(Dyn)

  Dyn watched as the masked figure darted along the wall toward White. They dipped low to scoop up a portrait, then vaulted high off the wall, their momentum carrying them forward. With the grace of a trained dahey tucked their arms in tight and spun, the speed of their twirl accelerating with each rotation.

  At the height of their final spin, they flung the oversized throwing star. It sliced through the air, arg to the side with a subtle curve before detonating just inches from White’s face. Prismatic light erupted at the point of impact, rippling across an invisible barrier—White’s protective shell still held firm. Moments ter, the colorful hues vanished, leaving the air shimmering in their wake.

  Defying gravity once again, the figure nded gracefully ba the wall. They grabbed another frame, and with a swift motion, smashed it across their knee. Splitting the sts in two, the figure quickly twisted the wire between them into a makeshift garotte, tightening the wire with a firm tug.

  White reached down with his right arm, juring a softball-sized sphere of turbulent water just beyond his cws. Grunting with effort, he swiped upward. The sphere trailed his motion before whipping forward at supersonic speed, smming into the wall where the figure had been moments earlier. The impact left a crater and deep, jagged cracks ionework. Meanwhile, the figure reappeared, now perched upside-down on the ceiling.

  ‘Elves, dragons, and noires?! What have I gotten myself into?’ The figure vanished before Dyn’s eyes. His gaze frantically swept the room, searg for them, but White’s grunts and gurgles soon grabbed his attention. The figure had reappeared—this time behind the ivory dragon.

  The garotte tightened around White’s throat. His cws scrabbled desperately at the wire, but there wasn’t enough space to slip beh it. Dyn could hear the figure straining as they arched their back, yanking hard os to choke the dragon. Though the wire couldn’t slice through White’s scales, it was successfully cutting off his air.

  Dyn wasn’t sure who to root for—the dragon sorcerer or the mysterious vampire ninja. Though, to be fair, he still wasirely vihe guy was actually a vampire.

  White’s entire body shimmered before shifting into a glossy, form-fitting yer of bck stone. Obsidian cracks spider-webbed across his throat where the wire dug in. With a sharp movement, he leaned into the wire, lifting the figure off their feet and using their ow as leverage.

  White spun around with the figure ging to his bad now faced Dyn. With a sudden burst of strength, he reached over his shoulder, grabbed the figure by their shirt, and hurled them through the air—straight toward Dyn.

  “Shit.” Dyn scrambled to dodge the ining projectile. He threw himself backward, nding hard on his tailboh a painful thud. The figure barreled through the doorway, just barely avoiding a escape before a siing snap echoed through the air—their ag on the doorframe.

  The figure cried out in agony. Up close, Dyn could finally firm that this was, indeed, a guy. He was dressed in dark browhers—boots, a multitude of belts, a mask, and an e cloak, simir to the dead woman’s. His well-fitted trousers, like most clothing here, had loads of pockets, and dark blue leather gloves covered his hands.

  ‘Is he an elf, too?’ Dyn wohough the man’s mask cealed his ears, making it impossible to tell.

  Moments after the stranger crashed through, aorrent of water bsted into the wall beside the doorframe, doubling the size of the gap. Dyn barely had time to react before shards of rock pelted him across the faeck, and down the left side of his torso—the side closest to the door. The sudden and overwhelming force sent his already paniind spiraling further into chaos.

  ‘I don’t want to die again!’ Dyn frantically scooted behind the wall, breaking White’s line of sight. With shaky hands, he dabbed at his cheeks, expeg to find them drenched in blood. Instead, they were caked with another yer of dirt, with only a faint smear of the red stuff.

  Despite a few deep cuts and scrapes—and the stone slivers he’d have to dig out ter—Dyn knew he’d live. The stranger, however, wasn’t so lucky; his foot sat at an unnatural angle.

  ‘How’s this guy not screaming in pain? I’d totally be screaming.’ A glint from the stranger’s boot caught Dyn’s eye. At first ghey looked like ordinary leather boots, but theiced the small steel pte over the toes. ‘Actual steel-toed boots?’ he mused.

