Even after realizing he needed to fight, Victor didn't immediately decide to plant his feet and face his attacker. Victor felt like his best chance would come when his pursuer had caught up to him naturally. To keep up the illusion that he had no intention to fight, Victor increased his pace and began shouting wildly for help. If someone was listening, good, but even if no one stopped to help him or call the police, it was okay because Victor wanted to seem like he was desperate and scared, which wasn't too much of a stretch despite his ability to think clearly in this situation; he was legitimately terrified.
This wasn't like a sparring match at the gym; this was life or death. And in Victor's mind, the more desperate he seemed, the less of a threat he seemed to be. Victor thought if he wanted to catch a superior opponent by surprise, he first had to make sure they felt like they were in control.
When Victor was sure that his pursuer was close enough that he could reach out and touch him, Victor abruptly stopped on a dime and rotated his whole body to one side, lashing out with a vicious spinning elbow using his left arm with the intention of slamming his elbow into the opponent's temple. Right as he thought he was about to make contact, his opponent's hand shot up and grabbed hold of Victor's elbow about an inch away from it making contact. Victor quickly wrenched his arm free, which took a lot more effort than he would have thought.
Instinctively, Victor entered an Orthodox Muay Thai stance as he sized his opponent up.
Victor's heart sank when he got a good look at his opponent. The man was well over six feet tall, wearing what looked to be a tailored black suit with a white undershirt and black tie, as well as black pants and black shoes—similar to the suits he had seen the security team employed by Amir's family wear. This one was obviously tailor-made, however, because it hugged his form perfectly. The man had dark hair and well-sculpted features. He had a small nose and hooded eyes that made it seem as if he was constantly irritated or bored, but those piercing blue eyes of his were incredibly alert, always on the move, taking in new details like a trained soldier.
He looked to be in his late thirties, the very beginnings of age starting to show at the corners of his eyes. He was standing there staring at Victor with his hands behind his back, as if he was just going for a leisurely stroll, his relaxed demeanor clashing with the small frown of concentration on his cleanly shaven face.
But the man's appearance and his relaxed demeanor is not what terrified Victor. What terrified Victor was the lethal grace that the man moved with. And his physique also terrified Victor.
This man was not bulky at all; his entire body appeared to be incredibly well-sculpted and in perfect balance, optimizing both speed and power. This was a man who had obviously trained to do one thing and one thing only: excel at physical combat.
Taking a deep breath and pushing down the fear, Victor surged forward. Victor went for a leg kick, but as he did so, he noticed that his opponent had read the move and had bent his knee slightly forward, preparing to check the kick. Halfway through the motion of the kick, Victor quickly switched levels, throwing a beautiful question mark kick.
Victor thought it was set up perfectly, but suddenly his opponent shot forward extremely quickly, stepping inside Victor's range and twisting his body into a bladed stance. The man simultaneously parried Victor's kick by slamming his elbow into Victor's extended leg near the knee and slammed his closed fist into Victor's chest, using all of his momentum to drive the blow forward, increasing its devastating force. Victor felt like two hammers had hit his body at the points of impact, and Victor fell to the ground, the momentum and force of the blows driving him a few feet back.
Victor was barely able to tuck his chin to avoid cracking his head before he hit the ground. Victor took the brunt of the impact on his shoulders and quickly controlled his fall as best he could, trying to mitigate the impact.
Victor lay flat on his back, pain exploding in his chest and right knee. Even through the adrenaline, as he lay there, he heard his opponent's deep, booming voice call out a command: "Stop fighting, kid. That's not what I'm here for anyway, and I don't mean you any harm." Victor didn't believe a word of it. Why would he try this hard to catch him if he didn't mean him any harm? Getting up shakily, Victor once again got into his stance.
The man frowned in disappointment. "Look, Victor, my name is Marcus, and I'm not here to fight. Can we just talk about this?" the man said, putting his hands in front of him in a gesture of peace. Victor froze in shock, his shock quickly turning to fear and a sense of certainty that he couldn't trust this man. "I never told you my name.", Victor said.
Marcus's eyes went wide as he realized his mistake. Victor's adrenaline shot through the roof. If this man knew who he was, it meant he was watching him and his friends might be in danger. Victor made up his mind: he had to stop this man no matter the cost and no matter how slim his odds. Victor shot towards Marcus, throwing a vicious low kick his way.
