"Keep running!" Kallaway shouted behind at Quan.
The two of them fled as quickly as they could before Quan collapsed from exhaustion. Kallaway turned around and dragged Quan behind some boulders, hidden from view.
"How far are we?" Quan asked.
"Not fasr enough," Kallaway said. "Just a couple miles from the prison."
"Damn it," Quan said. "You think anyone else made it out of there?"
"Probably," Kallaway said. "It was a pretty big riot. We can't be the only ones who broke free."
"Figured," Quan said.
"We need to get moving soon," Kallaway said. "They'll find us if we stay in one place too long."
"So there you two are," said a new voice.
Kallaway jumped his feet and turned around to see a tall man in red robes a few feet away.
"Who are you!?" Kallaway demanded.
"My name is Raoul," the man said. "I'm the one who orchestrated that little jailbreak. I'm also the leader of the Operator's Hand."
"The what?" Quan asked.
"We are servents to the god Nyasient'e," Raoul said. "And we're recruiting."
Present Day
Xavier and Kallaway charged at each other. They both swung their swords simultaneously. They struck as they passed each other. They stood still for a few moments, before Xavier returned his katana to its sheath. Kallaway dropped to his knees, clutching his chest.
"Looks like you actually knicked me a bit," Xavier said, examining a small cut on his ribcage. "Not bad."
"Striking with the blunt edge of your sword," Kallaway said, getting back to his feet. "How cocky can one man be?"
"You'd be surprised," Xavier said.
Kallaway picked his sword up off the ground and swung it at Xavier, who parried the attatack and moved behind Kallaway quickly. He drew his katana once again and swung it, but Kallaway turned to block it just in time.
"The girl's right," Xavier said. "You have gotten stronger. But how's your speed?"
Xavier swung his sword several times with intense speed, and Kallaway managed to block most of the attacks. A couple of them managed to slip past his guard and leave some small cuts on his arms. Kallaway lashed out with his sword, pushing Xavier back some. Kallaway then lifted a nearby church pew with one hand and attampted to slam it on top of Xavier. Xavier lifted his sword, piercing the pew and stopping its movement.
"You'll have to do better than that!" Xavier said, grinning.
Without saying a word, Kallaway flung the pew to the oter end of the church, disarming Xavier, whose sword was still stuck in it.
"Well, fuck," Xavier said.
Kallaway returned his sword to its sheath and threw a punch at Xavier. Xavierdefected the blow, touching Kallaway's wrist with his own in the proccess. Kallaway pulled his arm back, but Xavier moved forward, keeping his wrist in contact with Kallaway. Kallaway attacked with his other arm, but Xavier blocked the attack, putting his other wrist in contact with Kallaway's. Kallaway kept attacking, bt Xavier deflected all of the attacks, without breaking contact. Xavier eventually saw his opening and struck Kallaway hard in the solar plexus. Kallaway stumbled backwards, catching his breath.
"You're not very good at Chi Sow, are you?" Xavier asked.
"I don't know what the fuck that is," Kallaway said, entering a battle stance. "But I'm decent at Muay Thai."
"That makes two of us," Xavier said.
The two of them charged at each other, throwing all kinds of punches and elbow strikes.
"Why aren't they using their swords!?" Hera asked.
"Kallaway prefers to fight unarmed," Athony said. "As for Xavier, I have no idea why he doesn't use that sword across his back."
Anthony glanced across the room, where the pew Kallaway had thrown was lying. He could see the crimson hilt of Xavier's katana sticking up into the air.
"But I bet he'd use that one," he said, getting to his feet and running toward it.
He wrapped his hands around the hilt and tried to pull the sword out of the wood, but he couldn't get it to budge. It was in too deep. Hera watched him from a distance, unable to get back to her feet.
"Zero, do something," she said.
A cloaked hand appeared from nowhere and gripped the hilt of Xavier's sword. Anthony jumpted back in alarm, releasing the sword. He gazed into the masked face of Zero.
"Allow me," it said, pulling the blade from the church pew with no effort. "Xavier, catch!"
Zero threw the blade across the room. Xavier saw it coming and caught it. Kallaway quickly drew his own sword, and the two of them swung at each other. There was a loud clang as Kallaway's longsword was knocked from his hand. Xavier swung his sword again, hitting Kallaway in the temple. Kallaway fell to the ground as Xavier sheathed his katana again.
"Blunt edge," Kallaway said. "Again."
"I have no interest in killing you," Xavier said. "But beating your ass in swordplay never gets old."
"Why you little-" Kallaway said, but he stopped in mid sentence as a voice spoke in his head.
That's enough, Kallaway, It said.
O'Zalia? Kallaway responded.
It's time for you to retreat, the voice said. I'll create an opening for you.
Xavier, Hera, and Anthony all clutched their heads in pain. Anthony fell on the ground, and Zero began shaking him.
"Anthony, are you okay?" it asked.
"I... I am now," Anthony said. "It's over now."
He got to his fet and looked over at Xavier, who was standing there alone.
"Where did Kallaway go?" Anthony asked.
"No idea," Xavier said. "Everything went black for a second there, and when I came to, he was gone."
Yes, I'm terribly sorry for that, The voice said, this time sounding in everyone's head. I needed to give Kallaway a chance to slip away.
"That voice...," Anthony said.
"O'Zalia!" Xavier shouted. "Where are you!? Show yourself, you coward!"
