Arc 2 - Chapter 28: Gwen vs ???

(Quintiles 29, 59 / 9:10PM)

“This is the place Jack.”

“You sure? It looks like a typical place to—”

“Just park near it!”

Outside of the Zirardge tower, Jack parked the van right in front of it. Turning his head to the building, Jack noticed the glass door was broken, with shards littering the cement. As Miles yelled his command, Jack switched the key ignition to the right, and pulled the key out.

He got out of the van while bringing his sniper rifle ready. Making their way toward the back, followed by Miles, both saw the little pincode with nonchalant eyes. His cheeks flushed down, Jack brustled the top of his hair.

“What was the code again?”

“Uh…”

“Ah great…”

Both men came closer to the lock pin, and they heard footsteps rustling inside the van. While Miles folded his arms beneath his chest, Jack continued to fondle his hair, as both his temples bulged from his overthinking.

Seeing Jack gazed into the lock, Miles squinted his eyes into the lock pin. Tracing the numbers, he noticed that some buttons were pushed more than others…

“Look at the number markings for each pin. Some of the paint is starting to wear off, so let’s just get lucky with a random combination number.”

“Good idea.”

Both Jack and Miles hunched their heads forward, and scanned the markings on the lock intently. Going through the numbers, Jack did the honors of tracing the numbers on the pad. All the while more rustling was heard, Stan and Luke were growing tirelessly.

“2, 5, and 6 are the only numbers that are the most painted off. It’s a four-numbered lock right?”

“Yep, four numbers.”

‘Well shit.’

Knocking now grazing the walls of the van, Miles and Jack ceased their concentration. Knowing that it was both Luke and Stan, Jack fisted the door two times, his skin reddening from the excess knocks.

Miles, whose face was coated with hot sweat, began scratching the side of his head with his right hand.

“Luke! Can you hear me!?”

“Miles! What’s going on!?”

“Hey, we're failing to remember the code! Any idea what it might be!?”

“It’s 2256! The code is 2256!”

Looking at the numbers on the lock, Miles’ pupils lowered, until he pressed the order of numbers respectively. Hearing a small clicking sound, the doors to the back of the van unsheathed, which allowed them to sway open like a casket of happy memories.

Pouring out of the van, was none other than both Stan and Luke. Pressing their boots on the hard cement floor, they closed the doors, as they heard a single shingle from behind.

“Alright, let’s hit it.”

Heading towards the tower, all four of them sprinted through the open glass doors, with the soles of their boots cracking the shards from below.

Heading deep into the lobby, with no light penetrating against the darkened walls, it left them to quell in the frigid air. Stopping at the center, they tried to scurry their eyes around them, but to no avail, only the smell of something rotting plunged their nostrils. Like toe jam and rotten eggs intertwining in front of them, all four of them pinched their noses merely instantly.

“Man it stinks in here!”

“I think we should look for an elevator. I don’t think Luna or Gwen are down here.”

“Yeah, but where would both of them be—”

They heard a bell.

Flincing their bodies upward, they all turned their heads to the direction of an elevator’s shingle. Followed by the sling of a metal door opening upward, it left them to widen their eyes at the yellowish light dawning onto their faces. Pushing the soles of their feet forward, nothing stood out of the ordinary, but it didn’t make them lower their hands to their sides.

“Looks like we’re taking this elevator.”

As soon as they all reached the elevator, Luke raised his pointer finger up to his cheek. Scratching it, a question dawned on him.

—But who pushed the first-floor button?

________________________________________________________________________

(Quintiles 29, 59 / 9:01PM)

“I held back against your little friends back at the bar. Now that I’m fighting you, I could go all out.”

“Cute, because I did too~”

She stood face to face with the boastful lich.

Gwen placed her hands into her pockets, and tilted her head to the right with a pushed up smirk. Seeing his body twitching, edging, on the border of exploding, his knuckles were on the verge of breaking apart. Straightening her back, Gwen cleared her throat, as her body gave off the sense she didn’t want to fight.

