Chapter 3:
The look each carried into battle was the same, the eagerness in Looker's eyes mirrored by the valiance in Brandon's. There was no stopping now, as both men were on the move, and it was a simple fist or bust in this one strike duel. All eyes were on the two combatants as they closed the gap, ready to dish out damage to the other first.
It was then that Looker simultaneously faded from his current position and reappeared right in front of Brandon. Stri and Shade watched on in surprise from opposite sides of the hall as the villain sent Brandon flying backwards with a roundhouse kick. The challenger was determined to stay in the fight, and without skipping a beat executed a backflip and slid into a tripoint landing between the two sisters.
As Looker took out his estoc and extended the blade, Brandon scowled and glanced at Daisy and Slim before coming up with a plan.
"Slim, you up for this guy? I can't do this alone. Daisy, can you-?"
But she was already gone, dashing for the opposite side of the room, her progress marked by only the silhoutte she left in the smoke as she ran through it. Brandon rotated his hands around each other, consequently surrounding Looker in denser smoke as the other woman went forward. It worked, and the muffled man attempted to cut through the smoke before giving up and waiting for it to dissapate.
From Shade's viewpoint, nothing was distinguishable. Well, except for the approaching dark shadow within the fringes of the cloud, and if that was Looker, she was definitely going to bust him up. It wasn't Looker, but Daisy who burst through, gave Shade a quick lookover and grabbed her hand, immediately heading back the way she came from. The pink-haired girl had so many questions, but decided on making her priority the task of getting back safely through the smoke.
"Gosh Brandon, lettin' the ladies do all the dirty work. Step your game up already."
Back on Brandon's right, the brunette displayed mock annoyance as she held her katana out, looking for any scraches on what she deemed her ultimate masterpiece. The tilt of her blade produced a momentary glint that made him squint as he rose up, a squint that transferred its focus from Slim to the villain who had finally ceased fighting against the smoke. If his inability to fight formless elements infuriated him, then that certainly would weigh him down during the fight, and Brandon grinned as he cleared a path in the smoke that led from them all the way to Looker's obscured haze.
"Slim, we're in the middle of a fight. Can you hold the sass for later?"
Both turned their gazes to the sudden appearance of Daisy and Shade as they burst through the smoke, Shade immediately hugging her boyfriend while Daisy glanced back at the smoke before stepping back.
"Brandon, I can't fight with all this smoke."
Brandon razzled his peer.
"It's a good thing that we can."
On that note, both Brandon and Slim charged right down the clear path, the smoke dissapating around Looker for him to finally see his opponents strike him down. But what Brandon imagined was very different from what they were about to face.
Looker drew his estoc and spun around in a circle a couple of times to create a decently sized smoke-free area centered around him. Hardly fazed by the faster challenger's step, he took one back and easily blocked her katana's upwards slash. Those azure eyes found it rather easy to trace Slim's motions, and he kept backstepping with grace and defending against her successive parries. It wasn't that he was spectacular at the estoc, but both fighters could tell that his blocking strength was waning, and that he was bound to lose his grip.
Irked by the thought, Looker put weight on his better foot and charged with a few strikes of his own. His advance was halted when Slim resorted to a spinning manuever to defend his multiple strikes. However, the katana's hilt got ledged in between the gaps of the estoc's own, as Looker had intended, and the two stood still, clutching their weapons and breathing hard in the momentary peace.
Momentary was the keyword, and as quickly as Looker pulled his blade free, he knelt to the ground and spun his foot around, knocking her off her feet and her blade out of her grasp, his eyes tracing the katana's fall to the ground. The sound of steel on hard floor created a sharp ringing sound that made him cringe a little, and he looked back to Slim, who was sprawled on the floor, glaring at him as she tried to recover from the brunt of her blow.
At the sight of his fallen friend, the other challenger's grin fell into a growl as he clenched his fists, and threw his elbows backwards, letting smoke swirl around his fists as vented his anger at the other.
"I know what you're thinking, and I won't let you do that."
