“The team is in position.”

Holt slightly nodded, acknowledging his assistant. His eyes wandered around the room, spotting several other employees of his, before finally resting on the beauty in front of him. Anya Murdock, the host of a popular tv show and the daughter of an infamous oligarch.

Given the fact that his team has been tasked several times with running missions for her father, Holt needed to establish a closer relationship with their family. Also, Anya was really hot.

“Then, the huge creature tangled its feet in my trap.”

“What happened to it?” Anya barely blinked, eyes fixed on Holt’s face. Not once had her smile faded, the entire time he told the story.

“Ellie pummeled it for a while before Nuk delivered the finishing blow. Despite being trapped, it still fought off like crazy.”

A few waiters filled the table with various food plates. Everything looked great but nobody touched their food. All of a sudden, Holt got up and called a waiter. Anya looked up at him, wondering about his intention.

“I wish to sit next to the lady.”

“At once.”

Out of nowhere, two big men, one dressed as a waiter, and the other as a chef, brought a two-person sofa, placing it at their table. Holt extended his hand, inviting Anya to sit next to him.

For the next half an hour, the two talked and told stories, laughing out loud without restraint, to the detriment of the other guests.

“Ugh... What the hell is he doing?” Said Ellie. Warden and Nuk sat on a parked car, a few blocks away. Ellie paced back in forth as they were waiting for Holt’s signal.

“Maybe he chickened out.” Said Nuk. Her eyes were glued on a hand-held game she bought a while ago. While having it, she didn’t mind waiting.

“His assistant would tell us if that were the case.” Responded Warden.

“It’s a stupid plan anyway. You can’t win a girl over like that. Can you?”

Warden avoided Ellie’s gaze.

“The Captain gave us the signal!” Said the assistant, through the communication device. In an instant, the three of them got in the vehicle. Nuk searched the backside and handed out masks to the others. A few minutes later, their car parked in front of the Hanging Gardens, where Holt had brought Anya.

“We’re really doing this...”

“Don’t worry, Warden! We’re the Scouts! These weaklings can’t hurt us! Haha!” Shouted Ellie. As soon as she put on the mask, the air around her started to visibly tremble. She was ready to go.

The trio left the vehicle and walked straight to the entrance. Two guards dressed up in expensive suits and dark glasses stood in their way. Seeing three masked people heading their way, one of them immediately alerted the others through his communication device.

“Command, three masked unknowns at entrance 1. Command?”

Nobody responded. His communication device was malfunctioning.

“Stop! Identify yourselves!” Shouted the other guard.

“We’re with the human supremacists.” Responded the big guy with the blue mask.

“You gotta be more convincing! Anyway, these guys don’t matter.” In an instant, the red mask closed in and grabbed the guard’s face. Before any of them could do anything, she smashed them into the glass wall.

The people in the lobby watched dumbfounded as a masked girl pummeled the guards with her bare hands. Her sinister laugh sent chills down their spines, enough to make everyone freeze in their spots.

Then, a blue masked guy and a green masked girl carrying a huge rifle entered, stepping on the broken glass.

“This is a terror attack. You, machine people will learn not to mess with us, humans.” Said the big guy in a monotone voice. “As of this moment, you’re all our hostages. Please gather in the middle of the lobby.”

Everyone did as they were told, walking over, and sitting on the carpet in a circle. The green mask went around and bound their hands behind their back, then roped all of them together with another piece of rope.

As he was being bound, one of the hostages got a bit of courage and asked her.

“Aren’t your legs and arm machines?”

“No.” She responded. They were.

As soon as they were done gathering the hostages, the red mask returned. Her fists were bloody.

“Did you kill them?”

“They were tougher than I thought. I had to exert myself a little to put them to sleep. What about the hostages, want me to beat them too?”

Her words created a panic among the hostages, but because of their bindings, nobody could get up.

“No, you and blue need to go now. I’ll take care of the lobby.” Said the green mask.

The other two nodded, then went into the elevator. Only green was left in the lobby. She immediately started dragging furniture around, forming a makeshift barricade in front of the elevator, with the hostages between her and the entrance. She lay on the ground and assembled a huge rifle.

In a few minutes, dozens of vehicles encircled the building and hundreds of armed guards took positions for a siege operation.

Three flying drones entered the lobby, scanning the area. Green shot them down in an instant with precise fire from her handguns.