“You’re edging to hit me huh? Just let it all out~”

“Oh, I’m ready to let it all out~!”

Raising his left arm, the bats that sat alongst his shoulders began to twitch their heads. And keeping his stare at Gwen’s face, whose smirk only worsened the anger within his soul, she took a step back with gleaming eyes.

“Oh, so your thing is just summoning bats?”

Closing his eyes, he began to breathe in and out through his mouth, and chisel his jaws and cheeks harshly. Showcasing more of his facial structure, he pushed his head up toward the ceiling, and kept his eyes to the tops of his eyelids.

His body began to loosen, as his mouth and eyes dripped out tar from their corners. Along with his bare feet denting a small hole beneath him, the pressure of the air around him cracked the walls around him. Like everything was around to evaluate his needs, he clicked his tongue, and littered the floor with small amounts of his tar.

—“Site of Retieration.”—

Like the startup of a dry grass fire, the entirety of his body was then bombarded with hundreds of bats. Having his arms, legs, and head spread out wide, he tilted his head down, and scraped off a sly smirk.

Tar tears leaping from the bottom of his eyelids, he cocked his head to the left. His eyes trapping Gwen’s very soul, even though he couldn’t tell what facial expression she had on, the rest of his bats followed her face. Pressing his legs together, the tips of his toes faced the direction of her.

“Intimidated? Nervous? Scared? Do you feel despair? Do you fear what I’m going to do next? Do you…”

He began to walk backward, until he pelted his back against the wall. Leaving his bats to fly all around him, their wings flapping against his skin, it managed to place himself into a shielded position.

All the while he extended his right hand, and pointed a finger straight at her.

“Fear death?”

Her hands already low to her sides, a yellowish light sprouted from her right palm. Creating something on top of her skin, it shone and reflected at the bottom of where she stood, something that she always used in fights such as these.

Being a simple object, an object that she stuck by… It was nothing more than a whip.

“Pfft … so I was right, you just spawned more bats.”

“Oh I’ll show you bats!”

The hundreds of bats that flew around him, soon dissipated into thin air. Paying no heed to the missing bats, her right hand that gripped her whip only loosened more or less. And with her left hand, she raised it up to her mouth, as her lips widened …

To let out a yawn.

“Yawn … so uh when are we fighting? Today? Tomorrow? It feels like yesterday now—”

They returned, but it wasn’t in front of her. Using her peripheral vision, she found two groups of bats coming from her left and right, their mouths already wide open. Their fangs rigid, with foam sprouting out from the tips, Gwen raised her whip to not attack them but to defend.

All the while tightening her grip with her fingers.

‘Hmmm … I was never good at math or arithmetic, but I guess that’s a lot of bats huh?’

Crouching down, she slid back across the carpet, and she did it fast enough for friction to build up with electrical jolts. Steadying her eyes, she was lucky that the horde of bats weren’t fast enough to hone in on her.

She noticed the two groups colliding against one another, but not in a collision sort of way. Making one big group, like how a galaxy merges with another galaxy, it gave her … the perfect chance.

—“Breaking Scourge.”—

She lashed out onto the one large group, although the small razor alongst the tip couldn’t reach one bat—

Both of their eardrums were pounded against, and in an instant, the horde of bats suddenly ceased. Swept away in one massive blow, a blow compacted in ultra dense air, it sounded like twice the speed of a sniper round. Only a mist of tar scattered the floors and walls, with no organs smeared. Destroying the cubicles and office walls, and the floor and any material, it tore apart the very fabric and wool.

Which left the very same walls to crumble apart, allowing the floor above to crash down. And another floor, and another, another, another… Until a giant hole filled the side of the building. Being on the right side of the tower, it meant all the concrete and debris soon scattered below to the bottom.

Turning her head toward Cameron, Gwen kept her whip loose while looking at him with push-down eyes. Placing her whip onto her right shoulder, as if it were a rifle, she put her other hand onto her hip while tilting her head to the left.

