Just like me, Bryce wore a set of heavy armor. Mine was sleek and designed for a low profile in combat. His was covered in embellishments and had brambles entwined and growing through it. Shadowed slits glared at me through the thorn-covered helmet.
The part that truly stood out, however, was the dark green geometric halo floating just behind his head. It was shaped like an X made of rose bushes, and cast a deep green glow across his armor. The mark of an Awoken was just as morale shattering as it always was. The savior was here.
My heart thumped weakly in my chest as Bryce glared at me. Every breath felt heavier than the last. Never in my wildest nightmares did I think it’d come to this. Just earlier today, I was chatting with him in the office. Now he stared at me like I was no more than a beast that needed to be put down. Like I was the one that needed saving from.
“You—I’ve heard of you before. Barghest, is it?” His eyes lowered and swept across the injured people spread across the room. “Let him go and submit to Harbor authority. It’s not too late.”
Hearing his cool voice call me by Hades’ name instead of my real one was like fire burning through my mind. Reyna. I just wanted him to call me by name. It was stupid. It was impossible, and yet I desperately wanted him to.
Right, this was Bryce. He wouldn’t lie to me, right? A spark of hope surged through me. I asked back softly, “not too late?”
“You’ll be charged for your crimes, of course—“
”Heh.” A weak laugh broke out of me, and turned all the more monstrous by the emotionless void modulator. Charged for my crimes? Was being born my sin? They’d take me away from my sister. What would she do without me? What would Ido without her? The broken laughter cut off. “It’s far too late.”
It’d been too late since the day I awakened my psionic ability. It was too late when the authorities denied us benefits after our parents died. It was too late when I joined Deadlock just to feed my little sister. And it was far too late when Hades found and subjugated me like a lost little beast. And now? Now I didn’t even know anymore.
”They didn’t save you, did they?” A caring voice grieved with me. “How long did we wait for them to come?”
Thornton just shrugged like my turmoil didn’t matter. “There are programs that can help people like you. It’s never too late.”
People like you. Like I was just another Anarch committing crimes because I wanted to. Like I wasn’t desperate for a hand to reach out. Where were those programs when the researchers tore off my limbs to test my regeneration? I thought—I thought he’d be different.
I clutched at my head with my free hand as the throbbing grew worse. He was the same. The nauseatingly familiar scent of antiseptic burned at my nose, and made my eyes water. They were all the same. They always were.
Stupid. Stupid! Why do I keep trusting them?! Harbor, the researchers, Guardians—they all told me they could help. Then, when I reached out my hand, they crushed it underfoot. They were just as bad as Hades—worse. At least Hades gave me another chance to live.
The worst part? They’d never see. They’d never understand just what they created. Not unless I showed them. Not unless I forced them to. They wanted a monster? Fine. I’d give them their monster.
Despair surged through my veins, and the timid, weak, disgusting side of me that still tried to cling to life drowned in it. My fate was sealed the moment I first took a damned breath. The lease had been there long before I felt it tighten. I just didn’t realize it yet.
My tail, black interlaced with silver, lashed furiously behind me. “You’re supposed to be saviors, aren’t you? Great Guardians.”
Even through the modulator, my tone tipped the man off. ”What are you—“
Crack!
I tossed the lifeless corpse to the side, and glared at the Guardian. This was their responsibility! The head of the gang was a known Reaver. The mere presence of a Beyonder elevated it far above the Peacekeepers. I saw it in the reports. Harbor knew this was going on. Horizon knew about the caged people. And they did nothing. They always did nothing.
Silence echoed throughout the room, and I could hear my own heartbeat furiously thumping in my chest. “Why is it you’re always late to the rescue?”
Something in the room changed. The softly glowing halo behind the Guardian’s head grew brighter and brighter. Contrary to the growing light, Thornton asked in a deceptively neutral voice, “why?”
Why? Why?! He had the gall to ask me why?! Why did he care that I killed the ganger when he didn’t care to stop the ganger from hurting other people?! From hurting me! My bleeding tail twitched around in irritation. I’m the one that needed saving, but why do you… why do you…
I took a breath, and focused on the here and now. For the first time in a long, long time the fear faded into rising rage. The whispers faded. All that mattered was the stench of blood, the bodies on the floor, and the Guardian standing before me.
“A hunter hunts. It’s just the job.” I shrugged my shoulders and loosened up. My hand tightened on my axe, and my bleeding tail stilled behind me. I had a feeling this would only end one way tonight. “Not like I do this for fun.”
“Could’ve fooled me.” He pointedly glanced the dead man. For once, a crack formed in his calm facade. A noble Guardian enraged over the death of a human trafficking ganger? What about the countless lives this man ruined just for money? That all of them ruined just for money?
“Are you going to mock me more?” I lifted my arms up to my sides. “Or finally move to take care of the dangerous threat to Silverport before it's too late once more?”
