Raphael, supported by Junco and Suni, glared as he watched Fenrir walk away casually and calmly. That nonchalant attitude infuriated him further till all he saw was red.

Fucker thinks he could hurt my sister and walk away? Raphael glowered as he shoved Suni's hand aside. I don't think so. Not so easily.

"Amahle," Raphael radioed in. "I need OD-B2 sent down on my coordinates. Now."

Up in the air, Amahle did a 90° sharp turn and the Dragonfly spun around deftly despite the sharp Gs that would normally send a pilot into la-la land. Amahle, however, felt no discomfort and frowned instead when she heard Raphael.

Dropping an OD Pod without knowing its contents and approval from AEM is against regulations, she thought. And Raphy is usually a stickler for rules. Must mean things are pretty bad down there.

Flipping a few switches, Amahle piloted herself towards the rooftop that Raphael, Junco, and Suni were on.

"Roger, major. Stand by, preparing to release Ordnance Drop Pod in Bay 2 on three, two, one. Package is away, Angel. Godspeed."

A rectangular box, shaped like a large equipment locker, detached from the side of the Dragonfly and landed stoutly on the roof. Granite pebbles knocked against Raphael's helmet as webs of cracks formed from the impact of the pod's landing. Raphael approached the pod as the sides opened with a hiss, revealing a variety of weapons and gadgets.

"Gear up, pronto," Raphael promptly said to Junco and Suni as he grabbed a custom made pistol which was equipped with a compensator. He then grabbed what seemed like a backpack from the pod and Suni raised an eyebrow.

"Uh . . . that a jetpack?" Suni asked.

Raphael ignored him and instead pulled the tactical knife from the sheath on his chest and checked the sharpness before sheathing it back in. "Grab one and follow me."

"Wait, you know these are -" Suni tried protesting but Raphael performed a running jump while using his holo-lenses to activate the jetpack. With a belch of flames, Raphael was rocketed across the chasm between the buildings and towards Fenrir.

". . . Untested," Suni finished with an open mouth as he watched Raphael fly away. He heard a rustling and turned to see Junco taking a fully automatic SMG and another jetpack. "Aw, fuck, we're all gonna die."

***

Within the unconstructed building, Fenrir sighed as he walked away. While he currently had about a dozen different issues to deal with, his mind kept going back to Michelle. He could see the hurt look in her eyes when he tossed her towards Raphael roughly. It was not only from her scraped knees but the fact that he held a knife to her throat without hesitation.

Damnitall, Fenrir thought with a grimace. Not sure how to face her again -

His thoughts were abruptly cut off as he heard a sound approaching him at an insane speed. Turning around, he saw Raphael flying towards him, a knife drawn in reverse grip as he used the momentum of his jetpack to slash at Fenrir's neck. The latter tilted his head away while sidestepping, barely dodging the swing of Raphael's knife.

Raphael shot past Fenrir and spun around before activating his jetpack again. He raised his knife as he jumped at Fenrir and lunged down to stab at him. Fenrir grabbed his forearm, preventing Raphael from stabbing him and, as the two struggled, the latter pulled out his custom pistol and fired multiple shots into Fenrir's upper thigh, the part that was unprotected by his plated armor.

"Mpnh!" Fenrir growled as he used his free hand to grapple with the gun, pulling its aim away from his body. He then head-butted Raphael, stunning him before twisting his arm and using this moment to spin Raphael around to his back. Fenrir then smoothly performed a shoulder throw which sent Raphael to the ground with enough force that the latter had to let go of the grip he had on the gun. As a disorientated Raphael tried to get up, Fenrir kicked him while augmenting his strength with his ESPer ability.

"Oof!" Raphael grunted as he slid across the ground, sparks flying everywhere before he slammed into a pillar completely knocked out.

Fenrir looked down at his thigh, growling as he checked the wound. Luckily, his under-armour managed to prevent the bullets from piercing his body but the bullets, lodged deeply in his armour, definitely left some serious bruising. Before he could pull out the embedded bullets, Junco landed on the same floor and pulled out her SMG. She fired in burst mode, shooting three rounds with each trigger, the bullets exploding upon impact and forcing Fenrir to stumble back with a stagger repeatedly.

Hmm, fuck. HE rounds, Fenrir thought as he stumbled back two steps despite moving one step forward. The shockwave of the explosive rounds can't penetrate my armor but it can force me back. Raphy's team is starting to irritate me.

