The two young women traveled incredibly cautiously through the deserted financial district. Their hearts were pounding in their chests. They were genuinely afraid that there might be more fake construction workers patrolling inside the perimeter, or perhaps an actual hazardous materials team dealing with the reported gas.
They desperately didn’t want to get caught trespassing and be placed in serious legal trouble. But even worse, if it really was a genuine, life-threatening gas leak, they wanted to be completely out of the toxic area as soon as physically possible.
"This whole entire thing feels incredibly strange, right?" Cindy whispered, her voice echoing slightly off the empty glass storefronts.
"Yeah, it’s completely void of people. It feels a bit like we walked straight into a ghost town," Sheri said, hugging her coat tightly around herself as she continued to walk, leading the way. This was her daily commute to her workplace, after all, but without the usual bustling crowds of corporate employees and coffee vendors, the sprawling concrete avenues looked alien and intimidating.
"If there was an actual, city-wide gas leak that required shutting down four blocks, though... shouldn’t we be able to clearly smell the gas by now?" Cindy asked, sniffing the crisp morning air.
"I don’t know if it actually works the exact same way with commercial pipelines, right?" Sheri replied, glancing nervously at the sewer grates.
"No, I’m pretty sure it does," Cindy argued quietly. "Because natural gas is completely odorless. The utility companies artificially add that rotten egg smell into the gas lines specifically so you know when there’s a dangerous leak. But if it’s a huge, overwhelming volume of it, would we still be able to smell it, or would it just choke us out instantly?"
"They artificially add the smell in? Well, that’s certainly a first for me," Sheri replied, shaking her head at the trivia.
But as they got closer—now only around a tense ten-minute walk away from the towering Fortis building—Sheri suddenly froze and held up her hand, signaling Cindy to stop.
So far, they still had yet to see a single living soul patrolling the inner streets. But now, she could clearly hear noises echoing off the skyscrapers.
"I’ll kill you! Die!" a guttural, furious voice shouted in the distance.
It wasn’t just one isolated voice, either. As they strained their ears, the terrifying symphony of combat washed over them. There were several agonizing groans and heavy grunts. They could hear people shouting out in raw physical pain, the sharp clatter of metal, and men swearing ruthlessly at each other non-stop.
"Is that... is that a fight?" Cindy asked, her eyes widening. "But it sounds like way more than just one or two people. Just as I thought! That official gas leak report was nothing but a fake cover-up. They’re doing some seriously shady, illegal stuff out here in the open, and we have to see what it is!"
Sheri desperately wanted to reach out and grab Cindy’s arm to stop her from moving forward. Her stomach churned. She was still feeling intense, lingering fear and PTSD from the traumatizing time when she had been kidnapped by street thugs. The sounds of brutal violence echoing down the street triggered a cold sweat on the back of her neck.
She honestly wondered why Cindy didn’t inherently feel the exact same paralyzing fear. But maybe her friend was just so blindly driven by the desperate cause to find out the truth and help Abby’s memory that she was completely ignoring her own survival instincts.
As the two of them cautiously continued creeping forward, sticking tightly to the shadows of the alleyways, it didn’t take long for them to see something that was bizarre and stood out drastically. Blocking the avenue just ahead were an incredible number of unmarked vans and black vehicles that were parked haphazardly, entirely barricading the front courtyard of the Billion Bloodline building.
"What on earth is this? I’ve never seen anything like this before in the city," Cindy whispered, continuing to edge recklessly forward toward the vehicles.
Again, blaring alarm bells were ringing non-stop in Sheri’s head.
"Cindy, I really, truly don’t think we should be here anymore. We need to turn back right now," Sheri pleaded, her voice trembling.
She desperately wanted to turn around and run back to the safety of the coffee shop. But if she did, it would selfishly leave Cindy out here entirely on her own, and Sheri wasn’t so sure she could live with the guilt of abandoning her grieving friend.
Finally, as the two of them continued to sneak around the perimeter, they ducked down and positioned themselves right behind the rear bumper of a large black SUV. Peaking carefully over the cold metal trunk, they could finally see exactly what was taking place in the ruined courtyard in front of the Fortis group.
"It’s a full-scale brawl! It looks exactly as if two private armies are fighting a war against each other. An entire, sprawling gang fight is going on right on your front doorstep!" Cindy gasped, clapping a hand over her own mouth.
When Sheri looked closer through the settling dust, her blood ran cold. She could see exactly how devastating and lethal the clash was, because the men weren’t just throwing punches; they were ruthlessly using lethal weapons.
To her absolute horror, she could clearly see several people being brutally stabbed and beaten right in front of her eyes. There were men in immense agony rolling on the bloody concrete floor, completely left behind to bleed out because the other fighters simply didn’t have the time to look over their fallen friends without getting killed themselves.
’So... this is the real reason why they told me to take the day off today,’ Sheri thought, the terrifying realization washing over her. ’That means Max and the executives intimately knew this siege was going to happen ahead of time, and the gas leak really was a carefully orchestrated cover-up to keep civilians like me safe.’ Sheri swallowed hard. ’But how did they even know an army was going to attack them today?’ "I... I think we should head back," Cindy finally whimpered, her face turning chalk-white. It was as if all of the adrenaline had instantly evaporated, and the raw, unadulterated terror of the criminal underworld had hit her all at once. "This is far too dangerous. We have to get out of here right now, Sheri. I don’t know what kind of nightmare is happening here, but we absolutely shouldn’t be here to see it."
Finally, Cindy and Sheri were completely on the same page. But just as they were fearfully getting ready to crouch down and retreat back down the alleyway, a shadow shifted inside the SUV parked directly behind them.
There was a bruised member of the Gilt Rats who was still sitting inside the vehicle.
He had been nursing a fractured rib and was secretly hoping to have an easy day after watching his terrifying bosses head inside the skyscraper to finish the job. So, he had slacked off, resting a little bit in the backseat while the grunts fought in the courtyard.
He honestly didn’t think the frontline troops needed his help anyway. But when he glanced out the tinted window and saw the two civilian women snooping around their transport vehicles, a cruel smirk crossed his face. In his hardened mind, these girls were incredibly easy targets to take his frustration out on.
"Hey there, little birds. Where did you two wander in here from?" the scarred man growled. He kicked the car door open, stepping out into the street. He reached into the backseat, pulled out a heavy aluminum baseball bat, and rested it casually over his shoulder.
"Ah! No!" Sheri gasped, her eyes widening in sheer panic. "Come on, Cindy! Run!"
Sheri grabbed Cindy’s trembling hand and frantically went to sprint toward the side alley, but the thug was too fast. He swung the heavy metal bat down with brutal force, crashing it loudly against the hood of the car, completely blocking their only pathway of escape.
The two girls couldn’t even scream for help. The only people anywhere around for blocks were the hardened syndicate killers that were currently fighting a war, so if anything, screaming would just immediately bring them a dozen more armed enemies.
"I’m really sorry, ladies, but we simply can’t be having any civilian witnesses today!" the man sneered, his eyes filled with malice as he raised the metal bat high above his head, preparing to swing it down again.
But right before the lethal weapon could descend, a long, wooden stick seemingly materialized out of thin air. It struck the aluminum bat with such incredible, pinpoint kinetic force that it cleanly snapped the metal in half and knocked the remaining grip right out of the thug’s numb hands.
"I won’t let you hurt these two."
When Sheri and Cindy fearfully looked in front of them, their jaws dropped. Standing protectively between them and the syndicate thug was the strange woman from the street. Her bright pink hair fluttered in the wind, and she was holding a perfectly balanced wooden practice sword in her hands.