Chapter 34: Cornered Animal

SpiderMonkey ducks from a hook from the four-arms kid before shooting a web into his eyes. 

"Agh!" The alien growls while Spider Monkey takes her chance. 

"Don't be mad!" she uppercuts, striking him across the jaw. Spider Monkey corkscrews from his charge tackle before webbing onto his back. "Be glad!" she punches the charging brute. 

"Get off!" 

They ran past Edge, who dodged a roundhouse from Kaitlyn coated in black metal. 

"Was this all a joke?!" Edge slaps her fists away before blocking a spinning elbow. He pushed her away. "What is wrong with you?!" 

"You're not giving me much of a choice!" She shouts, gaining her balance, only for Edge to give an animalistic shriek. 

"There's always a choice!" 

A wave of fire clashed with Edge, who flew to his side before tumbling along the grass. He drove his nails against the grass, clawing up dirt. 

The symbiote ink glitched only to take its home. Edge only growls under his crowded, sharp teeth. 

"Forget it!" Alan shouts. "His corpse will do fine!" The pyro-kid released another wave of fire, burning all the grass heading Edge's way. 

'I have a plan.' Edge voice in Will's head. The symbiote leaps over the wave of fire; he develops a shield blocking the thorns. 'The pyronite. Get me close.' 

'Are you scared of this stuff?' 

'It won't be much, but it will do.' 

Edge bolts toward Alan. 

The symbiote leans from a beam before spinning on his feet from another. 

A blue line vortex swarms around Edge. 

'They are ticks. No one will miss them.' A wisped voice entered the boy's mind.

"I won't let you!" The XLR8 girl voiced, causing Edge to clench his fist before his ink rumbled. 

"Ragh!" The blue and grey ink clung to Will's skin, bursting into spikes. 

"Agh!" The blue runner went flying. 

"Helen!" Alan shouts as she watches her tumble across the burnt grass.

"Fat chance." Spider-Monkey tilts her head, dodging Quils, before driving the four-arms kid towards Quil kid, who staggered back. 

"Manny!" The quills kid dives from the charge. 

Manny drives into the tree, causing it to snap in half. The tree's weight cried out, heading for the thorn kid, only for Edge to snap his ink onto the kid before yanking him from the crash point with a spin of his heels. 

The thorn kid rolled to his hands and knees, staring at the heavy tree positioned at his last, while Katlyn only stared wide-eyed. 

"Pierce! Are you alright?!" Helen crouches to the thorn kid level, eyeing his clean body.

"I'm fine. Worry about-" A thorn of blue and grey ink embedded into the side of Pierce and Helen's neck. 

Their eyes widen before they hit the ground, lying beside one another. 

Edge lowered his hand before turning to Kaitlyn, who stood to her feet, staring wide-eyed at Edge and over his shoulder. 

The symbiote looks over his shoulder at Spidermonkey's four eyes, staring at Kat. She slowly approaches the unwelcome threat, followed by Edge. 

"Stay back!" Kat ordered, only to receive blank gazes from the two aliens approaching. "I said! Get back!" She looked over her shoulder before stepping back into the small graveyard. 

"You have a lot of nerves." Spidermonkey squinted her multiple eyes. 

"You just can't stay away. Who sent you?" Edge adds. 

"Agh!" Kat charges, throwing two punches. Edge side-stepped and stepped back. 

His hand slams onto her chest, causing her to fly off her feet. Kaitlyn crashed through a gravestone before rolling into a stop from another. 

"Ha." She winces, losing her black metal coating. Kaitlyn looks from the green grass to the blue and grey symbiote towering over her and Spidermonkey squatting, staring eye-level at the young delinquent. 

"Who sent you?" Spidermonkey flashes her fangs. 

"I followed you."

"Try. again." Edge states, looking over Spidermonkey's shoulder.

