“Go around,” he said, motioning towards the left and right with his head. Goon I and IV walked on the edge as they kept an eye on Nico. Goon III stayed a foot behind him. “He doesn’t have a left arm or a Shield."

“And yet I’m still going to beat you to a mushy pulp,” Nico said, taking a step back and shrugging. “Just remember when you’re on your knees begging for your life, know that I warned you—something—”

Goon III brandished his hand towards Nico. Nico placed his axe in its way, expecting the projectile. Instead of an arrow, a long yellow beam struck it, then wove around his chest. He barely raised his arm in time before the Life turned solid. It tightened around him with enough strength to dig into his skin.

“—obviously don’t like doing,” Nico said, in a much less excited voice, as he glanced down at the elastic feeling rubber. Life Rope? It was a Rank II skill that went in a loop around the object it struck and lasted 8 seconds. It Charged for 3 seconds. Its strength gradually decayed over its duration, allowing Nico to break free around the 4 second mark.

They hid the fact they were Rank II by running with the Rank I’s. So they were decent after all.

“We got him!” he yelled.

“I’ve been got!” Nico yelled back.

The Goons on each end jumped onto Nico’s Block, and Nico jumped forward.

Goon V brought his guard up, but Nico didn’t reach the edge. He tossed his axe in front of him, catching it with his teeth as he hit the side of the building. He kept his body as close to the wall as he could as he fell into the abyss. His hand slid against the wall.

A second later he pushed his hand and feet forward. He caught the iron grating and squatted down.

“Pull!” they said, and they pulled. The rope tugged at his chest, but Nico’s feet were tugged in between the gratings and his hand firmly clutched the bars. The rope pressed against the sharp edge of the Block and began to slowly snap. “Fuck stop pulling!”

There were a couple things they could do to get Nico. Goon V could have jumped down to where Nico was, but that had of a risk of him falling. Or, they could do what Goon III did, and jump to the other Block so that the rope wouldn’t rub against the concrete’s sharp edge, but that issue with that was that it guaranteed falling.

Nico let go of the bars and caught the rope. He yanked on it, and mid-jump Goon III was yanked down. Instead of landing on the other Block with his feet, Goon III landed on it with his upper chest. His arms clawed for hold they couldn’t find. Bet you wish you had these gloves, huh? Another tug and he would have went down, but Nico waited for a moment. It was better to react to your opponent’s moves than to make your own, especially when against amateurs.

Goon I and IV were running towards Goon III on the other Block.

Goon V barked an order. Goon I hesitated, cursed, then jumped towards Nico.

Wow, give me more time to react, would you? It’s like they thought Nico had no clue what he was doing like them—he didn’t, but that’s because he was improvising. It was a huge difference.

Nico yanked on the rope. Goon III slipped and fell. With the tension at his chest gone, Nico jumped off towards the other Block. He fell for a few seconds before he reached the bars of the 8th floor on the other end. Bless symmetry.

Through the iron bars and brown-red curtains, a little boy was looking at Nico with wide eyes and a slacked jaw.

“Halloo,” Nico said.

Behind him Goon III fell. The rope tugged at Nico’s chest, making him smack against the side of the wall, and putting an abrupt pause to his yelling. There were little sounds of groaning below Nico before the rope snapped and Goon III continued his descent, the echoes sounding eerily familiar to Goon II.

“Hello,” the kid said.

Three idiots left. Goon I was hanging off the other iron grating. He was shaking so much Nico’s Life Sense picked up on it. The other two were still on the roof. They didn’t seem to know what to do. But, I know what to do. Or, at least, what the kid can do. Nico spat out his axe and pushed it in between the iron bars. “Hey kid,” Nico whispered. “The moment I let go, slide the iron grating, then step away. For saving my life you get that axe. Deal?”

“Can’t I just keep it and not open the window?” he replied instantly. It must have been the first thought that popped in his head. It was more curious than threatening.

“But I know where you live,” Nico said, smiling.

The kid stared back long enough to make Nico doubt this was going to work, then bobbed his head up and down so eagerly Nico worried he was going to get a concussion. He had his hand on the iron grating with a drooling mouth.

“Good man,” Nico said, glancing up. Goon IV fell towards Nico, but he caught the first bar on the 9th floor. On the other Block, Goon I fell to bars opposing to Nico.

When Goon IV dropped, Nico jumped to the left, his hand sliding against the wall searching for the hold. He found it—a heating pipe. His fingers couldn’t wrap around it, but he cusped his hand and pressed his feet on both ends. He slid towards the darkness at a manageable speed. The shadow of Goon IV on the other hand sped like there was no tomorrow. His screams were of a slightly higher pitch. They were abruptly ended as well.

