Kai swung his palm of lightning forward, heading straight for Chase.
"This won't be good. If Chase is back out, me and Hendrix will be stuck in one on one's." Taro thought as he tried to turn away from Alex.
"Can't do that!" Alex grabbed a hold of Taro's right arm, stopping him in his tracks.
Taro panicked. He channeled Spirit into his legs as he activated his Mode, lifting himself off the ground.
"Agh!" Taro exclaimed. His whole body jolted to a stop as Alex's grasp stopped him in his place.
Alex spun in place, taking the boy with her.
Taro's feet were now off the ground entirely, he had no control over his trajectory.
Woosh
Alex let go of Taro's arm, letting him fly into a wall on the other side of the gymnasium.
Thud
Taro slid down the white brick wall.
"Taro?!" Chase turned towards his fallen teammate, beginning to feel tiny shocks as Kai's fist grew closer.
Hendrix's steel strings slithered across the polished wood, staying low as to not alert Kai.
Bam
Kai was sent face first into the ground as his feet were pulled from underneath him.
"Shit!" Kai exclaimed as he was dragged backwards.
Hendrix stood up as his opponent grew near, the strings dragging him to their origin in Hendrix's forearm.
Hendrix raised his forearm, flipping it over his head as his strings followed.
Kai was thrust into the air over Hendrix.
Boom
Kai slammed into the ground on the other side of his opponent with unexpected force.
"Ugh," Kai groaned before his eyes closed from exhausting shock.
"He's out. Good on them." Alex thought as she chuckled, turning back to her two opponents still on their feet.
Hendrix ran to Chase's side.
"Taro's out. He looks just as exhausted as Kai." Chase explained as the both of them turned their attention to Alex.
"One down, one to go!" Alex exclaimed, cracking her knuckles. "Don't give up now!"
"You know the deal." Hendrix nodded to Chase, who nodded back, dropping his magazines with a click.
He threw his guns into the air, manifested new magazines in his hands, and clicked them into the empty magwell as the pistols fell.
Hendrix snickered at the trick.
"Alright, let's do this." Chase smiled as he pointed his pistols at Alex.
Hendrix charged, his strings shooting from his back as they curved towards Alex.
Alex grinned, turning sideways as she jumped forward.
The strings zoomed past her. They only missed her by an inch, but Alex had predicted that.
She grew close as Hendrix tried to back up, reeling his strings back in as fast as he could.
Alex swung her fist back.
Ping
A rubber bullet ricocheted off of Alex's glowing fist, stopping her in her tracks.
"Good shit, Chase!" Hendrix exclaimed as he let out a sigh.
Hendrix shot out his strings once again, attempting to grab Alex's torso.
"This again." Alex groaned sarcastically. "Let me show you something."
Alex jumped upwards, facing the bottom of her boots towards the strings at her sides.
"She's trying to jump out of it again." Hendrix thought, constricting the strings as fast as he could.
Creak
Hendrix's strings went still, to Hendrix's surprise.
"What?!" Hendrix yelled.
The strings began to creak outwards, loosening their grip even though Hendrix was trying to tighten it.
Hendrix's eyes widened as he caught sight of what was happening inside his circle of steel.
Alex was prying the strings open, her boots on one side of the circle while her hands tore the other side open.
"I never thought that… The gap was this big." Hendrix thought, frozen in awe of Alex's strength.
Despite Alex's attempts, Hendrix kept trying to constrict the strings around her.
The standstill went on for a few more moments before Hendrix heard a terrifying sound.
Snap
Hendrix reeled his strings back at a lightning pace, his eyes locked on one part of his thickest string.
One of the steel bands of the string was broken, snapped in half by the sheer unwavering force that was Alex.
Bang. Bang
Hendrix looked up, jumping back in surprise.
Alex had gotten into melee range, only stopped by the two rubber bullets Chase shot to stop her from sneaking up on Hendrix.
"I'll just have to try close range. Chase'll back me up." Hendrix thought as he remembered one of his ability's techniques he had forgotten.
Hendrix shot his strings out from his forearms, but instead of curving towards Alex, they wrapped around Hendrix's fists, making a makeshift steel boxing glove.
"These won't be nearly as hard-hitting as Taro's punches, but all I need is one hit." Hendrix thought, putting his fists up in front of him.