"You. Know." Spidermonkey smirked, showing her fangs. "For a mutant, you're still human at heart." Her black pupils took her eyes while her nostrils only flexed. "Five times you tried it,e-ah. And five fingers, I'm going to eat." 

She snatches Kaitlyn hand. 

"Hey! Stop!" Kaitlyn roared, pulling back. 

Spidermonkey hissed with a bass in her voice. 

"I dare you." The blue-furred monkey in black and white spandex hovers one of Kaitlyn's fingers over her mouth. 

Kat looks up at Edge. 

"You have to stop this." 

"I'm waiting." Edge remained stoic. 

"There is this." Kaitlyn's eyes rolled to the back of her head. 

"Kat? Kat!" Edge crouches before diving into Will's skin. "Hey! Hey!" 

The boy slaps the scarred girl whose eyes remain in the sky. 

"Did I do too much?" Spidermonkey questioned while her pupils returned. 

"Kat." Will pressed his ear onto Kaitlyn's chest. "She alive." 

"Let's get back to the RV." Spidermonkey walks away, while Will only remains with Kat. "Will, we need to go." Spidermonkey looks over her shoulder. 

"Right." The boy brushes his hand across Katlyn's shoulder before summoning a goth bear from his ink. He sat it on her lap. 

Anthony stood to his feet, following after Spidermonkey, who soon switched back with a slap on the Onmitrix symbol. 

---

Sunny floats and Amethyst runs through the woods, illuminated by the half-moon of the dark sky. 

"Where's the shorty!" Amethyst swings her arms, keeping pace with Sunny. 

"I wish I knew." Sunny snapped her eyes at every passing tree. 

"Woah. Hold up." Amethyst exited the swarm of trees into the clearing, eyeing a church. 

It's white paint peeling from the house's skin and front doors. 

The black rusted fences, containing an overgrowth of veins, pink flowers, and blue, clung to the bars, presenting the pleasant yet mysterious wake of the three-brick staircase leading to the double doors. 

"You think he's in there?" Amethyst raised a brow to Sunny, closing her eyes. 

"I think." Sunny lingered. "I feel something." She opened her eyes and looked back at Amethyst. "Let's keep an eye out." 

Sunny floated to the church with the purple gem in tow. Before they reached the double doors, the sound of Amethyst putting weight on the staircase filled their ears. 

"I'll go on ahead. Watch my back." Amethyst grabs the golden arch handle, only for it to jolt. "What?" She does it again before tilting her head at the golden button above the arched.

"You never opened a door before?" Sunny tilts her head, squinting her eyes. 

"Never this door." She whispered back before pressing her finger on the button and pulling. "I got it." 

Amethyst slowly opened the door, peeking at the eight rows of benches leading to the pool pit. 

A wooden cross gazes back at the gem, which fully opens the door, letting in the dust and white light from outside.

The purple gem pressed her white boot against the lighter shade of wood tiles, only giving a solid thud. She continued her eyes scanning the windows, nearly touching the ceiling along the walls. 

The corpses of multiple wild animals like rabbits, wolves, and deer scattered the pool pit and the area in front of it. 

"One. Moment." Sunny whispered, catching Amethyst's gaze. She looked around the room. She closed her eyes, embracing the darkness of her mind. A hue of blue energy pointed her gaze to the ceiling. 

A beastly cry from above shook the quiet church and Sunny's thought process. 

"Not so fast!" Amethyst's three-finger spiked whip latched onto the beast before hurling it along the floorboards. 

A cry of a heavy object bouncing along the floor causes Gwen's polar opposite to snap her eyes open. 

The purple gem stood before Sunny, facing a growling wild mutt, giving them a growl. 

Its fur gave a darker shade of orange, its fangs thicker, and its muscles tight and visible. It gave a heavy roar, causing the windows to shake. 

"Shut it up!" Sunny shoots a beam, and the wild mutt halts its roar before side-flipping onto his hands and feet. "Don't let it roar again!" 

"Why?!" Amethyst grips her whip handle. 

