Just have to beat this person and all this will be over. Dealing with the rest of the thugs will be easy after that.
Axion ied their leader, trying to glean as muformation as possible from her appearand mannerisms. Her eyes sed the woman from head to toe, analyzing her gear and clothing. Aside from the same dark leather jacket and bbat boots as the other Vipers, she also wore a utility belt around her waist. There were a lot of ktached to it. Two were tucked away in a sheath on each thigh, and two more in her boots, one oside and one on the inner ankle.
Hm, so she likes knives, huh? Shouldn't be a problem. They were easier to deal with than bullets, and if she tried to stab her, then she'd end up like Vaughhere.
Her gloves though...there was something odd about them. The palms looked fairly normal, aside from the fact that they were covered in nicks and scrapes. But the backs of her hands...they shoh a dull metallic glint in the dim light of the garage. They weren't just regur leather, that's for sure. Maybe they were armored?
There were a bunch of tiny tubes and wires running to and fro across them, with small, round nodules lining the knuckles. It kinda reminded her of Rao's prosthetic arm. Although she didn't really want to experience her punches first-hand, she had a hunch those gloves packed a det punch.
Whatever. No matter what tricks Kasumi had up her sleeve, the pn stayed the same—get close, amp the gravity, and then knock her out.
Simple. Hopefully.
Axion raised her fists and dropped into a low crouch. She had the advantage and she inteo press it.
Without warning, she burst forward, dashing straight toward the woman.
The gang leader narrowed her eyes, reag for the pistol in her holster. Axio out a triumphant yell aended her arm, preparing to grab her and bring her gravitational field to bear.
Then she saw it—a faint glimmer whizzing through the air. Instinctively, Axion leaped aside, her body responding faster than thought. The air where she had just stood hissed and sparked as something razor-thin sliced through it, leaving a trail of luminous sparks.
Axion rolled to her feet, her eyes darting bad forth in fusion.
What the hell?!
Her gaze tracked the thin strands of wires to Kasumi, who held her arms out in front of her. The tips of her fingers bore small metal nodes, from which the wires snaked out and whipped through the air. She flicked her wrists, and the lines danced like a living thing, unduting and twisting, refleg the lights of the parking garage.
"Heh. Surprised?" Kasumi smirked, flexing her fingers. "This is why I only use these babies on Super types."
Axion swallowed, her eyes fixed on the writhing wires. What were they?
As if reading her mih's voice crackled over her s.
Nano-what now? Huh, cool! No, wait. That's not cool, that's very not-cool! Extremely not-cool, in fact. Actually, pretty damn terrifying!
"Thanks for the heads-up," Axion muttered under her breath as she backed away. "Really wish you could have said something when I was fighting the uy with that weird sword."
Okay, this is bad. This is really, really bad. How am I supposed to take this woman down now?!
"Do you have any idea how I use my power to get around that?" Fii asked.
"I don't have a gun..." She shot Kasumi a worried gnd slowly sidestepped to the left. If she was going to figure out a way to take her on, she o stay out of the range of those bdes.
Kasumi followed her movements, shifting in tandem with her, a bemused smirk on her face.
Ugh, great. Nothing about this is great!
Axion tried to quash the fear that crept into her mind. She couldn't hesitate if she wao survive this, but how could she win when she had no clue how to ter that nano-wire thingamabob?
Kasumi tilted her head and Axion's jacket. "hreads you've got there. I'll have to try not to shred it before I take it off of your dismembered corpse."
She whipped her arm around, and a handful of her deadly wires shot forth, coiling through the air in a furious wave of deadly, sparkling light.
Axion's vision snapped into focus. She trated, feeling the familiar pull of gravity lessen around her, granting her body the freedom to move faster and more fluidly. She pushed off the ground and unched herself into a smooth backflip, arg over the deadly wires as they whipped harmlessly by.
She nded gracefully oher side and crouched low, her LED eyes narrowing into slits. Her heart hammered in her chest, and she took a deep breath, letting the adrenaline course through her veins.
Gotta keep it together. Stay focused.
