Chapter 75 (Patreon)

Ironsides took a step back, his eyes fixed on the villain in front of him. His mind reeled at the sudden revelation and the implications of her shift from conversation to force. The only reason she would have said anything about such a glaring weakness or feature of her person was if she fully intended to kill him. What was more jarring was the implication that she had been completely forthcoming about her offer. She was fully willing to negotiate with people and pull them over to her side. Then why had she so brutally murdered that guy? He thought, glancing at the glowing ball of light on her fingertip. Priorities, Ironsides!

He dove to the left as a narrow beam of white light erupted from her fingertip. He whipped his head up and looked back over his shoulder, noting the perfectly circular hole that had been left in the door to the room. That wasn’t a warning shot. He looked up just in time to see her coming towards him, fist raised and glowing eyes burning with malice. He raised his arms up and tanked the blow, the force spreading across his reinforced body and dispersing. It wasn’t an overly hard hit, but it definitely would have killed a normal person. 

Light based attacks, enhanced strength, he memorized it, sweeping his foot out only to be surprised as she grabbed onto his wrist and threw herself up into the air like a gymnast, toes pointed to the low hanging ceiling. Her other hand slipped back and grabbed the handle of a knife she’d had strapped across her lower back. He pushed up, trying to catch her foot on the ceiling and throw her off of him but she merely did a split, pushing off of him and drawing the knife in one motion. He kicked off the ground and rolled past the corpse on the ground, getting to his feet and bringing up his fists. Enhanced reflexes, definitely.

The supervillain landed on her hand and pushed up, throwing herself back into the air and into a somersault, her body spinning like a top as the glint of metal blurred in his vision. He brought his arms up again and felt the blade graze against his skin, actually biting into flesh a little bit despite his reinforcement. The weapon is made of post-pandora material. He thought as he winced, taking another step back before responding with a haymaker towards her head. She spun out of the way and slid to a stop a few feet away, her shoulders relaxing a bit as she tilted her head thoughtfully.

He was slower than her, but his body was durable, he could tank the hits long enough for Martin to get here. Not that Martin will be much help, but at least he has the authority to call for help. Damn those Pandora regulations.

“You’re planning on delaying me,” Ishtar said.

“So?” He grunted, shifting a little to the left to get ready for a charge.

“That’s cute,” She chuckled, “You want your dear friend Martin to see me? His obsession isn’t healthy, you know. It could even get you killed right here.”

Ironsides frowned and clenched his fists tighter, “A risk I’m willing to take. I won’t let you continue what you’re doing, no matter the cost.”

She raised her head a little, “A proper hero, then,” She said, “Apologies for not taking you seriously. I know very little about you so I assumed you were just another light-touched preferring to work for the committee rather than face the true dangers of hero work. I was wrong.”

His brow furrowed, “What does that mean?”

She twirled the knife between her fingers, “It means I’m going to treat this fight as one between a hero and a villain,” She said and threw the knife. It zipped through the air and he barely had an instant to respond before she was next to him, driving her fist up and into his jaw. He felt his bones shift a little and his vision go white as he was carried up into the air with the uppercut. His reinforced body was the only reason his spine wasn’t ripped out right then and there. Something grabbed onto his ankle and the next thing he knew he was crashing through the small wardrobe on one side of the room.

The force of the impact forced his eyes open and his vision shook as he looked up at his ankle. She was still gripping it. That mocking tilt to her head was gone. “What are you doing?” She demanded in her bloodthirsty rasp and held up her other hand, light forming on her fingertip again. “Fight back, hero!” She snarled as another bolt of light launched at him. He threw himself to the left and twisted with all his might, wrenching his ankle out of her grip and rolling across the ground. He bounced off the bed a few meters away and hurtled at her, fist outstretched.

