The soles of Jay's feet stung each time he slapped them against the pavement. A piercing pain jolted his spine with each step.

Jay had won his fight, he'd assassinated his target, but he wasn't allowed to rest yet.

WHOOSH!

A javelin of ice soared over his shoulder, narrowly missing. Jay couldn't spare the time to look back and see who'd thrown it.

"We can't keep running, Jay!" yelled Marko, struggling just to match Jay's pace. The fight had fatigued him far more than it had Jay. He winced every time his left foot hit the ground.

"Well what else are we supposed to do?" replied Jay. "There's twenty people chasing us, Marko—we barely beat two. If we stop running, we're dead."

Marko clenched his jaw and kept running. Another ice javelin spiralled through the air behind them. This one didn't make it far however, as Ping spiked it into the ground before it came close to Jay and Marko.

Whoever's throwing them definitely saw that…

There goes the anonymity I guess.

"Are you sure?" said Marko.

"What do you mean, are you sure?! Of course we can't beat them!"

"What about twenty seconds, Jay? Do you think you can hold them off for twenty seconds?"

Marko spoke with a grimace, his eyes betrayed his uncertainty while desperation bled out through his every word.

"What are you planning, Marko? Our last twenty second plan didn't exactly end that well."

Even through the tension, Marko let out a chuckle.

"Running won't get us anywhere, Jay. If we want to lose them, we need to hide. If you get me the time I can prepare a teleport and get us away."

"Where to?"

"Anywhere but here."

Another spear of ice shattering against the ground before them paused Jay and Marko's discussion. They rounded either side of the crater it made. When they met again, Jay nodded at his teammate.

"Let's hole up in a dead end somewhere. We need a spot where I don't have to defend your flank too. I can't promise twenty seconds, get it done in ten."

Marko nodded, immediately taking off into an alley to his right. Jay followed, and Ping brought up the rear.

A tall wooden gate met them, and Jay watched Marko vanish before hearing a stifled retch beyond the gate. Focusing electricity's explosive power in his legs, Jay leapt upwards and almost cleared the gate. His Harmony wasn't as efficient at amplifying his jumps in comparison to his punches, but it got the job done.

Jay vaulted over the gate, leaping off before rolling to avoid the impact. He continued after his ally, stopping and turning once he saw Marko sat eyes closed and cross-legged against the back wall of the alleyway.

It seemed Marko was already working on his half of the deal. Jay watched the back side of the gate they'd hid behind, hoping he could earn his friend twenty seconds.

BANG!

Wooden splinters infused with icy shards shot towards Jay, the shattered remnants of his first line of defence. Jay dodged the ones targeting him while Ping defended Marko.

A mob of gladiators and guards alike filtered into the alley beyond the broken gate. If Corinne's information from before was correct, there were three gladiators in the crowd before Jay. If all he could do was hold his ground, he didn't like those odds.

Jay's eyes darted between each member of the crowd. If he wanted to do the most damage to them, charging straight into the crowd was probably his best bet. The chaos that would ensue might even give him a good chance of escaping the fray.

But Jay doubted Marko would be best pleased with that strategy, so banished the morbid, intrusive thoughts of abandoning his teammate to the angry pack before him. This fight was about more than just his survival.

Another icy spear cut through the air above Jay, not even close to targeting him. Ping smashed the javelin into fragments before it reached Marko, but the next barrage of attacks worried Jay more than the first. Marko's teleport was their only ticket out of here.

Jay locked eyes with the one hurling ice at his teammate. He recognised the cold blue eyes and stark white hair of the gladiator before him. Vitan the White Death was a Smothering Grasp gladiator in the top third of D grade. He looked up at Jay and Marko behind him as ice crystallised within his palm.

Another javelin shot towards Marko, this one slightly lower. Jay leapt up and met it with his fist, barely deflecting it.

He knows who to target.

Shit.

The trailing runners in Randiel's mob swarmed into the alleyway, slowing their pace as they saw the showdown between Jay and Vitan. Although the masses could threaten Jay, they probably couldn't reach Marko in time and Ping could easily block any attack they made. Jay kept half an eye on the crowd in case a gladiator hid within it, but kept his focus locked onto Vitan.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

He's the danger here.

Jay backed up, cornering himself but bringing him closer to Marko. If he couldn't defend every attack, then perhaps his body could block an extra javelin and buy Marko the time he needed.

Another spear of ice whistled towards Marko. Far faster than its predecessors. Ping flew down to block it, but she couldn't reach it in time.

Jay raised his arms.

Eye of the storm slowed the javelin down.

He couldn't block this one. Ping might have been able to, but it was far too powerful for him to tank without taking serious damage.

But he had to do something.

The javelin slowed further as Jay flared Eye of the storm, calculating its trajectory as it crept closer, inch by inch.

Jay didn't have the strength to simply intercept the attack, but he was used to that disadvantage—he'd lived through twenty-five years of it.

Jay's skill couldn't overcome the gulf in power between him and his opponent, but there was a chance it could win him twenty seconds.

'Precision beats power and timing beats speed.'

Jay had almost forgotten the old mantras he used to live by. He'd almost forgotten what it was like to be weak.

Almost.

Because weakness wasn't forgotten easily, and Jay had a deadly reminder hurtling right at him. Jay's power and speed alone couldn't defend Marko—he needed more.

Jay threw his left hook. To his enhanced eyes, it crawled through the air. Barely moving.