"We are in the Mutt den!!" 

The purple gem latched onto a church bench and hurled it at the mutt, which drove its claws into it, spilling splitters along the floor. 

It rushes with a roar once more. 

"I'm right here!" Amethyst's front flipped into a white ball before rushing the mutt. 

The mutt slides to a halt before it backhands the spinning white ball with a spin of its feet. 

The purple gem was thrown off from spin dash only to crash into the wall before landing on a bench and hitting the floor. 

The mutt rushes Sunny, snapping its jaws. 

Sunny hurls purple discs. 

The mutt leaps on bench after bench, dodging Sunny's attacks, which either eat at the wall or smash through the windows. The mutt lands by the entrance before flipping a bench at Sunny. 

Gwen's polar opposite spun mid-air before delivering a full finger slash, cutting the bench in two and revealing her mana blade. 

The cut bench crashed behind Sunny, giving a hollow cry and the sound of sliding benches along the floorboards. 

The mutt made its getaway through the opened doors. 

"What's wrong?! I haven't had my fill!" Sunny flies out the door, followed by Amethyst. 

The mutt breaks across the open to the tree line, only for a pink lasso to trap its arms and legs. Its jaw slams on the grass, roaring while slowly dragging toward Sunny and the gem. 

"Hey, call your grandpa. He probably knows what to do." Amethyst ordered while using her whips to latch the mutt's jaws closed. 

They stood in front of the church, keeping the mutt in check. Sunny remained floating, her left hand engulfed in her pink, glassy energy, which she stretched to her captor. 

She pressed the earpiece within her ear. 

"Yo! Max." Sunny eyed the purple gem, placing her white boot on the growling mutt's upper jaw. "There are wild mutts about, but we managed to handle it. Be careful." 

"I second that," Max answered. "Head back to the RV. I'm afraid they know our position; we're going to need each other to dispatch the tangos." 

"Roger that. Captain." Sunny smirked before staring at Amethyst, who'd gazed back with squinted eyes. 

"What he say?" The purple gem questioned. 

"Well, it seems we're being hunted." 

"Seriously? Christ on a bike, why can't we order pizza and be done with it?" She removed her boot and looked back at the mutt, who only flashed its gills along its neck. 

"You have something on your mind? Aunty?" 

"Ugh." Amethsy groans, scratching her head. "Let's let it go." 

"Pardon?" Sunny tilted her head. 

"I mean, it only attacks us in self-defense. Heck, I'll be the same if someone busts down my door. Besides, it didn't seem to want to fight." The purple gem looks down at the mutt with her hand on her head. 

"Have you ever heard of migration? Once they eat and multiply, they won't think less about moving on. Besides, I don't think a bear can handle an apex predator we have here." 

"They have everything they can live here." Amethyst squinted her eyes. "Let it go. We can always ask the zoologists what they think." 

A blue mist of energy escapes the orange-tan wild mutt's pores. The fog swirls within the air before pouring into Sunny's pores, which only inhales. 

"Ha." Sunny breathes out, releasing the now standstill mutt. 

Amethyst watched the retracting gills lose their rhythm before slowing to a stop. 

"What did you do?!" The purple gem raised her voice, switching her gaze between Sunny and the Mutt. 

"One less. Problem." Sunny answered, getting Amethyst eyes. "Let's get back. I bet more will show." 

"You have no right." Amethyst glared, pointing. "Your grandpa will know about this." 

"What?" Sunny cocked her head, floating towards the purple gem who stood her ground. "I'm not hearing that correctly." She grew a smile, looking down at her. 

Amethyst remained silent before turning her back. 

"You know. If I didn't know you, this situation would have gone very differently." Sunny spat, causing Amethyst to look over her shoulder. 

"Was that threat?" 

"Well, what do you think? You are smarter than you look, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt." Sunny opened her hand to the unmoving mutt on the grass near her. "You talk. You're getting whatever he got." 

