The street reeked of burnt sugar, molten magic, and corporate frustration. Around Kurok and his crew, the donut-slimes continued their chaotic dance, cheerfully ricocheting off greasy walls and flickering neon signs in bursts of glitter and jam.
"I'm starting to get tired of this sugary decor," Nana "Wireblade" grumbled, slicing a pink, vibrating donut that charged at her with a squeal. It exploded into a shower of chocolate chips and glitter that immediately stuck to her metallic suit. "And it's super sticky."
"Now, now, my dear Nana! This is a unique scientific opportunity!" Dr. Gloubi exclaimed, trying to stuff one of the struggling live donuts into a jar labeled "Specimen - Very Sweet." The jar exploded into a swarm of miniature marshmallows that began singing an unbearably high-pitched song.
Kurok just laughed, snatching transformed donut slime pieces from the air and gulping them down with delight. His shadow, still sporting its tiny arms, mimicked his movements on the wall with redoubled enthusiasm.
"Relax, Nana. It's better than the smell of rotting fish and corrupted magic, right?"
Suddenly, the sizzle of slimes and the marshmallow chorus were drowned out by a low, threatening hum. A long, sleek limousine, blacker than midnight and seemingly absorbing the neon light, slid into the far end of the street. It moved with a blood-chilling slowness, utterly ignoring the sugary chaos around it. Donut-slimes that bounced off its hood were instantly disintegrated by a faint blue energy field without a sound.
The limousine stopped a few meters from the group. The silence surrounding it was more frightening than all of Dr. Gloubi's explosions.
"Okay, this is less funny," Nana muttered, her metallic blades sliding from her forearms with a worrisome shiiing.
The rear door of the limousine opened without a sound. A man stepped out. He was dressed in an immaculate pearl-gray three-piece suit, so pristine he seemed utterly out of place in Grimecity. His hair was slicked back, and his eyes, as cold as his suit, scanned the scene with palpable disdain. He elegantly sidestepped a puddle of bubbling blue jam at his feet.
"Kurok, I presume?" the man said in a soft voice that carried perfectly over the surrounding noise. "And his... eclectic team. My name is Mr. Silas. I represent the interests of the Aethelburg corporation."
Kurok swallowed the piece of slime he was chewing. The virus energy crackled at his fingers, as if alerted by the man's presence.
"Sorry, we don't have updated CVs. We're a bit busy... managing the local pastry scene."
A faint smile touched Mr. Silas's lips. "Your humor is noted. But let's move to serious matters. We have observed the... unique properties of the symbiotic organism you host. It is a resource of immeasurable value. A resource currently being wasted on street pranks."
He made a dismissive gesture, as if sweeping away the donuts, Dr. Gloubi, and the Screaming Twins, who were perched on a lamppost taking selfies with the singing marshmallows.
"We are proposing a partnership. You come work for us. We offer a controlled environment, unlimited resources for your... experiments," he said, glancing at Dr. Gloubi, "and compensation that will make you forget the alleys of Grimecity."
Nana sneered. "Work for you? To become a lab rat? You're dreaming."
Mr. Silas turned his icy gaze toward her. "Miss 'Wireblade'. Your record, your debts... all of that could be wiped clean. With one stroke. We are buying your chaos, but we are also buying your silence. It is a more than generous offer."
Meanwhile, Dr. Gloubi, completely ignoring the tension, had approached the limousine, a gleam of curiosity in his eye. "Ooh la la! A low-consumption disintegration field! The technology is magnificent!" He pulled a pen from his pocket and tried to poke it into the energy field. The pen vanished in a small blue fizz.
"Gloubi, no!" Kurok yelled, but it was too late.
The limousine's alarm triggered, not with a siren, but with a deep, deafening note that vibrated through their bones. Immediately, the front doors opened and two guards in light armor, their faces hidden by smooth helmets, emerged. Their weapons, hybrids of rifles and scepters, lit up, aimed at the group.
"I see the negotiation requires a bit more... persuasion," said Mr. Silas, his cold smile returning. He gave a nod to the guards.
"Is this the part where we blow stuff up?" one of the Screaming Twins asked with juvenile enthusiasm.
"Yes," Nana growled, falling into a fighting stance. "But this time, it's for real."
