Chapter 24:

The Ballad of Ramon Cortez (inspired by 'El Corrido de Gregorio Cortez,' by Americo Paredes)

Twist


     In the far country of Japan,
     The police had chased the trail;
     A Twisthunter was running loose;
     With a girl and dragon scales.

     Handler Kanto found the man,
     As the dragon roused from rest;
     "I'll take its egg and kill that girl!"
     He told Ramon Cortez.

     Kanto's minions fought the dragon,
     While Ramon he strove to scar;
     But trying to kill Cortez
     Was like battling a star.

     The police obeyed old Kanto,
     And fought craven dragon claws;
     He was master and commander;
     The leader of their cause.

     And on the bridge over Iruma,
     Those bold men battled like a whirl;
     Cortez grinned, unwavering,
     Defending egg and girl.

     Then vile Handler Kanto said,
     With a crazed and wicked laugh,
     "You stand no chance; I'll slaughter you,
     Like a butcher with his calf!"

     Then stated Ramon Cortez,
     And his voice was like a bell,
     "The odds for you to kill me,
     Match a snowball's chance in hell."

     Then stated Ramon Cortez,
     With his pistol in his hand,
     "Ah, so many trained policemen,
     Just to take one Mexican!"
~~~
     Ramon stepped in front of Junnosuke's egg once more as Kanto charged at it. Every time he kicked the man in the bloodied suit back, the man would simply stagger back a few steps and rush towards him again. 
      He'd seen the man's swirling red eyes and prepared for the worst, but nothing Twist related seemed to be happening yet. He hadn't fired a shot at the man, mostly because he wanted to avoid murdering someone, but as the man in the bloody suit kept making threats about how he was going to kill the unconscious girl and capture Junnosuke, his resolve to avoid killing him weakened.
      Kanto rushed towards Cortez at an unimpressive speed, but since he was the only thing defending Junnosuke's egg from the man, he couldn't step out of the way. He kicked at the man again, but was caught off-guard when Kanto took hold of his foot and knocked him to the ground. Ramon curled his body so that the girl on his back wouldn't hit the ground too hard, then looked up as Kanto leapt on top of him, pinning his right arm to his side.
     Kanto Horikiri hadn't felt so alive in ages. He'd enjoyed training other Twisters a little bit, but his favorite part of training had always been when he had to put them in their place. They would exert themselves by mutilating, thrashing, and tearing him apart, and then when they were out of energy he would brutalize them with minimal effort. 
     Unfortunately, the higher-ups would only let him go so far with his violence.
     Thankfully, when it came to those whom the country saw as a threat, he was finally free to follow through on his desires.
     Ramon tried to get Kanto off him, but with all the damage he'd sustained recently, he wasn't able to muster the strength to do it. 
     Kanto smiled down at Ramon with swirling red eyes.
     "I love my job." He said as he eagerly cracked his knuckles.
     A fist slammed into Ramon's face. It wasn't the most painful punch he'd ever experienced, but it certainly hurt. Another one hit him. 
     Before he could process it, another fist slammed into his nose. He felt something begin to bleed. Another fist knocked him in the forehead, and he could've sworn he saw stars in the sky despite the sun still setting.
     As Kanto raised his fist again, he heard something click down and to his right. He spared a glance to see what it was, and was met by the sight of a revolver's barrel. He didn't flinch, and turned to face Ramon with a smile.
     "Try it."
     Ramon squeezed the trigger. 
     A silver bullet flew through Kanto's head, and in his last moment of consciousness, he realized something critical.
     Though he'd gotten into many fights, he'd never fought a Twisthunter before.
     The sound of Ramon's gunshot drew the attention of several policemen, though most of them were still focused on avoiding the dragon and trying to draw its attention away from the city around them. 
     The few policemen who bothered to look at Ramon saw Kanto's body hit the ground, but they didn't pay attention to it. They had been told that he was immortal, and saw no need to step in. 
     It was only after they saw Ramon toss Kanto's body over the side of the bridge and take a seat next to the odd flesh-colored egg that the officers began to worry. 
     Ramon watched the policemen warily as Junnosuke kept flying around and attacking them. He would've tried to stop Junnosuke if it weren't for the fact that his whole body hurt like hell, he didn't want to hurt the kid, and he couldn't possibly care less about whether the Japanese police were okay.
     The battle raged around Ramon as Junnosuke charged through the policemen and their puny normal bullets. He wanted to tear them apart, every single one of them, but they kept coordinating and distracting him so that we kept losing focus on the ones he was trying to swallow in his jaws. 
     Despite the policemen outnumbering Junnosuke fifty to one, their numbers advantage wasn't significant enough for them to do much more than slightly bother the giant, black-scaled, bloody dragon that was constantly trying to kill them all. Every few minutes they tried to coordinate and charge towards the egg and Ramon, but whenever they tried to shoot at them, Junnosuke would coil around egg and slam his tail at them. 
      Of course, the dragon couldn't care less about Ramon or the unconscious girl, but since they were next to its egg, it protected them by proxy. 
     The stalemate continued until the sun set, and more policemen began to arrive on the scene. A few news helicopters were hovering at a distance as well, but they received messages to leave and were forced away from the scene. 
     Eventually, the policemen received word that they needed to use silver bullets, and that a support force with containers full of them would arrive soon enough if they could just keep the dragon under pressure. 
     Unfortunately for the Japanese police force, by the time their shipment of silver bullets arrived at the scene, another helicopter had landed on the bridge, and a distinctly British man had stepped out of it.
     Percy saw the mess around himself; the dragon that was curled up, the police force with their guns aimed directly at the dragon, and shook his head.
     "Ramon, I dare say that you have outdone yourself with this catastrophe." He muttered.