“The name of my ability is ’Bang Bang’” Kiefer’s pocket watch collapses onto his hand as glove–then transforming into what seems to be a spray gun.

“Instead of firing bullets this gun sprays near invisible metallic particles, that gather into and fire with the force of bullets on my command,

If I set the gathering time to zero then it automatically fires a hail of bullets

But I can also set the time to wait, meaning no shot will be fired unless I want it to,”

“Why are telling us this, and what are doing Chief?” Himari almost pleading to the man

“I’m telling y’all this because I’m not going to kill you, but I want you to know how my tielium ability works, just in case you try anything stupid, you can’t out speed bullets,

And this entire room has my bullet particles dispersed in the air, that’s why I told you to get down at first, I had to line you up perfectly to be shot if you try anything funny,”

“I’ll take you up on that offer,” Lyra challenges

“No Lyra, wait, if he isn’t here to kill us that means he wants something,” cautions Apollo, wincing in pain at his wound

“Kill us? Don’t make me laugh,

I’d sooner kill myself than let some magic-less human with their machines be the death of me,”

“Don’t underestimate our technology when it is the reason you are even standing today,” growls Himari, tearing of a piece of her jacket, she ties around Apollo’s bullet wound

“And chief, you, have you suddenly gone insane?

Killing someone like Stanton?

Holding us captive?”

Blap!

Gratt!

Burrrt!

As the woman blurts those words a chorus of shots ring from throughout the building,

“What, no…”

“Isn’t it obvious Himari,

I am a member of Madvillainy,

A lot of people working here are,”

“Why would you work with them?

Go against your own government?”

“Naw,

The UCA isn’t my government, never has been,

See I’m from the Liberty Islands, before working here I was a part of their marines,

The day Satan wiped those islands off the map I was there,”

“Then that makes even less sense of you joining up with them,”

“Only if you don’t know the whole story,

It is true that Satan did attack our country, but the one who erased it was none other than the United Countries Alliance,”

“I.. I don’t believe that,”

“Of course you won’t miss Nara, you’re a product of this government,

I was too, not gonna lie…

At the time when Satan had appeared it was unlike anything anyone had seen before,

A man who could make it rain fire, who could turn cities into frozen infernos,

The man heard the phrase ‘cold as hell’ and took it literally,

Out of fear of this new power the UCA opted to bomb the islands with foundation powered missiles,

And you know what, that move is understandable,

But the fact that they didn’t even bother to warn anyone to evacuate, is fuckin evil man,

They ain’t even disclosed that information, so nobody knows what happened,

I only found out after obtaining my rank here,”

“So is this your long awaited revenge plot?” Lyra grimaces,

“Nah, revenge is past me,

I done lost basically every one I knew for my entire life up to that point,

I couldn’t save them,

I put that blame on myself…

I’m not going to stand here and act like I know what the boss’ goals are,

Madvillainy is not an organization of like-minded people,

Everyone just like me, has their own goals and aspirations, we just share a name,”

“And what is yours?—Ahgh!

This hurts like crazy,” Apollo stumbles to his feet staring the Chief in his eyes

“The tides of this ring–No, of all the rings, they’re changing,” Kiefer replies,

“I’m just tryna be on the winning side this time,

I got a daughter you know, now stay put until Satan gets her–”

–CRASH!

“Oh shi–”

–Whack!

…….

“Come on let’s get out of here,

If what Kiefer said is true then Brandon is coming,” Apollo grabs onto his sword

The blade had just crashed through the window–hilt-first–slamming into Kiefer’s skull,

The man now lay a crumpled pile on the floor,

“His bullets may be fast and unpredictable but they depend on his reaction speed,”

……

……

Grrrrrtttrtttt!

Brrrrrttt!!

Shots fire from outside the rooms door

“I can’t defending against gunfire in my current state,” Apollo limps to the window

“Lyra you can fly already, Himari get close to me,”

….

Holding on tightly to the woman with is right arm, Apollo grips his sword with the left

“Ok Darius’ Requiem, I trust you,”

Taking a deep breath the man leaps out the window of the tall building,

Instantly the sword jerks up keeping him and Himari slightly afloat,

“I would have caught you if anything went wrong,” Lyra hovers close

Fheww!

Fwizz!

Already bullets begin to whizz past the group, mid air

“I don’t think it’s safe to stay up here, we’re a target,

Down, we can defend ourselves better on foot,”

“If your scared of the air just say so,” Lyra teases

……..

Brrrrrrtttt

Grrrtrrrrrrrrrrrtrrrrrt

“Daniel isn’t answering!” Himari ducks behind a car, putting away her phone

Already the plastic is beach is covered in fire, bullet shells and bodies,

“This is a full-blown siege,” she stares in disbelief

“Get out way, I’ll deal with everyone here myself!” Lyra pushes past Himari

“Don’t kill them Lyra!”

“Blah blah blah,” the girl rolls her eyes at Apollo preparing for her spell

“Everything is a mess, this all started when you people arrived here!” cries Himari

“Calm down, it isn’t like you to act irrational,”

“Look around everything is irrational Apollo!”

….

Grtttt!

Brttt!

Gratatataata!

“This is clearly a response from Satan after we went to kill him in the Caribbean,” the young man rationalizes

“I know that Apollo,

But, Kiefer was one of them,

Many of the people here, whom I worked before, what if Daniel–MF, is too?

I’m trying to keep my cool Apollo, but this is too much,

First you tell me last night that our war with the first ring is false, now this happens”

“Glacial wave!”

“Alright let’s continue moving” Lyra nudges, as she’d just finished conjuring a stream of cold spikes impaling the people on the other side of the car park

“They’re not dead relax,” she catches a disapproving glance from Apollo

“We have to find Kage and then get out of here,” he says

“Let just focus on getting you off this island and treated somewhere else,” Lyra drawls, upon mention of Kage,

“Lyra, this is not the time for you to be acting suspiciously

Where is Kage? And don’t lie to me.” Apollo immediately presses

“What I told you before wasn’t a lie,

Well most of it wasn’t,

Kage is not on this island, ok?”

“Where is he then?”

“I honestly have no clue,”

“….”

“I agree with Lyra,” Himari interjects finally beginning to regain her composure

“As much as would like to look for Daniel

We have to get you treated first Apollo,

“I’m fine but…” Apollo starts but his voice trails off,

“Yeah let’s get off here now!” he points upward

“?”

In that moment, everyone had their eyes to the sky,

Suddenly the Plastic Beach had become silent once more, as they watched a strange formation in the clouds, slowly becoming more visible

The curiosity of the formation turned into to a cruel realization that almost instantly became sheer horror

Then panic

“A meteor!?” voices begin to shriek.