"Right." Amethyst waved her hand over her shoulder only to get a glare from Sunny.

---

"SHUT! UP!" Krab fired at Steven, who leaped over the robot that had turned its torso and punted the pink gem across the room. Garnet leaped, catching him. They flew before Garnet's back slid along the floor, and her head crashed through the white brick wall. "Do you ever have a second to think? Huh." 

Krab stood across the damaged bowling alley covered in debris and spoiled trash. 

"I am astonished! On how a kid like you can talk my ear off like a WHORE WITH A SPEECH DISORDER!!!" 

"Garnet?" Steven looked to his companion only to flinch from the spilling brinks that soon revealed Garnet sitting up on her butt without care of the world. 

"I will ask you again!" Krab raised his voice, remaining on the other side of the bowling alley. "Where is Bentia and Will?!" 

"What? What do you want with them?" Steven questioned, only for Krab to remain silent. "What did they do wrong? Their children. Do you have a heart?" 

"I'm going to mount you on my wall now." Krab's claw spun before releasing multiple beams toward the two. 

"Steven!" Garnet voiced, only for the afro boy to turn back to the red gem who shot her gauntlet at the barrage of beams. 

"Right!" Steven crouches before dashing towards the Krab. 

He quickly made it to the middle of Bowl Alley within seconds. Steven ran through the barrage of beams before knocking one away with his shield. 

The boy's side flips to the wall on his right, his pink flip-flops pressed against the wall before Steven takes off toward Krab. 

The white beams dash toward the kid, who summoned another shield. Steven twists his hips, blocking and deflecting the beams heading the robot's way. 

"You could do better!" Krab laughs as Steven grows near. Below the boy, Garnet follows up with an electro-gauntlet containing blue sparks of electricity pouring from the golden stars on the backhand of her red gauntlets. She throws a punch as Krab leaps back. "You thought!" 

Steven engulfs himself in his pink bubble.

"I'm sorry." Steven voiced. 

Garnet punches her gauntlets, releasing webs of arcs covering the entire alley. 

"AAAH!!" Krab screamed, drowning in the arcs Garnet delivered. 

All Steven could see were arcs of electricity trying to find their way into his bubble. Multiple explosions engulfed his vision before it went dark. 

The darkness soon became light. The sound of rubble filled his ears as Garnet threw debris aside. A sight of fire surrounded them, and so did the heavy rain.

"Steven!" Garnet gazed at some of the rubble that lay on top of Steven's pink bubble. 

"I'm alright." Steven rolled out of the debris before stopping at the parking lot, now scattered with burning wood and scrap metal. 

The two look back at the bowling alley only to see it bathed in flames and holes. 

"Y-you think the Krab robot is alright?" Steven looks up at Garnet, who kept her gaze on the fire. 

"I believe this is not the last we'll see of him." She turned her back. "Come on. We need to get back to the others." 

Steven looks to the ground before turning his head. 

"Right." 

---- 

Max and Phil wandered through the sea of trees, bathing in the heavy rain, which soaked Phil's plumber's jumpsuit and Max's white t-shirt. 

They returned to the clearing on the hill, eyeing Helicon Bay. 

"Oh. Hell." Phil voiced with a space rifle strapped on his back. 

They eyed the smoke and bright yellow light pouring somewhere around the town. 

Max hoists his rifle closer to his chest. 

"Come on." 

...

They came down the hill and entered the docks. Max and Phil vaulted over the wooden railing, pressing their boots on the boardwalk. 

The rain cried out, and the silence invited the veterans to the side brick wall of the two-floor boathouse. They took cover, not letting the cold water bother them. They pace to the left of the wall, and Max volunteered. 

"Helen. Come in." A voice breaks from the rain. "Helen!" 

Max peeks from the wall. 

Before them, there were more of the Mask Merc's. They stretched to two businesses and another boathouse at the end of the boardwalk.

