Steven glanced at his oblivious friend. Judging from the string of the words pouring out of Ben’s mouth he would have to buy quite a bit of time for his companion for him to successfully run away.

“You are-, you are my brother you know.” Ben rambled. “I love you, bro!” And attempted a hug.

Steven did not manage to stop him and noted that just this moment alone was enough for them to get surrounded.

There were about ten men in one group as for the other… They were keeping their distance, so it was hard to tell, but there were fewer men in it. It also appeared that the first group had yet to notice them.

One of the groups had also cleared the streets. It was too quiet, even for the late hour it was. There should be a rare care passing by or a belated drunkard wobbling forward. Certainly not nothing like it was now.

This being a coincidence was a foolish hope. For a moment he considered just grabbing Ben and running, but that choice had its downsides as well. For one, it would raise too many questions and suspicions.

When Ben, finally, let him go the first group acted. Steven could tell they were confident in their success as they were very careful and methodic in their approach.

Maybe they knew of Steven’s prowess. In a certain way, he was a well-known person. He doubted people could recognize him by his looks. He did try to mask himself most of the times, but he was the most constant partner of Ben’s. This happened to be one of the nights he hadn’t bothered to use his scarf, as he wanted to just let himself go. Drinking was easer without any fabric obstructing his mouth.

Steven used the moment before the unwanted guests arrived and gave his friend instructions.

“Ben, listen to me! There are guys after you and you’ll have to run. There are too many for me to stop them all. I will give you a chance. Run for the nearest open building and call for help. Do you understand?”

For a moment Steven feared that his friend was still too muddled in the head, but at the next moment Ben’s eyes cleared up as he gave a quick nod.

Steven felt that the men were close enough and about to speak. He expected the usual threats and it meant that he had to act quickly.

“Go!” Steven pushed Ben. His friend did not miss a beat and started to run without looking anywhere else but straight ahead. His steps were still wobbly, but there was no more time for Steven to fret over it.

Quickly assessing the situation Steven headed to his right. His sudden movement stopped the fastest reacting man in his tracks. Holding back less than usual, Steven aimed hook at the man’s jaw and, as expected, it connected cleanly.

Expressionlessly Steven watched the man succumb from the blow. He had to reach a conclusion quickly and follow after Ben. It meant that there were nine targets left in this group.

However, Steven’s next target did not want to cooperate with him. The roundhouse kick he had sent at the man, who was the next fastest whiffed and only scrapped by the man’s clothes.

Steven clicked his tongue. These men were good. “At least they have not brought any weapons with them. Oh…” He was forced to stop.

Perhaps he had been too successful, or maybe these men were too high-strung. Whatever it may be Steven could only helplessly watch the man at the back as he pulled out a handgun from god knows where.

“I thought those are illegal in this part of the world,” Steven observed, while slowly putting his hands up. There was a hope that talking will give him more time. The man with the gun, which Steven now identified as the leader gave six of his men a quick order to follow after Benjamin.

The good news for Steven was that the leader had yet to shoot at him. The bad news was that he was not shot ‘yet’.

Steven did not know exactly how durable he was... But there was one thing he had learned from Mika’s attempts at his life. His ability would not be able to tank the shot.

It was at that moment when several things happened all at once.

The first thing was that the leader suddenly made a sound of surprise as Steven heard a commotion behind him where Ben’s pursuers had gone to.

The next was that Steven saw two of the men from the other group rapidly closing in on the leader from behind.

The leader reaction was quick. Steven felt the shot taken by the man pass him closely hitting someone in the back. Then the leader turned around and faced the attackers who came from behind him.

The third was that Steven suddenly found himself unmarked. Both groups of men seemed to have a beef with each other. There would not be a better chance for him to act.

Steven eyed the men from the other group as he started to dash after Ben. There was one thing that bothered him. Steven knew that he had seen correctly. The other group was dressed similarly to how Silva had described members of the Refuge the last time she had warned about them.

It didn’t matter of what Silva and Mika thought of them. They were a harmless group most of the time. Only a couple of their members came to look for trouble from him. Even then it mostly was settled with a lot of swearing. Violence was not common when they interacted with each other, though sometimes they did fight.

That was before the group changed. The change had happened very rapidly and to what... Steven did not know exactly, but he had heard some rumours from Ben. And the blue symbol Silva had described was present on every one of the five men who had attacked the first group. It eerily reminded him of a cult and that never had good implications.

And the speed in which those men moved... It was too fast. Or too fast for a normal person. Steven had still held back to a pace that a human could move in, albeit a very fast one. But those guys did not. They still weren’t as fast as Steven could be, but there was an unmistakable stench of something supernatural in the air. Steven did not like it one bit.

As Steven ran after Ben he passed by the group of entangled men. Both, the group of the unknown men and the magically empowered attackers were duking it out.

Surprisingly the fight was more even than he had expected it to be. These unknown men were adept at fighting even without weapons and proved to be an obstacle even for the Refugees.

Still, the shot that had passed him earlier had found its target as one of the men was bleeding, his arm penetrated by the bullet. It proved that they were still human.

A moment later and Steven had left both groups of men behind. Ben had managed to run farther than he had expected. Steven hastened his pace. He had to find his friend quickly and get away from this place.

If Ben had managed to make the call Steven could expect his friends other, more inconvenient, bodyguards arrive soon, but still too late for them to matter.

