sleeveless shirt and had a leather jacket over it. Her hair was tied back into a long ponytail, trying to look as "chill" or "laid back" as possible.

"Yes, but drop the attempt at sounding like a stereotypical hitman that thinks they're invincible," I said. "That goes for you, too, Bernie." Immediately, I heard Bernie groan in protest and grumble something about not getting to have any fun. "Just this one time I wish you'd let me act the way I want to," he said. "Come on, Laney boy. Ya gotta admit in this outfit, I look like a badass private eye!" I looked back at him and tried not to laugh as I looked over his oversized brown trench coat, a somewhat large brown fedora, and a pair of black dress pants with matching loafers.

"You'd swear you were a shady organ dealer or a professional flasher if you kept that trench coat open," Tay laughed.

"Hey!" he blinked. "Don't mention anything about flashin'! It happened one time when my belt broke and my damn pants fell in the middle of Main Street."

"You did scar a little boy for life that way," she said, letting out a cute giggle.

Minnie was pouting and soon hugging Bernie close. She was dressed in a similar fashion to Tay, though she had short shorts on rather than pants and her hair was brushed down instead of tied back.

"Don't listen to her, honey," she said. "She's just a big tease. Just like with Lane, hehe. We don't know what those two do when they're alone."

Both Tay and I blinked at that.

"We don't do anything!" we both protested at the same time, even blushing profusely in perfect coordination.

"That means they did something at least once," Minnie giggled as if she had planned to make us burst out like that, still hugging Bernie.

"Moving on from that..." I said, heading toward the door now. "Come on, we're driving down to the Shallow District. Toro and Rolio are pretty far ahead of us and Juno said she and Tran were scouting ahead to make sure the bombs were placed in the designated areas. Jazz should be meeting them to make sure the bombs will work as expected."

They both hopped up from the bed and hurried to follow behind Tay and I.

"So you told me Guard soldiers name their weapons," she said as Bernie and Minnie soon ran ahead to the car. "Maybe you should name yours. I mean, you've had it since I met you."

"It's not the gun I trained with," I said. "So naming it might be a bit pointless."

"Well, if it's the one gun you'll use the most, then you should name it like you told me Yuno named hers."

"Alright, fine," I chuckled. "I'll name it then. How about.... The Defiler? It defiles an enemy, being powerful enough to create a small narrow wound throughout their body."

"I like the name," she laughed, leaning against me as we headed toward the Hoover Truck.

I climbed into the driver's seat as Tay climbed into the passenger's. The engine roared as it started up. I then sped down the road as there was now traffic, heading into the direction of the Shallow District.

"Come in, boss man!" Juno echoed over my ear piece as we had ear bud walkie talkies also created by Torro to communicate with one another. "If you can hear me, give me a woohoo!"

"I'd rather not do that, Juno," I said. "We're pretty much at the freeway intersection that begins to Shallow District. How are you doing with navigating Rolio and Torro?"

"Easy peasy!" she cheered through the walkie talkie. "I'm guiding them to the last waypoint! They're doing great for never going in the area before! Look at them go, they're like ants!"

"Don't draw attention to yourself, Juno," I said. "You don't want to get caught and shot at, right?"

"Nope, bullets are bad, I know that much," she said. "Tran's here though helpin' keep guard with his fire machine gun thing! Wanna say hi, Tranny?"

I chuckled as I heard a grumbled 'no' on the other side of the walkie talkie.

"Don't let your guards down," I said. "They might try to still take you down once we've lured them out. Stay alert."

"Roger dodger, boss man!" she said before becoming quiet.

"She's a peppy one," Tay said, letting out a small laugh. "That'll take some getting used to."

I nodded and turned down the Ripline Causeway. It was a large enough road that housed a series of businesses that the Gavel would frequently visit, which made the perfect spot to bait Morta out into the open. Though it wouldn't matter if it was them or Jigger. Either of them would suffice. We went perhaps ten minutes before hearing the noises of a loud engine. I smirked, expecting a road block as we approached the ramp where there were exits to the large freeway. However, what was there wasn't what I was expecting.

Rather suddenly, a large Hoover Truck rammed into the side of our car and I struggled to retain control of it.

"Well, they were certainly prepared," I said, still spinning out of control. I slammed on the brakes, sending the truck trying to ram us again ahead of us. "Two can play at this game." I then revved the engine.