She stepped aside and backhanded him, sending a shock through his brain as he stumbled. He blinked only to have the air knocked out of him by a blow to the gut, his ribs shrieking with pain. He dropped to his knees as his legs lost strength for a moment and he felt her steel-like fingers tangle in his hair. She pulled him back to his feet. “Stand up,” She hissed and struck him again, sending him stumbling back towards the bed only for her to be there, grabbing him by the shirt and pulling him up again, “I said, stand up!” She snarled and struck him across the face.

She has too many powers, I can’t figure out what it is! He reached for her wrist and tried to bring his senses back in order, his head spinning but his spirit unwilling to bend to her ruthless assault. He clenched down, squeezing with every ounce of strength he had and opened his eyes, looking back into the unfeeling gaze of her helmet. He spat on it. “Monster,” He snarled and swung his other arm, driving it into the side of her helmet. It didn’t even crack. 

She tilted her head a bit with the blow, looking away for a moment before looking back at him, “Better,” She hissed and lashed out again.

–

The elevator didn’t work, none of them did. Everything was going wrong. Martin raced up the stairs with his gun in hand and his fingers pressed to his ear. “Ironsides! Ironsides! Damn it answer me! I told you not to engage!” He shouted into his earpiece as he rounded another flight and kept running, his legs pumping for all they were worth. He needed to get there faster, he had to get there faster. He was the only one who had the authority to call on the heroes and only with visual confirmation. He knew he could throw his weight around and get it to happen anyway, but bending the rules, even once, even now, he knew it would set a precedent that he couldn’t come back from. 

He grit his teeth and kept running. Hold on man, I’m coming.

–

Hyunh raced into the room, slamming the door behind her. She knew it was a terrible idea to let Duong out of her sight right now but just sitting there as the panicked messages were coming in was only going to distract her further. She needed to know what was going on back at home. She quickly dialed the number and held her phone up to her ear, the tone ringing over and over until it clicked over into voicemail. She hung up immediately with a curse and dialed another number, then another, and another. It was the sixth person who answered, her younger cousin, Bian. “Bian! Bian! What’s going on over there?”

“Cousin Hyunh? Oh thank goodness you’re okay I-” The teen started rambling.

“Bian! Focus, tell me what is happening, is there anyone there with you?” She asked urgently.

Bian hesitated then spoke, “Y-yes, Uncle Giang is here.”

“Put him on, sweetie, please,” Hyunh urged her.

“But-”

“Please!”

There was a moments pause and then she heard a wet cough through the phone. She winced before a tired voice spoke, “Little Hyunh.”

“Uncle Giang, what is happening over there?” She asked.

“Started this morning, strange numbers in our financials, money started disappearing. It kept getting worse, Hyunh, by the evening no matter what we did, we couldn’t get the clan and syndicate to stop hemorrhaging,” He grunted, coughing again, “Then they showed up, those people with hoods and knives.”

Hyunh’s heart clenched in her chest, “Hemorrhaging? People with hoods and knives?”

“Yes, they’re killing everyone, men, women, children, it doesn’t matter, it’s like the entire clan has a death mark on them,” Giang wheezed, “I barely made it out alive to a safe house with little Bian here.”

Hyunh sank to her knees, “Did anyone else make it out?”

“I don’t know, I-” The sound of a door opening with a bang echoed through the speaker on her phone followed by a scream and two gunshots. Silence followed that, only footsteps filling in the void.

She stared at the ground in horror as the speaker rustled, someone was picking up the phone. She jolted and looked up, “Bian? Giang?” She shouted, “Are you alright? Who was that? What happened?”

“Feng Hyunh?” A gravelly voice said.

Rage, grief, confusion and hate exploded in her mind, tears streaming down her face, “Who the hell are you people? What do you want? Why are you doing this?” She screamed.

“I have a message from the Night Society,” The voice said, not even reacting to her shrieking. Her entire body went still as numbness washed over her, “We have been ordered to exterminate the Feng Clan and Da Mao Syndicate, our orders are also to leave you as the sole survivor. This this the decree of the Headmaster and of Mistress Ishtar. As of now, we sever our connection to you and your organization. You may not call on us again. Goodbye, Feng Hyunh.”