Brandon took a step forward and excuted a left cross, letting the smoke branch out from his fist to strike the villain on his side. Looker staggered, his shoulder reeling in pain from the hit, and he had to acknowledge his attacker's prowess as he was hit again on his right side. His eyes widened at the sudden realization that the third hit would be the traditional uppercut, and he threw himself into a back-flip to dodge Brandon's killer move, saving himself amazingly in time.
The save was for naught as Brandon moved his fists around in a circular manner, catching Looker's feet with the smoke that hovered above the floor, and launched him upwards. The throw itself was disorienting, and between rotations, he was able to make out Brandon making another cyclic motion with his hands. After noticing that nothing rose from the ground, he became alarmed and glanced upwards, and there it was - a rather large column of smoke that was poised to fall on him. Looker squinted at the crushing block, and perked his ears as he heard Brandon's voice.
"If this were anime, I guess I'd be telling you about my moves right about now. I hate to disappoint, but this ain't anime."
The airborne man had oriented himself upside down and was able to alight on the smoke column. Given that he was going to fall however he looked at the situation, he bounced right off the block and directed his descent right at Brandon. The muffler was waving everywhere, and as Looker grabbed the loose ends to wrap around his face, his eyes met the challenger's own widening eyes.
"Anime or not, today is not the day I lose."
All it took was an instant, and the fight culminated with Looker completely decking his opponent from the air. At first glance, Looker appeared to be relatively unharmed and upright, which defied how he should have been messed up after a vertical dive like that, but Brandon groaned as he understood. This opponent of his had a pragmatic ability that wasn't simply for show, and he had come to that conclusion a kick too late. Well, at least he wasn't going to die or anything.
A crackling noise had stolen his attention away from Brandon, and Looker turned to see the woman approaching, wielding her sparking katana with both hands and slowly closing the distance between them. She broke into a quick sprint and upon reaching Looker's position, sliced upwards with her blade's electrocution mode. He had seen it coming, and dodged in time, though his muffler wasn't so fortunate and ended up a few inches shorter on the right end. His brows shot up as the shorn scarf end registered in his head, only to come back down as his eyes reflected his anger at the close call.
A couple of steps backwards created the distance he so desperately needed and a plan of action. With an electrical blade, his steel estoc was going to result in a Pyrrhic victory, and so he cast it aside as he sidestepped the next attack, his azure eyes never leaving his target. Again and again, Slim lunged and swung at him, and again and again, Looker somehow avoided the blade to only get closer to her. The vigilance paid off as he found himself a foot away from the attacker, and as she tried to jab with her blade once more, he knelt down directly under her offensive arm and grabbed her around her waist with his outstretched right arm. Sure, it was crude, but he had to disable her, and if that meant sweeping her off her feet and letting her fall on his outstretched knee, then so be it.
Even after the maneuver, the weapon was still within her grasp, and Looker instinctively grabbed her hand. All it took was a little hand wrestling and twisting, and he pried the blade from her hand. It was surprisingly lighter than what he expected it to be, given the size of the blade, but what mattered more was the fact that the blade had a lethal electrical component. He furrowed his brows as he looked the blade over, and dropped it on the floor, only to rest his boot on the weapon.
Slim groaned as she berated herself for literally falling for the same trick twice, and froze as she heard the clink of boot on blade. When she turned her head to see the villain, she slowly relaxed and casually spoke out.
"If you're gonna try to break the sword, you're gonna end up breakin' your own foot first."
Looker raised an eyebrow as he came up with an interesting thought. Such an elegant weapon didn't deserve to be shattered, and so breaking the katana was out of the question. Putting it out of commission was a feasible route, one that required an entirely different level of strength. Furthermore, he had that strength, and he immediately hid his hands behind his back for a second, engaging his activation out of Slim's eyes.
After a moment, he ceased movement and glanced at the woman and her complacent expression, noting that she was leaning forward on her forearms in what appeared to be mock anticipation of his next move. Well, if it was a show she was expecting, then he wasn't going to hold back and disappoint.
