Chapter Twenty One

Bruvesqkan Brawlers

JANUS

The small slit in the door of the Bruvesqkan Brawlers opened a fraction and two beady eyes appeared. "Passphrase?"

The charge went off, blowing the door clean off its hinges and taking the shrieking bouncer with it. Smoke filled the entrance of the club as Janus and Hansel stepped through it into the dimly lit corridor, illuminated only by flickering red lamps set at erratic intervals.

"I know we agreed to do whatever it takes," Hansel cocked his shotgun and swung it to his shoulder. "But this feels like suicide."

"Eyes up," Janus' voice was an icy whisper from behind his mask. "You know what we're walking into."

"Yeah I do. Suicide." Hansel took aim over Janus' shoulder as Janus drew an arrow and nocked it in the new takedown recurve bow he'd taken from Cheyenne's inventory.

The two of them had restocked their gear and made some extensive upgrades before coming over to Saltoni's fight club. Everyone in the city - civilian or criminal - knew that Saltoni ran the largest criminal empire in Bruvesqk, and the best men were on his payroll. Breaking into Saltoni's fight club to demand a meet with him was tantamount to suicide - as Hansel had reasonably complained - but they both knew that this was their only option available. They were going to have a word with Saltoni tonight, no matter the cost.

The first shouts echoed down the corridor, where the path branched into two. Janus tightened his grip on his bow and raised it as Saltoni's men began emerging from behind walls to charge them. Three, six, seven. Janus counted the men rushing the two of them as he loosed his arrow. Six.

The remaining men stepped over their fallen comrade and continued towards Janus and Hansel in an attempt to stop them where they stood. A deafening crack from beside Janus' ear, and another of Saltoni's goons went down in a spray of blood, tumbling backwards and staggering the five behind him.

Janus leapt forward, loosing another four arrows within the span of a few seconds and hitting his targets without fail. The last man still alive tried to get up, raising both hands to plead for mercy but Janus slammed the riser of his bow across the man's jaw and felled him.

"You asshole," Hansel said as he finished reloading his shotgun. "Couldn't leave any for me?"

"Maybe you're just too slow," Janus said with no mirth intended. He strode across the fallen goons and went left at the fork. The sign on the wall indicated that the fight club was further down the hallway and in the basement, which was exactly where they would find Saltoni.

As Janus turned the corner, someone jumped him with a yell. The assailant tried to bear Janus to the ground, but he rolled with the drop, forcing the figure off him and delivering a spinning heel kick in the same breath. The assailant - a wiry looking man - sprawled, and Hansel crushed his nose with a boot.

In the few moments Janus took to deal with his attacker, scores of goons and thugs poured from rooms down the long hallway and up from the basement, some with brass knuckles and others with chains, knives, axes and pistols.

"Want to bet Saltoni already knows we're here?" Hansel asked.

Ignoring the Witch Hunter, Janus limbered his bow across his back and drew a new, black-hilted katana whose freshly polished blade reflected traces of red lamp light that the men carried in their charge.

The first man to reach Janus met his demise before he could raise his weapon, courtesy of a blade through the face. As the second stepped over his dead comrade, Janus thrust his sword through his heart in one, swift motion, then tore his blade free. A measured slash and he felled two more.

Hansel fought by his side, racking up the body count in his own way. The Witch Hunter emptied another slug into the sea of Saltoni's thugs, the stab of flare lighting up the room for a split second. Flipping his shotgun round, he caught the butt of the weapon and swung the barrel into a goon's cheek. Whipping it round again, he slammed the shotgun into someone's throat, then kicked the man backwards to stumble those behind him.

Though aware of what Hansel was doing beside him, Janus never kept his eye off his assailants. Another died before he could attempt a strike, and Janus pulled his katana out of blood and guts, slicing through the air and cutting off someone's nose. A thug tried to get in behind him to clobber him to the ground, but Janus brought his sword arm round, smashing the pommel of the katana into his temple, eliciting a cry of agony that was cut shot as Janus drove his gauntleted fist into his throat.

Whirling round, he saw more rushing him from all sides. He raised the bladed gauntlet that guarded his forearm and swung it in a wide arc, bringing up a spray of blood as the men he'd hit shrieked. A few quick slashes of his katana, and they cried out no longer.

The bodies strewn all over the hallway, Janus hurtled towards the ones he'd yet to kill. He paused mid-step as Hansel hurled a goon across his path to collide through one of the doors, and continued, stepping off a fallen body to spring into the air above the fresh enemies. Lifting a pellet from his belt, he hurled it to the ground and it exploded in a cloud of thick smoke as he landed on one of the men, feeling bones crunching beneath the impact.

