When I fought Auron, I ignored Myra’s lesson to keep my distance against an Adumbrae. I was confident I could pulverize that pompous weakling without breaking a sweat. Finlay and another Adumbrae even joined the fight, but all they could manage was flee with a dying Auron. My super strength far surpassed theirs. I knew it before the fight began.

In contrast, I was now rushing at several Adumbrae and augmented people.

Not only did they have weapons, but I also had no clue how strong they were. Though unlikely, I’d be fucked if they were as strong as Stella.

But I didn’t hesitate. I wasn’t going off the script of the Guardian Angel. This is the script!

“You fucking bitch!” Finlay yelled as he fired his gun.

Bullets nibbled my raised arms protecting my face. No pain, just itchiness. I didn’t slow down. Finlay hesitantly turned, probably thinking of bolting for a split second. But he must’ve realized he couldn’t outrun me.

Instead, he raised the gun like a club. “Help—oomph!”

I headbutted Finlay in the stomach before he could swing his gun. Not caring about the shouting that erupted, I held Finlay’s midsection, my head still compressing his innards, and continued running. I used him as a battering ram to break through the drywall of the office building behind him. Past chairs, tables, and cabinets; we plowed through all of them.

“Let go!” Finlay brought his elbow down on my back. “You—yeargh!”

I smashed him against the bare walls of the cavern on the opposite side of the building. He would’ve bounced off if I wasn’t holding him. He coughed blood on my shirt. I released him.

Finlay dropped. His knees touched the ground. His stupid, disoriented face was level with my chest.

The head. The weakness of the Adumbrae. Those with heads, anyway. I didn’t let Finlay fall to the floor.

My fist landed squarely on his nose. His head banged back against the rock. My next punch collapsed his cheek into his mouth. I wailed away without a restrain, zoning out everything.

Knuckles crunched bones and teeth and flattened flesh. Copious amounts of blood spurted as if I was pressing an orange with each punch. I blinked to clear my eyes as Finlay’s blood bathed my face. I didn’t let up, punching so fast that individual thuds flowed into a drumroll. No more teleporting bullshit from you!

My fingers hurt. The skin on my knuckles burned. If my strike angled wrong, my wrists suffered. The impact of each hit raced up my arms and rocked my body. I punched so hard I felt the craggy wall through minced flesh. Flying chunks of meat became flying rocks. And was that an arm that twirled away?

Soon, all I could see was red. White noise filled my hearing. I didn’t stop punching, nearly forgetting what I was supposed to do.

Great pain suddenly overcame me. My muscles uncontrollably seized. I had experienced this before! Electrocution!

I gritted my teeth, refusing to scream. I resisted my muscles contracting. The pain snapped me out of my fixation. I finally processed what was in front of me.

The wall was a cross-section of a wasp’s nest. Blood painted the collection of craters. Where did Finlay go? A body was lying next to my feet. Everything above the stomach was gone as if a shark chomped it off.

The intensity of the shocks increased. Convulsions rocked my body like goosebumps on steroids. I could barely focus my thoughts. With great effort, I willed my legs to kick off. I dove under a nearby table.

Instant relief. But I didn’t have time to feel relieved.

I crawled across the white tiles, pushing aside chairs and partitions. Gunfire followed. Wood splinters sprinkled my hair. I was probably also hit; I wasn’t sure.

Reaching an open spot between two rows of cubicles, I pushed off the floor and ran. Something broad came up in my peripheral vision. At first, I stupidly thought the wall rushed at me, but it was a cabinet pushed by someone behind it.

The cabinet sandwiched me against the cavern wall. Books and folders cascaded down on me. A fist burst out of the wood and hit my face. I caught the arm before it could retreat through the cabinet. My hand clasped around his wrist tight like a manacle.

White sleeves? Gauging the strength exerted in pulling away, White Beanpole must be an Adumbrae—my next victim.

I crashed through flimsy wood panels and wildly attacked White Beanpole like a pissed-off cat. A timer was ticking. I didn’t know how long Deen could survive without her Guardian Angel. I should pick off as many enemies as possible before all of them could gang up on me. My plan wasn’t going so well because White Beanpole was slippery as fuck!

I was stronger than him, but he somehow slipped from my grasp. I should be faster, but I couldn’t catch him again. He rained kicks on my body with fancy martial arts, keeping me at a distance with his long legs. I was like a kid getting toyed with.

Glints of metal. The skin on my arms stung. Blades had emerged from White Beanpole’s sleeves and the ends of his shiny white shoes. The swords flashed; I couldn’t follow them. They cut my clothes and messily whipping hair but could only inflict shallow wounds on my body.

“This is for Renais!” White Beanpole snapped his leg at me, slicing my eye.

Red filled my vision, but I could still see. My wounds rapidly healed. I didn’t bother evading in my mad attempt to grab White Beanpole. This asshole was wasting my time!

“Get out of the way!” Magenta Cannon yelled. He stood several feet to my right, training a cannon arm on us. “I can’t get a clear—What!”

