Relik had always assumed his first official mission would be somewhere deep inside Titan territory, tearing through Shink-Ra with a bolt-gun in one hand and a sword in the other.
For seventeen years, he had held that vision as the sole reason for his improvement.
For seventeen years, he had polished that dream until it shone.
Instead, he was deeper into the Astran Empire than he had ever been, fighting a Shiear, a man charged with the protection of an entire city.
So far, Relik had done more damage to the Empire than he had ever done to Shink-Ra, and for some reason, he didn't feel an ounce of shame for it.
Relik was a blur of pure violet Iké, a jagged streak of light that ignored the existence of friction. Every time his feet struck the floor, a fresh smear of blood marked his trajectory, a crimson map of his desperation.
He had sliced through another six clones when the air seemed to thicken, pressing against his skin like molten lead. He was wringing his enhancement to its absolute limits.
His reinforced lungs burned with the effort of fueling a body that refused to slow down. He blamed the narrow windows he allowed himself to breathe before launching at the next swarm.
"Use shorter bursts!"
Logun's voice cut through the scream of wind and steel. The man had dispatched more clones than Relik could track, somehow increasing his own speed until even Relik, while Boosted, began to lose sight of him.
The hurricane that was his mentor had blown down a mountain of clones, yet they continued to spill over the banisters in an endless supply.
Logun landed back-to-back against Relik.
"He must have deploy his clones as the 'Hands' of Salaam," Logun panted, his breath coming in jagged rattles. The leather on his hilt was slick with a sickening mixture of sweat, blood, and black ash.
"That means this won't end without the original," Relik suggested between the frantic heaves of his chest.
A clone stepped onto the banister, walking along the edge with its eyes glued to their static frames. Relik knew it was buying time, but he needed the moment to catch his breath. It didn't matter, the clone was cut in half by Logun before it could utter a word.
"Adrinas is essentially useless against him," Logun added, wiping a line of red off his blade. "Attacks need to affect his soul for it to matter."
"Like when Wyva shocked him earlier."
Right on cue, the second wave hit.
Relik primed for an attack, but Logun caught his shoulder. "Here." He thrust the end of the glowing green chain Vanqis had used earlier into Relik's hand.
"Don't let go!"
"What?"
BOOST.
Before Relik could contemplate his predicament, Logun pivoted and launched him. Relik was tossed into the wave like a living flail.
Eager not to disappoint, he channeled his Iké to his eyes, narrowing his world to a single point. He ran his blade across the clones on the deck, ensuring they were dispatched by his second rotation.
Even though he suspected the next move, it was still a shock when Logun angled him higher, whipping him out and around the building's exterior.
Relik doubled the chain around his left forearm and kept his sword extended, lazily slicing climbers as he swung by. Fractured glass fell from above, missing him by inches. Death was likely, but far more acceptable than what Vanqis had in mind.
As his momentum died, he felt the chain yanked back up in one powerful pull.
He landed back on the deck to find Logun struggling. The master was sluggish now, his movements heavy. Conversely, the Vanqis before them wore a wide, hungry grin, his onslaught fresh as if the fight had only just begun.
Relik sprinted in, the iron links of the chain dragging behind him with a metallic roar. He feinted a swing, then whipped the glowing chain at the Shiear's face. Logun caught the rhythm instantly, snaking his end of the links around the man's leg.
Vanqis lashed out, realizing the trap, and connected a slap to Relik's shoulder. The boy skidded to a stop, leaving a red trail behind him, his body too exhausted to trigger his Gainer abilities.
He ran in again as Logun trapped the Shiear's left arm. Relik connected a knee to the side of Vanqis's head, wrapping the chain around the man's neck before leaping away. Logun vaulted into the air; Relik yanked his end of the chain, forcing the Shiear to his knee. Logun landed a double-stomp onto the Shiear's face before being slapped away.
On opposite sides of the deck, the two threw knowing glances before sprinting in laps around Vanqis, heading in opposite directions to optimize the capture. By the time they exhausted the length of the chain, they were both fully gassed.
