"That's another one for me!" Agent Nassar cheered as his revolver's bladed grip caved in a demon's skull, bathing him in black tar. "Still think you can keep up, old man?" He looked to his right, where Commander Laabi was scaling the windows of a building as casually as one walks down the street, cutting the winged demons that assailed him to pieces with ease.
"If speech is silver, silence is gold, Agent," the Malleus Commander shouted back.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Nassar laughed, looking further down the destroyed landscape of abandoned cars and blown-out sidewalks. "More demons, some soldiers, and I think I see a sni—"
Commander Arcadio rolled her eyes, listening to the men chatter at a distance. She had decided to take a more defensive role in guarding Dr. Haussmann, who had no real combat experience. Both followed the trail of demon and Insurgent corpses which lay ahead of them.
"Are you sure you shouldn't be up there helping them?" Haussmann asked, tugging her possessed bag along.
"I'm the only one with limited ammunition between the three of us. I only have what I can carry, while Commander Laabi has his blade and Agent Nassar has his hemomantic revolver," Arcadio replied, weapon at the ready. "Besides, it's better to have the boys have their dick measuring contest, don't you think?"
They shared a sensible laugh, which was quickly halted by the sound of gunfire.
"I appreciate what you're doing here, Commander."
"Protecting people is what I do." Arcadio nodded.
"Yes, but escorting someone like me through an active warzone with two strangers? You must really believe in the Apportation Pack."
"I believe in your theory for fixing it more than anything. If we really can use it to get entire swaths of people off Manhattan even with the Type Black and Dimensional Collapse going on, that would be huge."
The Agent's head exploded into gore. For the briefest of moments, the skull fragments, flesh, and blood were suspended in space before abruptly retracting as if pulled by invisible threads until his head was fully reformed.
"—per," the Type Red glared off into the distance. "It's rude to interrupt people, pendejo." He raised his weapon, then plunged the blade part of the revolver into his wrist. This practice was not an attempt at self-harm, but to feed the vampiric runes on the blade. They drew some of his blood out and into the revolver's chambers, where they formed into scarlet-colored concentrated iron bullets. "I'll cover you, Imam."
Laabi scoffed. "I am not an Imam. I am a Sihr al Khushoos." He jumped off the fifth-story window he was walking on and bounced off an empty car, then landed on the ground below, surrounded by corpses of winged demons. The holy man dusted himself off and brandished his blade, which no matter how many demons it felled, never seemed to dull.
"And what does that mean?"
"It means, my friend, that I am a paradox." He charged forward with the strength of a seasoned warrior freshly unburdened by his training braces. Nassar could barely keep track of him with his own eyes, but he was glad to have awakened the Malleus Commander's competitive spirit. He cracked a smile, then rushed forward, fixing his aim upon the Insurgency soldiers and demons ahead.
Haussmann tugged at her bag, which appeared to be trying to eat the bisected corpse of a demon she was walking by. "No. Bad."
"Hungry," it responded in her mindscape.
"Too bad. Don't eat that."
Arcadio turned her head slightly to the eccentric doctor tailing her and quirked an eyebrow. "Nevermeant, huh?"
"Yeah," Haussmann grumbled. "But as I was saying, Commander, why do you have such faith in thaumotech? Especially the Apportation Pack?" The doctor was finally able to get her bag under control and the duo continued walking.
There were gunshots ahead, unfamiliar ones, a sniper rifle by the sound of it. Arcadio sighed. "Keep your head down, Doctor."
Six shots.
One.
The first shot hit a rushing fly-headed demon straight in the chest, causing it to stagger. Laabi immediately followed up by slashing it into a splattering of gore and giblets, leaving it to fall to the ground dead behind them.
Arcadio's trigger finger twitched.
"Commander?" Haussmann tried getting her attention again.
"Sorry. Force of habit. Apportation thaumotech is of particular interest to me."
Two. Three.
Two shots, one Sumerian-style demon descending upon him. It landed a clawed strike at his leg just as he fired at its arm, which causing both to stagger momentarily. Laabi was quick to jump off an abandoned car and kick it away from Nassar, who then took the opportunity to shoot it point-blank in the face. His leg had already regenerated before the next opponent struck at them.
"May I ask why?"
"Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't be inclined to answer such a personal question. But seeing as we are at the end of the world as we know it, I am inclined to be more charitable with my responses."
Four.
A volley of shots tore through the air from a nearby Insurgent's SMG, viciously ripping Nassar's left arm off with nothing but hot lead. He merely shrugged and fired while regenerating.
Miss.
The Insurgent didn't get a chance to reload before Laabi sliced his head clean off. A spray of blood clouded the already crimson sky above as he fell dead. The Malleus Commander laughed and turned to continue his onslaught. Nassar grumbled, but proceeded nonetheless.
More shots ahead. Arcadio tensed until she heard Nassar's laughter echoing across the empty streets of Manhattan. Her finger off the trigger, she stopped and turned to face Haussmann.
"My twin sister, Rosa Nieves, went to serve the Ministry before I did. My family had a history of serving, and she was the smarter one between the two of us, so while I went to join the military for some time, she went to university and was snatched up by the Ministry before she even graduated."
Haussmann nodded gravely to indicate she was still listening.
Five.
An insurgent jumped out from behind a car, and slammed the butt of her shotgun into Laabi's chest. Laabi crashed to the ground, gasping for breath. The insurgent whipped the shotgun to the Commander's face, but Nassar's bullet was quicker than the insurgent's trigger finger. Now it was his turn to laugh at his companion.
Laabi rolled his eyes, still in pain. Before he could dispense wisdom, he spotted movement in the second-story window above them. It was the sniper from earlier. Laabi's eyes widened and Nassar instinctively leaped on top of him just as the trigger was pulled. The Agent's torso absorbed the bullet, then spat it out harmlessly onto the sidewalk.
"She was obsessed with creating a technology that would let people go anywhere they wanted. She wanted to counteract the yuma blockade of Cuba, and let our people travel anywhere. She wanted to use the technology to liberate people. But in her research, something went wrong and…"
Arcadio paused, the silence between the two women only interrupted by the familiar sound of Nassar's revolver.
"You don't have to continue, Commander."
Six.
The sniper was dead before she could fire another round, a red iron bullet lodged between her eyes.
"Did I say pendejo? I meant pendeja."
Laabi grunted in annoyance as he caught his breath.
"Anyway, Mr. Holy Man, what makes you a paradox? I'm afraid I'm not very well versed in matters of Islam," Nassar asked, standing and offering his hand to help his compatriot up.
"In my faith, anything not made by God is considered the work of djinn and is haram. I am a practicioner of the arcane arts, but I wield my power for God. That is what makes me a paradox," Laabi grunted, standing with Nassar's help.
"I see. And speaking of seeing, I counted one more kill than you there," the agent chuckled.
"Astagfirullah!"
"Thank you, Doctor." Arcadio sighed, looking ahead at the sound of the sniper firing once more. "Come. We shouldn't fall behind."
Haussmann nodded, keeping pace with the Strike Force Commander.
"So what are your plans for when we make it to Liberty Island?" Arcadio asked, moving ahead.
"I plan on helping as best I can. I have big plans."
"Oh? How big?"
"About forty-six meters big."