Deprived of their eyes in the sky, the guards decided to storm the lobby with an armored vehicle. As they drove it inside, green opened fire from the huge rifle, blowing a huge hole in the front of the vehicle. The guards riding inside immediately left the burning wreck, only to be pinned down by suppressive fire from green’s barricaded position.

Back on the top floor, the guests knew nothing of the attack. Waiters and employees of the restaurant walked around agitated but refused to inform anyone when questioned.

“What’s happening?” Said Anya. She tapped her finger on the table, creating a projection. Holt leaned in to look. Anya’s work colleagues were outside the Hanging Gardens. They filmed dozens of armored vehicles belonging to Iron Star, the most prominent Guards Chapter of The Magnificent. They were employed by every major business for protection and crime prevention and right now, they were outside their window.

Other guests started to receive news of the attack. Headlines started to appear in all news agencies about a human supremacist attack on the Hanging Gardens. For now, everyone stayed calm in their seats, but the atmosphere quickly became one of uncertainty and fear.

“Distinguished guests, please be at ease. I have received reassurances from my superiors that the Iron Star is dealing with the terrorists as we speak. The scale of the attack is small, with only three people breaching our building. Some hostages have been taken in the lobby, but there are no reports of attacks in other areas.” Said the head manager. His calm demeanor and strong voice managed to calm everyone down in an instant. Holt was somewhat impressed.

“Anya, I’m sorry for this unexpected turn of events. I promise that our next night out won’t turn out like this.”

“Eh? What are you saying! This is in no way your fault, Holt. Anyway, the attack is happening all the way down there. We have nothing to worry about.” She responded with a hopeful expression.

Holt was somewhat taken aback by her even contemplating calling everyone off. He apologized to Anya in his mind, then got up from his seat.

“Holt? Where are you going?” She asked.

“I have a bad feeling about this. I need to prepare.”

“Prepare for what?” Anya also got up and quickly ran after him. The two entered the kitchen. All the staff was watching the news on a large screen. Nobody bothered to stop them.

“I’ll show you something interesting.” Said Holt. He started going through the kitchen equipment, searching for electronics and metal parts. In just a few seconds, he managed to put together a small machine. Anya and other kitchen staff were curiously watching him work.

With all preparations ready, Holt grabbed a knife and grasped its blade in his palm. Blood started flowing from his wound all over the small machine. By now, everyone from the kitchen and some guests were watching him.

“Is this... Captain Holt’s ability?” Said one of the staff members.

In an instant, the blood turned black and spread itself inside the small machine. At the same time, its limbs started twitching, and eventually, the inanimate object came to life.

“Everyone, I need this kitchen evacuated.” Said Holt. The guests and staff immediately complied with his request. Only Anya and the head manager were left. The former watched the small machine going around and destroying the expensive equipment. Captain Holt’s reputation made him incapable of resisting his requests, but he couldn’t help but think about the repercussions. He would definitely lose his job.

“Captain... We appreciate that you’re willing to protect us, but I don’t think all of this is necessary. The guards are dealing with the problem...”

“Don’t worry, manager. I will compensate the Hanging Gardens for all the damages incurred in this event.” Responded Holt.

“All damages?”

“That’s right. I consider it my fault that the Hanging Gardens were attacked by the human supremacists.”

“That is certainly not the case, Captain!”

“Yeah, it’s not your fault, Holt!”

The elevator door opened. At the same time, an ominous pressure engulfed everybody in the room. A blue-masked man and a red-masked female entered. The guests and staff were frozen in fear. Even the two guards stationed near the elevator were watching the two without acting.

All of a sudden, four men grabbed their briefcases and took out a bunch of guns and blades.

“We’re here to protect you, Lady Anya.” They shouted, then all four charged the masked terrorists.

“Blue.” Said the red mask.

Blue nodded, then stepped forwards, meeting the charge of the four men. With his bare hands, he stopped the blades and threw one of the men into a nearby wall, breaching it and sending him into the next room.

As he fought, red briefly looked around. The entire ominous atmosphere originated from her presence, making everyone around cower in fear. Her eyes stopped on Holt who was now standing in front of Anya.

“There you are.”

“Anya, hide!” He shouted. In that instant, the red mask lunged at him, covering the entire length of the room in a second. Despite seeing through her charge, Holt was unable to doge. Red’s hand grabbed his face. With a single swift motion, she pinned Holt to the ground.

“Leave Holt alone!”

Instead of hiding, Anya stood her ground. From her original position, she attacked red, sending a powerful kick to her head. Despite her good intentions, red easily caught her foot. Anya struggled to get it back, but she couldn’t shake off red’s powerful grip.