The open space of the garage pyed to Kasumi's strength. Axion's reach with her abilities was only at arm's length, and with all those wires, she would never be able to close the gap without ing under fire. So, she o lure her enemy in. Make her it while keeping the terrain in her favor. And how best to do that...?
Ah, that's it! Bring her upstairs. To the smaller rooms. The corridet her into an enclosed enviro with a fined spad lots of cover. That should work!
Axion made a mad dash for the staircase entrance, dodging another flurry of wires as she ran. She rouhe er and gnced over her shoulder. Kasumi followed her at a leisurely pace, chug as she pulled the wires bato her hands. "Going somewhere?" she called out. "I thought you wao finish ame, sweetie."
Sweetie? Whatever. Atleast she's taking the bait!
Iairwell, the fight intensified. Kasumi used the nanowires to slice through the railings, but Axion jumped through the gaps, vaulting over the obstacles. Her legs burned as she sprinted up the steps, and the pain from her earlier injuries fred, but she pushed it aside and focused on evading the vicious onsught of wires chasing after her.
At one point, Axion stumbled, her foot slipping oairs.
Kasumi seized the opportunity, the nanowire slig through the air towards Axion's head.
In a split-sed decision, Axion maniputed her gravitational field, anch herself to the spot. The wire missed her by a hair's breadth, sparking against the wall behind her.
The gang leader cursed aracted her wire. "Stop moving, dammit!" she snarled.
"Yeah, not gonna happen. See ya ter!" With a final burst of speed, Axion reached the doorway to the sed floor.
She found herself in a derelict office, the remnants of furniture scattered throughout the room. Windows lined one wall, a view of the city streets far below, while the opposite wall was adorned with a faded pany logo. The room's entrance led to a corridor with multiple doors leading to other offices, allowing for multiple avenues of escape or ambush.
Perfect. Let's see how she does in here!
She zig-zagged through the room, using the cubicles and desks as cover. Kasumi paused at the door and gnced around, sizing the pce up. Her lips curled into a smile as she strode casually in after her, casually trailing her wires in her wake. "Getting tired, hero?" She paused at an abandoned desk and picked up a chair.
Before she could react, the chair came flying through the air.
Axion dove behind a partition wall as the projectile shattered, sending splinters of wood raining down on her.
Kasumi tinued her relentless pursuit, whipping her wires at Axion. Each strike cut deep gashes in the walls aroyed any objects in their path.
Axion weaved and ducked, avoiding most of the blows, but the few that ected inflicted superficial cuts—still hurt like crazy, though—on her arms and legs. The pain slowed her down, sapping her momentum as she forced her burning muscles to propel her from obstacle to obstacle.
She crashed through the door leading to another room, the ceiling partially colpsed, exposing the room to the elements. Raindrops pelted down from the night sky, soaking her and the crete floor beh her. The full moon, pale and cold, cast a silvery glow throughout the room, illuminating the space with its faihereal light.
The wires sliced through the wooden doorframe, the panels disiing in an explosion of jagged wooden splinters.
Axion leaped aside, scrambling away from the doorway. The deadly projectiles cut through the space where she had just been, the sparkling tendrils whirling through the air as if in a dance.
Axion threw herself to the ground, rolling behind a steel et.
She eled her power, pushing her gravitational field outwards to envelop the et. She grabbed onto the base and lifted it off the ground.
As soon as Kasumi appeared in the doorway, she threw the heavy et at her.
The gangster swore loudly and deflected the makeshift projectile with her wires, slig through the metal. The ruined fragments cttered to the floor, sliding past her, but the diversion gave Axion an opening.
She spriraight at her, determio close the distance before Kasumi could recover. She khat her only ce at beating the woman was to get within arm's reach of her.
Before Axion could reach her, Kasumi unleashed her wires, the glittering fiments whipping through the air, slig through the walls and ceiling as they raced toward Axion. Axioed reflexively, pivoting on her foot to dodge the barrage of attacks, her gravitational field helping to shift her weight and guide her through the storm of cuttial. But as she closed in on the gang leader, she spotted the smirk on Kasumi's face.
