Rowan stared. Gills? He glanced up. The faintest flash of white appeared over the edge of the buildings, but only momentarily. Rowan grinned through the pain. Kaidu! He found Gills?

“Who in the hell are you?” Jeff asked, looking Gills up and down. He twitched a finger away from Jenna to point at Gills.

Gills ducked. Cutting a serpentine across the alleyway, he charged at Jeff.

Jeff tipped his head. Jacob released the man he stood on and stomped over to meet Gills’ rush, every step shaking the ground underfoot. Marlene, too, turned and raced for him, knives flashing.

A flash of white and silver dropped toward Jeff. The man whirled and pointed up, momentarily lifting his finger away from Jenna. A razor blade with a scrap of fabric tied to it hurtled past him, cutting a slash down his chest.

He grimaced. “Come down, you coward!”

A rain of blades and stones was his answer.

“Dammit! Argh, restraint!” He dodged to the side, avoiding the debris.

The pain abated, but Rowan found himself frozen instead. Restraint takes less… mana? focus? than punishment? Interesting.

Gills laughed, short and sharp. Jacob staggered sideways, a hand to his ear, and hit the wall hard. Blood ran down his neck in a river, oozing out from between his grasping fingers. Marlene darted in. Gills split his axe apart again and met her darting blades with his own strikes, parrying the daggers again and again.

Jeff scowled and shifted, getting an angle to point at Gills from.

“Watch out!” Rowan shouted.

Gills ducked, dodging both a strike from Marlene and Jeff’s pointing.

Water swirled under his feet. Amy gestured upward, and a pillar of water raged around Gills, engulfing him. Lifted off his feet, he swirled in the water, little more than a shadow amidst the rushing white and brown.

Jeff sighed. He stared up at the sky. “You wanna come down from there before I kill your friends?”

A razor cut into his forehead, hidden in the rain until the last second.

Jeff plucked it out of his forehead, letting the blood run down his face. The rivulet broke over his nose, running down either of the deep wrinkles that cut across his face from the inner edge of his eye. Scowling, he bent the razor in his hand. “That is the last straw. Amy, Marlene, Jacob—”

From either end of the alley came a rush of footsteps, all running toward them.

“What now?” Jeff grumbled.

“The Hero arrives!” Terry announced, racing in. He spun his sword overhand somewhat clumsily.

Rowan gave the swirling sword a concerned glare. He better not drop that while I’m paralyzed.

“God damn, you people never give up, do you,” Jeff grumbled. He shifted his hands to point at the newcomers.

Another rain of stones and blades smashed into him from above, knocking his arms off-course. Frustrated, Jeff whirled upward.

“Aha! Take this, evildoer!” Terry slammed his sword down with both hands.

A massive shockwave emanated from the blade. Jeff stumbled back, hands thrown away. The paralysis on Rowan lifted just in time for him to duck and cover, protecting himself as the shockwave blew him back.

“Ikara! Now!” Rowan shouted.

Ikara ran forward. She threw thread at Jeff, tangling his wrists. “Spool!”

“Dammit!” Jeff pulled against the string. “Marlene, you wanna—”

Marlene turned, but had to dodge as an axe hurtled at her. She twisted aside, barely keeping her head.

“Not so fast. We’re dancing over here,” Gills grinned.

Jacob ran at Gills, arms out for a bearhug. Gills grabbed his arm, ducked, twisted his hips, and threw. Jacob fell heavily to his back.

“Yeah, you too, big boy.” Gills dropped his other axe, clapped, and the joint axe manifested again. He split it into two as he drew his hands apart, fast enough to block Marlene’s strike to his head.

“Amy!” Jeff shouted.

Jenna lanced a bolt of lightning at Amy’s head. Amy danced back, willing water up around her with a gesture. Before she threw it, Lancelot stepped in, darting her lance in at Amy. Frustrated, Amy bared her teeth and slashed at the pair, but with only a splash-worth of water moving at her will, the attack flopped.

“Jude!” Rowan called, charging at Jeff.

“Right here,” Jude replied, flicking his fluffy blue hair out of his eyes.

Jeff glared as they rushed in and struggled harder. More thread wrapped around him, holding his arms down. “You motherfuckers. When I get out of this—”

Jude popped a vial out of his waistpack. “Yeah, yeah. Rowan?”

Rowan grabbed Jeff’s forehead with one hand and clawed his mouth open with the handclaw. Jeff screamed something garbled. Jude thrust the vial into Jeff’s mouth. Neon pink fluid rushed out, but not all of it. Rowan slammed Jeff’s mouth shut and held on with all his might, pinching the man’s lips shut with both hands.

“No cheating, now.” Jude smiled and pinched Jeff’s nose.

Jeff struggled. He shook his head back and forth. Jude and Rowan held on, holding him down. Ikara’s thread strained, but held. At last, Jeff went limp, eyes rolling back.

A bolt of lightning slammed into Amy. She staggered back, off-balance. Lancelot struck her in the gut, then comboed into a blow to the head. Blood flew. Amy fell.

Fighting off Marlene and Jacob at the same time, Gills laughed aloud, a wild smile on his face. His axes flashed around him, turning all their blows away.

White darted from the sky. Kaidu’s blade appeared at Marlene’s neck. She raised her dagger in time to keep the razor from cutting her open, but as Kaidu pushed, she could only stumble back, dagger shuddering under the force.

Left with only one combatant, Gills turned his axes around, raised them high, and cleaved down on Jacob’s head. The man grabbed his skull and fell sideways, splashing down into the puddle.

Marlene glanced around, taking in her fallen comrades. She raised her hands and dropped the dagger not at her throat. “I surrender.”

Lead team defeated! +200 bonus points! Four parties participated in the battle. Points will be split four ways.

+269 points!

That’s all? Rowan stood up, catching his breath as he did quick mental math. 200 times 4… that’s 800. Okay, I guess he couldn’t have had more than… 1000 over 4… 250 per person. Plus the bonus… right, it all works out.

Total points: 375

Rowan’s eyes darted around the alley. If I took down everyone here, I’d have enough to leave.

Wild eyes met his. Katy backed away, the same thought written across her face. Lancelot stared at them hungrily. Gills tapped his axe over his shoulder and yawned, oblivious.

Cold steel met his throat. Rowan glanced down. A scalpel.

Jude smiled. “Your points or your life, I suppose.”