Blue was done with the men sent by Anya’s father. He looked over, seeing red pinning down Holt, and having Anya’s foot. He quickly rushed, just in time to block a huge metallic fist from reaching red.

The small machine Holt had built, was now a 3 meters-tall titan. Seeing the opening, Holt pushed red away and retreated to the kitchen with Anya.

“Thanks, you saved me earlier.” Said Holt. He struggled to recover his breath while keeping an eye on the two attackers outside. Anya was scarred. She tightly held on to his arm. Seeing her reaction, Holt closed in. Their foreheads touched as he looked her directly in the eyes.

“Leave it to me.”

With that said, Holt stood up and returned to the entrance, leaving Anya. As he walked away, she started recording everything.

The two masks kept away from the huge machine guarding the kitchen. Although it looked fragile, being made mostly from cutlery, blue’s palm was bleeding after taking a single strike from it.

Holt walked out, standing between the two and the machine. The guests and staff watched them square off. Holt assumed a martial arts stance. His eyes began glowing blue and at the same time, the machine behind him also emanated a faint blue glow.

Red smashed her fists together, then lunged again at Holt. Anticipating her attack, Holt responded with a wide swipe that missed before red even reached his range. Despite that, she immediately stopped in her tracks and dodged, barely escaping a huge swipe attack from the machine behind Holt.

“Blue!”

At the same time, Blue engaged as well. The two giants exchanged several blows, while Ellie and Holt duked it out under them. Each strike from Blue rattled the machine, but in exchange, it delivered the same amount of damage to him. Blue had to take all attacks, otherwise red would get hit. This was a battle of attrition. Holt had to defend until Blue was taken out.

Red was aware of his tactic and brutally hammered him with all her might. Noticing an opening, red grabbed Holt’s arm and threw him over the shoulder, away from the machine.

Free from needing to protect red, blue went in overdrive, mercilessly smashing his fists into the machine.

Holt landed near the exit towards the aircraft platform. Seeing his machine being destroyed by blue, he abandoned it and ran away towards the airships. He wiped his blood from his arms and scattered drops over all of them.

Close behind, red gave chase, trying to prevent him from raising more machines. She threw another barrage of punches. Holt parried everything he could. Two attacks broke through his guard, breaking the metallic under-armor he was wearing.

“Tch... Wearing armor at your date?”

Holt countered with his own attacks. All of them were repelled. With his last hit, Holt grabbed red’s clothes. In that instant, the machine that blue fought turned towards them and threw a hail of metallic parts.

Red tried to evade, but Holt held on, preventing her from jumping out the way.

Because of the surprise attack, blue was able to destroy the machine with his next hit. After confirming it was dead, he quickly ran to red’s aid. She seemed to be grievously injured.

Both blue and Holt were breathing heavily, completely exhausted. Red, on the other hand, was ready to go. Blood pooled at her feet, but her form was strong.

“It’s game over for you.” Said Holt. He smiled through his beaten face. Behind him, dozens of machines crawled out from what used to be aircraft. They quickly surrounded blue and red.

This was the part where blue and red made their escape, completely defeated by Holt’s horde of machines. All according to plan.

Red took a step forward and grabbed a long piece of metal railing from the ground. She took a deep breath and charged the machines. Holt was surprised, but quickly reacted and sent all of his minions out to attack red. Using the blunt railing, red slashed all incoming machines, cutting down three of them with a single blow. By the third strike, the end of her weapon glowed orange from the heat.

Blue joined in, but he barely got any chance to engage because of red’s rampage. In a few minutes, all of the new machines were destroyed. Next, red turned towards Holt. He bravely stood his ground, but without his machines and any weapons, he couldn’t see any way out.

“The guards will breach the lobby. I need to retreat.” Blue, red, and Holt heard green’s voice on the comms.

“Damn it!”

“We need to go, red.” Said blue, trying to get her to retreat.

She raised the railing above her head and threw it with all her might at Holt. With the last of his strength, he smacked the projectile mid-air, sending it into a nearby wall.

The two masked terrorists ran away towards the elevator. As they did, blue snatched Anya’s bag, then they jumped into the elevator’s shaft.

Holt was breathing heavily, barely able to stand on his feet. With the terrorists gone, the guests and staff emerged from their hiding places. Anya came out as well, running as fast as she could towards Holt. Before he could say a cool line, she jumped in his arms, hugging him as hard as she could.

Despite the excruciating pain, Holt hugged her back.

“We’ve deviated a bit from the plan.”