Her instincts screamed for her to stop, and she skidded to a halt, barely avoiding the web of wires spread across the room. The thin, razor-sharp wires bhe room, suspe varyis, effectively sealing off any means of approag the gang leader without getting sliced to pieces in the process.
"Tsk. Missed." Kasumi smiled, raising her hand once more. "Let's try that again."
Axion's eyes widened as the wires verged on her.
Edith's frantic voice souhrough her .
No way around but—
Axion trated the gravitons under her foot and brought it down with a powerful stomp, crushing the crete floor and sending fissures spiderwebbing from the epiter. She pluhrough the cracks and down to the level below. As she plummeted, she maniputed her gravitational field, softening her nding and abs the impact, rolling to a stop on the broken tiles.
[TFSI: 0.57]
She struggled to her feet, wing as the sharp, stingiions emanating from her foot intensified.
Ouch...o...that hurts. Well, it could have gone worse, but at least I'm alive.
She looked up at the hole she had left in the ceiling and saw Kasumi's silhouette looming above. "Not bad," Kasumi called out. "Good maneuverability, excelleion time. Very impressive. However..."
Kasumi tossed a ister into the room, the object cttering on the floor, leaving a trail of yellow smoke as it rolled to a stop.
"...That won't save you now." She disappeared from the edge of the hole as the smoke billowed downward, filling the room with a pu, sulfurous odor.
"Don't have to tell me twice!" Axion coughed, staggering backward. Her eyes stung from the fumes, and she blinked back tears as she dove through the door and out of the room. She smmed the door shut behind her, sealing off the cloud of noxious smoke, and sucked in a grateful breath of fresh air.
Through the transparent lenses of her helmet, Fii caught movement. Her eyes darted to her left, and she saw Kasumi emerge from a different room and weave a multitude of shimmering strands into the air with a flourish of her arms.
Axion scrambled back, desperately dodging the deadly ttietal, which tore into the walls and floor, leaving long, jagged cuts in the surfaces.
She dove into the hallway behind her, leaping out of the way of the closi of wires. She steadied herself against the wall and stood up, wiping the dust off of her helmet.
"Is that all you've got, Axion?!"
Kasumi stalked her through the maze of corridors ay offices, a wicked grin pstered across her face, her nanofiments twirling in the air, dang in tuh the rhythmic rise and fall of her fists. Her smug, self-assured swagger and steady gait trasted with the panic c through Fii's body.
Damn it! Tight spaces should have been helpful for me. Instead, I'm the one being backed into a er. Those nano-things are insane.
How was she supposed to beat someone who could literally bloy movement she made? Her options seemed limited to dodging or throwing things around, but Kasumi always kept her distance. Worse yet, the lohis dragged on, the greater her odds of making a fatal mistake, like tripping over a loose tile or misjudging the trajectory of the wires.
There had to be a way. She just wasn't seeing it yet. Think, Fii! THINK!
Blood dripped from the numerous cuts all over Axion's body, creating a trail that marked her path through the plex. The exertion of maintaining her power bined with the effects of her wounds sapped her stamina. Her arms ached, and her movements became more sluggish. Sweat soaked her suit, stinging her tless scratches and scrapes as the fabric chafed against her skin.
She didn't know how long she could st like this. Not long, based on her current state. The fight had to end. Now.
Yet, every attempt to engage Kasumi ended in a failed attack or a narrow escape. It was like she had an ao everything Axion tried. Every move. Every trick.
Something had to give. And she hoped it would be Kasumi.
In the meantime, Axion was stuck running from room to room, putting as much distance as possible between herself and the relentless gang leader.
She bolted through an office with a window on the opposite wall a over aurable, the air whizzing as the wires shed past her. A trail of sshes crisscrossed the area, tearing ks out of the furniture and walls. Wooden splinters filled the air, pelting her as she scrambled to her feet and charged the exit. She didn't stop as she ehe adjat room, her shoes skidding against the slippery floor.