  The stranger inhaled sharply through gritted teeth, his eyes darting down to assess the damage to his leg. With a low growl, he spat out a harsh, gravelly “Goddamnit.”

  He jammed his hand into a pocket and pulled out a vial of dark liquid. After a quice at Dyurned aulled down his mask, and tipped the vial ba one swift motion. Ohe tents were gone, he stashed the empty vial, grunted, and leaned forreparing to stand, despite his clearly broken leg.

  Dyn winced. “That’s not going to—” But before he could finish, the stranger grunted and stood, defying his broken leg as if pain and body meics didn’t apply to him. A series of sharp pops and cracks echoed as his ankle realigned, and he even stomped down to test the leg.

  This was the most badass motherfucker Dyn had ever met.

  “Stay hidden,” the stranger growled before vanishing once more.

  “How?” Dyn muttered, sing the room for any sign of where the stranger had goaying out of sight seemed like a smart pn, given how devastating and frequent those stray shots had been. Something about the stranger the back of his mind, a familiarity he couldn’t quite pce. But there were more pressing matters at hand—like not getti again.

  Wing from the pain in his ass, Dyn pushed himself to his feet. It hurt like hell, but he didn’t think it was broken. Inspired by something he’d seen in movies, he flipped the table on its side and crouched behind it. With a k, the crystal ball rolled off its base and hit the floor.

  “Sorry,” Dyn apologized to the inanimate object, his auto-manners kig in as usual. The crystal ball pulsed blue, as if aowledging his apology.

  Dyhe wooden table with doubt. After seeing what White could do to a stone wall, it didn’t inspire much fidence. Grabbing the chair he’d been sitting on, he wedged it between himself and the table. It wasn’t much, but it was all he had. Heart pounding, he leao the side and cautiously peered around the er as the sounds of the fight grew closer.

  Staggering bato view, White looked worse for wear. Large patches of his obsidian shell were missing, exposing vulnerable skih. A deep gash on his right side rhythmically pumped blue blood onto the floor.

  White pressed a hand to his wound, but before he could react further, a loud snap of the fingers echoed through the room. Rusted iron s materialized out of thin air, g and king as they swiftly coiled around him. Within seds, they had ed him tightly, tightening further until they melded into his body and vanished from sight.

  White pulled his hand away, expeg the wound to have healed. When the gash still bled, he spat a curse at the stranger. Bringing his palms together, he closed his eyes in tration. A gray cloud formed overhead, raining down drops that ignited upon tact with his skin. Fmes trickled from crest to toe, knitting his wounds closed as they spread across his body.

  As White trated, a massive dark bubble formed around him. His eyes shot opehe fire abruptly extinguished, and his body floated half a foot off the ground. Though his magical wings might have been responsible, the way he clutched at his throat made Dyn suspect this was the stranger’s doing. White filed desperately, all six limbs thrashing as if he were trapped in water, struggling to escape the suffog bubble.

  ‘Jesus Christ, is this guy a vampire or a Dark Lord of the Sith?’ Dyn wondered, uo look away from White’s plight.

  Right ohe straepped into view, holding up a single crest-shaped hand at his oppo. White thrashed helplessly, fpping his wings and kig out in a futile attempt to free himself. His desperate movements only seemed to drain his remaining air faster, doing nothing to ge his fate.

  In a final, desperate attempt to break free, White aimed his arms and legs at the floor. Four streams of water burst from his hands a, reminding Dyn of those hydro jet packs people used at the beach. The water quickly split into smaller, unduting spheres, surging toward the edges of the bubble until it overflowed, spilling out onto the floor.

  The stranger held the spell a moment longer, even after White’s body had goill. Then, with a final spsh and a heavy thud, the water and White’s lifeless form crumpled to the ground. The stranger’s footsteps spshed through the water as he calmly re-ehe interrogation room.

  “You o trust me,” the stranger rasped, his gravelly voice cutting through the stillness as he turo face Dyn.

  Dyn’s immediate thought was, ‘No fug way. You just showed up and killed someone.’ And Abs? He was still o be found, only adding to the growing suspi in Dyn’s mind.