The coughing and indignant shouts of the men in the smoke gave away their positions. Janus made quick work of them before the smoke dissipated, and pressed on towards the end of the hallway where the stairs led down to the fight club. Halfway there.

A figure lunged at Janus' side as he passed by an open door, and Janus found himself bulled into the wall. His ribs lit up as though on fire, but he brought both elbows down into the man's upper back, following up with a vicious chop of the forearm against the back of his assailant's neck. As the man loosened his grip on Janus' waist, he threw a knee into the man's solar plexus and hurled him into someone else.

A chain wrapped around his neck, and Janus used his free hand to stop it before it could choke him out completely. Struggling to breathe, he dropped his katana and twisted round to grab the taut chain with his free hand. A big man held the other end of the chain, tugging Janus towards him but Hansel slammed into his flank and stumbled him.

Given the opening, Janus slipped the chain off his neck and yanked the big man towards him. He stretched out an arm and the man collided with it, going down in a heap.

Before he could acknowledge Hansel with a nod, Janus narrowly dodged a lunge by a thug armed with a knife. His katana on the ground and out of reach, Janus brandished the chain with both hands, seizing the man's wrist and entangling it as the thug tried to stab him again. A vicious jerk and the wrist snapped, the knife falling out of the man's hand as he screamed. Janus whipped the chain up, catching the man in the teeth and throwing his boot into his stomach.

Vaulting over the thug to reach his katana, he lashed out with a spin kick that felled two more, and side-stepped a lanky goon who tried to charge him. He threw the chain around the man's neck and halted him in mid-air, tugging him back to drive a knee into his spine. Scooping up his katana, he whipped the chain one-handed and caught another man's ankle. As he yanked hard, Hansel flew across his path, a fist hurled into the man caught in the chain.

Janus spun with blade and chain at the ready, but there was nothing that remained but silence. Silence and the groans of the men he'd left alive. Turning back to see the carnage he and Hansel had wrought, he wasn't surprised to see the entire hallway littered with bodies, the walls splattered with blood and chipped paint.

"Too far to turn back now," Hansel said as he cleaned his knife on a dead man's shirt. "You need a moment to catch your breath?"

"No." Janus dropped the chain and sheathed his newly stained katana. "You?"

"Hell no." Hansel swept his hand grandly, gesturing Janus forward. "After you."

Janus descended the stairs with Hansel close at his heels. The atmosphere that met them was both electric and disorienting, but not entirely foreign. The enormous basement level was like a stadium all by itself, with the smell of blood and sweat lingering heavily in the air. Men and women were packed so closely together in the stands to watch the fights and place their bets on their favourite fighters. They stood or sat on benches that overlooked a steel cage - a cage containing two men stripped down to their shorts and brawling it out with everything they had.

It was only now that Janus understood what Cheyenne had been trying to tell him. The Bruvesqkan Brawlers wasn't just any ordinary fight club run by the mid-level crooks or even some of the other crime families. Saltoni's establishment here was the biggest one there was in Bruvesqk, and with the boss himself here, the odds of Janus and Hansel getting through security was going to be a hell of a challenge. By now, Saltoni would know that there were two intruders in his club, which made things far more difficult.

Scanning the stadium proved fruitless. Saltoni would no doubt be somewhere safe, watching the night's fights in the privacy of his own balcony, lounge or suite. A balcony had been built away from the stadium itself, but a thick screen obscured whoever was behind it. No doubt Saltoni was behind it, and there was no way Janus was going to get to him. Even his grapnel arrow wouldn't get him through the thick screen. Unless…

"Janus?" Hansel hissed above the din of cheers and boos as Janus pushed his way into the crowd. "Janus!"

The myth of Prometheus was about to be put to rest, the mystique of his being about to die. Everyone was about to know that the masked man wasn't just an urban legend, but that he was very real, and he'd come for Saltoni.

Is it worth it? Janus found himself asking as he pushed towards the steel cage in the centre of the stadium. Hansel and himself had exhausted every other means and possibilities, but too much time had passed since Gretel hadn't returned from Moordeloch a couple of days ago. More likely than not, she'd been captured during the mission or worse…he didn't want to think about it.

Hansel was willing to do whatever it took to get her back, and so was he. He wasn't about to let another death of someone he cared about stain his conscience. Not again.

He arrived at the very front of the crowd with a frantic Hansel in tow. By this time, many had already noticed the infamous archer in the mask and hood in their midst, and the air was filled with gasps amidst the shouts of those still watching the fight going on in the steel cage. Janus unsheathed his katana and slashed at the padded lock holding the cage door shut. It shattered in two, sparking screams from a couple of ladies in the front row.