"Yo, Cap." Another masked merc approached the one wandering under the board light. "I'm not getting a hold of the others." 

"Right." The head merc clicked his tongue. "Get some of the fellas and see what is going on. If they're dead. More money in our pockets." 

"Who are they?" Max questioned under his breath. 

"I wish I knew." Phil squinted his eyes. "I'm getting on the roof. Wait here."

Max continued eyeing the Mercs, heading deeper into the boardwalk. 

The senior snapped his head back to grunting and thumping. Max eyed Phil, scaling the wall before gripping an AC box on the wall. 

He pulled himself with ease before leaping towards a steel beam. He leaps once more and swings on a pole above before catching a ledge; Phil shimmies around the corner away from the Max view. 

"Ok. What happened in a year?" Max questioned within his bud before peeking back from his wall. 

"Well, I kept myself in shape, unlike you." Max rolled his eyes. "Well, I've been like this way longer than this."Phil pants. "Since plumbing was out of the question, I decided to be an officer of the law. We were around the 40s, but I'm not kicking the bucket any time soon." He grunts. "Ok. You know they asked me to become the commissioner." 

"I'm not. Surprised." Max states. 

"Of course. I decline. I ain't sitting behind the desk to miss all the action."

"Is there anything else you like to say? Am I going to see you in a suit?" 

"Been there. Done that. Never do-" 

Max's earpiece goes quiet. 

"Phil?" Max raised his brow, looking up at the roof. "Parther, can you read me?" 

"Sorry about that. Taking out the trash. Ok." Phil sighs. "They're about thirteen here. Mius. One. Three in the fishing shack closest to you. Five are in the clothing store, and four more are in the last small boathouse. And make that three." 

"Copy that." Max strapped his rifle on his back before exchanging for his plumber pistol. He leans from the wall, eyeing the boardwalk before sprint-crouching behind a wooden box. 

Max looks up the five steps before landing on a hanging sign. 

 Daniel's Fish and Chips. 

The plumber climbed the steps, seeking shelter. He took cover behind the wall near the door and peeked through the window above him. 

Two Mask Mercs remained in the front of the business. One was surveying the hooks and bait behind the counter, while the other was leaning on the glass counter, watching her. 

"You got eyes on your target?" Max questioned, listening to the rain song.

"I got my eyes on the Grand Canyon. If you know what I mean." 

Max didn't say anything but only aimed his pistol at the window. 

"Let it rain." Max fired his pistol, letting out a golden beam. The beam ate through the lower window and into the guy on the counter. He hits the ground and, soon after, the other. "I'm going in." 

The ex-plumber slowly pushed the door open, and a small chime gave way from the silver bell above the door. Max only frowns, his brows harder. Shifting his aim. 

"Ragh!" A masked merc tackles Max, causing him to misfire. 

He slams him against the wall and presses his hand against Max's face. The merc slams Max's backhand against the wood, causing his gun to drop. 

Max punches the merc's gut twice before clocking him against the jaw, causing him to stumble back. 

Max rushes, throwing another against the merc's jaw. He ducks under a swing before delivering a uppercut. 

The ambushing merc slams onto the glass counter, causing the glass to shatter and sing. The merc hung limp. 

"Wow, what a beautiful display." Phil whistled within Bud while Max only panted and grabbed his plumber pistol. 

"You could've got that." 

"And yet you handle it. I'm a guardian angel, not a babysitter." 

"Right." Max pulled the trigger, killing the mask merc. 

The ex-plumber sneaks out of the Daniels fish and chips, stepping down the stairs. He stopped at the end of the wooden railing, eyeing the empty boardway. 

He sneaks to another building that has two floors. Max looks up at the hanging sign. 

 Daniel's Sea Drift. 

"Ok. There's plenty of windows here. So I can help clear them out. There are three on the top floor and two on the bottom." 

"I'm going to see if there's a back way." Max report. 

"Good call." 