The first guard fired. A projectile of blue energy, similar to the car's field, shot toward Kurok. Nana leaped, her blades slicing the projectile in two. The two halves detonated against a wall, leaving soot marks but causing no structural damage. Inhibition weapons. They didn't want to kill them. They wanted to capture them.
"They want the virus!" Kurok shouted. "Don't let them touch me!"
The chaos that followed was of a completely different nature. No longer the joyful, absurd chaos of their pranks, but a precise, dangerous chaos. Nana became a whirlwind of steel, parrying and counterattacking with blinding speed. The guards were fast and coordinated, their movements synchronized.
Dr. Gloubi, seeing the fray, pulled a vial from his pocket. "A little homemade cocktail! Instant sleep!" He threw it at the guards' feet. The vial shattered, releasing a cloud of purple smoke... from which hundreds of angry little hamsters emerged and began nibbling at the guards' boots.
"Sorry! Wrong vial!" he exclaimed.
Seizing the distraction, Kurok moved forward. His instinct screamed at him to flee, but another part of him, the part connected to the virus, was angry. These people wanted to take him, his power. They wanted to cage him. He felt the energy crackle stronger in his hands, a strange hunger growing within him.
One of the guards, swatting a hamster away, tried to flank him and lunge. Without thinking, Kurok dodged and grabbed the guard's arm where the armor gave way to a fabric joint.
There was a flash of pink and blue light. The guard screamed, not in pain, but in surprise. His arm, from shoulder to wrist, instantly transformed into a huge, multicolored, sweet-smelling cloud of cotton candy. His weapon fell from his fingers, now useless.
"Whoa," Kurok breathed, looking at his own hand. The virus was reacting stronger, faster.
Mr. Silas, who had been observing from the shelter of his car door, was no longer smiling. His gray eyes had turned to icy slits. "Threat level reassessed. Priority acquisition protocol authorized."
The limousine emitted a new sound, a high-pitched buzzing this time. A beam of yellow light scanned the area, locking onto Kurok. He immediately felt a heaviness invade him, as if the virus inside him had suddenly become weighted down, drowsy.
"Kurok!" Nana screamed, seeing him stagger.
She rushed toward him, but the other guard blocked her path. The Screaming Twins, finally grasping the gravity of the situation, used their telekinesis to rain a hail of donut-slimes and rubble onto the limousine, but the energy field disintegrated them before they could hit the vehicle.
Kurok fell to his knees. The yellow light held him fast. He saw Mr. Silas advancing toward him, a small metallic device in his hand. It was a trap. An offer they couldn't refuse, and if they refused, they took by force.
"Sorry, guys..." he murmured, his vision blurring.
Suddenly, a new noise tore through the air. It wasn't the hum of a corporate engine, or one of Gloubi's explosions. It was the wild, modified roar of a motorcycle engine. A massive figure on a rusty, spike-covered vehicle shot out from a nearby intersection, heading straight for the limousine.
The rider, clad in leather with a helmet hiding their face, brandished what looked like a homemade rocket launcher. They fired. The projectile, a screaming enchanted trash can, slammed into the limousine's energy field. The explosion was far more violent than expected, shaking the vehicle and momentarily shattering the yellow beam immobilizing Kurok.
The heaviness vanished. The virus's energy returned in a burning surge.
Mr. Silas had thrown himself to the ground to avoid the debris. He stood up, his suit covered in dust and jam, his composure finally broken. He glared at the newcomer, then at Kurok's regrouping team.
"You have just triggered a conflict of interests," he spat toward the unknown rider.
He gave a quick signal to the guards. "Retreat. For now."
The two guards, one with a cotton candy arm, retreated into the limousine. The doors closed and the black vehicle vanished down the street, swallowed by the shadows of Grimecity as silently as it had arrived.
Silence returned, broken only by the last squeaks of the donut-slimes and the purr of the motorcycle engine.
Kurok got to his feet, panting. He looked at Nana, Dr. Gloubi, the Twins, and then the mysterious biker who had saved them.
"Well," he said, picking up a half-crushed donut-slime and taking a bite to calm his nerves. "That was more intense than expected. Who are you, and do you want a donut? They're a bit battered, but still explosive."
The rider cut the engine, dismounted, and removed their helmet. The person looking back at them was clearly not from their side. But whose side were they on?
The chapter ended there, leaving the mystery of the unexpected savior's identity and the ramifications of the now-open conflict with Aethelburg Corp hanging in the air.