The balcony cast a dim light into the room, its glow reflecting the imposing silhouette of Rover. He held his submachine guns pointed at where Axel and Auren were hidden. Without a moment's hesitation, the two broke cover, sprinting toward Rover's back as he followed their movements with a hail of bullets.
Axel took cover, but Auren faced him head-on, managing to shield himself from most of the shots. He tried to grab one of Rover's submachine guns, but in a fluid motion, Rover seized Auren's weapon and delivered a knee strike that nearly knocked him to the floor. In that instant, Axel fired bouncing bullets from a safe angle. The bullets ricocheted with precision toward Rover's vital points. With a slight movement, the man positioned himself so that not a single bullet hit him.
Seizing the moment, Auren recovered, getting to his feet and attempting to stab Rover in the abdomen. With a subtle move, Rover dodged the blade and launched an upward kick directly to Auren's stomach, sending him flying and landing several painful but non-vital shots.
Axel came up from behind, offering some random covering fire, but before Rover could be disarmed, he managed to disarm Axel as well. A hand-to-hand confrontation began. Axel tried to grab Rover's long hair, but a glint in his palm revealed a strange truth: the hair was artificial. In that moment of confusion, Rover quickly stabbed Axel in the abdomen with a dagger, then kicked him away. As he was pushed backward, Axel took the opportunity to throw a hand grenade. With astonishing speed, Rover threw it back, calculating the average detonation time. The grenade exploded in mid-air, propelling Axel over the balcony toward the sky. The boy grabbed onto a small ledge at the last second.
Moments later, the gray-eyed boy slowly got back on his feet. Rover looked at him with skepticism.
-Ungrateful. You've lost more than 700 milliliters of blood. How can you even stand? -Rover said.
-Heh, I'm wondering the same thing, -Auren said, a trickle of blood running from his mouth. -My body can resist more than normal, and my pupils change color. I don't even understand my body; it just responds to what I want. I can bleed a lot before I pass out, and that's going to be my advantage to finish you.
He quickly aimed his pistol and fired. Rover ran, protecting himself from the shots, and disarmed Auren, initiating a small skirmish with knives that ended with a stab to Auren's abdomen. Rover took his distance. As the man backed away, Auren threw a blinding grenade under him. Though blinded, Rover didn't lose his sense of what was in front of him. He threw a hand grenade near Auren, and both were propelled by the explosion. Auren was sent to the back of the room with immense force, while Rover was thrust toward the balcony, regaining consciousness just in time to grab on with one hand. In that moment, Axel, who had been waiting in the same spot, shot him in the hand. Rover's grip broke. In his eyes, skepticism was visible. The man fell from a deadly height to a certain death.
Axel looked at Auren, who was unconscious and in very bad shape. He had to revive him before he fell asleep forever.
-Hey, wake up, Auren, you fool, -Axel said. -Lilian, fan... hey, umm, did you know Lilian hasn't had her period?
For some reason, those words woke Auren up.
-What happened? -he asked.
-Haha, what weird words to wake you up, -Axel said. -Tell me, is Lilian pregnant?
-Ugh, I don't know, but it's not impossible, -Auren said, getting to his feet with a heavily bleeding wound on his abdomen.
With Axel's help, they tied off the bleeding so Auren wouldn't pass out again.
-Did we win? -Auren asked.
-There's still one loose end, -Axel said. -The girl must be on the rooftop.
Both youths climbed the skyscraper stairs. They reached the rooftop, seeing a small girl with makeup and extravagant jewels, as if she were going to a real carnival. The little girl, named Lucy, looked constantly scared.
-Did you come to kill me? -Lucy asked, tears in her eyes.
-No, -Axel replied. -We didn't come to kill you. We came to stop you from going to the carnival.
-You killed Rover and his friends. Why? How is it possible that such despicable human beings exist? -Lucy said.
-Even if we told you what Rover normally does, you wouldn't believe us, -Auren said. -Why do you think you are where you are? Who told you everything you know?
-Mutao told me everything. He said I was special, that I was the hope of people in deplorable situations, -Lucy replied.
-You know, Mutao was a leader of hitmen who even killed innocent police officers just because they were in his way, -Auren said. -He had communication with different groups and was a major contributor to drug smuggling. I know all that because I recently killed him.
The girl couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her eyes held a look of rejection, but also an unexpressable emotion on her face.
-I'm not asking you to believe me, -Auren continued. -Just to question things. Why did all the politicians leave the skyscraper just today? Why did the crime rate drop by more than 80 percent if no new laws or reforms that directly affected the perpetrators were implemented? It's because we, along with all those who follow us, use our own hands to clean up all these problems. If it sounds cruel, I'm sorry. And the truth is, you're very young. You don't have the maturity to lead such an angry and violent country. I'm sorry, but you have to not go and come with us. And unfortunately, it's not a request.
The girl, without another word and with a look of resignation and an empty gaze on her face, surrendered.