Raze sauntered along the crowded streets—an apex predator amidst his natural habitat. A flock of slum-dwellers avoided his path—a bubble of empty spaed as word of his presence spread.

  Let the rats chatter. Those whawk were swiftly cowed into submission. Nothing more than prey. Fear. Submission. Pack dynamics—easy as 1-2-3. Raze had no i in instigating a hunt. Not yet.

  Not until he elimihe prey his boss ordered him to kill.

  Boss's orders. Raze liked obedieaking orders excited him. Boss was boss—Raze submitted. Happily. Boss promised violence. Blood. Pain. Lots of fun. Boss cared. Boss gave him serum. Boosted him. Made him strong. Strohan the puny prey surrounding him. Raze enjoyed his serum. His veins sang. Pulses of fire fueling his muscles. Serum was nice. Boss was nicer. Raze followed.

  Behind him, Blitz paced impatiently. Impulsive. Twitchy. Blitz didn't appreciate obedience. Boss's orders frustrated Blitz. Too bad. Boss was boss—Blitz couldn't resist. Boss trolled serum. Boss trolled Blitz. Boss trolled him. Raze ughed—Blitz disliked submission. Too funny.

  "Will you stop grinning and hurry the hell up?!" Blitz hissed. "You're moving at a fug snail's pace. Hurry the fuck UP."

  Raze ignored Blitz and hummed happily. Blitz's whining. Fun. Raze walked slower.

  "I swear to GOD. If you don't speed up, I'll KILL you. Move your DAMN legs and—"

  Blitz's rambling was background noise—Raze didn't care. Boss ordered Raze and Blitz to eliminate Backfire. Boss ordered Havod Voltaire to meet with the Big Four. Boss ordered Mirage to look for someone. Boss did not mention why. Boss didn't have to. Raze and Blitz obeyed. Simple. Easy.

  Boss was boss. Raze listened.

  Raze sed his surroundings. Slum-dwellers. Prey. Panig. Squirming. Afraid. Amusing. Raze's territory. His hunting ground. Blitz could pin—Raze didn't care. Territory beloo him. Slow stroll. Boss said Backfire hiding in slums. Target would e to him. All Raze o do was wait. Easy. Boss did all the pnning. Smart boss. Clever. Tricky.

  Raze smirked. Hunt soon.

  Virgil crouched atop a dipidated building—his scarred, weatherworn duster fppily in the wind. Beh the brim of his Stetson cowboy hat, his steely gaze surveyed the streets below.

  With a practiced eye, he spotted his quarry—a duo of Adrenomancers. One burly and lumbering. Another lean and darting. Both pumped up on Salvatore's serum. Both a threat. Virgil wasn't afraid—he'd faced worse.

  From his perch, Virgil sized them up.

  Oan variant, and one Hyperioher were Metahumans, but their enhas made them formidable heless. Hyperions were speedsters—capable of outrunning a car. Titans were a juggernaut css, impervious to pain and armed with superhuman strength and durability. her types were pleasantries.

  Salvatore's serum was no joke—it pushed baseline humans beyond their limits, granting Adrenomancers unnatural physical capabilities. The side effects were a death sentence—five years tops. Most users wasted away from their damaged ans and ravaged biology. Five years was generous—most Adrenomancers died after three.

  Virgil clicked his tongue and spat. That bastard Salvatore valued the endgame over the means. Sacrifig pawns to win a match. Typical. Salvatore wouldn't hesitate sacrifig these two Adrenomancers either. Virgil almost felt sorry for these fools.

  Almost.

  These Adrenomancers chose the devil's path—Virgil wasn't charitable. Not today. These bastards wouldn't walk away. Not alive, at least.

  Edith wanted him to keep one of them alive though. She wao find out how Salvatore's serum worked.

  A tall order. Holding back against these dangerous bastards required a delicate touch. Virgil would o minimize his lethal teiques and rely oraint. Tricky—these Adrenomancers would fight until their st breath. Taking prisoners wasn't his style. Edith's request went against his habits. Habits Virgil wouldn't shake ht.

  This better be worth it.

  Virgil's trigger fingers flexed—his hand reag for his Colt Peacemaker revolver. An old gun, but reliable. ized firearms were hard to e across—let alone a w Colt revolver.