The calm look he usually had faded into a simmering rage. He could feel it too. If he didn’t try his best, I might very well carve my way through the rest of the gang before the night ended. They were all complicit in this atrocity.
“Mock?” The bright light of his halo pulsed once more, and the thorns across his armor swayed as if they were alive. He stretched out his hand, and a vine shifted into a barb-covered spear. “You’d have to still feel anything for mockery to work.”
He lunged forward with a heavy thrust of his spear. I sidestepped the easily readable attack, and carefully avoided a follow-up thorn whip. Guardian Thornton—I was more than familiar with the man. He was actually supposed to be at a disadvantage here in the warehouse. His Awoken ability was power over plants, and there wasn’t a hint of greenery in sight. The Steelbloom woven into his armor basically meant he brought a damn garden with him.
The sharp thrust converted into a twirling slash to track my movements. My arms shot up, and the thorns screeched irritatingly against the metal. It whipped out, and drew blood under my arm.
I snapped a kick down at his knee before he could fix his posture. He recoiled a few steps back, and the spear abruptly shifted into two batons. One slammed forward to hold me back while the other deflected my axe to the side.
The fight abruptly stilled as both of us took space. I slowly circled like a wolf sniffing for even a hint of weakness. “Where’s your Canary? Busy fixing her makeup in the car?”
”You—“ He threw a baton at me, which I promptly knocked to the side with my axe. His second baton shifted into a longsword and slammed into my arm. The metal plating gave an agonized creak, as did my bones. “Keep her name out of your mouth.”
I staggered back while my arm pulled weirdly. Guess I should’ve expected that. Thornton wasn’t just another gang member that’d fall at the slightest resistance. He was an actual threat. I couldn’t keep messing around.
”Good hit,” I spoke up and swung my arm lightly a few times. The injured bone was already starting to heal.
“Like I need an Anarch’s approval.” Even as he spoke, he jabbed forward with his sword. The second he made his attack, a thorn whip lanced at me from the previous baton that’d been ‘carelessly’ discarded. A perfect trap.
Unfortunately for the Guardian, I was well aware of his usual methods. I stepped back and sliced the whip apart. The next moment, I stomped the ground and lunged forward to meet him. My fist flew forward with the head of my tomahawk sticking out like a brass knuckle.
His whiffed stab threw him out of position. The thorn vines across his armor activated, and a shield sprung up to catch my attack just before it could slam into his chest. A shortsword flicked out without missing a beat, and slashed at a gap between my armor’s sides. It easily sliced through the black underarmor, and slashed deep into my side. The thorns weren’t just any fragile plant that’d break on contact. They were Steelbloom vines.
“Ugh.” I pushed forward anyway, and the blade cut even deeper. His eyes widened as I took a flesh for flesh trade and used my impaled state to slam my other fist into his helmet. He staggered backward and completely discarded the sword.
Just as I stretched down to pull the thorn sword out of my side, the plant went haywire, and the metal-like tendrils wrapped around it lashed repeatedly at anything in range. I took several more deep cuts before I managed to rip out the blade alongside a chunk of flesh. The cold air felt agonizing against my exposed wound. “That hurt.”
He flicked his hand, and the sword crawled back into his grasp like a writhing maggot. And I was the monster here. ”Surrender now, and Harbor will provide medical attention.”
I rubbed the heavily bleeding injury lightly, and lifted my axe once more. I’d rather die. “Fat chance of that.”
We exchanged a dozen more attacks in short succession. Most of mine were blocked one way or another. Although we were both Beyonders, not every Beyonder was built evenly. The only thing I had going for me was agility and endurance.
It was fine, though. Every impact of my axe against his armor slowed him down. Even though he got in good hits, my fighting style was an endurance contest. It was a tooth for a tooth and wound for wound. My healing factor ensured every clash was ultimately in my favor if I could pull my opponents into the mire of an endurance fight.
Our fight intensified. I slashed forward with the tomahawk, but he caught it with his sword in a clean deflection. Instead of following through, I simply dropped my weapon and launched a brutal uppercut. My fist crunched against his chin just below his helmet. His head snapped back, and a tidal wave of spiked thorns whipped out to force me back.
Thornton took several steps back with his halo pulsing brightly behind his head. He spat a glob of blood off to the side. “Haah… haah…”
”You done?” I openly mocked the man. “You won’t beat me like this—“
Movement from the side alerted me a moment before an assault rifle lit up my side. I curled up, and blocked most of the shots with my armor. A few pierced through anyway and cut even deeper into my already worn out body.
“About time,” Thornton called out to his Canary.
“It took a while to find parking!” A woman at the entrance quickly swapped an empty magazine for a new one. Tessa.
“Surrender, Anarch!” Tessa called out. She had a peppy tone to her voice even while being surrounded by the blood-filled warehouse. “Please don’t make me shoot again.”
”Heh.” I dug into my arm and plucked out a bullet. It clattered to the floor. Surrender was never an option. I kicked up my tomahawk back into my hand, and positioned myself in front of the kidnapped people. “Be careful, Canary. Wouldn’t want a civie to catch a stray.”
