Bullets sprayed down a hallway, blind fire that hit all of nothing. The echo of gunfire gave way to eerie silence; a nervous thug couldn’t bear the silence, and shot another burst from his rifle.
“Show yourself!” The man screamed. “We know you’re in here!”
But only stony silence responded.
His comrade shoved him rudely. “Hey dumbass!” He said. “Don’t fire until you get a lead on your sights! We don’t want to hit the wrong person here!”
The first man looked down sheepishly, reloading his poorly spent magazine.
“If we kill the girl bossman will have our hides.” The second gruffly muttered. “Besides, she’ll be a great ransom once we catch her…”
Kaolin Sanguinite watched the two among a trio of armed men storm down the hallway—from a camera feed to his scroll. The barracks was a large establishment; this contingent was moving through the main halls toward what used to be the holding cells. He was fighting along a stairway at the other end of the barracks—was being the keyword, as several rooftop invaders laid unconscious at his feet. He frowned, the bloodied metal claws on his hands twitching with impatience.
“Hey Ignia,” Kaolin said through his scroll, “we’ve got a big group coming in from the center. Have you dispatched the other guys?”
“Hang on.” A static voice replied. Some loud bangs, a series of metal clangs and screaming echoed through to his end. “Done.” The voice rasped. “I’m meet you at the cells. Where’s the boss and the brat?”
“Don’t know.” The scientist responded irritatingly. A groan could be heard in the background; one goon struggled to aim a rifle at Kaolin. He responded in kind by kicking him back down into unconsciousness, exacerbating the bloody wounds already present. “Probably still sitting pretty back at the holding cell.”
A bitter hiss sheared through the comms. “If that bastard’s sipping tea I’m gonna skin him alive!” Ingia growled. The link sputtered static for a bit before going silent as Ignia disconnected from the scroll.
Kaolin raced up the steps to the door leading to the roof. Another pair of thugs burst in from the roof, but Kaolin was already on top of them, cutting their rifles into metallic ribbons and carving into their flesh with his sharp talons. He kicked the door closed and jammed it shut with a piece of what probably used to be a gun.
Safety hazard, these inward-opening doors, he thought, but a blessing today.
He raced back down the stairs and kicked down another man who dared to utter a moan of pain. By the time he managed to reach the top level of the main cell room, the action was already unfolding around him.
At the lowest level was a swarm of men brandishing clubs and bats, pistols and rifles, at least a score heavy. A few even boasted shotguns. Some had managed to reach the second level, these being better armed and armored.
Sweeping through the bottom level with an almost carelessness, if not outright recklessness, was a indigo-haired woman clad in blue metal-scale blouse and a likewise heavy-looking skirt. Her long katana carved wide swaths through the foes, leaving deep incisions and blood spurts in her wake.
She gave a thunderous roar; all of the men still standing stopped advancing forward to focus on the immediate and deadly threat. Bullets peppered her way but she expertly weaved through the spray and between the advancing melee goons; the few that managed to connect bounced harmlessly off her aura.
Ignia Burnside, cyan eyes aflame, sliced through her foes with unrelenting destruction.
A thug wielding a bat tried to creep up behind her, only to suddenly eat frozen Dust; she dropped to the floor with an icy clank. Kaolin struck down more who spilled in from his advantageous vantage point, lines of Dust glowing from his claws that reached out and blasted enemies from afar.
However, a new group of combatants suddenly emerged from the stairway—from the entrance that Kaolin had just come from. The scientist swore under his breath, strafing sideways and away from the doorway as all three levels of the compound was now suddenly filled with hostile strangers. Bullets hammered at the railings around him, leaving boisterous clangs as they impacted metal.
“Damn it Mal!” He screamed into his scroll. “Where the hell are ya!?”
Lily sat frozen in the corner of the cell, unsure of what to make of the strange man’s offer. Mal stood silently across from her, welcoming hand still extended, though a slight tapping of the foot hinted at impatience.
[Make up your mind soon, dear.] He wrote. [Our visitors may not have as kind an intent as we do.]
I can’t trust this weirdo. She thought. I won’t trust him. But if I can get the heck outta this joint, I’ll play along.
She slowly got up, the Helschpammer still aimed in his general direction. “Okay…” She faked a smile. “I guess you guys could use a little help honoring our new ‘guests’.”
She accepted his offer with a handshake. [Good.] Mal wrote. [The other should be greeting them as we speak. Let’s go.]
Together, they exited the confined chamber and raced down the hall. No sooner did they turn a second left, however, a hail of bullets forced Mal to screech to a stop, grab onto Lily and jump back from the corner to avoid the incoming lead.
