The intense fight entered its final stage. After the Ravens' attack, the members of the Blazing Hand were on the back foot. Their position was further exacerbated by the reluctance of the more recent members to fight. Mark's ploy worked like a charm.
Yet before the gang members gave up, a roar was heard from the back of the Blazing Hand forces. The gang leader joined the battle. As the man walked, a heat refraction emanated from him. His shirt slowly burned until the ashes fell from his shoulders. The tattoos on his skin were visible to the world, and, like a predator's, his eyes were fixed on Mark.
It was the first time that Mark saw the Boss of the blazing hand. This man, like Melly, had abnormal abilities. Yet, unlike the golden-eyed girl, his abilities seemed related to heat. At the moment, he felt the heat intensifying as the gang boss got closer. It would be difficult to attack someone in his state; every hit will hurt you as it lands.
Looking at his bare hands, Mark deduced a way to get around this. Ripping the upper part of his uniform, he wrapped the thorn rags around his hands. While this solution will do little to mitigate the damage, it was better than having nothing. With his hands wrapped in the bloody rags, the young man mentally prepared for a difficult fight.
Mark rushed; his mind was made up. He wanted to end fast and get his mother and little sister out of this place. Using his speed, the young man attacked multiple times. However, his attacks were deflected each time. In the end, he only managed to damage himself by attacking this way.
The Boss looked at Mark with disdain. In his mind, this Specter was underestimating him. He was attacking with his bare hands, and not even his armor was on. The cocky boy was making his life easier by not using his technology. Dismissing his rival's lack of equipment as arrogance, the tattooed man sought to take advantage of his oversight.
While Mark relied on his body enhancements to fight, the Boss had honed his skills over decades of training and real-world combat. To the seasoned fighter, the young man's attacks were powerful but simple. It was easy to predict them. The problem was his speed, but he could work around this. His vast martial arts knowledge negated Mark's physical advantages.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the compound, Rachel rushed down a corridor protected by three droids. Behind her, the fourth droid carried an unconscious Melly, while Athena's psychic projection hovered beside her. Her eyes were instinctively drawn to the girl.
The woman could not help herself. While she had seen Melly's avatar many times, having the real girl in front of her was different. She felt a bittersweet sensation as Athena observed the child. Her white hair, the shape of her face, and even the light freckles beneath her eyes. To Athena, it felt like looking at a younger version of herself.
Rachel noticed the way that Nyx looked at Melly. These glances hinted at a deeper connection than friendship. She could not help but ask. "Why are you helping us?"
Athena was surprised by the sudden question. In her mind, she was not ready to answer this. Trying to evade the question, she used their current situation to deflect the conversation. "This is not the time or place for questions; let's get to safety before asking anything."
The blond woman agreed. For the moment, she held her questions. But it was evident that Nyx's motivation to help the girl went beyond a single friendship. Rachel's intuition told her that the shadowy figure had a deeper connection with Melly. However, before digging further, they all needed to get to safety.
They exited the building and moved north. If all had gone according to the plan Melly's big brother set in motion, the friends Mark had told Nyx about should have secured that gate by now. That would be the perfect area to escape the facility. The group quickly dashed towards the area, hoping to find Mark's friends.
At the same time, Gin and the other six senior members, who were moving away from the west gate, got into a sky-car. As they lift off to exit the Kramer Industrial Complex, one of them spots the blond woman and the droid carrying the unconscious child. They were just coming out of the building that the gang used as an infirmary. Alerting the rest of the men to this, the entire group turned and looked at the fleeing hostages.
Gin gazed at the group with disdain. If Mark had followed their plans, the two hostages would have been taken care of. However, things did not turn out that way. The look on his eyes turned dark as a macabre idea surfaced in his mind. Before they leave the Blazing Hand behind, he resolved to make Mark suffer.
He ordered the driver to turn towards the escaping hostages. Meanwhile, he drew his gun and changed the spent battery pack for a new one. While he said no words, the men in the sky car nevertheless understood what he wanted to do. Since the young man had decimated the gang, they all wanted to hurt him one way or another. The men eagerly agreed with him. They all readied their weapons as the vehicle closed the distance.
On the ground, Rachel noticed the vehicle moving towards them. Her intuition told her that something bad was about to happen. She turns towards Nyx, and with her hand, she points at the sky-car. "I think that they are coming to hurt us. Do you think you can take care of them?"
Nyx extended her senses; she was able to perceive the killing intent from the seven men in the vehicle. However, her trick of turning them against themselves would not work this time. These men had no grievances between them to exploit. However, Athena was not a one-trick pony.
The shadowy figure vanished from sight and appeared inside the vehicle. Athena used her ability to cause full-blown panic amongst the men. Suddenly, they raised their weapons and started shooting at Nyx. But the shots passed right through the apparition without harming it.
The men fired without taking notice of their surroundings; their panic caused them to ignore everything but the shadow. With a feeling of dread controlling their actions, they failed to check their fire and kept shooting until their battery packs ran out. The shots tore through them, and the sky-car they were using.