“Tess!” Thornton shot at me like a missile, and cleaved at my already injured side with a heavy two-handed warhammer. A hit like that—even I wasn’t brave enough to try and tank it. My tooth-for-tooth style only worked when I could survive the initial hit.
I ducked under it in a feat of reflex and dexterity. My tomahawk flashed up at his passing wrist. The head of the axe bit deep in between the gaps of his armor, and blood flowed freely from the man.
I pushed down the uncomfortable feelings just in time for him to swing at me with another forceful attack. It lacked the previous power, and his hand dangled weirdly from the injury. The blood flowing from it dripped down onto the concrete. Each drop sounded like the ticking of a clock.
This… what am I doing? I blinked, and shook my head. The pounding blood grew until my ears rang under my helmet. Why—I kicked a box at him and backed away to make distance for myself. It slammed into him in a spray of wood splinters.
My eyes dropped to the blood flowing down his hand. Crimson flowed down his thornclad gauntlet, and noisily dripped onto the floor. This was Bryce, my friend. Why did I hurt my friend?
No—no, this wasn’t Bryce. Right, Bryce should be back at Harbor. Tomorrow we’d drink terrible synthetic coffee together and watch Quinn and Tessa complain about paperwork. Bryce couldn’t be here. He isn’t here. Right, I’m fighting Guardian Thornton, not my friend. It’s impossible that he’d show up here.
My head throbbed, and the delusion faded under the torrent of red pouring from his wrist. Bryce—why was he bleeding because of me? What was I becoming? The hatred that’d been burning through me like a furnace melted into despair at the sight of all the bloodshed. What have I done?
“What you were born to do, Reyna.” The whispers started once more as my combat-focus drained away.
“Shut up. Shut up!” I grasped at my aching head, and my tomahawk noisily clattered against the metal.
Bryce paused, and his eyes narrowed onto me. “If you’re suffering—“
”I wasn’t talking to you!” I weakly kicked another crate at him, and staggered backward.
“…” Of course, even that was far more concern than I deserved. Thornton’s eyes hardened and he thrust out his hands. A dozen massive vines grew out of his armor into deadly thorn spears. Bramble—it was one of his strongest battlefield lockdown techniques. He was going all in.
I looked down at my blood covered armor. Why wouldn’t he? I… I couldn’t go down here. There were still people waiting on me. I darted backward in front of the cages with innocent civilians cowering and crying.
Clarity passed through me for the first time in a while. I needed to get out of here. Okay, new plan. I slashed at a support pillar with my axe, and easily split it in half. The roof above groaned as its support abruptly gave out.
The Guardian lashed at me with a whip. I didn’t face him directly. Instead, I dodged backward and cut through a second pillar. The creaking up above grew even more pronounced.
Tessa, who’d broken off to drag civilians to safety, instantly saw through my plan. “Stop him! He’s trying to bring down the roof!”
”Let me go.” Threatening them using hostages was lowly. I didn’t want to keep fighting anymore, though. Not after already injuring him once. Tonight was supposed to be an in and out job, not a hit.
I kicked out to distract myself, shattering a third pillar with my foot. There were only two more supporting the roof around here, and then the ceiling would come crashing down. The two of them would survive, but the same couldn’t be said for the already weakened people. It was a bluff, ‘course.
“Barghest.” The Guardian didn’t know that, though. He abandoned his weapons, and thorn vines poured out to form pillars of his own.
Not all of them, though. Three spears lanced toward me while I was in between cages. Two shot off to my sides to block my escape, and the last launched straight at me. I twisted, and took the impact on my arm while destroying one more pillar.
The spear punched through the metal of my armguard, and pulverized the bones. I ripped it out just before it could start doing any further internal damage. The moment it hit, a splattering of gunshots rained down on my body from the Canary who’d been lurking for an ideal moment. Three of them snuck past my armor, battering me even further.
Stop hurting me! I ripped a bullet out, tearing out alongside it a chunk of flesh. Please, please just stop…
It was another winning trade for me, though. The roof above creaked and groaned sharply like it’d give in at any moment. Terrified screams echoed from the civilians trapped in their cages. I instantly darted toward the armor and broke out of the fight.
“I won’t forget this.” The Guardian’s glare intensified, and he dropped the offense entirely to form more pillars for the roof. “Tessa! Get them out of here, now.”
”But Barghest—“
“Forget about him.” He glared at me as I casually backed away like I wasn’t covered in brutal injuries.
Just like that, the fight ground to a halt. Their options were clear. Either continue to pursue me and risk everyone in this warehouse dying in a collapse, or stick around and ensure their safety.
I stopped just shy of the last pillar. Instead of shattering it like the rest, I simply rested my hand on it. Thornton’s eyes darted to me, and his halo blazed a deeper green. I passed it and slipped out of the warehouse before either of us could find out just how monstrous I’d truly become.