(Thanks to angie2282, zackt2010, Zro-Kemuri 9t6, AlexTheMortal, and jamesss for the reviews! All answers shall be answered about Rose, and indeed others ;) later on in the story. For now, let's contemplate this title as we read, shall we?)
"Weaklings... everyone..." The ugly Papa Hades groaned, his beefy hands on his head. "Two... already..." Hades suddenly stood up to look at the remaining mutants with such ferocity in his glare they moved back from him. Even the giant Hansel drew back. "Don't... disappoint!"
"B-b-but see... father... s-see..." The smaller, shadow-dwelling Grabber said from the corner. "I-I saw S-S-Stabbers head-d explode. H-how, I d-d-do not know. B-but it was to d-do with a p-peculiar woman-n."
Hades looked straight towards Hansel and Letch. "Go! Get the woman!" When the two mutants hesitated, Hades stood full height. "Now!"
Immediately the two left the cavern, leaving Grabber alone with his father. "Traps. Now. Go!"
"Y-y-yes!" Grabber turned and scuttled through the door.
Hades turned around and picked his large axe up, before looking to the two bound woman tied to two tables by ropes. "I'll back." With that, Hades left Lorraine and Christine alone in the cold cavern.
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William, Zeke, and Trent finally realised that Leslie and Conner were gone from their group, and they weren't seen anywhere.
"Where could they have gone?" Zeke asked out loud, looking for any trap holes in the hill, but seeing none.
"I do not know..." William said morosely, before glancing at Zeke. "However, we must carry on. Only three mutants are left until we defeat Papa Hades."
Zeke took a deep breath, but he trusted William. "It's best we continue on then. If he's in danger, we have to continue. That's the only way forward." Zeke took off again, very almost to the top of the hill now.
William looked to Trent, before following.
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After only five minutes, the three men finally came across a wooden trap-door in the earth, at the summit of the hill. It was painted grey, so if you weren't looking, you would have missed it.
"So. Who's first?" Zeke said, looking to William and Trent. "I'd say the person with the most fighting prowess."
"Indeed." William agreed, looking at Trent.
Trent sighed, and shook his head. "Sure. Team up on the stereotypical gang member." Still shaking his head, Trent knelt down over the trapdoor and placed his hand on a handle when the door suddenly shot up, hitting him straight into the jaw. As Trent rolled back, Hansel climbed from the hole, standing almost a foot taller than William. Following Hansel came Letch, who had a lethal looking machete.
Hansel didn't wait, and with a feral roar he charged over Trent, and tackled hard into Zeke. Zeke felt the full force of the force, and fell backwards, hitting the hard floor.
As Hansel went after Zeke, Letch stabbed down with his machete towards Trent, aiming to end it quickly. But Trent suddenly brought up his own knife, blocking the blow. He got to his feet and sliced, but Letch strafed to the side and stabbed his own. Trent blocked it and bent forward in a test of strength, the two weapons struggling against each other.
"You're one ugly mother-fucker, aren't you?" Trent said, sneering.
Letch replied by spitting in Trent's face, but before Trent could react, Zeke ploughed into both of them, before rolling on the ground, his lip bleeding. Trent shook his head and stood up, now noticing his blade a couple of the meters. But the same was said for Letch, who gave Hansel and irritated glance, before running over to Zeke.
Zeke, his head pounding, was glad of the change and thrust his fist into Letch's jaw, catching the mutant off guard. Letch came back with a growl, aiming to punch Zeke, but Zeke caught the fist, and instantly ice formed around Letch's arm. Letch drew back, shaking his fist in pain as the cold seeped into the skin. He tried to smash it against the ground, but this resulted in Letch's arm bursting into tiny pieces.
As Letch roared in pain, Zeke glanced to Trent, who was in the process of being smashed repeatedly against the floor by Hansel. Zeke shook his head, and ran forward, before jumping and catching onto Hansel's torso. Hansel stumbled, but quickly threw Zeke off of him, who landed next to Trent.
"Having fun?" Zeke dryly retorted.
"What do you think?" Trent asked, bleeding from the forehead, his top ripped.
"No?" Zeke guessed.
"OF COURSE I'M HAVING FUN!" Trent yelled out, grinning, before shooting forward and punching Hansel in the stomach. This of course, had no effect, and Hansel grabbed Trent's face and lifted him. But then Zeke placed his hand on the ground, and ice started to form around Hansel's legs, up to his knees. Surprised, Hansel dropped Trent, who grinned despite the blood running down his face.
