Chapter Twenty—Strogaus Man

“What is it?” Kyle asked.

“He’s not here.”

“Well where is he?”

“I don’t know, some bullshit convention about making the worlds a better place.”

Kyle scoffed. “We know how that works. I hate these philanthropist types.”

“Me too,” May said. Then she saw the location where the convention was being held. “Fuck! He’s on Ontu.”

“Damn,” Kyle muttered through the coms.

Suddenly the doors of Strogaus’ office opened up and a man in black gloves came out. He was tall, wearing a suit with wide cuffs, his pointed hood pulled back.

“Shit!” May exclaimed as she pulled out her Miatsu with its huge silencer and clicked off three shots in quick succession.

“May?” Kyle asked. “May, are you all right?!”

She didn’t answer as the projectiles that had been stopped just in front of the mage’s hand fell harmlessly to the floor. He looked at her and smiled placidly.

“Who are you?” she asked as she backed out of the receptionist desk.

The mage rubbed his black-gloved hands together and then cracked his knuckles. “I’m the trap you fell for—hook. Line. And sinker.”

“Fuck you!”

She clicked off three more shots and the slide racked back metallically. Shaking his head, he clicked his tongue. “And you thought that would work on try number two?”

He moved his hands and shunted his palms forward. Something hardly visible, like a shimmer of heat on a hot summer’s day, came at May and pushed her across the reception room and through the glass.

She landed heavily with a grunt as pain shot through her hip.

“May!” Kyle screamed.

“Fuck!” John said over the coms. “I’m coming.”

“Me too,” Kyle said.

Groaining, May sat up. “Well… don’t take too long.” She coughed. “Shit.”

“Friends of yours?” the smug mage asked as he sauntered into the room.

The ladies at the reception desks screamed and scrambled out. On their way to the elevator, they didn’t even bother to help their blonde friend at the main desk.

“Eat shit and die,” May croaked as she got up with a painful grunt, her left hand on her hip. She was painfully aware of how slow she was moving when she unbuttoned another clip and slammed it into her pistol.

The mage smiled, shook his head. “No. That will be you. In fact”—he glanced at the windows—“I think I’ll have you eat cement.”

Then he moved.

She tried to raise her pistol, but he smacked it out of her grasp and grabbed her by the scruff of her neck.

“Come along, bitch!”

The grip on the back of her neck was like steel. She cried out as he pulled her to the windows—not out of fear—but because of his rough manhandling.

“Now your friends are going to watch you fly!” He looked into her eyes. “Can you fly, little bitch?!”

Grinding her teeth, she lifted her knee with as much force as she could muster. The mage cried out and dropped her, his hands going to his crotch. Without taking a moment to recover, she punched him in the face and he went to the expensive corporate carpet with a pathetic moan.

Without her gun, she couldn’t just put two rounds into the side of his head while he was distracted—and that was a shame.

She lifted her leg and stamped down on him, but he raised his hand and the floor spun. When she realized what she was looking at, May snarled.

Her hair dangled about below her head as her boots were pulled up nearly high enough to touch the ceiling. The mage, holding his gloved hand out in what looked like a clawed death grip, got up, his eyes narrowed and his teeth bared.

“Not so damned smug, now are you!” He snorted. “You must be an idiot to taunt me while I have you in this predicament.”

Then he made a fist and punched her in the stomach.

May’s whole body convulsed and she cried out, the sound of her grunt heavy and breathy. She tried to suck in some air but it wouldn’t come as she cringed from the blossoming pain in her stomach.

“What—not so mouthy anymore?”

Finally she gasped, air coming back into her lungs. She breathed heavily.

“Now I’m going to crack your—“

The elevator pinged. The mage glanced left. “Hold just one moment,” he said, raising a finger in front of her face.

He turned as Kyle lunged into the reception office, his head swiveling about for something to shoot.

“Look out!” May screamed.