But that didn't matter. Jay had faith in his precision and even more in his timing. He'd already gambled once and lost today, but he'd be damned if that made him give up.

The javelin crept closer.

Jay's fist crept further.

They inched towards each other, two missiles on a collision course to decide Jay's fate.

The ice didn't shatter against Jay's metal knuckles, but he never expected it to. Jay wasn't fighting to crush Vitan beneath his fist, he was fighting to buy Marko time.

The javelin flew forward, grazing the side of Jay's torso as he knocked it off course. The blow spun him around, turning him to face Marko as the ice shattered against the wall barely a metre to the right of him.

If Marko had noticed how close he'd just come to dying, Jay couldn't tell. Eyes closed, the gladiator scrunched his brow as he sat cross legged against the dead end he'd backed himself into.

Come on Marko! I can't last much longer.

The crack of ice shattering against metal enveloped Jay's ears from behind. The sound echoed throughout the alley, Navaras' wooden walls bouncing it to eternity. An instant later, Jay felt Ping's rim press into his spine, pushed back by a second javelin too fast for her to deflect.

As Jay lurched forward, shoved towards his teammate by Vitan's last attack, he hoped he'd won Marko enough time. There was nothing more he could do, and in less than a second he'd clatter into his friend, jerking him out of focus

Marko's eyes shot open.

One look was enough.

The instant they collided, they were gone.

Hnnng.

Hnnnng.

Hnnnn-

Marko clamped his mouth shut before another stream of vomit spilled out. He'd been heaving for the past hour, and wasn't particularly quiet for someone supposed to be in hiding.

Jay smiled, looking past his teammate and into the woods surrounding them. He couldn't get too mad at Marko. Without his timely teleport, they'd likely both be dead by now.

Knowing how nauseous even short jumps made Marko, Jay was surprised his teammate had managed to extract them from the alleyway.

The teleport hadn't just evaded the Directorate horde, it had bypassed them entirely. The instant Jay touched Marko, the wooden walls penning them in became a scatter of open woodland. Jay had managed to throw up his hands before falling into the dirt but Marko was simply too exhausted.

He must've been out cold before he even hid the ground.

Probably for the best…

Marko had teleported them almost a kilometre out of Navaras, dumping them into the outskirts of the forest that spanned most of the island. Given enough time, the Smothering Grasp gladiators would've found them once they'd finished searching the city. Jay couldn't let that happen. He tossed Marko over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, thankful that his teammate couldn't moan or complain, and ran several miles deeper into the woods.

He imagined Marko would wake up with a bruised stomach, but decided that it was worth it to flee the city a little faster.

Gllrrrch!

Jay wasn't sure whether the lengthy teleport or his rough treatment afterwards was the cause of Marko's serial vomiting. Whatever the true answer, Marko would never know. As far as Jay was concerned, they'd dropped down here and Jay had nursed his friend back to health from unconsciousness.

A rustling leaf snatched Jay's attention upwards. He clenched his fist but eased his guard as he recognised the speckled brown feathers of Corinne's hawk form.

A second, significantly louder, rustle followed before Corinne dropped down from the treetops.

"I told you it was a bad idea, Corinne," Jay sighed. "The extra guards on Yandiel were manageable but we should've known the ones at the bar would come running.

Corinne spared a second to look at Marko hunched over a hole he'd dug with his hands and was rapidly refilling with his stomach.

"Come on, Jay. It wasn't that bad," she said.

"Well, it was bad enough that Marko's been throwing up non-stop in the ten minutes he's been awake. And also bad enough that Jack couldn't make it here to tell us what's going to happen next."

"Okay maybe it's bad, but it could always be worse. For one, you somehow managed to lose Vitan and the rest of the angry mob chasing after you. I wasn't followed here, and they're still looking for you within Navaras."

"What's the situation in the city?" asked Jay.

Corinne grimaced. "It's not great. Randiel's livid, demanding that the city go into lockdown until he finds the people who killed his brother and tried to burn down the city."

"We tried to burn it?" snapped Marko, the first words he'd spoken since waking up. "They're the ones with the damn fire harmoniser!"

Jay chuckled, trying his best to shrug off Corinne's grave news. "You really didn't mesh with her, huh. I thought you two would get along."

Marko spat out the last of his vomit and rolled over onto his back. "Pretty hard to get along with someone after they throw half a scrap heap of flaming dog shit in your mouth. Which one of you two assholes forgot to clear the bins at spot four?"

It wasn't Jay, but he wouldn't have admitted it even if it was.

"Well, I'm glad you two are in high spirits because it looks like you'll be stuck here for a while."

"What?" said Jay and Marko simultaneously.

"As I said, Randiel's putting the city in lockdown. Including the docks. Jack only just made it, but they're not letting any more boats out to sea."

"So what're we supposed to do then?" asked Jay.

Corinne pulled a necklace threaded with three stone rings from beneath her moko and tossed it towards Jay. "Stay here, recover, and don't let our enemies spot you. If there's an emergency, use the relay to contact Samira. Otherwise, wait for me and Jack to come back. They can't keep the island sealed forever."

Jay rolled the necklace around in his palm as Corinne walked over to Marko and patted him on the chest. She jumped up to the branch above her, sitting on it while looking down at both her teammates.

"Good luck guys, I'll see you in a few days."

Jay waved Corinne goodbye as she morphed into a hawk once more and flew away.

Marko sat upright, wiping the last of the bile from his lips as he began to smile. "Well, at least we get a few days off."

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.