MANAGER: (Cracking his knuckles, rolling his shoulders) "You better be strong. That rookie?" He jerked his chin at David. "He wasn't even a warmup."
VEYRA: Drew both pistols the barrels hummed with pale blue energy. "Good thing I bought new ammo. Shock rounds. "
She fired.
BANG. BANG. BANG.
Each shot connected. Electricity crackled across the Manager's body. He twitched slowed but kept coming. The stuns bought her seconds, not victory.
Veyra didn't wait. She deployed mines at her feet small disks that hummed with menace then danced backward.
The Manager swung. Massive punches, each one lethal.
Veyra dodged. Every swing. Every hook. Every attempt. She moved like water, like wind, like she'd done this a thousand times.
DAVID: (Watching from the sidelines, awed) "Wow... she's fast. She's actually keeping up with that guy's punches!"
He took a step forward instinct screaming to help.
A heavy hand clamped onto his shoulder.
FUZANGLONG: (Pulling him back) "Easy, rookie."
XUELONG: (Stepping past them both, rolling his shoulders) "Watch and learn. This is how pros handle it."
He moved.
A blur. A kick snap-fast caught the Manager square in the face. A punch followed, same speed, same precision. Then Xuelong was back beside David, hands casually in his pockets.
The Manager touched his jaw. His eyes went cold.
MANAGER: (Quiet, dangerous) "You... dare"
He erupted.
High-speed rush aimed at Veyra. She dodged the first grab but the follow-up kick was too fast. It caught her mid-turn and sent her flying across the loading zone.
She crashed into a tree the trunk shattered. Veyra hit the ground, coughing blood, but pushed herself up.
VEYRA: (Wiping her mouth) "You're... just as fast as Kiro. Maybe faster."
BOOM.
A mine detonated under the Manager's foot. Flames erupted, engulfing him.
VEYRA: (A bloody smile) "Saved that one for a tough opponent."
The Manager walked out of the flames. His clothes were torn. His skin was on fire. He didn't seem to notice.
MANAGER: (Patting out the flames with casual annoyance) "Ouch."
Then he blurred.
Veyra didn't even see him move. One moment he was twenty feet away. The next, his hand was around her throat, and she was being slammed into the ground then thrown across the bay like a doll.
XUELONG was there.
He caught her barely set her down and moved.
His hand shot out. Frost coated his forearm, his fist. He punched the Manager mid-charge a solid hit to the chest.
"FROZEN PUNCH."
Ice exploded across the Manager's torso. He flew backward, skidding across the concrete, frost crackling on his armor.
XUELONG: (Breathing frost, cracking his knuckles) "Cool off."
MANAGER — TAKEAKI: (Touching his jaw where the frozen punch landed) "Ouch. Whoever did that... they've got a good right hook."
Steam hissed from his arm. He flexed and the ice shattered off him in chunks.
XUELONG: Stepped forward, arms now coated in gleaming white frost. He glanced at Veyra. "You're Veyra, right? Sit this one out. I've got it."
FUZANGLONG: (Leaning against a broken cart, arms crossed) "Brother. We never played rock-paper-scissors for this."
XUELONG: (Not looking away from Takeaki) "You had fun with the last one. This one's mine."
FUZANGLONG: A shrug. A smile. "Fine. I'll watch."
Takeaki dashed forward. Steam poured from his body as he moved heat building. A jab. An uppercut. Xuelong dodged each one, his frozen arms grazing Takeaki's skin with every near-miss.
Ice formed. Ice shattered. Instantly.
XUELONG: CLAPPED his hands together.
"COLD WAVE."
A blast of freezing air erupted from the clap, slamming into Takeaki and hurling him backward. His movements slowed. Frost crept across his armor.
Takeaki flexed. Fire erupted from his arms, melting the frost in an instant.
TAKEAKI: "Now I'm warmed up. This fire? Proof of it."
He lunged another flurry of blows, each one faster, hotter.
Xuelong dashed backward, slamming his foot down. Ice spread across the floor beneath Takeaki's feet. They froze to the ground mid-charge.
XUELONG: "BLIZZARD."
A vortex of snow and ice engulfed Takeaki, hurling him back. For a single second, his flames died.
He hit the ground stood up
And ate a punch straight to the face that sent him flying. He caught himself, skidding, breathing hard.
TAKEAKI: (Heavy breaths, a genuine smile) "My name is Takeaki. And you... you're a great fighter."
XUELONG: (Bowing slightly, frost trailing from his lips) "Xuelong. Of the Long Family."
TAKEAKI: "Nice to meet you."
He ignited. Hotter than before. The air shimmered around him. He dashed
Xuelong's arm shifted. Ice morphed into a blade long, curved, gleaming.
They collided.
SLICE. BANG.
Both were hit.
Takeaki stood frozen a diagonal slash across his torso, sealed in ice. His flames flickered died trapped.
Xuelong coughed blood. A heavy blow had landed. He pressed a hand to his ribs ice formed over the wound, sealing it.
Then Takeaki's fire surged. The ice across his chest cracked shattered. He pulled all his flames inward. His skin glowed slight red. His muscles swelled. Steam erupted from his entire body.
TAKEAKI: (Voice deeper, strained) "Now... NOW"
He blurred.
A barrage of punches impossibly fast each one like a meteor. Xuelong took them, blocking what he could, but the last one sent him flying across the bay.
Takeaki leaped to follow
WHUMP.