The police would probably be a better choice, but Ben had not seen the gun after all. The only possibility was that he had heard it, but the chances of that were low.

Which made him wonder. There was a chance of locals hearing the gunshot and calling the police. The neighbourhood was quiet, but it did not mean that the buildings were empty.

Steven cursed to himself from the thought alone. There was no way he wanted to involve himself with the police.

Quickly Steven’s desperate search yielded results, as after a moment he found his friend in a nearby alleyway. Unfortunately, he was not alone and the phone was on the ground broken.

The quick scan revealed that Ben was held by a duo of men, likely from the first group. One of them was holding another gun and whispering something in his friend’s ear.

There was no time to evaluate the situation. All Steven could see was his friend in danger. He removed the limitations he kept himself under and lunged at the enemies. On the back of his mind, he hoped that his friend was too scared, drunk or only saw his assailants to notice Steven’s clearly unnatural speed. As for the duo, they would be lucky if they had any memories of the past weeks after Steven was done with them.

Steven felt his world move in, what seemed, to be in slow motion. His sharpened senses noticed Ben opening his mouth to talk. Then the two men taking notice of his approach. Then their attention switching to him and the danger he brought.

They were too late. Steven was upon them as soon as they had turned their heads. He lazily noted how his swipe meant to direct the gun away did more than that and broke the man’s arm. A sharp scream echoed through the narrow place but was quickly silenced by Steven’s punch breaking the man’s jaw.

A blood splatter hit Ben and the other man. Both had yet to react to the sudden interference by Steven.

Then it was over as Steven ripped the other man backwards and flung him against the wall. A wet noise echoed in his ears as his target slumped down to the ground. Steven knew that he had used enough force. The man would not stand up.

Next, they had to get out of this place. Steven shook Ben, who was still in shock.

“Come, we have run.”

Ben wordlessly followed the instructions and both of them headed to the opposite side of the alleyway. It was then that Steven noticed that there was a third man. A man who was guarding the other side of the alleyway and he too held a gun. A gun that was aimed at Steven.

There was too little time to do anything, but to act on instinct. So Steven rushed forward. A nuzzle flashed and Steven’s brain registered that he had been hit, but little else than that. He had to get rid of the threat before it was too late.

The next moment he was next to the shooter, with Ben left far behind him. Steven saw the man’s eyes widen in surprise. There was something else in those eyes. A determination to finish what was started.

Steven tried to throw a punch, but all he could manage was to slam into the shooter. It was enough as the man fell down from the heavy impact. Even then Steven had to make sure that he would not stand up again.

As they fell Steven made sure that his elbow would land on assailants neck. He knew his move could do to the man, but... They were out to get them and there was no place for mercy. He had to be sure.

Then the pain overwhelmed him and for a moment everything became black. Somewhere beside him, he heard Benjamin scream. It was good that Ben was so loud as Steven feared he would have fallen asleep otherwise.

“God, you are noisy.” Steven managed to spit out.

“Steven! Steven, you are alive! Thank god! I thought I lost you for a moment.” There was still a little slur in Ben’s speech. It reminded him that Ben was in no position to run. He was too drunk.

Steven gathered strength and opened his eyes only to see the teary Ben looming over him.

“How bad is it?”

“I-, I am not sure, bad, you are bleeding from the torso. I-, I don’t have a phone. We have to call an ambulance. We have to get you to the doctor!”

“First we run.” Steven felt that he could still move somewhat. He made a sudden motion and grabbed Ben lifting him into the air. The bridal carry was unsightly and he did not want to carry another man like that, but he had no time to be picky.

When Steven finally run out of strength they were already far away from the spot they had the encounter. No one had followed after them and he had managed to run straight to his target destination.

After a short moment of reflection, Steven decided that it was safe enough for now. They were alone and hidden behind bins. It was not the safest place, but good enough.

He had already done his best, but there were more things he had to take care of.

“Ben, my phone, give it to me.” It was hard to talk, but it was not like he had any choice in the matter.

“Right, your phone!”

Steven felt his friend rummage through his pockets until the phone was in his hands.

“Password! Give me the password!” Ben demanded. “Oh, right!” He remembered that emergency numbers could be reached without unlocking the phone, but he was stopped.

“Give it to me and listen,” Steven grabbed his phone out of Ben’s hand. “Did you call your father’s men?”

“Y-yes!”

“Good, you’ll wait here. I’ll tell them where you are. You will not tell anyone that I got shot.”

“But!”

“NO! Listen, you will NOT!” Steven raised his voice.

“You need a doctor, Steven you are not making any sense! Call the ambulance!”

“You’ll tell your father that I managed to get you out. The blood on you is from the men who attacked. You’ll tell him that I lead them away.” Steven spoke as quickly as he could, but it was getting harder, there was not much time. Doctors and hospital was a thing he had to avoid. Not only his body was not something that could be explained but his private life would be left in shambles if he was brought there.

“No, no, no, Steven, no, give me the phone,” Ben begged. He clearly did not understand what was happening, but there was no more time to explain.

The short rest had returned some of Steven’s strength and the next part could not be heard by Ben. He stood up and started run again leaving him behind.

To not forget he quickly messaged Ben’s father’s men this location. Then Steven made the call. He only hoped that Mika would not be too angry.