"The hell are you going, hero?" Kasumi demahe thump of her boots reverberated on the ground, punctuating each step. The sound echoed through the hallways as she pursued her. ", fight like a Super already. None of this running bullshit. Stop wasting both of our time, and stand and fight."
A sliced to ribbons before I do anything? Sure, let me just do that. Idiot.
Axion huffed, too wio form a coherent response, and instead, she frantically sed the surroundings as she tinued her flight through the building. Ahead of her, a dead end greeted her. She turned on her heels and began running the other dire, only to find the gleamihs of wire cutting her off, their razor-sharp edges hissing as they sliced through the air.
Desperate, Axion lu the wall and flung herself sideways through an open doorway tht. The wires chased her into the room, the air humming with their passing as they swept across the entrance. Axion gritted her teeth as they scored thin lines across her upper arms and calves. She limped forward, clutg the gash on her right leg. Blood seeped through her fingers, warm and sticky.
Behind her, Kasumi's footsteps paused, the steady thumping growing still. "Not bad, hero." There was a tone of amused approval in her voice. "You're like a mouse trapped in a box. Too scared to e out and fight, yet ing enough to evade capture." She chuckled, her voice eg through the corridor. "Well, you 't hide forever. And I'm not done pyi."
Shit... I have to end this fight soon or else...
Axion opened her mouth to reply. Before she could utter a single word, the wires streaked through the doorway toward her. She swore and sprang out of the way, stumbling around the er. The wires scythed past, the near-miss carving shallow furrows across her right arm.
She cried out, gripping her wounded limb. Fresh blood trickled down her hand as she shambled forward, fueling her frenzied flight as she crashed through an open door and into the room.
The new room was rger thahers, with high ceilings and massive windows c the ey of the exterior wall. Dim moonlight filtered into the room, casting deep shadows from the few objects within—cracked and moldy chairs, ay filing et, and a lone desk in the middle, all coated in yers of dust.
She hurried into the farthest er of the room, pressing herself up against the wall. She cowered there, trying to catch her breath. Through her cracked visor, her eyes flickered across the room, seeking an escape route.
Kasumi followed her in, her boots thudding with ominous finality with every step. She ughed. "Having fun?" She stood in the doorway, framed by the faint light spilling in from the windows. "Because I sure as hell am."
Axion gulped. This is bad. Really bad. How am I supposed to get out of this?
"Got nothing to say anymore?" Kasumi's lips curled into a smirk, and she adjusted the grip on her wires. "Nothing more to throw? No clever lio distract me, hero?" She took a step forward and held out her arms, as if inviting her for a hug. "e on, it's getting b. Stop running and give it all you've got."
A bead of sweat trickled dowemple, and she ched her fists.
Fine! If that's what it takes, I'll do it. I'll bring it all. EVERYTHING!
Axion braced herself against the wall and gathered every ounce of energy and tration she possessed. She narrowed her eyes, fog oiny sparks of gravitons swirling around her, and the power surged within her. Her body felt as light as a feather.
After a fierce battle cry, she pushed off the wall and rocketed forward, propelled by a surge of gravitons. She flew through the air, the momentum carryioward the stunned gang leader.
[TFSI: 0.54]
Kasumi's eyes widened in shock as she instinctively raised her wires to intercept her, creating a web of gleamial between them.
This was a gambit.
As she flew through the air, she willed the gravitons to ge dire, redireg them with such precision that she was able to manipute her momentum, angling herself to slip through the gaps iice. She felt like a marioe being tugged and pulled by invisible hands.
A sharp pain surged through her skull while calg each tiny movement as she approached her oppo, weaving and dodging through the deadly cordon.
[TFSI: 0.61]
She ighe pain as she twisted and torted her body, using every scrap of her tration to plot the perfect course.
The nanofiments buzzed and hummed as she passed by, the sharp edges scraping harmlessly against her bodysuit. Orand sliced through the tip of the horn-like protrusion on her helmet, slig off a small k of the carbon fiber.
[TFSI: 0.64]
That's the closest she ever got!