"What are you, insane?!" Tay blinked. "They have heavier armor on that truck. We won't dent it!"

"We don't need to dent it," I said. "We just need to scare them." I chuckled and slammed on the accelerator.

We zoomed toward the truck, soon slamming into its side as hard as possible. It caused the other truck to spin out of control, the driver clearly surprised. I used then handbrake as I passed them to pull a quick U-turn, then sped toward the truck again.

"I think Lane's lost it!" Bernie cried, clinging to Tay, who in turn was clinging to Bernie while Minnie was in between them, seeming to be the most frightened.

"Just calm down, all of you," I said. "I know what I'm doing. Close your eyes if you have to."

As if it was the magic phrase, I did glance over to see all of their eyes closed. As I regained my concentration, a second truck decided to join in and rammed the side of ours. Spinning out again, we did eventually hit wall rather hard. I reached over and tried to protect all three of them as we crashed. Once the impact was made, I made sure that the door or window wasn't destroyed. Luckily, it was still intact. I then turned the wheel and hit the accelerator again, charging toward the new truck. As I inched closer, I noticed in the corner of my eye that the original truck was heading for me as well. It gave me an idea and I made an extremely sharp turn right before I would hit the truck, causing the original truck to collide with the other. It was fast and powerful enough to cause an explosion behind us. They wouldn't be following us, but I wasn't fully satisfied. Neither Don had come out in the open and I very much doubt that they were in those trucks that were now destroyed. I turned back around and headed down the Causeway. This time I stopped at a large building and climbed out of the car.

"You three, stop cowering and get out of the car," I said, opening the passenger door.

Tay seemed startled and did hop out as I handed her a Shock Gun and then I handed Bernie an electrified bat, along with giving Minnie a bladed boomerang.

"What are we doing now?" Tay asked, looking over her new weapon. "I like it so far."

"Improvising," I said. "They tried to kill us without getting the Don out here, so we're going to make them come out. We're going in guns blazing to a large counterfeit base here disguised as a bank."

"So a bank robbery that ain't a bank robbery, cool!" Bernie said, swinging his bat around. "I always wanted to hit a guy in the junk with something like this and Minnie always wanted to be a ninja."

"This isn't a shuriken, honey," Minnie giggled. "It's just as good though. It has a lot of blades."

"You two done?" I asked, pulling out my gun and added a modification to it, causing a bit of fire to come out when I tested it by firing it into the air.

"A flaming pistol?" Bernie asked. "Aw, you get the fire!"

"Do I have to make you understand the concept of getting out of the fire?" I asked, pointing the gun at him, smirking.

"Hey, don't point that thing at me!" he blinked. "Fine, fine. Sorry. Online gaming terms don't apply right now, you know."

I nodded and ran toward the building now.

"Jeez, he sure doesn't want to be stealthy about this," Tay said, looking around. "Looks like we got company ourselves. Lane! Get into the building quickly!" I looked back as I had entered the door and was legitimately surprised at the sudden arrival of several cars, all armed with Gavel goons. I noticed the gesture Tay was making. It basically told me to go on. I tried to move but I couldn't. Truth be told, I was honestly scared for her, Minnie and Bernie. However, I also respected her too much to just run back out there when she basically told me not to. I bit my lower lip as I backed toward the stairwell and let them handle the situation themselves.

I regretted turning and running up the aforementioned stairwell. I gripped my pistol as I heard footsteps and hid along the wall.

"Over here, he was spotted coming this way!" one goon shouted out.

When he got close, I peeked from my hiding spot and shot him several times rapidly in the chest. He was dead within a few seconds due to flames quickly engulfing his body.

"Well, it looks like hiding will only be a last resort then," I said, getting up and running down the hallway.

More goons tried to intercept me and I just fired my bullets into them, only taking three hits per goon to get past them. This was only the second floor, so I had four or five more floors to go. I raced to the next stairwell entrance, only to find it locked. I looked around and then noticed an elevator before running into it and repeatedly hitting the Rooftop button. The doors closed immediately and the elevator began to ascend. I sighed gently, naturally wanting to rest as I was filled with fear right now for Tay and the others. The elevator suddenly shook and stopped, making me open my eyes. The top of the elevator began to be melted through with a blow torch. I aimed upward and shot at the roof until the piece of the ceiling dropped to form the hole. A body dropped along with it onto a pool of blood that was forming on the ground now.