An axe intercepted him mid-air, sending him spinning away. He landed hard, eyes snapping to the new threat.
KIRO stood there. Collar still on. Fists clenched. Eyes burning.
KIRO: (Quiet, final) "Let me get him."
The Foreman lowered his axe. Looked at Kiro. Saw something in his eyes that made him step back.
FOREMAN: (Nodding) "Sure, kid. He's yours."
A random Red Clan grunt lay on the ground nearby, arms spread, an X marked across his chest in blood—dead or unconscious.
Veyra was on the ground, catching her breath. Aurora knelt beside her.
AURORA: "How are you doing? Is backup coming?"
VEYRA: (Pushing herself up, wincing) "They're standing above. Watching." She nodded toward the upper walkways where silhouettes lingered. "There might be backup soon. Of the enemy."
The Foreman walked over, axe resting on his shoulder, scanning the chaos.
FOREMAN: "Oh, the backup? There were six. I handled two. Plus the other one." He counted on his fingers. "So... three left."
As if on cue, three figures emerged from the smoke.
One was the shadow figure the mysterious commander from the initial breach. Another seemed to materialize from empty air, cloaking device flickering. The third stood behind them, hooded, unseen.
VEYRA: (Eyes locking onto the invisible one) "I've got the cloaked one. Unfinished business. He's the one I tailed."
DAVID: Stumbled forward, bruised but standing. "Let me help. I can handle one. At least one."
The shadow figure stepped forward. Studied David's uniform. His rank insignia.
SHADOW FIGURE: "You're Air Force, right?"
David opened his mouth to answer
The shadow figure moved. A hand clamped over David's face. In a blur of motion, he launched upward, carrying the rookie across the dome, disappearing into the industrial maze.
The two bounty hunters Veyra had brought stepped forward, engaging the remaining Syndicate grunts.
Meanwhile, in a distant warehouse section of the dome...
David was slammed onto a metal catwalk. He rolled, gasping, vision swimming.
A figure emerged from the shadows. Bearded. Stocky. Five-foot-one, but built like compressed iron.
SECOND LIEUTENANT: (Cracking his knuckles) "Who am I?" He laughed bitter, hollow. "I'm ex-Air Force. Rank: Second Lieutenant."
David pushed himself up, fists raised. "So you're a traitor."
SECOND LIEUTENANT: "Yes. And you know why? They didn't respect my time. All those years. Garbage jobs. No real promotions. I bled for them, and they gave me desk duty." His eyes burned. "So I found people who value skill."
He dashed forward a barrage of blows. David blocked, absorbed, survived—barely.
SECOND LIEUTENANT (CONT'D): "I was like you once. Naive. A rookie." Another flurry. David went down. "Thinking hard work meant something."
David got up. Spat blood.
DAVID: "Could've... kept grinding. Could've earned it. But you took the easy way."
The Second Lieutenant's face twisted.
He charged again.
Every blow drew blood. Splash after splash until David fell.
The Second Lieutenant stood over him, breathing hard, victorious.
SECOND LIEUTENANT: "That's all you got? Expected from a rookie. Can't even handle real speed in the dark."
He turned. Walked away.
Behind him, David got up.
SECOND LIEUTENANT: (Spinning around, frustrated) "Why can't you stay down, rookie" He stopped. Blinked. "Wait. Where are his wings?"
David's wing-gliders unfurled not on his back, but in front of him, wrapping around the Second Lieutenant in a tangle of metal and fabric. He launched, dragging the traitor through the air, toward a stack of oil drums.
DAVID: (Straining, holding on) "You can't escape this, traitor."
He released. The Second Lieutenant crashed into the drums. David leaped clear of the warehouse one hand raised.
SECOND LIEUTENANT: (Struggling in the oil, eyes wide) "Jet boots ACTIVATE!"
The boots roared to life, struggling to lift him
BOOM.
A massive explosion consumed the warehouse.
David landed hard, rolling, alive. Behind him, only fire remained.
Back at the Center of the Chaos...
Veyra stood alone, facing a familiar weasel-faced thief.
VEYRA: "Just me and you, Nishant. That bounty's mine."
Nishant grinned and vanished.
Veyra didn't react. She kicked at the dirt, idly, then walked away. Slowly. Casually. She reached up and pulled a mask over her face.
Nishant appeared right behind her, blade raised.
NISHANT: "Don't turn your back on me"
BANG.
Pink smoke erupted around him. He stumbled, coughed, gasped and fell, unconscious.
AURORA: (Stepping from cover, Gauntlet glowing) "Sleeping gas. Nice, right?"
Nearby — Bounty Hunters vs. Mad Scientist
The two bounty hunters Veyra brought had cornered their target. One was down. The other faced a wild-eyed figure in stained lab coat.
MAD SCIENTIST: (Laughing, injecting himself) "Your chemicals won't work on me! Mask and armor see? I'm immune"
His eyes went white. His hair bleached to snow. Muscles swelled.
He punched sent one bounty hunter flying, wind knocked out.
The second bounty hunter recovered, steam venting from his gauntlet. He punched back a blast of superheated steam sent the Mad Scientist staggering. Then his boots ignited, rocketing him forward into a suplex that slammed the scientist into the ground.
MAD SCIENTIST: (Out cold)
BOUNTY HUNTER 2: (Catching his breath, staring at his own arm) "That must be the new stuff." A pause. "Better than White V5."
The name hung in the air.