“Mark the targets!” Flash shouted, “Try not to kill them all if you can help it!”
“Easier said than done!” Micro yelped as he ducked under another set of bullets being fired off in his direction which shattered some of the wall above him. “We’re gonna be pinned down if we can’t manage to get outta here fast enough!”
Micro’s spider robot would shoot a non-lethal webbing to tie up most of the gangsters in their path.
From the other end of the hall…
Keiji and Aria were making their way through as many of them as possible as well. The vampboy cut through their gun’s bullets with his sword before slashing at their shins to disable them as he forced them to bleed.
Meanwhile, Aria simply walked down the hallway after him at a more casual pace, throwing windbound punches that sent those goons through multiple walls as they tried to jump out and attack her.
“Yawn. These guys aren’t putting up much of a fight at all,” she snarked.
“Don’t let it get to you,” Keiji reminded her, “There could be someone much deadlier that we aren’t--”
Just then, in between both groups, Tatsu would rear his annoyed, gravely voice upon the scene as he exited from a nearby restroom.
“Ho-lee-shit! What do we have here? As soon as someone’s boyfriend gets hurt, the entire Class of 3000 shows up,” he cackled with his right hand in his pocket.
“Guys! You’re alright?!” Keiji called out, then focused on Tatsu, “You…you’re Shinji’s brother, aren’t you? Where’s that lowlife?”
“That lowlife’s been benched,” Tatsu scoffed as he folded his arms, “I’m in charge now, so you won’t have to worry about him anymore.”
“It doesn’t matter which one of you it is,” Flash called out, “We’re gonna take you down--dead or alive if need be. We know about the chemicals you used to kill Applejack’s parents.”
Tatsu would mock him by putting his hands over his eyes and turning his wrists, faking the act of crying. “Oooh, look at me! I’m shaking in my widdle-baby boots,” with a laugh, he returned to his stance from before with one hand in his pocket, “It’s gonna take a lot more than some empty words to scare me. And for your information, I wasn’t the one who killed them--though I did sell exactly what Mr. Bartlett needed to finish his job.”
“Maybe a swift kick to the nuts oughta get the rest outta you,” Aria sneered from where she stood.
Tatsu raised his free hand and pointed at her. “...chicks like you are exactly why my old man’s no-hitting women policy is horseshit.”
“Listen you sock puppet,” Keiji rattled off, “There’s like four of us and one of you. Better stand down before you really get hurt.”
While they were talking, Micro had been using his technology to analyze everything that Tatsuya was capable of. “...Strange. He doesn’t possess any innate magic at all. In theory, this should be an easy battle…” But when he looked at that tall, muscular young man with evergreen skin, a sharp twinge of fear struck him in the back. “This isn’t good. It’s as if he’s hiding his true power. Like a set of fangs waiting to be unsheathed. And that name…Barltlett. Is that not a variety of pear?”
Since his opponent was unarmed, Flash tossed his gun aside and cracked his knuckles. “Alright then. Let’s make this a good one.”
Keiji would do the same, returning his sword to the void from whence it came. “This walking artichoke really thinks he can take us all on at once…”
Aria balled her fists--albeit hesitantly as she took a deep breath, but she had no time to think. “...I dunno about this…but the least we can do is stall until Sunset gets here.”
With that, Micro made sure to keep himself and Gilda safe behind some nearby crates. “Our odds of winning are…slim. He possesses a combat ability far beyond that of what we’re normally used to.”
But there was no more time for planning. Only action.
Flash lunged forward, taking the initiative to deck Tatsu across the face with a hefty punch. The latter took it surprisingly well and quickly recovered, blocking what would’ve been a second punch right before swiftly kneeing him in the gut, and tossing him away.
Keiji would begin his attack right after, flying at Tatsu with a jumping kick. Unfortunately for him, the latter blocked the attack with his free hand, grabbed his ankle and tossed him aside. But then, Keiji quickly recovered and started to attack with a series of swift kicks that Tatsu managed to dodge almost casually--much to the vampboy’s visual shock via a gasp.
“...!”
Suddenly, after dodging once more, Tatsu had grabbed him by the throat. But just as he did that, Aria would come from behind and wrap her arms around his neck, putting him a chokehold that forced him to let go of Keiji.
Tatsu would then respond by throwing his elbow backwards, hitting Aria dead in her face with his limb and forcing her off of him, causing her to stagger for a moment. Just as he tried to throw a punch, she grabbed his fist with her open palm, and used her opposite hand to deliver a swift uppercut to his chin which sent him up into the air.
Before he could recover, Aria would punch him once, twice, then leap into the air, grab him by the neck, and piledrive downwards, dunking him into the pavement below so hard that a crater was left upon impact.
“Damn…not bad…” Tatsu muttered as Aria leapt backwards.
“You guys okay?” Aria asked.
Keiji dusted himself off and stood up. “I’m still here.”
Flash had also recovered, dusting himself off. “Damage minimal.”
From behind cover, Micro would speak up. “Everyone. I’m trying to get a read on him, but I’m not detecting any discernible weaknesses!”
“That’s right,” Tatsu agreed with a chuckle as he stood up and cricked his neck to pop his joints back into place. “See, you bozos rely so much on magic that you’ve never stopped to consider how strong someone could get without it. You ain’t got shit on me.”
“Maybe not,” Keiji replied as he rolled his neck, “But you’re not invincible.”
“Just need to hold out a bit longer until Sunset gets here, guys…” Aria stated as she readied herself once more, “I don’t think we’re strong enough to beat him even with our powers.”
Flash jumped in place as he prepared himself once more. “Well I’m no quitter. I’m through running. We keep going until there’s nothing left. Semper fi and all that. But I’ve got one question for ya: What exactly was Gilda doing down there?”
Tatsu rolled his eyes and let out an annoyed groaned. “Ugh…I can’t tell if you’re all brave or just mental. But go on. Keep telling yourselves that. Fighting me won’t bring back that country bumpkin’s parents, nor will it restore that Griffonstone chick’s home.”
Flash raised a brow. “Say what now?”
“How do ya think we got all these guns, genius? Arms dealers are much more common down there than back home. All we needed to do was bleed them dry,” Tatsu said with a devious grin, “Poor bitch must’ve been trying to complain about it. What a joke.”
Everyone simply stood in silence as they processed what they had just heard.
“...”
“...”
“...”
“...”