Max snuck along the shelter to the back of the peeling white building. He paces around the staircase to its face. He passes the door near it and climbs to the second floor, where another white door awaits. 

"Hold. The credit grabber is facing you." Max waits minutes, listening to the rain and eyeing his environment. "You got it." 

Max slowly opened the door and gave a whine. He closes it back. 

"Hey, Amok." A mask merc in front of Max, three clothing racks away, called to his coworker. 

"Yeah?" Another across the second floor called back, eyeing the cracked, dirty glass containing a sea hat and photo frame. 

"Do you think I can wear this?" He pulled up fishing overalls and applied them to his brown, bare, scaly chest. 

"If you can wear it, take it. That's the reward about abandoned places." 

"I might sleep in this." He smirks down at the overalls. "Yeah. This will do."

He turns around only to get punched in the face by Max. He drops. The ex-plumber grabs his harness, setting him down gently. 

"Partner. There's one in the changing closet in front of the staircase." Phil spoke in the bud while Max snuck up to the Mask Merc, eyeing the dusty, cracked glass display. 

The ex-plumber choked the merc before lying him on the blue carpet. 

Max turns back to look over the railing to the first floor, finding someone below him wearing a fishing hat while he arranges the parts of his bulky handgun on the display case. 

Another stood across the room from the scattered circular clothing racks, staring out the window and watching the rain. 

Max stared at his left arm at Helen's forearm device. The black straps around his arm kept it secure while he brushed his fingers along the black glassy exterior. 

A yellow line circle remains on the bottom corner of the device before Max presses it. All the hairs on his body rise, while his skin and equipment soon become invisible. 

"Ok, How long was I out for?" Max whispered before looking over the railing once more. 

He vaults over the wooden railing. The ex-plumber boot drives the Mask Merc onto the wood planks, giving a heavy thud. The merc looked up with comprehensive eyes, only to get struck across the jaw, knocking her unconscious. 

"Hey!" The merc around the room looks at the commotion. "What was that?" 

Max remained crouched, pacing around the clothing racks. 

The alerted merc got his pistol ready, walking along the outer way of the racks.

"Guys? You got eyes?" The merc slowly approached, eyeing the quiet environment, before hollow footsteps entered his ears that happened to have holes on the sides of his head. 

"What the hell!" The merc from above the staircase raised his voice, seeing the bodies of his comrades upstairs. "Someone here!" 

Max appeared within thin air behind the first-floor merc. He drives his boot into the back of the knee of the merc before pressing the nozzle of his plumber pistol against the crook of his neck. He pulled the trigger, letting out a sizzle. 

"Mother-" The merc above the stairs ate a red beam before giving a loud crash of his body and rifle. 

"Better." Phil voiced within the bud. "I think. I'm going to cry." 

"I think you are going to get hyperthermia the longer you are out there." Max comments. 

"I believe that is the least of my worries." 

Max clean house before exiting the Daniel's Sea drifts. He descended the five stairs, eyeing Phil below with his plumber pistol.

"We're clear." Phil voiced once more over the heavy rain. "Just that boathouse, and we're clear." He points down the boardwalk. 

"It's still best to keep an eye out." Max voiced. 

"No kidding." 

They paced down to the last boat house. 

"Let's clean house." Phil kicked himself from the side of the crate before vaulting up and over the fence with a twist of his hips. His combat boots hit the boards holding him up. "Remember, we need at least one." He searched for the side entrance while Max took the front. 

The ex-plumber takes a breath before slowly opening the door. 

"If I recall, this requires brains," the head merc said, looking down at the crowded table of papers and holograms. He stood in front of brown rusted railings that gave way to the boat port and the rain attacking the water stretching from Helicon Bay. 

"And yet, we follow a tip to a bloody hunting ground!" A mask merc raised his voice. The merc and second circle the head. They gave their boss room to brainstorm. "Is this genuinely worth my pay grade?" 