“How’s that for power?”

A bead of sweat rolled down from his forehead, as his already pale face turned even more ghostly white. His nostrils widened, his breathing turned irregular, leaving his chest to upheave up and down abnormally.

And yet, Cameron put on a fighting stance, as he balled his quivering fists below his waist. Seeing this display, Gwen let out a sigh, and rubbed the back of her head with her rough fingers.

“You still wanna go?”

“I have more power in me! I-I still have, watch!”

Cameron crouched down and placed his palm toward the ground. Having the weight of his body on the tips of his toes, he extended his other hand back, as the air of aura circled around him again. Tapping her shoulder with her whip, Gwen yawned loudly, without covering her mouth.

“You think I’m a joke!? Just you wait!”

Dozens of bats spawned out of his left hand, and nestled all over against his pale body. Circling around him, they enacted as armor, their wings flapping and intertwining as he remained crouched down.

And with a simple push to his feet, he leaped through the air, and pulled his right arm back. Getting closer and closer to the unguarded woman, he felt the wind blow against his all-black hair.

“Eat shit!”

His right hand clenched into a fist, he barreled it straight to the unmoving Gwen, his aim being her face. The tips of his knuckles inches away from her cheekbone—she was gone.

‘Huh? She was right there—’

“Going hand-to-hand combat with me? Wow, a round of applause for basicity.”

In the middle of the hallway, a trail of carpet caught on fire from the soles of her boots. Her speed managing to create an abundance of friction, she let out a huff while shaking her head sideways, while putting on that same smirk.

A smirk that flared up Cameron’s nostrils, and quelled in his body in pure rage.

“Trying to hit a defenseless woman? What would your parents think?”

“Shut up!”

Thrusting his body forward, he pulled back both his hands while having his bats as moving armor. Pushing his hands forward, and having his knuckles be millimeters away from her skin, she vanished again. Doing this motion yet again, a trail of fire blazed through the carpet, leaving behind her clues as to where she was at.

From the corner of his left eye, he saw a glitter of light break free.

Bending his entire body back, so much so that the top of his head touched the carpet, he looked at the direction of where the light shot out from. But it wasn’t there. Instead, he rolled his eyes to where his stomach pointed up, and saw…

Gwen leaping right in front of him.

‘What … w-what what what?!’

Placing his palms on the floor, he made a little flip to avoid the speeding Gwen. Landing on both soles of his feet, he turned his eyes to take in Gwen, but before he knew it… she was gone. Allowing only a trail of fire, it made him slowly hunch his head forward.

Looking around the office room, Cameron looked around to try and find the woman, as he barely kept himself from hitting a wall. Scouring his eyes against every angle, every corner, and every shadow within the office floor, he jabbed his fingers into the back of his head. And dug his nails into his scalp.

“Stop dodging me! Fight me like a man, you coward!”

“Hold on, I may be flat-chested…”

Hearing her voice from in back of him, Cameron quickly jumped back and gazed at the freckled woman. Seeing her whip accustomed to gravity, and with it being loosened, it was like she just teleported without a blessing.

Extending his hand outward, and upon pointing his finger, the hundreds of bats that flew around him turned their attention onto her. And upon letting out a breathless chuckle, he hunched his back.

“But I’m a woman, dork.”

Half of his bats flew straight at her, and upon surrounding her like cicadas, she pulled back her whip. Hurling it at them, she didn’t need to make a stance, once the gust of air that drew from the tip suddenly unleashed.

With not much strength, half of the bats evaporated from the sudden burst of air. Blowing a hole onto another area of the building, a gust of black mist scattered the area, which stained the floors and walls along with their bodies.

And with her vision somewhat dimmed, it gave Cameron the perfect chance to thrust himself forward.

‘She may be strong, but she’s slow-headed!’

Looping around her, with most of them being on her right side, he had the other half of his bats situated on his body. Pulling back his right fist, he reached where Gwen still stood. Letting off a devilish smile, he showcased his rotten and decaying teeth.