Two lef—make it one. Nico got to see Goon I falling with his own eyes. His gloves were probably too thick to get his hands in the bars of the 7th floor.

The third method of transportation was the slowest and most dangerous, but by far it was the most exciting—the pipes, windows, and ladders were superb foot and leg holds when you knew where they were, and Nico knew where each one was.

Nico used to play Volante with his friends, or really anyone that was willing to play. It was a sport Rats came up with a long time ago, when the walls were raised and people needed a source of entertainment to not go insane.

It was hand ball, but the goal would be one of the windows, and the ground would be two floors down. Neither team could touch the window that was the goal.

Defenders would jump across the goal, blocking balls or catching them and passing in one jump, and the attackers would pass, feint, and sometimes even bounce the ball off the walls as the defenders fly back, and then head the ball in. It was a simple game that took years to learn and decades to master. Thanks to the symmetry of the city, pretty much everywhere was a perfect place to set up a game. After every window there was a heating pipe. Every 7 windows there was a ladder.

When Nico had his arms, he used to run across the wall, jumping from heating pipe to window, from Block to Block, like the ground was sideways, but with one arm he was limited to controlled descent. It made him nostalgic and a bit sad.

He would play Volante during the day, then fight in the Gauntlet during the night. Those were the days, when victory was just victory. Now victory was just survival, and defeat was…well.

Nico’s feet touched the ground. He sighed and looked at the corpses. This wasn’t the life he was hoping for when he dreamed of becoming a pro Volante player.

Surprisingly, only having himself to blame made him feel better. Sure his life was ruined, but he was the one to ruin it. He thought it was fair.

He searched their bodies for health potions, not expecting and not finding any, though he did take one of their weapons. It was a poorly made bone that barely resembled the head of an axe with a terrible weight distribution that made it feel closer to a hammer. It made him miss Jarl’s axe already.

But a deal is a deal. The kid took serious risk opening the window. He deserved a reward.

Nico went on with his way. It was almost pitch dark. The stars didn’t reach this far down and there were no windows or heating pipes. Only a weak light pierced through the curtains of the second floor.

Behind Nico Goon V slid down the ladder. He glanced once at his friends before walking after Nico with his axe out.

“Seriously,” Nico said, stopping. He turned around. “After all that, you still think you have a chance?”

“Bunch of tricks,” he growled angrily. “Just a bunch of childish tricks, and now you’re all out.” He motioned towards the flat walls. “Can’t climb. Can’t run. You can’t fight, but even if you could, it’s over.”

“You’re surprised a child fights like a child? Very odd indeed,” Nico said, pausing. “What exactly do you even want from me? I don’t belong to any gang and my clothes aren’t worth much.”

“Your glove is,” he said. “But that hardly recovers the losses here. It’ll take weeks for them to heal.”

“So?”

“So I’m going to beat you to a fucking pulp, then I’m going to drag you to my boss to show him who made this mess.”

“Uh-huh,” Nico said, taking a second to go over how ridiculous that plan was. He was no longer sure whether Goon V was terrible or just an idiot. “And is this how you think it’ll go—hey boss!” Nico said, his voice a couple pitches higher than it already was. He spoke to the wall. “So I robbed this crippled kid—he took out 4 of my guys—but I got his tiny glove and a bunch of kid’s clothes we can sell in our yearly rummage sale!”

Nico stopped and turned forward, lowering his tone. “Oh Goon V, I can always relay on you. Here, a promotion and a bunch of women for my competent thief!” Nico flourished his axe at him. “And boom, just like that, you became Goon The VI.”

“Then I’m going to beat you to a fucking pulp, and then I’m going to feel fucking great about it,” he said, spitting. He marched towards Nico.

“Then your boss will beat you to an even worst pulp,” Nico said, walking backwards. For all Goon V’s faults, of which there were many, cowardice was not it. He was right—Nico could not stand and fight against Shielded foes, and neither could he just run away in a straight line. It just didn’t work. “Do you even realize how fucked you are right now?”

“Don’t worry,” he said, cracking his neck. “We were attacked by the…the Night Sanctuary, and I was the only one to survive.”

“You just said friends will recover,” Nico said.

“No, they won’t. They fell on their heads. And the brat up there? He fell out of the window he opened,” Goon V said, perfectly happy to answer Nico’s question as he cut the distance between them. He was walking a little bit faster than him.

“I guess that’ll work,” Nico said, stopping. He clicked his tongue and motioned up. “…but what about all of those people?”

Goon V snapped up, saw no one, then looked down to see Nico swinging his axe at him. Goon swung at Nico, willing to trade hits with his Shield, but instead of hitting him, Nico just spun with his axe and ran away, laughing as Goon V stumbled forward.