Despite being pushed back, Fenrir analyzed Junco's firing and quickly launched a throwing knife at her during the split-second delay she had while firing. The knife accurately buried itself in the barrel of her SMG and Junco had to toss it aside since it was now useless. Fenrir used this moment to race towards Junco, intent on turning this into a melee battle knowing full well that it would be disadvantageous for her. Junco could barely dodge Fenrir's ferocious onslaught, her quick reflexes coupled with her amazing eyesight allowed her to predict his moves to a certain degree. But it wasn't enough due to how rapid his attacks were. Despite that disadvantage, she managed to get a few hits in but quickly changed tactics when she realized that her punches weren't strong enough. She began using her legs, performing a triple kick which Fenrir had to stop with his palms in quick motions before quickly following up with a flying back kick that pushed him backwards. Junco then tried to axe kick Fenrir as he skidded across the floor but the latter intercepted her, grabbing her leg before it came down and swinging her entire body over his head and onto the floor headfirst.

Meanwhile, Raphael stood up and shook the apathetic drowsiness he felt before launching himself back into battle. A few floors above them, Dhole was also rousing himself up with a groan, his entire body aching with pain. With a swear, he slammed his dislocated shoulder into a pillar, forcing it back into place before stumbling to the unfinished floor in the center to observe the battle below. Back outside the building, Suni was using the jetpack sparingly in short bursts, deathly afraid of overclocking the experimental equipment and blowing himself up.

Without using his Practitioner strength or ESPer power, Fenrir found himself at a disadvantage. Raphael was using his jetpack to increase the momentum of his attacks while Junco seamlessly aided him by attacking low, her kicks coming from a lower angle and disrupting Fenrir's battle rhythm. At this moment, Fenrir, who was fighting with only his fists, pulled out a throwing knife and held it in a reverse grip. He front flipped just as Raphael rocketed towards him and used his somersault's momentum to send a double kick at Raphael's back from above before landing. He then rushed to Junco and exchanged a few blows with her. After getting a side hook in and pushing Junco back, the latter aimed a punch at him but Fenrir deftly dodged her while slashing at her lower armpit with his knife as he brushed past her. Junco cried out in agonizing pain as she quickly moved a hand to where her serratus anterior was located. She pulled away just as quickly though when a searing pain engulfed her, and she noticed the blood on her glove.

It . . . slashed through my under-armor?! Junco thought incredulously as she turned backward to look at Fenrir, fear evident in her eyes. The latter had intentionally aimed at weak points, the joints, and locations where her armor couldn't cover her with deadly precision. Yet the under-armor which AEM was proud of, the one capable of stopping a lethal point-blank shot, was cut through like butter by a small five-inch blade.

As these thoughts went through her mind, Fenrir slowly turned back to face Junco as well. The knife was still held in a reverse grip and blood dripped down the blade and onto the floor. Instead of besieging Junco though, Fenrir flipped the knife, holding it by the tip of the blade, before throwing it at Raphael's jetpack. Raphael felt the blade hit his jetpack and his face changed as he hurriedly removed it from his back and tossed it as far as he could. Unfortunately, the jetpack exploded a few feet from him and the shockwaves of the blast sent him flying once more. From above, Dhole witnessed all of this as he tried to climb down the floors, using beams and ledges to stop himself from plummeting down from such a high height.

Alone once more and wounded this time, Junco tried to fend off Fenrir but the latter pummeled her. He used his forearms to stop her punches by directing them away from him before sending a punishing blow at her ribs with a lower uppercut, and Junco cried out in pain as she felt the force of the blow through her armor; she could've sworn that he almost cracked a rib of hers. Fenrir then sidestepped and grabbed Junco by her helmet, pulled her back before sending a downward elbow jab at her defenseless chest which knocked the air out of her as she fell to the ground. Junco got up into a kneeling position when Fenrir came up from behind, a construction wire in his hand which he wrapped around her neck like a noose before tightening it. Junco's hand went to her throat as she struggled to free herself from the constriction but Fenrir placed a foot between her shoulder blades and pressed down while pulling his hands up, preventing her from escaping.

"Jean!" Raphael called out, his shout hoarse and heavy as he tried picking himself up. The shockwave was still disorienting him and he could barely stand up straight as the world around him spun in merry-go-rounds.

Suni finally arrived and quickly ran up to Fenrir. As he approached the latter, he pulled out an expandable stun baton that had electricity coursing through its entire body save for the handle.