Quickly returning to his feet, Mal brandished his twin hooks, and, using the opposite wall as a platform, he leapt straight into the fray, a trio of goons, spinning and slicing away their guns and clubs into shreds, before stabbing each one with singular precision as they tried to approach him unarmed.
As the last fell, grunting from her wounds, Lily walked past the threshold with Helschpammer aimed, only to be stunned by how quickly Mal had dispatched these foes—which he had scarcely had time to see—with frightening ease.
[Are you injured?] He asked.
“N-no, I’m good.” She replied.
[Excellent.] He grinned again, that annoying mud-faced smile, Lily thought. He gestured toward the next hallway.
Before she followed, she took one last look at the bloodied bodies crumpled around the floor. No, she thought, these are definitely not papa’s men…
As they continued their way through the snaking chambers—stopping once as Lily managed to gun down an unsuspecting thug, twice to receive Kaolin’s irritated message—they managed to reach the middle level the main room.
“Hey four-eyes!” A roar emanated from across the room. Ignia was already kicking down any stragglers who dared to move. “Took ya long enough to crawl here.” She scowled.
Mal dropped to her level, Lily in tow, to greet the disgruntled teammate.
[Did you kill any of the trespassers?] Mal inquired.
“No…” Ignia muttered.
Mal tilted his head, unconvinced.
“I didn’t kill any of them.” She insisted, rolling her light blue eyes. “As much as I want to kill them, I’m not an idiot; I know my probation.”
[Good. Let’s keep it that way.] He smiled, giving her a “congratulatory” pat on the back, which only served to flare her temper. He carelessly motioned toward Kaolin as she continued to seethe with rage.
Lily gave the simmering samurai a wide berth; she had no doubts that this woman could easily cleave Mal or Kaolin—much less herself—in two should she deem it so. Her fears were confirmed when she started kicking the bodies to vent her rage; some of them still conscious let out agonizing screams, and sometimes the sickening sound of crunching bone could be heard.
This only served to frighten Lily all the more, but not of Ignia, of Mal. If he has the power to keep her in check… what is he?
Kaolin hopped to the bottom level, rolling to absorb the shock. “Yo,” the mangy scientist beckoned, a hint of annoyance under his breath, “you missed the party. Show’s over.”
Mal sighed and shrugged. [Sorry, had to straighten my hoodi—]
Suddenly, a deafening roar reverberated from the entrance hall. It wasn’t a human’s voice; this sound was much more deep and guttural, the sound of a lumbering beast.
“Uh, boss…” Kaolin hesitated. “You don’t think they had some pets with them, do you?”
[A plausible hypothesis.] Mal replied.
A second roar bellowed from the halls, before a pair of red eyes greeted the four people in the room. The beast rammed into the room, demolishing the small doorway with ease, sending a cloud of dust billowing into the main room.
Lily instinctively slunk behind the nearest person, before realizing that was Ignia; she snarled, and the teenage miscreant stepped away from her shadow. The moment gave her time to see what had crashed through.
A range of white, pointed spines rose from the dust, followed by a large black mass. The bloody red eyes from behind the ornate mask scanned the room before locking on to the four standing people at the center.
It was an ursa major, and it did not seem to enjoy being held as a kingpin’s “pet. It began charging at the four, swatting aside its wounded captors like rapier wasps in favor of the more immediate threat.
Mal charged the Grimm with his hooks, deflecting its heavy claws with ease. However, the ursa was not reckless; it quickly spun to keep its vulnerable underside away from the blades, while the spines on its back threatened to keep Mal at bay.
Kaolin and Ignia responded by jumping straight for the spines; their attack carried their momentum through to the beast, spinning it back to face Mal. Sensing what was transpiring, the ursa slammed into the ground, the shockwave forcing everyone to stumble to the floor, with Kaolin and Ignia flying behind the Grimm.
The momentary freedom allowed the ursa to turn away from Mal again, taking a wide swipe at Kaolin and Ignia. They were scarcely able to put their weapons in front of them to take the brunt of the force, but were nevertheless knocked back a fair ways off.
The nimble beast spun again, bringing both paws crashing down on Mal. But the bespectacled man was prepared, locking his blades with his aggressor’s claws. He gritted his teeth as the impact pressed him against the floor; pain shot through his entire body like a hot knife.
But despite the damage, Mal kept pace with the ursa blow for blow. Ignia tried to cut at the ursa’s back, while Kaolin fired a few fireballs as well; neither of them fazed the beast, let alone damaged it, as it continued on rampaging toward Mal. He himself couldn’t break out of the dance to strike at a weak spot either.