Soon after the vehicle veered, it flew out of control. It fell on the other side of the Kramer Industrial Complex wall, leaving a trail of smoke in its wake. Athena smiled, removing the threat had been trivial. People with too much brawn and not enough brain always reacted the same way, with violence.
Athena's psychic projection returned to Melly and Rachel. As the shadowy figure manifested beside the unconscious girl, she was met with a bleak sight. Besides the droid holding Melly, Rachel lay on the ground. The burn mark from a laser shot showed on her chest. Unfortunately, the woman had been hit by one of the shots fired in the sky-car.
Using her abilities, Athena frantically searched for signs of life. The shadowy figure knelt beside the woman and reached for Rachel's mind. Finding that the woman was still alive, Athena sighed in relief. However, the blond woman's life was fading, and Athena needed to do something, or Rachel would be dead in a few minutes. Using her abilities once more, she reached for Mark's mind.
Back at the west gate, Mark struggles to fight the Boss of the Blazing Hand. His heat ability caused every blow Mark landed on the man to hurt him as well. In his mind, the young man compared it to hitting a board covered in nails. However, at the moment, He had managed to bring the fight to a stalemate. Neither one had the decisive advantage.
Suddenly, Nyx's voice distracted him. She was asking for his help. Rachel had been shot, and the woman was dying. Losing focus, Mark failed to evade the burning fist of his opponent. His body shook as his legs reflexively moved back. His face showed a burn on his cheek.
With a mocking tone, the Boss taunted Mark. A provoking grin was plastered on his face as the words left his mouth. "You'd better keep your eyes in the fight, boy, before you lose your face."
But Mark was not paying attention; the news about his mother's condition shook him. Thinking of a way to help his mother, Mark lost all awareness of his surroundings. He failed to see the kick that sent him flying back, and he landed facing the sky. A screen appeared in front of him, and the message he was waiting for showed in the nick of time. "System Reboot complete, Techno Lord system is back online."
The Boss, seeing Mark on the ground, decided to finish him with a kick to his face. To him, it looked like the boy had finally given in. A mocking grin appeared as he gazed at his opponent, who was, at the moment, on the floor looking at the sky with a smile. It was clear to the Boss that a concussion was making the teen hallucinate.
The time to claim his victory had arrived. With practiced ease, he raises his heel above his head and uses all his remaining strength to push his foot down. The Boss was already savoring his triumph over this kid and the Conclave. However, his kick was stopped by an armored hand as it fell towards Mark.
Now encased in the Mirmidón Armor, Mark barely felt any of the heat from before. Holding the Boss's heel in his hand, the young man moved even quicker than before. He kicked his opponent's other leg, causing the burning man to fall to the ground. A look of surprise replaced the Boss's mocking grin.
Without giving the Boss a chance to react, Mark lifts the boot of his armor and stomps on his opponent's head without any mercy. While this was a brutal move, the young man was seeking to end the fight quickly and help his mother. Besides, the Boss was responsible for harming his mother and little sister. For this reason, Mark felt that the man deserved this end. Letting him or any other member of the Blazing Hand go unpunished would be a detriment to his family.
The Boss was no more; his wish to die in a blaze of glory never came to be. Even that was denied to him. Instead, his body lay motionless on the floor amongst the wreckage that once was his gang, while his dream of ruling the underbelly of Berant City faded along with his life.
Unable to accept the battle's outcome, the old members looked on. Enraged, some of them opened fire on the armored figure. Yet, they could only watch in despair as their small arms fire bounced harmlessly off the young man, now encased by a black metallic surface.
Mark ignored the people shooting at him. Helping Rachel was the only thing on his mind, and besides, it was best to let the Ravens deal with the remnants of the Blazing Hand. Time was running out, but the anti-grav module was slow; he would never reach the place in time using this. To move as fast as possible, the young man resorted to an Item he had neglected in his inventory, the jetpack.
In haste, Mark replaced the modules mounted on his armor and flew into the air. The Ravens watched as he flew. Never in their lives did they think Specter was that young. Most of them imagined a grizzled old man. Bart called them to attention, and they pressed on in the fight. Soon after, it was all over.
Most of the old members of the Blazing Hand died fighting, while the most recent members surrendered or fled as fast as their legs could carry them. On their side, a few of the revens had minor wounds, and one was seriously hurt, but they had no casualties. The Claws had proven to be an effective asset in the battle. Once everything was over, Bart would push for a military version.
With the fighting done, Bart ordered the men to sweep the area for stragglers as he followed the direction Mark had flown out. The veteran wanted to make sure that his daughter and Melly were all right. After leaving a proxy in charge, he rushed to find his family members.
Following Nyx's instructions, Mark reached the area where Rachel was. As he arrived, His eyes moved to his mother lying on the ground. Loosing no time, Mark moves to examine Rachel's condition. As he scanned the woman with his system ability, Mark was able to see that his mother's life was fading away. If something were not done soon, he would lose her.