, almost there! Just gotta—
Time seemed to slow. With her momentum waning, she readied herself to unother burst of gravitons to propel herself. She spun her body around, twisting it into a perfect axe kick, the heel of her boot aimed straight at Kasumi's face.
[TFSI: 0.67]
In a blink of ahe gangster pivoted on her heels, dug uhe kid pulling herself back just in time to avoid the impact. Still, Axion's momentum carried her forward, and as she passed by, she swung her foot downward, aiming for the ground below while eling her power through her heel.
[TFSI: 0.70]
With a deafening roar, her stomp cratered the floor, unleashing a shockwave that rippled outward, shattering the grouh her feet and causing the entire room to cave in. Dust and debris filled the air, obsg the chaos that ehe floor fell away, and the two fighters plummeted with the colpsing structure, hurtling toward the ground far below.
"FUCK!" Kasumi yelled, her arms filing wildly as she desded. Her nanowires thrashed arouheir razor-sharp tips whistling as they tore through the air. She mao several strands around a protruding beam in an attempt to arrest her fall.
Axion's body twisted through the air as she maneuvered through the falling debris. She somersaulted in midair, flipping her body upright before drawing back her foot. As she neared Kasumi, she thrust her heel forward at the apex of her momentum.
Her foot ected with Kasumi's midse, sending the gang leader flying into the van that was still wrecked from their previous fight, her nanowires trailing after her, severed and useless.
[TFSI: 0.72]
Kasumi collided with the side of the vehicle, crumpling against its surface—the force of the impact caused the vehicle to rock. She slumped to the ground, her fad clothing covered in grime and debris, her expression dazed aed.
Axion nded a short distance away, croug in a three-point stance, her body glowing with a radiant blue aura.
The few gang members still around stared in shod awe. Silence hung in the air. The only sounds that broke the silence were the patter of rain and the settling dust and debris.
With shaky legs, she straightened up and faced the group, the LED eyes of her cracked visor fshing a brilliant blue.
She limped toward the hug, who in turn began to back away in fear. The rest of the thugs around her dispersed, rushing to their fallen leader.
"Who's...?" Axion rasped, her breathing heavy and bored. "I ...fight all night. Bring it."
The gangsters hesitated, exging nervous gheir eyes dartiween themselves and their incapacitated leader.
Kasumi's eyes fluttered, and she slowly shook her head. Her body trembled, and her limbs refused to respond to her ands. She coughed weakly and spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Boss?" the nearby thug asked. "Boss, you good?" He took a cautious step toward her. "What do we do?"
"F-fuck," she coughed. "Let's...go."
The thug nodded and leaned down, pulling her onto his shoulders with a grunt. " guys, time to leave!" he bellowed. "Move out!"
The angsters rallied around him, with one of the thugs pig up Vaughn from the er, and they fled through the garage exit.
Wait...the Shiver! Did they take it?!
None of the thugs were carrying the briefcase she had seen earlier. She suspected that it might still be in the vehicle.
She limped back to the van, leaning against it for support as she looked inside, her head still pounding and ag from the strain of the fight.
Three identical briefcases y within—the same ohat she had seen the dealer exge with them earlier.
She opened one of them. Within the case, rows of syringes sat snugly in padded partments, led among the ice packs meant to keep the drug cool. It appeared to be undamaged from the crash.
Doesn't matter. They'd probably end up destroying it all anyway.
After closing the briefcase, Axion sighed in relief, slumping against the van, her limbs weak and trembling.
Everything about her hurt. The adrenaline was wearing off, and now the fatigue washed over her in a wave.
It's finally over. Finally.
Edith's voice finally crackled in her ear, her tone somber.
Axion tapped the side of her helmet, then smiled faintly. "Y-yeah. S-sure."
She winced, her arm throbbing, and she examined her injuries, surveying the bloody, torn scraps where the wires had struck her. "Ow." She touched them gingerly, biting her lip at the pain. "Hurts like hell..."
When Virgil gets back, I'll let him have it for not warning me about Kasumi's nanowires. He better be having a hard time too.