"You think this is it?" Vanqis chuckled, bound in the glowing links. "I am the Shiear. You think mere reinforced chains can hold me? Well, Lo-"
CRACK.
A bolt-gun barked. A blue mark bloomed on Vanqis's shoulder.
Relik and Logun turned toward the stairwell. Wyva was there, leaning heavily against the doorframe. In his right hand was a crate; in his left, a smoking bolt-gun.
"I was going to walk over," Wyva wheezed, "but he talks too much."
Vanqis looked over his shoulder at the hit. "You elf bastard!" he hissed. "Do you have any idea what you just-"
The right side of his face slumped. His words dissolved into a slur before he collapsed face-first onto the floor. Muffled, paralyzed curses vibrated against the quartz.
"I imagine he'll be out for more than a day," Logun grinned.
Relik turned to Wyva as the Alven limped toward them. Looking at the soot-stained, haggard mess of his friend, Relik couldn't help himself.
"You look like shit!"
"Your mother."
________________________________________
Veech had abandoned his humming many floors ago. The comfort he had initially taken from the tune had curdled into a low, simmering annoyance.
It seemed the deeper he delved into the gut of the tower, the worse he felt about being there.
The trail of wet prints had fizzled out into the dust, leaving him with only one direction to go. It was either this way or no way, until he ran into a dead end.
He stood before a well-maintained, lead-lined bulkhead.
Taking one slow, deliberate breath, Veech channeled his Iké into his hands to facilitate a partial Morph. He buried his fingers deep into the screaming metal of the door frame's lower section.
His muscles reinforced themselves, supplying layer after layer of dense, fast-twitch fiber. His skin tightened with his grip until his forearms looked like corded iron.
Once his body was set, he simply straightened his back. The door gave up without protest, tearing like wet cardboard rather than the layered alloy he was actually ripping back.
Veech slipped beneath the folded metal, shaking the Morph out of his arms as he entered. He found a fog of pressurized steam accompanied by a strange, biting coolness.
He hadn't traveled far when he noticed one of Vanqis's clones lying face-down at the control panel.
The figure wore only underwear, and for the first time, Veech could see the truth of the Shiear.
Where Relik's markings ended at his chest and forearms, this body was covered. Intricate, glowing lines mapped every inch of skin that Vanqis usually hid beneath his robes.
The Hurc grabbed the man by the shoulder and hoisted him up. The Shiear felt just as Relik had an hour ago; heavy, limp, and entirely disconnected.
Veech allowed a low rumble of a chuckle. It seemed the boys topside had actually managed to paralyze the source.
His humor was cut short by the sight of what the Alven boy had mentioned.
At the center of the room sat a glass cylinder, and within it sat a young woman no older than Relik himself. She stared back at him, her hair floating like a ghost in the liquid- and, Astra help him, she was naked.
Veech immediately diverted his eyes, sweeping the lab for anything to cover her. He snatched a discarded lab coat, holding it up like a shield to obscure his vision as he approached.
She seemed to find entertainment in his modesty, a small smile playing on her lips.
He edged closer, placing a hand against the glass to gauge its strength. It was thicker than he had assumed, but thick glass was still just glass.
He braced himself and flicked his middle finger against the surface.
The reinforced cylinder had gone from present to vanished in a heartbeat. The liquid rushed out in a localized tsunami, flooding the lab floor. Veech caught the girl in the lab coat, immediately turning his back to grant her privacy.
A small, pale hand tapped his side. When he turned, she provided an official greeting, "Gyé... and thank you."
Her voice was raspy, the sound of vocal cords that hadn't been used in a lifetime. She looked fragile, but her eyes held a clarity that didn't match the prison she had just occupied.
"Gyé," Veech replied, closing his eyes to maintain her dignity. "We must leave before the entire building falls on us."
She nodded, the oversized lab coat hanging off her frame as she stepped into the ruins of her cage.