  Dyn forced the lie from his mouth. “Okay.” His eyes darted to the crystal ball behind the stranger, which pulsed a menag red. He swallowed hard, his heart pounding as he hoped the stranger wouldn’t notice.

  The stranger extended his hand. Dyated, staring at it—the very hand that had just suffocated a goddamned dragon. A wave of unease washed over him, but not wanting to ahe wall-walking, dragon-sying stranger, he relutly took his hand.

  The stranger gave Dyn’s hand a firm squeeze before vanishing once again. Dyn stared at his empty hand, unsure of what he’d expected—maybe some ical bullshit, but definitely something more than this. Now he was alone, left standing in a slightly flooded room with White’s corpse just outside.

  With a sudden burst of realization, Dyn snapped his fingers. “Batman!” he excimed, the name slipping out as if it were obvious.

  ‘That’s what’s so familiar about the guy,’ he thought. ‘He talks like Christian Bales’ Batman.’ He was in the middle of w up the ce to take oerror tube wheranger reappeared o him, as silently as he’d vanished.

  “Alright. So, you don’t trust me…” the stranger said, his gaze drifting toward White’s lifeless body. “I get it.” He o himself and began pag, the water sloshih his feet as he schemed. Before Dyn could react, the stranger paused. “I’ve got an idea,” he announced, and in the blink of an eye, he vanished again.

  A flood of questions rushed through Dyn’s mind: ‘Why do you speak English? Why doesn’t anyone else? What nguage are they speaking? you really use the Force? How the hell do you walk on walls? Do you drink blood? Why’d you kill that guy?’ The list was endless.

  Dyn wriggled his toes in the shallow water, his eyes sing the room. The table y on its side, and the chairs were scattered in disarray. He bent down to retrieve the crystal ball, relieved to find it undamaged despite its rough nding. Unfortunately, he didn’t have any pockets to carry it, but it was a useful little device. Dyn could see the appeal of an abundance of pocket space.

  White had left his mark on the wall—a solid sb of tinuous stone, about eight ihick. The ck of bricks seemed improbable, maybe even impossible, but Dyn had seen strahings since he’d arrived. He just shrugged and accepted it as part of his new reality.

  Dyn spshed his feet ier absentmindedly, marveling at how much White must have jured to flood the room with several inches of standing water.

  ‘Is there a drain?’ Dyn gnced around, but the stagnant water suggested otherwise. It reminded him of his old high school chemistry css—where they avoided installing drains so spills wouldn’t ihe water supply. Curious, he stepped out into the hallway, carefully skirting around White’s lifeless body. The corridor was a wreck, debris scattered everywhere, evidence of the chaos that had unfolded.

  Wrecked portrait frames floated by on the shallow waves as Dyn walked. One vas, mostly intact, drifted alongside him. The oil paints had mixed poorly with the water, creating streaks that gave Lady Spock a dark, dramatic appearance. Smoky eyes stared out beh a tiara, emerald streaks running across her fad pooling at her lips, darkening them. Dyn couldn’t help but find this version of Lady Spock strangely provocative—he was a sucker foth chicks.

  Farther down the hallway, Dyn spotted the lower half of a body lying in the doorway of another room. As he got closer, he reized the shirtless figure—it was Abs, the elf who never returned from his sidequest. Dyn’s mind raced with questions. ‘What happeo him? Why is he lying in a shallow pool of water, half-way in a supply closet?’

  The cause of death was clear. Green blood flowed in rivulets from the deep gash across Abs’ neck, the steel wire still embedded in the wound. Dyn turned away, nausea rising in his throat. His mind repyed the se from earlier—the stratempting the same brutal maneuver on White.

  Dyn wasn’t about to risk losing his lunch by poking around for whatever tris might hide in the closet. Instead, he stepped back, trying to focus on anything but the corpses. ‘Do I really want to stick around when Darkside Murder-Batman shows up again?’ he wondered uneasily.

  The only way out was the terror tube waiting ominously at the end of the hallway. Dyn shuddered at the thought of using it again—maybe risking another enter with the stranger wasn’t such a terrible option after all.

  After wandering around for a bit, trying to calm his nerves, he returo the interrogation rohted his chair, and sank into it with a heavy sigh.