"How many?"

"Just Surge and Sabrina." Bill rubbed the back of his head. "And Steven and Cynthia, partially. Yourself?"

A leaned back against the tree. "Bruno, Koga and Pearl."

"I've burnt pretty much all my resources and set-ups on Sabrina. And your tank stopped working. But we both want Napoleon de..."

"Yes."

Bill smiled. It wasn't a nice smile. "Well then. I think we might have ourselves a mutual enemy."

From his well-hidden spot of concealment on a nearby rooftop, Napoleon pressed the scope up to his eye, scanning the building's windows.

Nothing. It was completely dark.

Bill and A had set themselves up in an office supply building, just on the outskirts of the town. They'd blocked up the windows. And Napoleon really did not want to have to be the first one inside.

The fury was still there. But it was cold. He was in full control.

He shuffled onto his side. "You ready?"

Aoooo gave a determined nod. "He... killed Sabrina."

Napoleon nodded sympathetically. "You go in first. I'll cover you from here."

Aoooo grunted, then pushed herself to her feet and walked over to the door. Napoleon adjusted his rifle, shuffling around to a more comfortable position.

Four minutes later, a thundering roar split the air. A huge, brown shape lunged out of the alley downstairs, then took off at full pelt towards the office building. Within seconds, it hit the front door, flinging it off its hinges.

There was another roar, followed by a series of explosions. Napoleon could actually track Aoooo's progress through the building based on the flashes of light shining through the windows. He kept his rifle trained on the building.

Five minutes later, and the door on the roof of the office supply building was flung open. Bill stumbled out, sliding out of sight around a corner. A few seconds later, Aoooo followed. The werewolf had burns all down the right side of her body, pens sticking out of her chest and face, and what looked to be a giant staple-remover clamped around her right shoulder. It just seemed to be making her angrier, though.

Napoleon was about to try and take a shot at Bill when a figure burst out of the office building's front door. A.

Napoleon lined up the shot. She didn't know where he was. There was no hurry.

He lined her up in the crosshairs. Even from here, he could see the hatred on her face, her lips curled back in rage as she tried to locate him.

And there... we... g...

An explosion from the office building roof broke his concentration. He fired, but the shot went wide.

And somehow, A caught the noise.

Her head snapped up. Her eyes locked onto his. And went wide with fury.

Napoleon tried to get a second shot off, but A was too fast. The girl left his line of sight, heading towards his building.

Up on the roof, Aoooo was still trying to bring down Bill. In the corner of his eye, Napoleon watched Bill leap off an air conditioning vent and deliver a full payload of pepper spray to Aoooo's face. The werewolf howled, thrashing about madly.

Napoleon took a deep beath and got to his feet, climbing up onto the concrete shell that surrounded the door that A would have to come through. He prepped his rifle, swallowing.

This was not an ideal situation.

The doors were flung open, and a dark figure flew through. Napoleon fired, caching it in the midsection.

It clattered to the ground. It was a shop dummy.

A hand snaked around the doorframe, latching onto his arm. Napoleon was ripped from his purch and shoved into the hard concrete below.

A kicked him in the face. Hard. "I am going to FUCKING KILL YOU!"

Stars danced across Napoleon's vision. Fighting off the grogginess, he lashed out, catching A in the back of the knee. The girl slipped, hitting the ground next to him.

Napoleon rolled over, climbing on top of her, grabbing her throat in both hands. "You killed Pearl."

A spat in his face, then lashed out with a right cross that caught him in the face like a sledgehammer. Napoleon fell backwards. A scrabbled to her feet, yanking her knife out of its sheath. "Fuck you!"

She came in hard. Napoleon scrabbled backwards, then rolled to the side, barely avoiding having the knife shoved into his throat. The rifle had slid across the roof, coming to rest against the wall. If he could just...

A came in again. Napoleon jerked backwards, the tip of the knife actually touching the skin of his face. The boy flipped himself over and dived across the rooftop, going for the weapon.

A charged forward.

Napoleon grabbed the rifle.

The knife came down.

The gun came up.

Bang.

A came to a stop. The barrel of the rifle was pressed up against her sternum. And a thick, red stain was steadily spreading across her clothing.

A blinked. "W... what?"

The knife clattered to the ground. She raised a trembling hand to her chest. "But... I was..."

Napoleon gave the rifle a light shove, then pulled it away. A stumbled backwards, then to the side. Her eyes locked onto his, and for a second, there wasn't even any anger, only sadness. "...Brendan."

Then, A slid off the edge off the roof, and disappeared into space.

Groaning in pain, Napoleon climbed to his feet. Still groggy from A's onslaught, he stumbled across to the edge of the roof, looking over.

The crumpled, broken form of A lay still in the streets below.

She was very, most definitely, dead.

Pearl was avenged.

...

And it did not help one bit.

Movement caught his eye. Napoleon looked up, just in time to see Bill fling a hunk of what looked like meat in Aoooo's direction. Aoooo caught it in her jaws, growled angrily, and then it exploded.

Aoooo's entire top half was just ripped away. Bill's legs fell out from under him, and he went down onto his knees, panting with exhaustion.

Then his head came up. His gaze locked onto Napoleon. And the message was clear.

'You're next.'

Napoleon raised his rifle. But he wasn't quick enough.

Bill dropped out of sight. He was gone.