  Gun drawn, Virgil cocked his Peacemaker and leaped off the rooftop—nding nimbly before the two Adrenomancers. He twirled the revolver, aiming the barrel directly at the big Adrenomancer's skull.

  "Howdy," Virgil drawled. "Re the two of y'all are lost. It don't matter. Salvatore won't miss trash."

  Virgil received no verbal response. Instead, the Hyperion hanging in the back dashed forward—fast. Too fast. Virgil's pistol barely tracked him.

  "Too slow!" the Hyperion taunted as he closed the gap. "You 't hit me!"

  Virgil fired his revolver—the ethereal bullet barely missing the Adrenomancer as the tter agilely dodged to the left. Uurbed, Virgil rapidly spun the chamber and fired a sed round. Then a third. A fourth. A fifth. With each pull of the trigger, the Peacemaker's ders rotated, emptying a new round as the previous bullets exploded into a barrage of ethereal energy bolts.

  The Hyperion danced around each bst, evading each shot as his Titan rade rushed Virgil. Virgil holstered his gun and leaped over the ining charge. Vaulting overhead, he drew his pair of iron daggers and sshed downward at the Titan's shoulder as he nded.

  The Titan raised an arm in defense and caught Virgil's strike against his forearm. The titan's skin hardened—bulging with coils of reinforced tissue beh. The bdes bounced off the Adrenomancer's augmented muscuture, earning a loud chuckle from the former.

  "Puny," the Titan sneered as he lunged. Virgil dove out of the way—rolling sideways to avoid a follow-up punch. A sed attack. A third. Each time, Virgil narrowly ducked or sidestepped. Each missed swing threw the Titan off bance—giving Virgil the opportunity to close in and nd a cut.

  But the Adrenomancer didn't falter.

  The Hyperion darted behind and joihe fray. In the span of a blink, Virgil found himself pressured from both sides. The Hyperion's speed coupled with the Titan's raw power created an uable mix of attacks—f Virgil to fall bad resort to defense.

  Firing a few shots of cover fire, Virgil retreated—moving fluidly between alleyways and open spaces. The Hyperion matched Virgil's speed—jumpiween rooftops and staying close. Meanwhile, the Titan plowed through the alleys, blowing through obstacles like a wreg ball.

  Despite their disaeamwork, Virgil fought cautiously—careful to ensure he maintained an escape route.

  As the Hyperion charged with inhuman speed, Virgil sprang backwards—bounding off a wall to gain additional height as he fired. Eyes shimmering, he switched his shot to a Temporal Round.

  The sh out, the bullet trailing a faint, ghostly light, cutting through the space between them. It hit—the Hyperion frozen in midair.

  Virgil used this brief pause to roll to the side, positioning himself behind a crumbling wall for cover. The Titan smashed through moments ter. As the Titan emerged through the wreckage, Virgil aimed his revolver and fired.

  The Titan took the bullets head on. The rounds sank harmlessly into his flesh, drawing blood but little else. The Adrenomancer shrugged off the hits and tinued his charge.

  Virgil leaped backwards again—this time leaping onto a dumpster for height. As he jumped, he fired two shots imbued with a Bullet Bond effee shot aimed at the Hyperion, the other at the Titan. The ethereal energy bullet tched onto both Adrenomancers as it struck—tying them together with ahereal e.

  As the Hyperion broke free of the Temporal Round's effects, Virgil aimed and fired another shot. The energy bullet whizzed through the air—the ethereal bolt striking the Hyperion in the leg, f him to a k the same time, a simir wound maed oan's leg.

  Virgil smirked—Bullet Bond was useful. Any damage applied to one Adrenomancer was mirrored to the other. The Titan might be resilient to the force behind his ethereal bullets, but the effects of the bond bypassed biological defenses. As long as Virgil could inflict damage on the Hyperion's quicker, softer flesh, the bond would allow him to ihe Titan as well.

  The Titae sustaining mirrored wounds, barreled onward. Virgil waited. Patieiming.

  At the st minute, Virgil pivoted to the side, barely evading a wild haymaker from the Adrenomancer. As the Titan passed, Virgil fired a Phantom Shot through him. The spectral bullet phased through the Titan's torso and hit the Hyperion on his back. Both Adrenomancers staggered.