I charged Magenta Cannon instead of sticking to White Beanpole for safety. I picked up a foldable steel chair as my shield. Magenta Cannon roared a curse as he fired. I staggered but didn’t fall. Another shot, and my knees buckled.

Searing pain radiated from my sternum. I could smell my burnt flesh. I didn’t want to check myself.

This piece of shit! I threw the smoldering halves of the thin metal chair at Magenta Cannon like frisbees before he could fire again.

The peacock-looking bastard ducked. I lunged at him and kneed his face—no point keeping my distance if my enemies had guns. I had to get up close and personal to win.

“Ugh! You’ll pay—!” Magenta Cannon didn’t finish saying what I’ll pay because I stomped him to the ground.

“Black Spade!” shouted White Beanpole. Did he mean Magenta Cannon?

Who cared about the real name of a man about to die? It was White Beanpole’s fault, not allowing me to kill him, that made me go for his friend instead. I held both sides of Magenta Spade’s head and raised him face front to White Beanpole.

The Adumbrae pulled back his bladed kick that was about to slice Black Cannon.

“Put him down,” White Beanpole began to say, “and we’ll allow you—NO!"

I squeezed the head of Black Magenta between my palms. Magenta Cannon didn’t have any metal bits in his head. After a small effort collapsing his skull, it was like squeezing a wet sponge. I closed my eyes and turned away as blood splattered me. Surprisingly easy how humans could die.

“BLACK SPADE!” White Beanpole shrieked hoarse. He took advantage of my momentary blindness and drove his blade straight at my face just as I dropped his friend’s pancake head.

The blade penetrated my left cheek, entering my mouth. It was a grating feeling as it scraped my teeth. I bit down on the edge. White Beanpole gasped when he couldn’t yank it free.

I grabbed his arm, my fingers digging into his flesh. This time, I wasn’t letting go.

He yelped as I crushed his forearm bones.

I stuck close so he couldn’t use his stupid shoe blades.

White Beanpole raised his other arm. There was a flash and a fountain of blood.

I blinked, wondering what had happened. White Beanpole fled out of the wrecked office. I stared at the severed forearm I held, the white fabric covering it partially covered by blood.

“Just like a lizard cutting its tail,” I mumbled in amusement, recalling an episode in Animal Channel. That made me the predator.

Two down.

Five to go. Maybe six if Vanessa wanted a rematch.

Finlay’s really dead… That guy was like a cockroach, escaping at every turn. It still hadn’t sunk in that he was finally dead—he seemed like the sort of bad guy who’d resurrect in a movie sequel. And celebrations were for later.

I had to finish off the bigger cockroaches.

I kicked down a door to exit the office. That was one less teleporting gateway bullshit for them to use.

Another battle raged by the elevator shaft. Boojum and Deen weaved through the steel frame like monkies while Silver Titties and a Bouncer Twin—I couldn’t tell if he was One or Two—pursued them with blades wrapped in blue lighting. I vaguely remember a BID agent wielding them during the raid at Eve. Another Bouncer Twin stayed on the ground, firing at Boojum and Deen.

My eyes passed by Vanessa, standing uselessly away from everyone else—good news for me—before landing on a very angry Rabbit Ears. He glowered, head slightly bowed as if he planned to skewer me with his horns. His metal jaw jutted further than before if that was possible.

“Three of you are no match for a little girl?” Rabbit Ears spat at White Beanpole by his side.

His subordinate didn’t reply. White Beanpole was busy tying a turn-bouquet or tourniquet whatever above the stump of his arm, biting down one end of a strip of white cloth as he tightened the knot. His regeneration wasn’t as fast as mine.

“Do I have to do everything here?” Rabbit Ears grabbed the scruff of White Beanpole’s clothes and threw him back. “Make yourself useful and help the twins capture those rats climbing up. I’ll handle this.”

White Beanpole picked himself up and ran to the elevator shaft.

Rabbit Ears beckoned at me with a finger as if I was a dog. “Red Hood, come at me! You’ll find I’m more than a match for you.” He tapped the device on his chest, the blue brain thingy pulsing incessantly. “Since we both can’t use our abilities with this turned on, I swear upon my honor, the little I have of it, that I won’t utilize my bioaugmentronics in our fight. Let this be a contest of strength!”

One-on-one against the enemy boss? This was the climax of the movie.

I could see Rabbit Ears’ intent—save his subordinates while proving himself superior to a true Adumbrae. His horns told me that he didn’t want to stay human. It must irk his huge ego that as strong and heavily augmented as he might be, he was just a fake.

My reply to Rabbit Ear’s challenge was to sprint toward him. I had my fill of cardio for the day with all this running. Fucking no way I was going to trust this asshole’s word not to shoot me. And closing the distance might discourage him from using electroshock weapons.

Rabbit Ears threw his metal fists. They whistled as they swooshed over my ducked head—being short had its advantages. Gusts of wind followed his punches. They’d undoubtedly hurt if they connected. I bobbed as I ran around him. He spun while trying to hit me.

I eyed the machine on his chest. Too risky. If I went for it, he’d catch me.