Click.

Hyunh dropped the phone and tilted her eyes up towards the ceiling. “My god,” She breathed, her hands reaching up, cupping over her mouth to restrain the coming scream as her entire world began to fall apart.

–

Ishtar threw Ironsides across the room again before taking a few steps and grabbing him by the shirt and pushing him up the wall to hang a head above her. His face was covered in blood and bruises, his metallic skin cracked and worn down by constant blows. She frowned a little beneath her helmet, she hadn’t even had to push herself all that hard to deal with him. She had hoped his confidence was grounded in something, that she might even have to use uptime a little bit even if Sonya had warned her not to.

Disappointing, she thought coldly, letting him go and watching him fall into a barely seated heap on the ground. She sensed the signal trying to reach him, Martin trying over and over to contact him over the security channel they shared. She almost felt a little guilty, it was one of Sonya’s suggestions during the formation of the current incarnation of the Pandora Committee that had created the shackles that Martin was dealing with now. She huffed and dismissed the momentary feeling, A wise man would not have taken my invitation. You were overconfident, Ironsides.

He tilted his head and looked up at her, glaring death in her direction.

“Still alive?” She asked.

“Fuck you, villain,” He spat.

She let out a sigh and pointed at his knee, releasing a beam of hard light that punctured his bone and ruined the limb. He let out a grunt of pain and threw his head back, seizing up a little as agony worked through him. “That wasn’t very polite,” She hissed, canting her head to the right. “Is that how you talk to someone who’s considering letting you live?”

His lips curled back, “Why are you doing all this?” He snarled.

“I already told you the answer to that question,” She said with a sigh, “You are a really poor listener aren’t you? I told you to be more polite,” She bit out and ruined his other knee with a bolt of hard light. She watched him writhe for a little while, disgust coiling in her guts. It was a shame, really, he had potential and a spine, but he had wasted his time playing detective rather than building up his powers and becoming someone who could actually put up a fight. He’d be useless in the future, especially when the world changed once again. Although, perhaps this loss could motivate him to grow in the future.

“I have an offer for you,” She hissed.

He narrowed his eyes in disgust, “I want nothing from you.”

She held up a hand, “Hear me out,” She said, “You have two paths I can offer you with a shake of the hand,” She began and held up one finger. “First, I can heal your legs and in exchange you can take your death like a hero after I have a conversation with Martin in which you remain silent, you have an honorable end and I will tell him as much.”

She held up the second finger, “You agree never to speak a word of what you learned about me, you go through your life knowing but unable to tell the truth to anyone, not even Martin. But you get to live through this night and find some other way to try to bring me down.”

She held out her hand again, “Which is it going to be, hero?”

–

The radio crackled back to life.

“Ironsides!” Martin shouted as he ran up the stairs. He was almost there, just another floor to go.

“He fought well,” A terrible hissing voice rasped through the radio. 

He nearly stumbled to a stop, his heart locking up in his chest as his eyes went wide with panic, “Ishtar!” He shouted, “Where is Ironsides? What have you done?”

“I’m about to kill him,” She said, her cruel voice remarkably soft despite her words.

“Don’t! We can talk about-” He started but he just heard her scoff over the radio.

“Do us both a favor and stop,” She said, “You’re dishonoring him. He fought well, I said, he will die a hero, on his own two feet, mighty for having lasted as long as he did against me. Be proud of your friend.”

“You!” He snarled, picking up his pace despite how much his muscles ached, he pulled out his phone and tapped in the emergency code, confirming that Ishtar was present and the room number. He hit send and the message got stuck on sending.

“Martin, I’m going to give you an offer, a present left in this room with your friend. I do hope you take it with you, I left a note with it, just for you,” She said, “You can send your cute little message now,” There was a pause, “He’s dead. Goodbye for now, Martin.”

The blip of the message finally going through didn’t even register as Martin stumbled on the staircase and caught himself against the wall, breathing hard, all he could hear was static.