‘And it looks like I just—’

Something grabbed his wrist.

Digging her nails into his bone, he clenched his eyes shut while arching his head back. Shaking from the jabbing pain, he still had his bats pursuing Gwen, but she already took note of their location. Having her whip ready, she launched it to the group of bats.

The air was cut through, with the speed being three to four times the speed of a rapid sniper bullet. Creating another hole, which toppled another two to three floors from a section of the building, it led to another momentum of black mist to scatter the battlefield. With the air already turning pungent, and their visibility being dimmed, she let go of his wrist.

“What’s the matter? Cat-Human got your tongue?”

He collapsed onto his shins, as sweat ran down his temples and foreheads once all his bats were killed off. Breathing in and out, with his lungs failing to recapture some of his oxygen, his vocals constrained themselves as he looked up at Gwen.

She pulled him up from the floor.

“You know, come to think of it. I’ve been going on the defensive for most of our fight…”

Feeling like his body wanted to melt, like ice cream on a hot summer day, sweat poured forth from every pore within his skin. Gazing up at the freckled woman, his vocals were barely audible, as it felt like his own throat was constraining it.

“How … are you doing this … What is this…?”

“My power is above blessings bud. Heck, even above curses too.”

Still having her grip on his collar, she pulled him in, leading his body to follow along with the motion. Her hand glowing a bright yellow, it began to burn and shine like a star, but not at the exact heat and temperature. And yet, Cameron found his skin beginning to burn.

“Are you ready for this?!”

Her whip tightened on her other hand, she soared a bit of strength into her arm before pulling it back. Having Cameron within her main hand, she then lunged her left foot back, and threw the lich at a random direction. Hitting cubicle after cubicle, scattering desks and typewriters onto the floor, his back snapped in half because of the last thing he pelted.

Hitting the wall in back of him, his eyes rolled up toward the back of his head. Unfortunately for him, someone had stopped him from breaking through the concrete. If he continued to roll, he would’ve reached the windows, meaning he would’ve been safe. Feeling his hand burn, he fluttered his body up and down like a fish being grilled while alive.

“Oh trust me buddy, you’re going to have fun with me! This is a lesson from me to you.”

Pulling him out of the concrete wall, Gwen threw him yet again, which sent him into another hell of cubicles and objects to be smashed. Rolling and tumbling through them like a wrecking ball, many more bones snapped. Feeling his legs flail, his arms dislodged, and his ribcage to shatter, tar bled from his mouth and ears. Along with his nose, his jaw as well snapped in half like a toothpick.

Stopping along the edge of the window, he sprawled on the floor, with no groan or gutter to wail through his throat. But Gwen wasn’t done.

“Now for my final act!”

Zipping through the floor, and making another trail of fire by the soles of her leather boots, she reached where Cameron laid. Bending down, she grabbed the back of his white clothed shirt, and lifted him up to the air. With her right hand having her whip ready, she thrusted it at the barely breathing lich, and instead of whipping him…

It wrapped around his waist. Having it tight around his waist, which creased so much that he felt his intestines on the verge of exploding, he let out a shirred yelp.

“Did you really think that you’d beat me? At my level?”

Letting out a soft giggle, she gripped the whip with both of her hands, and began to twirl like a ballerina.

Spinning more and more, each time she did a 360 increased her speed. The tips of her toes dug into the carpet, the fabric of it started to catch on fire, followed by sparks of friction zapping on the outer layers of the area.

“Roses are red, violets are blue.”

Reaching an inhuman climax, she spun so fast that after-image clones began appearing. Creating a little vortex of air to surround themselves in, she saw the skin of the lich be peeled slowly, his bone and muscles scraping against the sharp air. Followed by his face tattered with ears, and his face already ghostly pale…

—“Goodbye Cameron, so away you go.”—

She let go of the whip.

‘Heh, that was pretty good Gwen.’