Just as the kick was about to land, Marcus calmly took a step back, causing Victor's kick to miss. Taking advantage of the momentum of the missed kick, Victor spun and sent a spinning roundhouse kick toward Marcus's head. Marcus caught the kick with one hand, and while still holding on to Victor's leg, he pulled him forward while twisting his body and throwing a powerful knee straight toward Victor's midsection. Victor, however, had already jumped off the ground with his other foot in an attempt to kick Marcus in the head from the other side.
Realizing what he was doing, Marcus changed his knee strike into a front kick mid-strike while letting go of Victor's leg. Marcus's thunderous front kick slammed into Victor's body before Victor's other kick could reach Marcus's head. Victor was once again sent slamming into the ground and immediately began struggling to his feet, staggering and breathing heavily as he did so.
"Look, kid, stop. If you give me a second, I will explain everything. This isn't what it looks like!", Marcus said as Victor struggled to his feet. Victor completely ignored him, having already decided that it was too dangerous of a gamble to trust this man.
As Victor stood there, desperately focusing on staying conscious, he glared at Marcus. "If you don't mean any harm, why have you been watching me and why did you chase me?", he asked.
Marcus gave him a hard look before answering. "I've been watching you to protect you because those are my orders.", he said. "To answer your question about chasing you, it's because you ran. I was trying to approach you to talk, but I needed to make sure you were alone first.", he continued. "If I had any other intentions or I wanted to hurt you, I never would have allowed you to notice my presence, and you would be dead without ever knowing it was me."
Pushing down his terror at Marcus's response to his questions and trying to buy more time to recover, Victor asked him another question: "Why do you want to talk to me so desperately?"
"Uncle wishes to speak with you, so I have orders to bring you to the meeting spot," Marcus responded.
"Then why did you beat the shit out of me?", Victor asked, the fury clear in his voice.
Marcus's face fell a bit before he answered. "Look, kid, I didn't mean for this to happen, but you attacked me so training and instinct kicked in. Plus, you pack quite a punch." Marcus smiled a little after he said that.
Victor stood there studying Marcus before letting out a huge sigh. "Fine, I'll go with you.", Victor said.
Marcus seemed visibly relieved to hear him say that, and a big smile spread across his face. "Okay, kid, let's go." he said, walking towards Victor. "First, we need to get off this roof and get you looked at. I tried to hold back, but I'm not very good at it.", Marcus said as he walked towards Victor.
Victor took a couple steps forward before staggering and falling face first towards the ground. In a panic, Marcus rushed forward in an attempt to catch him. "Are you okay?", he started to ask, but then suddenly, as he was bending down to catch Victor, Victor made his move.
Twisting his body and letting gravity take him towards the ground he drove his elbow into Marcus's foot just behind the toes. Marcus inhaled quickly in pain and slightly lost his balance. Taking advantage of his surprise, Victor grabbed Marcus's suit near the neck and violently jerked him forward, slamming Marcus's head into the ground.
Using what felt like the last of his energy, Victor got up and attempted to stumble away without even looking back.
He only made it a few feet, however, before injury and exhaustion overtook him. "Fuck, not now, not fucking now!", Victor thought, but his body wouldn't listen, and he stumbled forward passing out just a few feet away from a fire escape.
A couple seconds later, Marcus got to his feet, shaking his head as if to clear it and assessing his body for damage. There was a cut on his forehead that was bleeding, and his foot hurt like hell, but his assessment told him there was no real damage. He looked a few feet ahead of him to the spot where Victor lay passed out.
"The kid definitely packs a punch all right.", he thought to himself as he pulled out a cell phone and dialed a number.
Once the phone connected, he spoke. "I'm bringing him in Uncle, have medical on standby." There was a brief pause at the other end before a commanding but dignified voice answered. "Were there complications?", the voice asked.
"He didn't come willingly.", Marcus responded.
There was a pause once again before the man on the other end spoke once more.
A slight edge could now be heard in the man's tone. "I want a full report on the situation when you arrive. Bring him in within the hour." the man said before hanging up.
Marcus put the phone away and looked down at Victor, who was still unconscious. "Well fuck I guess we're both going to get the shit kicked out of us today.", Marcus said with a wry smile before picking Victor up and leaving with him down the fire escape and into an alley nearby, where a black luxury car was waiting.