"These goons are literally a bunch of idiots," I grumbled before using the elevator railing to lift me into the hole. I then pulled myself up and onto the top of the elevator, now within the elevator's shaft.

I looked above me, seeing the chains that lead up all the way to the top of the building. I grabbed one of them and began to force my hands to grip them tightly as I began to ascend. The climb was difficult and was damaging my hands somewhat due to the rough texture of the said chains. I managed to climb up perhaps three or four floors judging by the number of elevator doors I passed before hearing someone above me push something down the shaft. I then realized someone was actually on the roof and that door was open. I looked up, seeing a large electrical blast coming toward me, but it only took up half of the shaft. I looked over to the adjacent set of elevator chains and used my strength to jump toward them. I caught myself on the chain, letting out a very loud and pained grunt as I forced myself to continue climbing as the electrical energy passed me. It came down several more times, forcing me to jump from chain to chain, and further damaging my hands. I finally approached the final elevator door and the balls of energy had stopped coming down the shaft. I looked out and didn't see anyone out in the open waiting for me. I then jumped back to the other chains and then jumped forward, landing on my knees and causing myself great pain as I rolled out into the open on the roof. Quickly, however, I stood up. I could barely make a fist with either hand with how pink they had turned. I looked around, then blinked as I felt a presence behind me.

"Well, well, well," I heard a voice say. "If it isn't Lane Silverbane, the embezzler and now murderer of Don Bortelli's son."

I turned toward the voice slowly and narrowed my eyes.

"Only one of those things is true," I said, still wincing at the attempts to clench my hands into fists. "And which Don are you?"

"Morta," the Promus smirked, and then seemed surprised as I couldn't help but laugh. "What is so funny, you imbecile? My intellect is incomprehensible to you or your friends. I will kill you myself and then she will be happy."

"Oh?" I asked, still laughing. "You're a tiny Promus. You look like you just turned 18. Forgive me for thinking that you'd actually look intimidating. Going to drink a vial like Sprock did, too?"

"Oh, heavens no," Morta said, though angrily as she had grit her teeth. "Do not judge my appearance, Mr. Lane. If I stooped to that level of stupidity, then perhaps I would consider you a worthy threat. You are nothing more than an insignificant insect. The only reason I'm giving you any attention at all is because she considers you a threat."

"She?" I asked. "Don't you mean one of your higher up Dons?"

"No," she said. "That's all I'm going to reveal to you. Are you prepared to die once and for all?"

"Listen, kid, that's cute," I said. "You don't have any weapons on you, so how exactly will this work? You literally look like I could push you over and just keep you pinned to the ground and count to three."

"As I said, do not judge appearances," she said, holding up her left wrist as she hit a short sequence of buttons.

I raised an eyebrow at that, then blinked as the watch opened up and a metallic armor began to form over her left arm. It spread to her right arm, chest and downward, and then around her head. A glass dome formed in front of her face as she rose above me, now perhaps twice my height due to the sudden armor increase as it finished surrounding her entire body. Unfortunately, it wasn't just armor. I heard a whirling noise as the new armor grew around her arms and I noticed they were much longer than the girl's actual arms. The gray colored armor was now more than that - it was a rather large robotic suit. Morta was now strapped into the center, while holding onto joysticks within the two arms to full control them and the hands. Her legs and feet were covered by the armor plated ones as well. I didn't want to admit it, but she was right. I shouldn't have underestimated her.

"I told you," she said, clenching her robotic fists. "Now die!"

I jumped out of the way of a sudden powerful smash from her left fist, gulping. I needed to find a way to rid her of this mechasuit and fast, but my mind also still wandered to how Tay and the others were doing.

"I ordered you to die, you insignificant worm!" she yelled angrily, slamming another fist in my direction. I was hit this time, sending me into the nearby wall.

I fell to the ground, grunting and gasping as the punch was powerful enough to possibly break a rib. I stayed down for about a minute before forcing myself to get back up and pulled my gun out. I looked up and saw Morta charging at me. I then readied my gun, charging up the modification it had. I then fired a powerful blast, engulfing the entire area before me as an attempt to quickly end this.

I didn't hear Morta charging me anymore, so I looked and waited for the smoke to clear. I had hoped this had caused major damage and now I could just interrogate Morta, but as the smoke cleared, I saw her standing there, grinning.

"Well, shit," I said, gulping.