For once the traffic was nonexistent on the bridge. There was no major crisis in the central parts of the city, no one was desperate to leave. All the violence was occurring at the outer edges. Unfortunately this was not an advantage on my end.
Without traffic I was unable to hop between car roofs. As it was, I had to run along the bridge and jump if I caught wind of headlights. I realized just how fragile I am in this impenetrable suit as the headlights of a semi flash in front of me. I jump as high and as far as I can. I landed on my toes with a near silent thud, and ran along the vehicle.
Soon I found myself past the bridge. I needed to get a better vantage point so I found a fairly tall building. I pulled out the staff and aimed at a ledge on the third floor. I had created the staff with two buttons, one to make it go out, and one to make it retract.
When the staff goes out the hooks at the end are open, once I hit the button to go down the hooks all sink in. If whatever they sink into is strong enough to support my weight then I get pulled towards it, if whatever they sink into isn’t that strong then it gets yanked towards me. The hook was attached by a thin wire that was propelled very quickly by machinery inside of the staff.
I hit the button to shoot out the hooked end of the staff. Once it struck the ledge I immediately tapped the button for it to return back to me. Unfortunately I hit it a second too late and the wire slinked back into the staff in a fraction of a second with a soft collapsing noise.
I gave it another try and I hit the button at the right moment. In a fraction of a second I flashed between standing on my feet and hanging from a ledge on the side of a building. I wasn’t expecting the sudden rush of air. I exhaled a little as I let the blood rush back down from my head.
I held on tight to the staff as I looked down and saw the drop. I clamped my toed feet onto the wall of the building and then let go of the staff. I stood vertically on the wall. I looked down and let out a sigh. I trekked up the fairly tall building. I knew that the main gang fight was happening somewhere near the highway, which was a few blocks from the ghettos at the outskirts of town. It was a Hispanic gang and an Irish one that was fighting initially, then the Platinum family had sent in foot soldiers.
I didn’t think any actual Platinums were out there. If they were, I’d have to leave this one to the police. Or the criminals. Whoever could take them out. Once I was at the top of the building, I looked across the city and aimed for the top of a taller building. The wire shot out like a bullet and once it hit the ledge at the top of the building, I quickly stuck my finger on the button. I was half expecting the rush this time and even then, I felt my stomach fly against the sides of my body as I was flung like a ragdoll through the air.
I repeated the process of sinking my toes in and climbing to the roof. I took a second to look down. The rain was pouring down even harder, people were going inside because of the cold. I saw umbrellas popping up, I saw restaurants turning their lights off.
I saw a white blur streak across my vision, like a bullet train going through the street. I shrugged and searched for the next building to latch onto. After repeating the process enough times for it to become routine the burning ghettos came into view. The gang war had spread far.
I landed on the street in an urban neighborhood. The buildings around me were riddled with bullet holes, as were the corpses. They all had large chunks taken out. They were missing limbs or parts or all of their face. Most of them looked like they had been dead in one shot. There was a burning fast food restaurant in front of me and I could hear frantic breathing coming from inside. I could hear the turning of wheels and that’s when I saw what had given the Hispanic gang such an advantage. They had taken one of the armored vehicles the dead soldiers had left behind. Along with the turret that had been mounted on it. Six soldiers walked beside it as it patrolled.
The vehicle moved slowly, the man on the turret was searching for potential victims. I ran off to the side by a less damaged building to watch them. It looked like whoever they were fighting had learned their lesson and were letting up. I saw one of the six men with rifles drop in a splatter of blood. I looked over to the top of a building.
It was a sniper. He was extremely accurate, as I spotted him on a rooftop about half a mile away from his victim. Another one of them dropped and they scattered. I didn’t think they could see me but I didn’t want to take the risk, so I walked up the side of the building and crawled in a window.
I found myself in an empty apartment bedroom that looked like it belonged to a six year old girl. There were drawings up all over the wall, and toys all over the floor. The bed had a little cartoon fish on the sheets. The walls were bright pink with yellow flowers painted on it. The lights were off and there was nobody in sight. I listened in and heard no one. I looked out the window to see what was going on.
The gunmen had scattered but it looked like everyone was still inside the armored vehicle. The sniper was still on his perch, watching for any sign of movement. I walked into the main room of the apartment. It was decently sized for the ghetto. Pictures lined the walls. A Hispanic family, a mom, a dad, and a little girl. She looked about five. Suddenly it felt very strange being inside their house.
I heard the distinct sound of gunshots going off and I rushed to the closest window. The Irish had staged their attack. Twelve of them, all armed with rifles, were firing upon the armored vehicle. They were doing little damage to the vehicle. The turret gunner climbed back up and quickly mowed down six of the Irish gangsters. The rest of them ducked and ran to the alleyways.
Half of them were taken out in just a few seconds. No way I’ll be able to take that thing out with becoming Swiss cheese.