"If you think it's too much, leave." The head merc kept his back toward the two. "Helen has visional of the girl and, if she's here, also, the boy. I'm beginning to think. We should move on her after Squad Alpha makes their haste return." 

"I don't think They will." Phil's voice breaks the merc's meeting. 

Phil barrages the first merc's back and chest with punches before landing a hook across his jaw. 

Max rushes the second that went with a pistol whip, only for the ex-plumber to counter with his arm blocking his head. 

Max gave a pistol whip of his own. He grabs the merc's other arm, twirling under and behind the enemy before ending him with a golden beam to the back of his skull. 

"Hold." Max ordered. 

The ex-plumbers trained their weapons on the head merc, who did the same. 

"Well. I'm not surprised." The head merc smirked. "I got a call about you and your partner. Judging by you two standing here. I guess they're dead." 

"You damn skippy." Phil voiced. "Was she your girlfriend?" 

"Tell me your contacts." Max squinted his eyes. "And your employer." 

"I would love to, but I got guns trained on me." The head merc comment. 

They remained silent, listening to the heavy rain hitting the shelter, aiming their guns at one another. Eight mercs appeared behind and around the ex-plumbers. 

"And now, I got mine pointed back." The head merc releases his aim. "You really did a number on us." 

Max lowered his pistol while Phil only dropped his. 

"Now, tell me where your granddaughter and that boy is." 

"I could. Tell you," Phil was the first to voice, only getting a glance from Max. "They're somewhere bright and warm. And you're somewhere hot and dry." 

"Boss!" One of the mercs gazes at Phil plumber's pistol, the blinking golden dot winking from the gun barrel. 

"See you in hell." Phil winked. 

A bright light filled the room, followed by a minor explosion. 

Max regained sight after the blinding light with the help of special glasses Phil gifted. His ears ring while the ex-plumbers hit the floor. 

An army of red beams flies across the room while Max and Phil return some back. Bodies dropped, and so did their numbers. Leaving only the head merc. 

Max rushes the merc, who aims his pistol only to redirect his aim above the ex-plumber shoulder; it goes off while Max shoots between his armpit and into his torso. 

The merc falls to his knees with an open mouth, only for Max to put a bolt between his eyes. 

The head merc lay dead, and so did the ambush. 

"Argh!" Phil cried out from Max's ringing ears. "I loved that gun." 

The ex-plumber looks to Phil, shaking his ears with his finger, carrying his sniper rifle over his shoulder. 

"Sorry. About that." Max voiced, getting a gaze from Phil. 

"You couldn't help it. I would've done the same." He sat his rifle along the table, looking over the papers and holograms; the head merc left them. "Alright," Phil said under his breath while Max approached. "Damn. It's just a map of the bay and my whereabouts." 

Max looks to the head merc before taking action. He took a knee before taking his arm with the forearm device with a similar model. 

He presses the screen, making it come to life. 

Yellow squares form along the screen, with a language not from Earth. Max's eyes run along the blocks before pressing one and pressing another.

"Who's this?" The head merc voice along the screen to the line following the tone of his voice. 

"Someone. Who's willing to help?" a woman's voice entered the chat. "You've seen the boards?" 

"Just about." 

"Then. I'm giving you the location. I prefer you to capture-" 

"Hello?" 

"Make sure you don't tamper with the watch. And don't damage the boy too much." 

"Uh? Alright." 

"You got to be kidding me." Phil voiced while Max let go of the head merc arm. 

He drilled holes into the corpse of the head merc. Bolt after bolt filled his body, and the hissing grew repetitive. 

"Partner." Phil's voice through the shooting. "Max!" 

The bolts ceased, yet the clicking of the trigger continued. Max's blank gaze remained on the corpse before his trigger finger paused. 

Heavy rain smacking on the boat house sang while Phil could only stare at the corpse covered with burnt holes. 

Max turned his back on Phil, picking up his pace towards the door.