Chase aimed his guns, squinting as he tried to get an angle around Hendrix and onto Alex.
Alex went for a low blow, aiming for Hendrix's stomach.
Hendrix dodged just in time.
Bang
Chase shot a rubber bullet through the opening Hendrix had just left.
Alex blocked it with ease.
She went for a left hook next.
Hendrix ducked as the fist-
Bang
"Shit!" Hendrix yelled in pain as Chase's shot bounced off his back. He put his hand to his back on instinct.
Alex grinned at the sight, swinging her leg into Hendrix's side, sending him flying into the painted brick wall.
Boom
"My bad!" Chase said, unloading his magazines at Alex, who blocked the bullets effortlessly.
A cloud of dust flew into the air before settling to reveal a ball of steel.
Hendrix had lessened the impact with his steel strings, gritting his teeth as he ran back into the fight.
His steel strings once again wrapped around his fists as he charged towards Alex.
Hendrix looked to Chase, glancing between him and Alex as an idea popped into his head.
"Of course. I was in between Chase and his target!" Hendrix thought, sliding behind Alex.
Alex spun around with a smile on her face.
"This is a good plan. There's nothing I can do but tank a hit from here." Alex thought. "I can't predict where Chase'll shoot, and channeling my Spirit into my whole backside will only stop the bruising."
She swung her fist back, getting ready to hit Hendrix with a right hook.
Chase shot three bullets, landing square into Alex's shoulder, back, and thigh.
"Shit. That does hurt!" Alex chuckled as she winced in pain.
Hendrix gritted his teeth as he ducked.
His steel fist swung upwards, aiming for Alex's gut.
Boom
Alex shot upwards before falling back down, groaning as she held her stomach. "That was a pretty good strike, Hendrix."
"Let's go, sidekick!" Chase jumped up and down as he shot celebratory rubber bullets into the air.
Hendrix sighed, collapsing onto the floor and looking up at the fluorescent lights of the gymnasium in exhaustion.
"Good job, guys." Kai put a thumbs up, not bothering to get up from the floor.
"Yeah, you guys did great." Taro got up and began to walk towards his teammates.
"WE did great!" Chase chuckled, jumping onto the already exhausted Taro in excitement.
Alex chuckled as she stretched her back. "I think you guys are ready. Something clicked in between you guys, I wanna see this type of stuff in the mission."
The three boys nodded with smiles across their faces as Alex groaned her way out of the gymnasium.
"This mission… It might not be so bad, after all." Hendrix thought. "We might be able to change the world with this one."
Hendrix chuckled before remembering the broken string. He felt weak every time he thought of how the string slithered more loosely than it would otherwise, or how effortless it looked on Alex's part.
He gritted his teeth as he tried to push it off for now.
In the infirmary:
Molly sat at Doctor Nagi's desk, tears streaming from her face as she sobbed incessantly.
"...And then, I found out they went on a date!" Molly sobbed. "I really thought we had something!"
Doctor Nagi groaned as he pushed the tissue box across his desk. "Yes but what does this have to do with his Spirit? I asked you if there was anything off about him since you two went into the city."
"Since our… Bonding…" Molly blew her nose into the napkin as the sobbing picked back up again.
Doctor Nagi threw his hands up as he spun back and forth in his chair.
"Now that I think about it, there was that sketchbook." Molly had finally calmed down, even if just a little. "He had drawn this creepy figure over and over again."
"And what was weird about him?" Doctor Nagi leaned back in as he began to write onto a piece of paper.
"He had this really messy black hair, and a black cloak that looked like it was made of black bird feathers. He had a mask that was blank, except for the eyeholes." Molly covered her face with her hand to imitate the mask. "And those eyes. They were yellow, the only thing that was colored. It felt like Spirit was oozing out of the page, like I had felt that presence before."
Nagi scribbled down his thoughts frantically, Molly noticing an intimidating curiosity in his eyes.
"Alright, then I won't give up on this search. This is valuable information that-" Doctor Nagi was interrupted as Molly jumped to her feet.
"Y'know what?! You're right doc! I shouldn't give up on him! I've gotta win him over before him and Vida are committed!" Molly ran towards the exit. "Thanks, doc!"
Molly exited the infirmary as Doctor Nagi flipped his pen between his fingers, confused as ever.
"I mean, I guess." Doctor Nagi shook his head.