Should I even destroy it? I needed to put on my mask, get hurt, and eat before my Blanchette power could start snowballing. Two enemy Adumbrae: Rabbit Ears and White Beanpole. I wasn’t sure if Silver Titties was one too. The situation might flip if they had overpowered bullshit powers.

I focused on evading, not bothering to counterattack.

Rabbit Ears roared in frustration. It must’ve looked like I was toying with him. And that was indeed what I was doing.

He brought clasped hands down on me like a sledgehammer. I rolled left. Shards of concrete scattered as his fists dug a crater where I had stood.

I was beside him, his head lowered to a foot above mine.

Rabbit Ears had a raised brow, confused about something. Was there dirt on my nose? What was the expression I had on? I didn’t think further, hastily uppercutting his jaw as the non-mechanical part of his face twisted in a fury. I hit him before he could stand straight. The metal crumpled, his head thrown back.

But I couldn’t budge him any more than that. I didn’t punch hard enough. His weird face threw me off.

“That hurts!” Rabbit Ears swung his arm and caught my stomach, sending me flying in the direction of the elevator shaft.

I clawed the ground as I slammed down to stop myself from rolling. A metallic taste filled my mouth. Pain shot up in my midsection like the monthly cramps girls know and love but situated a bit higher. I looked down at my body.

The lower half of my shirt was burned away, its frayed fringes had melted and stuck to my skin. There were no holes or wounds on my skin, just an angry reddishness from Rabbit Ears’ strike. Though that was fading, along with the pain.

“So that’s why it feels so airy,” I mumbled. “Joining the bare midriff trend, I guess.”

“Red Hood, do you feel pain?” Rabbit Ears balled his massive fists and shook them at me. “Come! Don’t tell me that—Oy! Where are you going?”

I went for the Bouncer Twin—let’s assign him the number Two—standing at the base of the elevator shaft. People usually complained about movie fight scenes where a bunch of bad guys took turns attacking the protagonist instead of going in all at once. But what about the opposite?

Ignore the big bad boss and take down his henchmen one by one.

Bouncer Twin Two was busy getting a clear shot of Deen and Boojum fighting other Tea Party fuckheads a few stories above. White Beanpole was climbing the metal beams to join the party. He moved surprisingly fast despite lacking an arm. There was someone else scaling the structure around the elevator shaft.

Vanessa? What was she doing?

“Behind you!” Bouncer Twin One spotted me from his vantage point and warned his brother below. A weapon popped out of Twin One’s back and swiveled to point down at me.

I zigzagged. Balls of electricity burst in my path. The static made my hair stand.

A dozen feet away from Bouncer Twin Two. He turned around and strafed my direction with deafening gunfire.

Bullets tore through my clothes and penetrated my flesh. The impact actually made me stagger. What the fuck were these? Armor-piercing rounds or some shit?

Ignore the pain! I was so close to Twin Two. I bent low as he made another pass with the roaring guns attached to his wrists. With each step, I dug the balls off my feet into the ground so I wouldn’t get pushed back. My powerful muscles coiled and ready, I kicked off the floor and dove at Bouncer Twin Two.

A flash of blue light. Electricity coursed through my body.

Twin Two grabbed both my arms—his metallic hands so large they enclosed my forearms whole—and dangled me in front of him like clothes on a line. Antennas had sprouted out of his shoulders, sending tendrils of lightning to envelope us both. It was out of a mad scientist’s laboratory. Somehow, Bouncer Twin Two wasn’t affected by it.

“You Adumbrae are nothing special,” he scoffed, his earthy voice drowned by crackles of electricity and the explosions of battle above us. He shook me as if I was a rowdy kitten.

Crush his head! Don’t mind the pain! Force your muscles to listen! Crush his head!

I was on auto-pilot, desperate to carry out my single goal. Fighting spasming muscles, I contracted my abs and swung my lower body up. I caught his head with my legs.

Bouncer Twin Two “With technology, we can level the—what are you—?”

I squeezed his head between my legs.

“Stop that!” He tried pulling me away by my arms, but I didn’t let go of his head. His bionic eyeballs bulged out of their sockets. He cried blue tears, some sort of chemical, followed by blood. Sparks danced on his metallic bits as they got warped. I felt heat scorching my thighs. “MOTHERFU—GAAAAH!”

Bouncer Twin Two let go of my arms and tried prying my legs off. I hung from his head, my legs a closing vise giving him an agonizing death.

An upside-down Rabbit Ears was coming, screaming about fighting him like a man. His augmented arms sprouted wicked spikes, electricity dancing on the pointy ends.

I raised my upper body—abs and cardio day—and stabbed Twin Two’s left eye with straightened fingers. This was my favorite move. Twin Two wobbled as he screamed. I punched his open eye socket, burrowing my fist deep into his deformed head. He fell on his back with a loud crash.

I scrambled out of the way just as Rabbit Ears slammed the ground where I had been. Flying pieces of Bouncer Twin Two accented the waves of electricity spreading out of Rabbit Ear’s attack.

One more down.