Leo went straight for the face, with quick and furious jabs with both hands to the chin, the nose, and the mouth, while the fat man was doing the same. They interchanged strikes, waiting to see which of the two would break first. It wasn't until Boulder realized that he could just hit him on the head with his hammer.
Boulder grabbed one of Leo's fists, stopping him mid-attack and dropping his staff while going for the kill.
("Dodge!") Nigredo yelled, and Leo accepted the suggestion, quickly twisting his body out of the way and kicking his staff from the floor into his free hand. The hammer grazed his head and scratched a thin layer of skin, making him bleed.
With the staff in his hand, he went directly to strike the thug with the metal rod before he could smash his skull. A crack and then a scream, and his hand was free; however, now Leo was fucked.
During this whole fight, he had gotten into the room's corner, unable to dodge or move out of the way while Boulder loomed over him, and then, with one hand quickly turning red from the broken bones and the other holding his weapon, he brought the hammer down.
CLANK CLANK CLANK
There was no way for Leo to block it other than using his staff. The metals clashed against each other so hard that sparks began to fly through the place, but it was clear that his weapon was giving in. It was getting bent out of shape, and sooner rather than later, it had taken a completely L shape, making it useless as a weapon and even less useful for blocking.
When the last strike was about to land on his head, Leo threw the weapon right into the thug's face, making him flinch for an instant. That was all the time he needed to land an uppercut and close the distance so much that the two were basically hugging each other.
If he couldn't win with range, he would reduce it so much that Boulder would not have space to swing his hammer comfortably.
A hook to the kidney was answered by the hammer coming down on Leo's scapula. The hero's fists were not enough to get through the thick layer of fat and muscle, and the thug's hammer had problems making decent damage from that uncomfortable angle.
"Get off me, you freak-AH!" Boulder yelled as Leo stomped on his foot so hard that he collapsed onto him from the constant built-up damage on the thug's body.
("You forgot that you are under him!") Nigredo yelled, but it was too late; the walking fridge-shaped criminal crushed Leo under his weight.
Leo gasped, the air leaving his lungs from the at least 300 pounds of meat over him, and then came the pain as Boulder grabbed his neck.
"End of the road!" Boulder yelled, lifting his hammer and finally having the perfect setup for a clean strike.
CRACK
Nigredo managed to turn the part of her body covering Leo's arm into a slimy substance, working as a lube for him to easily get at least one hand free.
Leo's arm guard broke as it took the hit, but it was better than his head. ("Lube me up! I need to get out!") He yelled at Nigredo, who quickly obeyed.
"What the fuck . . ." Boulder muttered as the hero slithered out of the way, since from his point of view, Leo got covered in baby oil in a single second and the next was back to normal.
The fat dude quickly got up and looked at Leo, who did the same. "Are you a super?!" he barked, his white teeth covered in a thin layer of blood.
"Maybe," Leo answered.
He rushed to grab a random wooden stool that was lying a few meters away, and Boulder followed him, trying to hit him on his way out, but Leo quickly turned around, using the furniture as a shield.
It lasted a single strike before breaking into two parts. Even for a shitty drugs lab, the quality left a lot to be desired. But this left him with the perfect opportunity for Leo to hug his arm.
The second that the stool became splintered, he let the chunks go and hugged Boulder's arm, grappling tightly and now trying to get his hammer off him.
"Wait! Wait!" he yelled before Leo finally grappled the weapon in his hands and threw it out the apartment window.
"Well . . . we are even now . . ." the hero muttered and then raised his guard, even though his body was screaming at him to stop.
("Stop it! Your bones are in a shitty condition, and you can barely see from one eye!") Nigredo yelled.
"You . . . motherfucker . . ." Boulder muttered and took a deep breath before charging like a bull toward Leo.
"Nah, I hate my mother!" he answered, bracing himself for the impact as he hoped to make the man trip and then grapple him into submission with a rear chokehold.
CRASH
Leo underestimated how fast the fat guy was, crashing against him with the power of a small car, grabbing him by the waist and just smashing him through the thin walls of the apartment. The paper mache and shitty wood they were made of were nothing compared to the sheer kinetic force of the two men struggling with each other.
Debris and dust filled the air as what finally stopped Boulder's charge was a big metal box in the meth lab kitchen. He made Leo clash with the fridge so hard that it left a dent in the old and rusted door.
"Ah! Fuck!" Leo yelled, and the pain in his back doubled before getting thrown against the still-turned-on kitchen oven that was boiling a pot of water.
("Your spine can't take more damage!") Nigredo warned him.
With a quick glance around, it was clear that Boulder had gone to wash his hands before starting cooking, and . . . yeah, there was a new buffet of improvised weapons around them now.