I'm afraid I can't, the voice replied.
Silence. The voice didn't say anything more to them.
"Damn it," Xavier said. "Come on, let's get her back to the garage."
"Office," Athony said.
"Call it whatever you want, it's still a garage," Xavier said. "I turned my garage into a dojo, but it's still a garage. No let's go. I don't like being here. Not since that incident."
Anthony looked up at Zero. "Who are you, anyway?" he asked.
"My name is Zero," it replied. "I am Hera's servent."
"Think you can carry her?" Anthony asked.
"Of course," Zero said.
Later, at the Garag- OFFICE! I Meant Office. At The Office...
"So the Operator's hand really was there?" John asked.
"Yep," Anthony said, rumaging through a box and pulling out a small leather pounch.
He pulled a small piece of hard candy out of it and tossed it to Hera.
"Suck on that for a while," he said.
"Um, okay," she said, popping it in her mouth. As she sucked on it, her wounds started to slowly heal.
"Hey, this candy has healing powers!" she gasped.
"Can I see one of those?" David asked.
"Sure," Anthony said, handing one to him.
"Wait a minute," David said, examining the small blue candy for a while. "This was made using Elixir! Where'd you get this?"
"We stole it frm the Operator's hand during one of our investigations," Anthony said.
"It was my first time meeting Kallaway," Xavier said. "Also my first time beating him up."
"So did you guys find what you were looking for?" Kaiser asked.
"No," Anthony said. "Hera was injured so we had to get her back here."
"Damn it," David said.
"So we still have no idea where the Magister is?" Damien asked.
"Los Angeles," Xavier said.
Everyone in the room turned to look at him questionably.
"Excuse me?" John asked.
"I was just there on vacation," Xavier said. "Ran into this weird guy. Called himself the Magister. I thn=ink he was on something..."
"Well then, let's go!" Anthony said.
"Wait, you wanna come too?" John asked.
"Sure," Anthony said. "There's obviously some connection between him and the Operator's hand, so finding him could help Xavier and I big time."
"But I don't wanna go to L.A. again," Xavier said. "L.A. suuuuuucks!"
"Too bad," Anthony said.
"Are you guys sure you wanna come?" John asked. "I mean, um..."
"There's dangerous people after you, right?" Xavier asked. "And if I had to fathom a guess, I'd say you guys are dangerous yourselves."
"How did you-?" John began to ask.
"I saw your friend here summoning a scythe from thin air, and this Zero guy just phased in from nowhere," Anthony said. "We're detective's, remember? We notice things."
"Why don't you guys tell us the full story?" Xavier asked.
"You guys wouldn't believe it if I told you," John said.
"I just saw Xavier fight a man with super strength," Anthony said.
"And trust me, I've seen some weird shit," Xavier said, stroking the hilt of his longsword.
"Well," John said. "This'll sound weird, but...,"
Meanwhile, On The Board
Brock Stevenson entered a small store, which was shaped like a pawn. At the counter was a man with long black hair and a red coat. His shirt was grey, with a black club and a whit 8 overlapping each other. He was reading a dirty magazine, and wasn't paying any attention to the an entering his store.
Him, said the voice in Brock's head.
Are you sure? Brock replied.
Yes, the voice answered.
He doesn't look like much, Brock said.
He has exactly what I'm looking for, the voice said. Heart. Brains. And though he doesn't look like, I can see he has potential in battle. Bring me to him.
Yes sir, Brock replied.
Brock approached the counter.
"Excuse, sir," he said.
"Myeah?" the man behind the counter said, looking up from his magazine. "How can I help you?"
"Can I get a pack of smokes?" Brock asked.
"What kind?" the man said, sighing as he put away his magazine.
"Marlboro Reds," Brock said.
The man turned around and searched the cigarette rack until he found the right pack.
"Here you go," the man said, handing the pack over to Brock.
"Thank you," Brock said, reaching out. However, instead of grabbing the pack of cigarettes, he grabbed the man by the wrist.
The man recoiled and clutched his head. Something dark had entered his body without warning.
Greetings, Estren Saltown, said a voice inside of his head.
Who are you!? the man demanded. What are you?
I am the left hand of Mimir, the voice said. I am Prometheus.
Later, at the Garoffice
"So you're the children of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse," Anthony said. "And you need to get to this Netherworld place so you can save your friends and resurrect your dead mom and a bunch of other weird stuff?"
"Pretty much," David said.
"Well, okay then," Anthony said.
"You mean you believe us?" John asked.
"As I said, we've seen weird shit," Xavier said.
"Like that time we were asked to investigate the Rake?" Anthony asked.
"What a week that was," Xavier said.
"Well, I guess we're going," Anthony said. "Right, Xavier?"
"Might as well," Xavier said.
"One problem," David said. "My truck can't carry all of us."
"You guys have horses, right?" Xavier asked.
"Yes, large, oddly colored horses," Hera said. "No way we could possibly draw attention with them."
"I can ride in the horse trailer," John suggested. "Keep them company and all that."
"And someone else can ride on the back of my bike," Damien said.
"I've always wanted to ride n a motorcycle," Xavier said.
"And I have a Helmet you can borrow," Anthony said.
"Do I have to wear one?" Xacvier asked.
"Yes," Anthony replied.
"Sounds like we've got everything worked out, then?" Kaiser asked.
"Guess so," Hera said.
"Alright!" David said. "Next stop, Los Angeles
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