  "Shit!" the Hyperion cursed, the wounds on his leg and back bleeding freely. Beside him, the Titan roared angrily—charging forward yet again. Virgil leaped once more. Onto a ledge. Over a dumpster. Onto an awning.

  Round and around they went, the Titan charging recklessly as Virgil evaded. Occasionally, the Hyperion interfered—attempting to fnk Virgil and shoot him with a submae gun.

  Guess he got tired of being the only oing shot at.

  Virgil evaded each burst, returning fire whehe Hyperiooo close. Eventually the Hyperion wisened—ging tactid firing fre. The Hyperion strafed and circled Virgil, keeping him occupied with suppressive fire. At the same time, the Titan rushed in—attempting to bulldoze him each time.

  Eventually the Titan scored a lucky hit—a gng blow that Virgil failed to dodge. The punch was like a freight train, knog the air out of his lungs. A follow-up sm drove him into a wall. Virgil crumpled, and the Titan loomed overhead triumphantly.

  "Got you."

  Virgil smirked and fired the Temporal Round imbued Colt round stored within his Peacemaker.

  "Think again."

  Time froze for the Titan, allowing Virgil a moment's reprieve. Rising unsteadily to his feet, Virgil dashed away—evading the Hyperion's submae gun. As time resumed, the Titan swung wildly—bellowing in anger.

  Virgil kept running—leaping over a pile of rubble and springb off a wall.

  Whehe Hyperion reloaded or recovered, Virgil would fire a Bullet Bond and tag him—eg the duo, and allowing Virgil to punish them both.

  Round and round they went.

  Virgil toyed with the duo—waiting for an opening. An error. An opportunity. Whehe Hyperion strayed too far, Virgil would clip him. Whehe Titaended, Virgil would wound him. Bad forth, a tug-of-war dragged on—each partit searg for an advantage.

  Finally—Virgil saw his ce.

  The Hyperion dashed too far. Virgil tagged him. The Titan charged recklessly. Virgil fired. Bullet Bond. Phantom Shot. Direct hit. Temporal Round. Freeze.

  "End of the line." Virgil stalked fun raised. Two pulls of the trigger. Bang. Bang. Boom.

  Bleeding profusely from their shared wounds, the Hyperion and the Titan y on the floor. Virgil stood above them—peering down coldly. her struggled. Both were badly wounded—blood poolih their fallen forms. Virgil had no doubt a few shots incapacitated the Hyperion permaly.

  Now came the question of the Titan. Should he risk taking him prisohe Adrenomancer's thied epidermis prevented further damage.

  If Edith o disse Adrenomao get her data, the Titan wasn't an option. He was too durable. Too resilient. Even if Virgil tranquilized him and transported him unscious, the serum's enha would likely metabolize the sedative aore his sciousness.

  That left the Hyperion.

  Virgil k by the Titan's fallen form and pluhe barrel of his Colt revolver into the rge Adrenomancer's mouth. Using the tip of the barrel, Virgil pried the Titan's ched teeth open and locked the hammer of his Peacemaker with his thumb.

  An amber glow maed around the barrel as Virgil imbued the der with a Searing Brand. The Titan squirmed, his eyes widening. Virgil pressed the barrel deeper, jamming the on further into his target's throat. Satisfied with his pt, Virgil squeezed the trigger.

  "Night-night."

  A blinding fsh erupted—white-hot tongues of golden fme seared the Titan's oral cavity and burnt his flesh. Virgil watched dispassionately as the Adrenomancer writhed and twitched, his mouth bing and sizzling. Within seds, the Titan's struggles weakened. Seds more—and his chest ceased its rise and fall.

  Virgil rose to his feet and strode towards the Hyperion.

  "Now—to deal with you." Virgil he Hyperion's limp body with a boot. The Adrenomancer responded weakly—gzed eyes crag open.

  "Fuck...you," the Hyperion wheezed. "Do it. Shoot me."

  Virgil did not oblige. Not immediately. Instead—he crouched. Leaning in. Face to face.

  "Sorry pal," Virgil mocked. "I ain't the one pulling the trigger. Doc's orders."

  "Wha...?"

  Virgil didn't expin.

  "Don't worry. You won't suffer long." He raised his fist and smmed it into the Hyperion's skull.

  Hard.

  Unscious.

  Virgil collected his prize and whistled a tune.

  Mission aplished.