I gripped my staff. I aimed at one of the Irish gang members I could see from a window looking over the alley. I clicked the up button and the down button as soon as I could get the claw near him. He was ripped off his feet instantly, and by slinging the staff as it moved I threw him across the apartment. He landed against the wall hard, his eyes spinning in different directions. I ran over to him. His eyes lit up with fear.
“What the fuck are you!?” He screamed. I covered his mouth. He bit down but I couldn’t even feel it.
“Relax. There’s no reason to fight.” I whispered. “Screaming will just get us shot. I just want to ask you a few questions.” I explained to him.
He stared. He was a young guy in his early twenties, with dark brown hair and blue eyes. He was wearing dark clothes. He looked like he’d never seen combat before. I ripped his rifle right out of his hands and threw it across the room.
He pulled a handgun out and shot me in the face. The bullet collided with my mask. I stumbled backwards but caught myself on the back of the couch. My ears rang as the loud bang of the bullet left me momentarily deaf. The bullet hadn’t broken through the mask, but I could tell it had cracked the porcelain. The kid was panting and holding the gun. I stood up and ripped it from his grip. I tossed it out the window.
“Don’t do that again.” I growled, while waving my index finger.
“What the fuck do you want from me?!” He yelled.
“What started the gang war?” I asked him. He tilted his head at me. As he sat against the wall he panted like a dog and his face was soaked in sweat. His pupils were pinpoint.
“I… Some monster took out all the cops and seriously fucked up the city. No cops means no one to stop us. Fuck… Fucking Flynn wants to take the whole city, Antonio has all the stuff the military left behind, so he was our first target. Rumor has it, a Platinum is trying to take them both out and control their gangs. I don’t know anything about that though. Flynn has something up his sleeve, but man I don’t fucking know…” The boy rambled on. I checked out the window to make sure I wasn’t missing anything important. The armored vehicle was still stationary. There was a new corpse near it. I assumed one of them had tried to make a run for it and the sniper picked him off.
“The sniper. Who is he with?” I asked.
“He’s with us. A hired gun, don’t know anything about him other than he’s good. Costs a shitload too.” He explained while sounding especially irritated.
“Any more hired guns?” I asked.
“I don’t know about them but we have three more.” He coughed.
“Describe them.” I quickly responded while still observing out the window. One of the Irish jumped out of the alleyway and ran down the street past the vehicle. The gunmen didn’t bother mowing him down.
“The sniper you’ve seen. Dude’s got records for shooting or something. The next guy is a professional torturer for any hostages we might take in. Scary guy with scars who used to be a doctor. Not a fighter though. The third does stuff with bombs, I haven’t seen him yet. The last guy has powers like you.” He had calmed down a fair bit. The last sentence gave me a shock. I quickly turned to face him.
“Are you sure!?” I raised my voice a little.
“Sure of what?!” He yelled back, clearly surprised by the sudden loudness.
“The powers. Are you sure he has powers!?” I yelled.
“Yes. Guy we bought him from said he was a mutant. I haven’t seen him yet, but that’s the boss’s secret weapon from what I can tell.” He replied. I turned to face the window.
Not good. Very, very not good.
“What are his powers?” I asked.
“No clue. I’ve heard rumors though.” He said calmly. He looked very tired. Like he was drifting off to sleep.
“Like what?” I asked.
“Some say he can control metal. Some say water. Everyone says he’s really fucking scary.” He explained.
“Where are all the civilians?” I asked.
“Lots of them evacuated hours ago. If they’re related to members then we have them in a bunker nearby. If they aren’t then we sent guys to help them get out. We weren’t planning on killing anybody that didn’t deserve it.” He responded. I didn’t reply.
Out the window I watched as an explosion suddenly ripped through the streets. I watched the armored vehicle get torn to shreds like it was made of paper. The buildings nearby caught fire and burned. I watched the sniper pick up his gun and walk off in the darkness. More armored vehicles began driving down the street in a big long line. They were all shadowed by foot soldiers with big military rifles.
On the other end of the street were Irish foot soldiers with their own guns. The armored vehicles mowed down the people on the ground. They all scattered after the first round of attacks. A few of them grabbed military rifles from corpses and shot the armored vehicles with them. It didn’t stop the terret gunmen but it did stop the vehicle in its tracks.
Then without any warning one of the armored vehicles went sailing through the air. It landed a block away. It smashed against a building. “What’s happening out there?” The guy asked.
I couldn’t bring myself to answer. Standing amidst the fire and chaos was a shirtless muscular man with long snow white hair and eyes like a wolf. He faced the armored vehicles like they were nothing. His yellow eyes seemed to stare through them. Behind him he was followed by three men in silver tuxedos with rifles. He lifted his hand, palm out, and all at once the vehicles stopped dead still in their tracks. In the distance thunder rumbled.
It’s a Platinum. A real one.