With a small delay, a gargantuan blast rocked the entirety of the tower, sending all of the windows to shatter by the gunshot of air. Gushing out a supermassive hole in front of her, several stories began to crumble down to where the hole was. The instability of the building skyrocketed, making the base twitch and quell.

Trying to find her footing, Gwen lowered her hands onto her thighs, while her eyes spun around. Shaking her head like a cartoon character, she hunched her head while squinting at the small dot in the sky.

Because in front of her, the clouds parted just this once, for the simple power of a blast that rocked the hellish heavens.

Unable to see how he was doing, who knew if he evaporated through the sky, or by the impact of the blast. Walking ever so slowly toward the large hole, she stopped at the edge, while her feet wobbled dangerously. Just as she did this, white particles of either ash or pigment fluttered down onto her, along with blast mist scattering the empty air.

Pushing her face down, her smile faded to turn into a frown.

‘Sucks that nobody remembered you till the very end…’

________________________________________________________________________

(Quintiles 29, 59 / 9:15PM)

““““Gwen!””””

Having a fire extinguisher within her hands, she had been fanning the flames with white foam. Out of the elevator, four men jumped out from the metallic coffin, and collapsed onto the measly carpet.

Getting up from the floor, all four of them sprinted to the casual Gwen, who turned her head to glance at the commotion. Putting down the fire extinguisher, she waved at them, while letting out a cheerful smile.

“Oh, hey boys!”

Debris littered many sections of the building, and the smoke and ash had already settled in. Wrinkling her nose, she cocked her head to the right to see their bodies huffing with sweat.

All four of them managed to reach her. Turning her eyes toward Luke, who was the less exhausted out of the three of them, she wrinkled her nose along with her forehead.

“You all look tired. I guess both Harold and Ryan gave you a run for their money.”

“I don’t … gasps … know about Ryan. But … pants … Harold’s been dealt with.”

The four of them couldn’t dare to look Gwen in the eyes, as they gulped saliva down their dry throats. Raising their heads, they had them tilted down. Gwen darkened her face, as her fingers clammed with sweat the more she let them hover onto her thighs.

“It's ok … we’re all dealing with people we once knew and cared…”

“And we’re going to have to confront Gary with this … G-Gwen…?”

Stan pushed his eyes onto Gwen’s darkened ones, and saw himself in a world of black. Paling his face, and feeling his body already drenched with sweat, he felt his throat twitch and shudder from the heat of the room. But shaking his head softly, he bit his lip, and pushed the words from out of his weeping throat.

“Who was that boy who dealt with bats? When we were dealing with their ambush… he said he remembered us.”

Remembering the ambush, and how the tides had turned, they remembered bit by bit how the scene played out. Seeing a teen, a boy that they never even met, call them out as used-to-be-friends, it was enough for them to slug their eyes downward.

Stan especially remembered the boy speaking to Miles, about his transgression for fighting. It wasn’t about revenge, no, he had his heart filled with anger, fury; frustration. Not because he shouted out against the world … no … his heart racked with bad grief, a grievance that his friends never took.

“I never recalled a horse-human being friends with us during training, nor did all of us. So Gwen … if you know anything…”

Stan extended both of his hands outward, and clenched his fingers deep into the leather fabric of her jacket. Instead of trenching them deep, he had his nails barely digging into the material.

As both of their eyes connected onto each other.

“Who is that horse-human? And why can’t we remember his name?

His name, that was all he ever wanted to hear.

For Ryan, he claimed vengeance, and for Harold, he fought with brittle masculine pride to the very end. But what about the others? Gemma? Pedro? The teenage girl lich? Even Kenichi … What are they fighting for?

“I … I don’t know …”

A single glass window broke.

Coming from outside, it was silent, yet all of their ears perked up in unison. Remaining absolutely still, they drew their heads toward the hole near them. Seeing shards of it fall down, it meant that the glass broke from the top floor, as if—

“Oh no! Luna!”

Gliding towards the hole in the span of a single second, she made another trail of fire from her speed. Stopping along the edge, she then pushed her head upward to see—