"Prometheus!" Hansel hissed again desperately, remaining behind even as Janus kicked open the cage door and walked into the arena.

The two fighters in the cage, already exhausted and bloodied, stopped focusing on each other and stared in confusion at the man in the mask carrying a katana. Both men, seemingly sharing an unspoken truce, charged Janus at the same time.

Janus turned aside the jab of one of the men, slamming the pommel of his katana against the bridge of his nose and snapping his head back. Using his free hand, he promptly caught the other man by the arm as he lunged blindly and missed, and drove a boot into his back, sending him clanging against the steel cage.

The cheering and jeering devolved into screams. Some scrambled for the exit, while others remained glued to their benches with wide, terrified eyes. But all movement ceased when a shotgun went off, the noise reverberating through the stadium and silencing everyone.

"Everyone shut the hell up and sit down!" Hansel bellowed, his shotgun still pointed to the high ceiling. "We're not here for you."

"Boss Saltoni!" Janus shouted at the top of his lungs, katana still gripped firmly in hand. "I know you're here tonight! Show yourself!"

Another two pistol shots went off, this time far above the steel cage. Tracing the sound back to the source, Janus found the balcony's privacy screen pulled back, two men with pistols raised in the air and flanking a well-dressed heavyset man with a blonde ponytail sitting on a couch.

"Enough!" The man stood, resting his hands on the balcony's parapet. "What is the meaning of this?"

"I'm here to speak with you, Boss Saltoni!" Janus shouted. "You know who I am and what I'm capable of. Call off your men and let's talk."

"Of course I know who you are, Prometheus." Saltoni spread his hands. "We all do."

Janus' eye flicked about. Everyone was staring at him, both regular civilians and criminals alike.

"It seems tales of the masked archer are true," Saltoni called out in a loud voice that everyone in the hushed stadium could hear. "Which is why I'm about to propose a wager, in the spirit of sportsmanship."

Janus' eye narrowed behind the mask, but he kept silent.

"You want to speak with me, but you've disrupted the fights that the fair citizens of Bruvesqk paid to watch." Saltoni indicated the masses. "For that, there must be a price to pay."

"What do you want?" Janus asked.

"Recently, they've been saying you singlehandedly tore through thirty of Tulgari's boys and seventy of Corben's," Saltoni smiled. "We would all like to see for ourselves if you really are capable of such a feat."

"I'm not here to play games," Janus growled.

"Oh, but you will play," Saltoni said. "You are in my stronghold now, and if you really wish to speak with me face to face, you will play by my rules." He held up eight fingers. "Eight of my best enforcers. Handpicked and trained to perfection. If you can beat them all in the cage, you will get your audience with me afterwards."

Eight. Janus glanced at Hansel, who shrugged. Eight wasn't bad odds at all, considering the obstacles he'd encountered over the past couple of years. Edgardo had turned the Syndicate against him once before, and he'd put down almost all of them in his rage. He'd also faced the Imperial Horde, Mage Slayers and the goddamn Soulless before, not to mention the immortal Emperor Hans. This was going to be a cake walk, but Janus knew enough to not underestimate his opponents or let his guard down.

"No weapons, no tricks," Saltoni went on. "Rules of the house. You will fight with your bare hands until someone dies."

"How do I know you'll keep your word?" Janus asked.

Saltoni raised a hand. "Unlike the scum and thieves on the streets, we here represent a better class of criminal. On my honour, you will have your audience if you win. If you lose," he smirked. "Everyone will know the myths are just that."

Janus began removing his gear - his daggers, pellets, quiver, bow, sword and even his bladed gauntlets - and handed them over to Hansel who came into the steel cage to collect them.

"You sure you wanna do this?" Hansel said in a low voice. "I wanna save my sister too, but this…maybe we can find another way."

"I'll handle it," Janus said, keeping his mask and hood on. "We'll get our audience with Saltoni tonight. You just sit tight and wait."

Nodding in gratitude, Hansel retreated back to the exterior of the steel cage as eight bare-bodied men marched into the cage.

As a couple of Saltoni's thugs replaced the broken padlock to lock the cage door shut, Janus looked back up at Saltoni. "Let's get this over with."

"Excellent," Saltoni smiled contentedly and sat back down. "Then place your bets, ladies and gentlemen, and let the match begin."

Author's Commentary:

The past couple of years, we've seen some amazing hallway fight scenes from Star Wars, DC, Marvel and the like. I thought it would be nice to create one of my own.

An enclosed, tight corridor. Shady, flickering red lights. A ton of thugs. All trapped with Janus, who's out for blood. Oh, and of course Hansel too, with his shotgun.

Visceral, extreme violence, all with the right mood creates a nice set piece. And next, the steel cage.