Looker closed his eyes and swung his hands forward into a clap, catching everyone's attention as he performed the motion. If that didn't seem obnoxious enough, he opened his eyes and crossed his arms as his eyes' hues changed from a sky blue to a darker shade of purple, reflecting an altogether different type of intensity that he seemed to embody with his stance. At the very least, there was no reason for anyone to be smug anymore.
Looker had just used the legendary ability Vitality.
Slim's eyes widened at the development, and she mentally started panicking as the villain held up the blade and inspected it, passing his finger slowly over the flat side and pausing at certain locations. Sure, her blade had a megacapacitor and other elements within its core, but it just wasn't possible that this guy could find-
She blinked out of her thoughts when she heard a large cracking sound in close proximity, and she looked up. The guy had pinched the blade at a particular location, and broke though the metal entirely, clutching on to a consequently flattened transformer as he wiped away the itty bitty specks of metal off his finger. Slim's jaw dropped, and she was unable to believe what she was seeing. Was this guy for real?
As if to answer her questions, he moved his hand further down the edge of the blade, and made a few more holes in the blade, pulling out crushed capacitors and resistors out of the established circuitry. With every puncture, Slim felt herself die a little bit, and when the villain's fingers reached the megacapacitor, she extended her hand in protest, and cried out-
"I give, you win. Just don't break that last bit please."
Again he raised an eyebrow. A plea from an extremely pugnacious individual who had modified a weapon to such a potent one-hit killing machine? He sighed and smashed through the final circuit element, causing a tiny explosion and a corresponding cloud of sparks upon destruction. He wiped his gloves on his blazer before turning his attention to the crestfallen figure near him, and kneeling down next to her.
"Killing people isn't right, and nothing will ever change that fact. Don't wire something like this again, or..."
A loud 'pop' sound interrupted his words, and Looker broke off as he noticed the stool falling directly above them. With a swift motion, he swung the katana upwards and held it directly vertical as the wooden stool implanted itself on the weapon. After a second, he waved the sword around in a circle until the stool dislodged itself and rolled away on the ground. He squinted as he deduced who the culprit was, and glanced over at Strieter, who appeared to be second guessing the usefulness of his actions.
"Oh my - I'm so sorry."
"Stri you noob - why would you even apologize to him?"
Brandon kept his same pissed attitude as Daisy helped him up, unable to believe the timing of his friend's attack. It was one thing to have an ability, but fighting was an entirely different component of the job that noobs like him simply couldn't conjure at a moment's notice. Still, he tried, and for someone as green as him, Stri was doing aveage.
The muffled man gently lay the katana and its pieces next to its owner and helped her sit up; at the very least, he could do that. His attention fell upon the approaching woman, the one who had just aided Brandon, who appeared to be weaponless and completely serious.
"...or what?"
With a casual expression, he stood up and squared off against Daisy. There was a question to be answered, but as much as he wanted to give a different form of an answer, he sighed and gestured to Slim.
"Killing people will slowly but surely kill your soul, and ultimately, you. Is that not a fair warning to give?"
Daisy pressed on with her fierce intensity.
"And what about you?"
Looker adopted a serious tone of his own.
"I lost everything when my family was killed and my locale plundered. I believe that ridding the world of these scoundrels before they cause another tragedy should be an adequate reason for me to continue."
She took a step forward and crossed her arms.
"If you're looking for redemption, you should fall to me."
The blue-haired man tilted his head and grinned underneath his muffler.
"Is that a challenge?"
Silence. Those violet eyes sought an answer, and he found it within Daisy's own, all without a single word being said. It was the answer he would have preferred not to carry out, though it didn't look like he had much of a say. Looker cracked his knuckles and stretched his arms rather nonchalantly.
"Fine. I got 10 seconds."
Daisy instantaneously shot forward, arm outstretched for a quick jab to the face, except that Looker had vanished and simultaneously reappeared behind her. She mentally accepted his startling speed, and spun off her front foot to initiate a chain reverse hook kick. Her opponent ducked the first attack, and vanished to her side to catch her heel the second time around. He had stopped her rotational movement and broken her concentration, and she glared at his concealed face. Nobody had ever stopped her before, and furthermore, she was in a very tight spot. One wrong move, and it'd be over for her.