Suddenly, a hail of paintballs peppered the great beast. Barely stopping to notice at first, the ursa suddenly lurched in agony as smoke began to pour from the paint. A grinning Lily dropped an exhausted drum magazine in exchange for a new one, and continued to fire a monstrous stream of paint from Helschpammer at the ursa.
The colorful dots, having had no lasting effect on human assailants, etched away at the ursa’s spines, shell and body.
Lily leapt forth, diving underneath the roaring Grimm while sending Helschpammer into pike form, and jammed it straight into the ursa’s chest. It screamed of pain and suffering, and scraped at Lily, but she dislodged herself and out of harm’s way in a flash.
Finally, Mal had enough breathing room to land more critical blows against the ursa, cutting away an arm here and a leg there. Ignia, also seizing on the opportunity, leapt forward and, with a heavy grunt, dropped her sword in one massive downward cleave, cleanly bifurcating the giant Grimm. The beast let out one final, mournful wail before its body decayed into the ether.
Mal breathed a sigh of relief. The other two also seemed to ease slightly, as they watched Lily stand with a triumphant look over where the ursa major had stood moments ago. “Yeah, suck it, Grimm!”
Mal, however, remained vigilant, as he scanned the area for any more surprises. He checked his scroll one, twice, to affirm that there were no more enemies in the vicinity. Nothing showed up on radar.
He gave the others the “all clear” signal. Ignia sheathed her katana. “Well that was a nasty surprise, don’t ya think?” She hissed. Kaolin just slumped over on a wall, exhausted.
[I did not think they would be so desperate as to send a Grimm after Lily.] Mal concurred. He walked over to Lily, who was still basking in her own achievement. He put his hand on her shoulder.
[You did good today, kid.] He smiled wearily; for the first time, Lily believed it to be genuine. “Aw, it was nothing.” She gloated.
The sun was nearly beyond the horizon, leaving behind a dark red-and-blue wake. The fractured moon crept skyward from the other end.
At the front of the barracks was a continuous flow of ambulances; more than three dozen armed goons had invaded in hopes of capturing Lily Valkyrie, and none of them came out unscathed. [Competition,] as Mal had put it.
In the back parked a limousine and several escort vehicles. A large, well-to-do man stepped out of the long and lavish car. Mal, Kaolin and Ignia—battered but otherwise fine—stood waiting with Lily. The man welcomed Lily with open arms.
“Lily, my youngest daughter!” He rejoiced.
“Papa!” Lily ran into the man’s embrace.
“Are you okay, my sweet flower?” The man implored. “Are you hurt?”
“A few scrapes and bruises, but I’m fine.” Lily bubbly replied.
The man released himself from the embrace and stiffened his pose. “Thank you so much for finding my precious little daughter for me.”
[All in a day’s work.] Mal smiled. Ignia seemed disinterested in the interaction, while Kaolin scratched his head in a half-thanks gesture.
“If there’s anything I can do for you,” Mr. Valkyrie said, “just give me a call. The Valkyrie family is in your debt.”
[I’ll keep that in mind.] Mal bowed in courtesy.
Accepting the exchange to be over, Mr. Valkyrie turned and went back into the limousine, signaling Lily to come with. Before she could, however, text appeared in front of her.
[You performed very admirably today. You are more skilled than you let on—more than the data implies.]
She turned towards Mal. “Yeah, I get that a lot from my friends.”
He walked towards her and handed her a small card. [You know, there’s always room in these barracks for another recruit.] He winked.
“What?” She replied, confused.
[We could use another person like you on the team.]
She took the business card, slightly stunned at the proposal. “I—really?”
Mal motioned her towards her father. [Sleep on it.]
Still unsure of what to think of the situation, she stepped into the limousine. She did come around enough to wave the three goodbye, if not for the courtesy of protecting her from the thugs.
As the limo roared to life, Lily snapped out of her stupor, and carelessly discarded the card into one of the vehicle’s side panel. Yeah, like I’d join up with that smiling weirdo. But she gave the card a second glance. Although being a huntress has its perks too…
Mal waved back as the vehicles pulled away from the barracks. As he turned to reenter the barracks after a frenetic nightfall, he was met by the disapproving glances of his teammates.
[What?]
“You’re not seriously considering bringing that brat with us, are you?” Ignia flared. “She’s just a kid! And an uncultured swine at that.”
“I’m with Ignia on this one.” Kaolin agreed. “You’re not expecting her to survive the sort of missions we go on, are you?”
[She is young.] Mal reminded. [She is full of potential. She may not be the most ideal fourth, but we need to find new blood soon.] He looked up at the broken moon. [Malevolent forces are afoot, and we cannot afford to dawdle any longer.]
He entered the barracks, as do Kaolin and Ignia, exasperated and tired, and the night fell silent once more.