Leo dropped from the ceiling support, his feet landing silently in a low crouch as he hit the chilled ground.
The two guards stood near the cage door, their stun batons humming with faint electrical crackles as they watched the captives. Their crude laughter echoed off the frost-rimmed walls, cutting through the dense silence of the cold vault.
He moved before the men could turn, driving the hook of his crowbar across the back of the first guard’s skull.
The enforcer folded, crashing face-first onto the frozen floor without letting out another sound.
The second guard spun around with a curse, swinging a stun baton with bright blue sparkling arcs hissing along the tip.
He slipped beneath the strike with fluid footwork, trapping the guard’s wrist with his left hand while driving a palm strike into his chest.
The guard coughed, his knees buckling as a pulse of dark ether surged through his ribs and knocked him unconscious. The stunned man fell backward, his weapon slipping from his limp fingers as his head hit the hard surface with a dull thud.
"W-What in the world?" Kincaid spun around in alarm, his hydraulic cleaver groaning as the piston hissed with white steam.
"Where did a slum rat like you crawl from?"
"Release the women from the cages," he said, shifting his grip on the crowbar as his eyes locked onto the enforcer.
"Hah, you think a rusted tool makes you a hero?" the brute barked with a cruel laugh, raising the four-foot blade above his broad shoulders.
"I will carve your bones into kindling for the canal dogs!"
The brute lunged forward, swinging the cleaver in a vicious diagonal sweep that whistled through the freezing air.
He leaped backward, but the serrated edge grazed his right shoulder, slicing through his jacket and cutting a shallow red line.
"Gugh!" A stinging burn flared across his collar, warm blood trickling down his forearm to stain the cuffs of his sleeve. He ignored the sudden pain, keeping his balance centered as he stepped around the incoming strike path.
’He moves with surprising agility for his massive frame,’ he realized, his adrenaline spiking as he circled to the left.
The brute pressed the assault relentlessly, driving a series of downward chops that gouged deep furrows into the floor.
Frost and pulverized stone sprayed into the air with every impact, rattling the hanging meat hooks suspended overhead. The high-pitched whine of the hydraulic cylinder filled the room, matching the frantic racing of his own pulse.
"Dance all you want, rat!" Kincaid roared, his face twisting with sadism as he swung the cleaver again.
"One clean connection and your skull splits in two!"
He ducked beneath a wild horizontal swing, feeling the biting draft of the blade part his short hair.
He timed the rhythm of the internal piston, waiting for the brief fraction of a second when the hydraulic cylinder vented exhaust steam.
As the blade slammed into the floor, he used his Viper-Weave technique to parry the brute’s wrist, redirecting the momentum outward.
He dropped low, sweeping his leg behind the brute’s knee before driving the crowbar into his kneecap with concentrated force.
A loud crunch echoed through the freezer as the joint gave way beneath the hook.
"Aaargh, my leg!" the brute screamed in sudden agony, falling hard onto his uninjured knee. His face turned pale beneath the grime, his notched cleaver slipping from his trembling hands.
He didn’t hesitate, snapping the crowbar across the side of the brute’s temple with a hollow, concussive crack.
Kincaid’s eyes rolled back into his head, and the enforcer collapsed onto his chest, lying motionless in the frost.
A soft chime rang in his ears, followed by the vibration of his phone in his pocket.
[ Bounty Target Down: "Bone-Splitter" Kincaid ]
[ Direct System Wire: +20,000 Credits Deposited ]
[ Combat EXP: +1,500 ]
[ Level: 2 (1,500 / 2,000 EXP) ]
[ Cosmic Pathways: 0% / 100% ]
[ Status: HP 85/100 | Stamina 70/100 | Ether 15/15 ]
"Whew..." He let out a ragged breath, leaning against the cold wall as the twenty thousand credits registered in his bank ledger.
’Tessa’s tuition arrears are cleared,’ he thought, relief washing through his chest like a comforting tide.
’She gets to stay at the academy, safe from Flint and the slum factories.’