She planned to pull back her captured foot and jump reverse kick with her other foot, aiming to ending the stalemate in one go. What she didn't bank on was her opponent releasing her heel out of his own volition and practically teleporting behind her. In that moment she attempted to turn around, Looker wound back and hit her squarely in the back with a palm heel strike. It didn't hurt too much, but it did send her forwards a couple of meters as he probably had intended to do.
Looker observed Daisy transition into a front roll to avoid the inevitable tripping via skidding fall, and started clapping for his foe, and quickly glanced at the others in the hall.
"Good work, all of you, perhaps not all of you as Strieter seriously needs to work on his imagination. I'll check back on your skills the next time I see you all. Speaking of which-"
He instantly reappeared at Strieter's side and withdrew a letter from his jacket. The startled man couldn't help but accept the letter from him, and as he moved to open it, Looker caught his finger.
"Don't open gifts from people while they're still in front of you. Back to what I was saying, if you ever wish to cross paths with me, please take a look at this letter. If you inspect it, you'll know where to find me next time."
From his peripheral vision, he noticed Shade cautiously approaching him, and the muffled man turned to face her. Their eyes met, her teary glare to his weariness, and she pointed at him, muffled anger evident in her tone.
"Was my uncle that bad of a person? Was it so hard to forgive him for something he did in his past? Was it really worth the effort just to track down uncle Cooper and just, kill him like that? You just met him! How would you know how good or bad of a person he was? Who are you to make that call?"
At the sudden outburst, Looker's eyes changed back to their original azure colors, and his face grew dark. Her questions were valid, most of them were, but was it going to be beneficial to reveal the truth at this point in time?
Shade was suddenly surprised when he put his hand on her shoulder, and gave her an encouraging squeeze. Given the situation and their heights, it looked awkward, but he retained eye contact with her and spoke in a low voice.
"I met your uncle a long time ago. It's a long story, but I'm not doing this because I want to. If you want to hate me and blame everything on me, I won't stop you from doing so. However, I strongly advise taking a look at the letter if you want to take a step in the right direction."
The moment of understanding was quickly ruined when a pair of voices were heard yelling in the connecting hallway. Looker turned and ran the other direction, past an unfazed Daisy and a pooped Brandon, to where Slim was, and grabbed his estoc. With one final turn, he did a humble bow, and faded away as he stood back up again.
The sudden influx of noise turned everyone's attention to the entrance, where a bartender and a man in a jumpsuit passed through, and stopped upon seeing Strieter and Shade. The taller bartender glanced at all five present before winking at Brandon and pointing at him.
"There you are, Mr. Moose, so glad you called. That moron dropped us off at the wrong end of this place, and we're sorry about that, bruh."
Brandon's gaze fell upon the shorter man, still taking a breather from presumably running the entire length of the Arena. He gritted his teeth, and gestured to the far side of the hall.
"You faggots couldn't get here any sooner? Shade's uncle is dead now, and the user responsible just got away."
The bartender shook his head, and made his way to Brandon and Slim, whereas the jumpsuiter took out a couple of napkins and handed it to Stri, who wiped away his girlfriend's tears. He grabbed Strieter's hand and shook it too wildly for it to even count as a handshake, and spoke way too fast to keep up with.
"Name's Evan. Codename Infernal. Terribly sorry about your loss, but we're gonna' take you guys back to headquarters and resolve things there, if that's-"
Strieter grasped his hand firmly and stopped the wild movement.
"Headquarters?"
The bartender laughed in his deep voice and slapped Brandon on the back.
"Cron what the hell."
"Take it easy, big man. We're taking y'all to headquarters. Nothing to worry about now, folks."
Shade turned to the bartender.
"What do you mean, nothing to worry about?"
Cron grinned.
"The Director is in."