"You - let - her - go!" Suni shouted as he continuously hit Fenrir's back with the baton. Unfortunately, the baton wasn't made for bashing but rather jabbing, and hence, after a few strikes, it broke against Fenrir's back.

"Wha-?" Suni looked down at his broken baton in shock as Fenrir released a gasping and sputtering Junco and turned to look at him. Both Suni and Fenrir looked down at the broken baton which sent a few measly sparks in protest before looking up at each other again.

"Heh," Suni tried to give his best flattering smile to Fenrir who responded by simply backhanding him, the force sending him flying backwards and into a wall where he laid stunned before slowly sliding down to the ground.

Above them, Dhole finally reached a safe enough height to jump down from but he carefully checked his positioning before leaping off with a bellow. Fenrir looked up and saw Dhole dropping down at him with his fists held together like a hammer; he was planning to use all his weight and the momentum of the fall to hammer Fenrir. With narrowed eyes, Fenrir activated another grappling pivot and shot up into the air to confront Dhole. He used the rate of climb to increase the momentum of his uppercut which he sent into a flummoxed Dhole's head, interrupting his smackdown and breaking his helmet. Cutting off the pivot, Fenrir landed smoothly on his two legs while Dhole crashed down onto the ground, completely unconscious.

A whirling sound of propellers caught Fenrir's attention and he spun around only to see Suni using his computer gauntlet to activate over a dozen armed drones that locked onto him in seconds.

Shit, Fenrir thought as he began running away.

He vaulted over unfinished walls, slid under a desk, and ran sideways on a wall over an unfinished wall as he weaved and dodged the multiple bullets fired from the drones. Finally, he jumped out a window and spun around, facing upwards at the window he had just exited. He pulled out his railgun and aimed it at the window, waiting for the drones as he used the advanced HUD on his helmet to activate his grappling pivot. With a swish, the pivot shot out and struck the first drone before attaching itself to the roof. The pivot pulled him upwards as he fired continuously at the drones that had flown out the window. With an electrical buzz, the drones fell each time he pulled the trigger, yet nothing tangible actually came out the pistol; Jason had used the handheld railgun to focus his ESPer power to release short bursts of EM pulses which short-circuited the drones.

Suni approached the window carefully while everyone else picked themselves up. As he lowered his head to look down, Fenrir zipped past Suni and grabbed him.

"Oh, FUUUcckkkk . . . !" Suni screamed as his voice slowly became more distant. Raphael swore before running to the window and looking up. He could barely see the figure of Suni being dragged up to the roof by Fenrir.

"Damnit," Raphael gritted his teeth. "Amahle, do you see Suni and an unknown assailant on the rooftop?"

Amahle, who was flying high up in the air, slowly lowered her altitude as she circled the building.

"Yeah, I do. Jesus, what the hell is that?" Amahle could see Fenrir beating the life out of Suni and couldn't help but ask when she saw the former.

"Just some nut in a suit," Raphael replied. "Ok, I'm going to ask you to do something crazy."

"Hey, you know me," Amahle joked. "I love crazy, I live for it."

"Great. I'm going to need you to come down and give us a lift to the roof."

". . . You're crazy."

"You are crazy," Dhole agreed with Amahle and Raphael sighed impatiently.

"Can you do it or not?" Raphael asked Amahle.

"Uh, no. Not without you telling me some more details," Amahle replied as she lowered the Dragonfly, flying towards the floor Raphael was in.

"You come down, we use our mag-boots to stick to the top of the D-20, and you fly up to the roof and we get off," Junco cut in, explaining Raphael's plan with precise understanding. "Can you do it?"

"Alright fine. But if one of you slips and falls into the plasma rotors, then we dead," Amahle said. The lights of the Dragonfly blinded Raphael, Junco, and Dhole as the aircraft lowered itself.

Up on the roof, Fenrir held down Suni, twisting his arm while having the latter on the ground. Fenrir had noticed Suni's computer gauntlet and decided to use this chance to activate a sniffer and wirelessly hack into AEM's database. Not only was he transferring classified files from the database, but he was also leaving a backdoor for himself to access the closed systems at a later date.

Hmm, interesting, Fenrir thought when A.V.A alerted him to a deleted file from Junco's computers. It was a certain grainy video of him fighting the Reaper.

This might complicate things, but I'm surprised she didn't reveal this information to anyone, Fenrir mused. Such a shame. Here I was thinking I could use her to annoy Raphy but now . . .

Now I might have to kill her.