Tut, Tut, Tut

Zac's Mana Core was dull, with a speck of dark red and dark blue that swam through it. No matter how he focused, on either of the colors, nothing at all happened.

He grit his teeth in frustration, and stood there, watching as the new figure that was falling from the rope unsheathed a blade in mid air.

The blade was about five feet long, and had a dull green color, it had been clearly made out of one of the highly sought after metals that were mined from the Transition Zones.

A white glow enveloped the falling figure's arms and sword, and the individual skillfully twisted their body in the air, so that the sword was aiming right for the Lava Lion's neck.

"Snap!" There was a loud noise, and the enormous head of the Lava Lion tumbled through the air, spinning end over end, as a torrent of blood sprayed into the air, the single eye of the lion still blinking as the last remnants of life faded from it.

"Thud!" The Lava Lion's head slammed into the ground, and the figure that cut through its head with a single, two handed swing, wiped the blade off on the front leg of the Lava Lion's still standing body.

Zac's mouth was open in a large 'O' shape, and his eyes were wide, he had always heard about Higher Tier Augmented being able to take on Tier 3 Beasts all on their own, but had never seen one in action, not even a video.

For powerful Augmented, their abilities were everything to them, their livelihood and their ability to stay alive, and as such, were typically closely guarded secrets

'What the actual f***! No f******* way, in one cut!' Zac's mind was going haywire, and he was frozen where he stood, slowly blinking and rubbing his eyes, wondering if he had been seeing things.

But the headless corpse of the Lava Lion was still there, and nudged by the new individual wiping their sword on it, it slowly crumpled, and slammed into the ground, sending a shower of dirt and dry leaves up into the air.

"You always need to be flashy don't you. It'll only be a few more missions, when you get over the drama of it all, and the need to feel like an action hero, and you'll be worrying about your bonus and making sure the carcass is as intact as possible." The man who had his sword at Fredrick's throat grumbled at the other person, who had sheathed their sword and had walked over to where Frederick was kneeling on the ground.

"Whatever you say, old man. So, what were you doing in here, kidnapping? Or are you an industry scout?" A woman's voice came from the new arrival, high, yet surprisingly sharp. She ignored the blade hanging over Fredrick, and leaned over, her dark visor level with Fredrick's eyes.

"I was rescuing survivors, not that you'd believe m-." Frederick started to speak, but the woman cut him off.

"Always with the excuses, you people make me sick." She shook her head and turned away, but the man kept his sword at Fredrick's neck, and shook his head at her.

"I always tell you, don't talk to them. Don't even look at them if you don't have to. These criminal types, they'll say whatever and do whatever to get their way." He said, and then nudged Fredrick in the ribs with a foot. It didn't look hard, but the old, machine-limbed Augmented hissed for breath, and bent double when the foot made contact.

Zac couldn't believe what he was seeing, and hearing. He had always known that coming into new Transition Zones without the proper authorization was prohibited by the ITC, but he didn't think that they would care this much, and surely they would overlook the actions of someone like Frederick, who was saving people.

Zac ignored the lump in his throat, and the cold, sinking feeling in his stomach, and stepped forward, completely out of the cover of the trees now.

"He's telling the truth! He saved me! And others! They hid us from the Lava Lion, and then fought it!" Zac yelled out, his voice breaking as he spoke, and his face turned red, thanks to a combination of embarrassment, fear, and anger.

"Tut, tut, tut. Kid, get those other survivors and get over here, and I'll explain everything to you." The man shook his head at Zac, and with his free hand, beckoned to Zac.

Meanwhile, the woman, who had been inspecting the fallen head of the Lava Lion, snapped her head toward Zac as he spoke.

"They? You mean there's others? I thought I saw something from the hell! Tell us which way they went, and there'll be something in it for you." She said, stalking over to Zac, the black material of the full length body armor clinging to her densely muscled frame.

'What! No way, she expects me to sell them out! They protected all of us this whole time!' Zac was a little scared, but he held his ground, staring firmly into the dark visor of the approaching woman.

"Leave off it, Jen! You won't get anything out of him, he's definitely one of those naive, trusting types." The man yelled out, kicking at Fredrick again, who let out a groan of pain this time.

Zac's face was burning with anger and embarrassment, and he held his stare until Jen stopped in front of him, and then tilted her head at him.

"Alright, so where are these other survivors? Bring them out then, let's hope they agree that you're actually a survivor, and not an accomplice of one of these rats. You seem awfully sympathetic with them." The woman's voice, which most would think was pleasant, carried with it a clear hate and disgust.