"Destroy the ice." Zeke said, but suddenly was tackled by Letch, who was growling with anger. Zeke hit the floor hard, and before he knew it, a rock bashed against his cheek. Zeke managed to raise his arm to block the next attack, but it scraped the skin of his arm. Letch continued to pound with the rock, practically grating Zeke's arm.
As Letch tackled Zeke, Trent had heeded his words, and had kicked at the ice, to know result. Hansel glared at Trent in anger, and Trent took a different approach. He ran a few metres back, before charging forward and effectively rugby tackling Hansel. Hansel fell back, but due to the ice, his legs broke clean off from where the ice had covered them, leaving blood to spill to the floor as Hansel paled slightly and tried to get up to no avail.
Trent looked at the legless Hansel, and grinned, calmly walking over to his knife, and picking it up. He walked back, and looked to Hansel, who was now limp, blood draining from his body. "Guess you're time is up." Trent said, before stabbing his knife into Hansel's skull, but it didn't go all the way in, and Hansel screamed in pain, blood spilling from his mouth. Trent frowned, before stomping on the knife once, driving it further in. Another stomp, and the blade finally entered Hansel's skull, killing him.
Trent flicked his knife off and turned to Zeke, who had encased Letch completely in ice. "Need any help?"
"None." Zeke replied, turning away from the frozen solid Letch. "The cold will kill him."
"Fair enough." Trent shrugged, and sheathed his knife.
Zeke turned to William, who had stayed back from the fighting. "Now what?"
William looking to Zeke. "Well, we go after the last one, called Grabber. Mind you, I personally think Trent could beat him on his own..."
"What do you mean?" Zeke said, wiping blood of his lip, but froze as William leered down at him, a horrifying sneer on his face.
"It means we don't need you anymore."
Zeke stared in shock at these words, but started forward. Zeke went for a punch, but William moved sideways, causing Zeke to fall forwards, off balance. "W-what the hell William!"
"What do you mean?" William asked. "I merely see you as a threat to me."
"A threat? How in the name of hell am I a threat to you?"
"You are by far the strongest out of all of them, since Paige was... disposed of."
"Disposed of? You told us she left, she ran away!"
Trent strolled into view. "Guess what, ya damn prick. He's lying! You never should have trusted us in the first place, hell, I even killed Zach!"
"Lying?" Zeke's face paled. "W-what do you mean... lying?"
"Oh. Trent here took care of Paige." William said, waving his hand.
Zeke shook his head. "No... no way... but then, what about Leslie?"
"I killed him. He was getting to strong as well, he was suspicious. He needed to be dispatched."
"Then Damian? Jeffrey? Even Rain?" Zeke questioned, enraged.
"Oh. Those were accidents. I likely would have got rid of Jeffrey and Rain, but those two were the only threat to me, apart from Paige and of course, you. If Damian got into a normal trap, I'd let him live."
"You would have killed Rain? Wasn't Jeffrey your business partner?"
"Of course he was. And he knows too much about me. Well, enough talk Zeke Kurosagi." William suddenly put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a small slim pistol.
"No!" Zeke heard a woman's voice shout, but William pressed the trigger. Zeke watched, as if in slow motion, the bullet travel through the air, before burying itself in his belly. Zeke's eyes widened as intense pain filled his body. Through blurred sight as he fell to his knees, he saw a woman appear with what looked like a gun in her hands. He saw Trent suddenly clutch his leg in pain, before William hand exploded in blood, and then his shoulder was shot. The woman very quickly pulled two handcuffs, and cuffed the two men.
After this was done, she quickly jogged to Zeke. "Zeke? Can you hear me? Zeke!"
Zeke wanted to talk, but out his mouth came no words. As he fell back, the woman's face came more and more blurred as she leant over him
"Zeke! Please, respond! Nod, do anything!"
Zeke tried to do as such, but his body didn't respond, didn't move. Finally, his sight started to fade, but he wrestled with himself to stay awake.
"... for her..." he heard the woman say, but her voice dipped in and out of his mind. "... do it... Tan... loves..."
Zeke smiled, feeling cold for once in the last ten years. Before he fell completely unconscious, he heard three words which completely changed his mind set.
"Tanzi is alive!"
At this, Zeke smiled; hope filling his body. Zeke pushed from the ground, the world silent. The woman smiled, but then Zeke cried out at the effort and fell back, the darkness finally coming over him and his eyes closed.