A secondary prompt flared on the blue interface, pulsing with an urgent crimson warning border.
[ Hidden Elimination Bounty Available ]
[ Threat Assessment: Target Is Feigning Unconsciousness | Retaliation Probability: 100% ]
[ Eliminate Target To Erase Retaliation And Secure Underground Bonus ]
[ Elimination Bonus: +150,000 Syndicate Bounty Credits ]
He stared at the pulsing prompt, his fingers hesitating along the chill shaft of the crowbar.
’One hundred and fifty thousand credits,’ he thought, his heart thumping hard against his ribs.
’That’s a fortune that could secure our entire lives for years. We could buy real food, proper clothes, and never touch a cargo hook again.’
Yet executing a man lying motionless on the floor felt wrong, crossing a grim line he had never crossed before.
He lowered the tool, shaking his head as he stepped toward the center cage to free the trembling captives.
"Hold on," he told the frightened nurse, reaching for the padlock. "I’m getting you all out of here."
"Look out behind you!" Luna screamed in terror, her eyes widening.
The brute surged off the floor with a feral roar, ramming his thick shoulder into his back and slamming him against the cage.
His lungs emptied in a sharp, involuntary wheeze as his ribs slammed against the frame. The impact knocked the crowbar from his grip, and it skittered across the floor out of reach.
He crashed hard against the bar, stars exploding in his vision as the brute’s hands locked around his throat. Pain spiked through his back as the hard grating dug into his shoulder blades.
"Hah! I’ll squeeze your neck until your eyes pop, you little rat!" Kincaid bellowed, his mouth foaming as his fingers tightened with crushing pressure.
Leo choked, clawing at Kincaid’s wrists while his shadow pool struggled to rise through the suffocating pain.
Kincaid pinned him, turning his head to glare at the cage with a sadistic grin.
"I’m going to rip that nurse out and let my crew use her first!" the brute shrieked, his face twisting.
"Then I’ll carve you up while she watches!"
Luna screamed in absolute terror, clawing at the lock while tears spilled down her cheeks.
That scream shattered all hesitation.
The All-Spark in his chest pulsed with dark ether, turning his vision into a world of sharp violet geometry.
The dark ether hit his blood while the brute’s thumbs were still on his windpipe.
His knees went, and his back slid down the bars instead of staying pinned to them.
Kincaid’s grip rode that drop a half-second too long, and the shadow under the cage swallowed Leo’s shoulders.
He came out of it on the floor, coughing hard enough to taste blood, the brute’s hands holding empty air.
Kincaid spun toward the empty bars with a curse.
He surged across the floor in a single heartbeat, his shadow steps carrying him with blinding speed.
His fingers snatched the crowbar from the ground. He glided inside Kincaid’s guard with frictionless grace, his movements guided by the system’s tactical overlays.
He drove the hooked shaft through the back of the brute’s neck, pinning the throat to the floor with a sickening crunch.
"Ghk..." The brute’s hands went slack as dark blood pooled beneath his chin.
The brute’s body shuddered once, then went limp as the light died from his eyes forever.
[ Elimination Confirmed: "Bone-Splitter" Kincaid ]
[ Syndicate Bonus Wire Deposited: +150,000 Credits ]
[ Total Account Balance: 171,500 Credits ]
[ Combat EXP: +500 ]
[ LEVEL UP: Level 2 -> Level 3 ]
[ +5 Free Stat Points Awarded ]
[ Cosmic Pathways: 0% / 100% ]
[ Desire Objective Progress: Target Rescued | Luna Resonance: 35% ]
He stood over the fallen corpse, his chest heaving as dark mist curled around his knuckles and dissolved into his skin.
The silence in the freezer was profound, broken only by the low hum of the cooling unit and the soft whimpers of the rescued captives.
Behind the bars, Luna stared at him with wide, trembling eyes, her hands pressed against her lips in stunned awe.
He wiped the warm blood from his brow, his gaze meeting hers through the frost-coated grating as the hunt came to an end.