The port was cluttered with towering steel shipping containers, stacked like forgotten tombstones in a graveyard of rust and shadow. The place was dark, the only light coming from the faint glow of the moon and the eerie golden aura of the Messiah. The silence was heavy, but it didn't last long.

"What now, boss?" a voice called out atop a series of containers.

Figures began emerging from the darkness, one after another. All of them were armed to the teeth, clad in tactical gear and moving like trained professionals. They surrounded the area with precision, their weapons drawn and eyes scanning.

Kai's vision shifted as his irises bled red.

In an instant, the world became tinted with crimson as he scanned their forms. Veins, arteries, and hearts pulsed in his sight, painting outlines across the shadows.

They weren't mutants. At least, most of them weren't.

For one, they relied far too heavily on gear - guns, body armour, and the like. Most mutants wielded their own bodies as weapons. And second… they didn't give off that feeling. That visceral tension. That primal edge that came when two apex predators stood too close.

'Most are normal humans,' Kai gathered.

And those who were mutants? They didn't seem like anything special. Not like the two monsters that had truly caught his attention - the radiant cult leader and the hollow-eyed butcher in a lab coat.

Krane, the Scalpel, wasted no time.

His voice rang out, cool and clinical, as he barked out orders. "Spread out. Secure the perimeter. If they're not one of ours or the Golden Cross, shoot to kill."

The operatives didn't hesitate. They moved like a machine, fanning out and taking up positions with the discipline of a well-oiled kill squad.

Meanwhile, the Messiah stood in the centre of it all, glowing like a miniature sun. His hands clasped together in mock prayer, his eyes half-lidded in lazy amusement.

"So he didn't come alone after all," he said, his tone airy, voice echoing slightly like it came from somewhere else. "He must still be shackled by fear… by those disgusting human lies. But that lesson can wait."

He opened his hands, and radiant light flared. "For now… we deal with the uninvited."

Despite the friction between them, the deranged prophet and the cold-blooded doctor, there was now a common enemy that took priority.

The intruders.

Nadya didn't wait. She never did.

She blasted into the air again, streaks of orange and gold flaring behind her like solar flares, aiming straight for the obvious target: the glowing madman in the middle of it all.

"Let's see if you can tank this!" she screamed, launching another barrage of explosive spheres at the Messiah.

Meanwhile, Kai stayed low, his cloak of shadows flickering with every heartbeat. Behind Nadya's chaos, the rest of them had a moment, just a few seconds, to get on the same page.

Sven, Kai, and Isaac crouched behind a stack of containers, tense.

"I'm picking up dozens from all directions," Kai muttered, his voice low. His blood-red eyes flickered left and right as he mapped out every incoming target. "Most of them aren't mutants. I can-"

"I'll handle them." Sven cut him off, already bouncing on his heels with impatience. "I'm faster than you, remember? I'll zip through and clean up the stragglers."

Kai glanced at him, unsure whether Sven just didn't want to be spotted by the Messiah, someone he supposedly had history with, or whether he was actually trying to be useful.

Either way, it didn't matter.

"Fine by me," Kai said, rolling his neck. "That leaves me with the so-called Scalpel."

He didn't say it out loud, but there was a strange anticipation in his chest. That cold, calculating psychopath radiated danger, and Kai wanted to see how he measured up.

Isaac, still catching his breath and looking half-phased from their earlier rush across the city, spoke up, "Wait - what about me?"

Sven and Kai both turned to him.

Sven grinned. Kai just raised a brow.

Then they both snorted.

"Try not to die," Sven said, before vanishing in a blur of wind.

Kai chuckled under his breath. "Catch up when you can," he added, and then stepped into the chaos.

Isaac stood there for a beat, mouth slightly open.

"…Cool. Yeah. I'll just… uh… hang back then."

His voice went unheard over the explosions lighting up the night.

-

Sven was gone in a blink.

One heartbeat, he was standing beside Kai, the next, he was already halfway across the port.

The docks were a maze of looming steel containers, stacked in rows and wrapped in darkness. But none of it seemed to slow him down. Not the shadows, not the confusion, not even the armed men swarming in.

If anything… he moved like he could see perfectly in the dark.

A flash of silver danced in his hand, one of his twin daggers, sleek and curved like a fang. He darted between stacks of containers, a phantom of the night. Each burst of movement was silent, each kill cleaner than the last.

Thhk!

A man slumped with his throat slit, eyes wide in shock.

Crk.

Another had his head twisted at an unnatural angle, dropped before he could even draw his weapon.

Sven didn't bother announcing himself. He was already gone before the bodies hit the floor.

Like a ghost. Like death with a pulse.

He caught one of the operatives mid-turn, slicing across his neck with such precision that the blood barely had time to spray before Sven eased the body down. No sound. No wasted motion.

He picked up the man's walkie-talkie and clipped it onto his belt, listening in as he continued to move, a blur of lethal intent.

"Unit Six? You there?" crackled a voice on the line.

Sven didn't answer. He was already on to the next, like an expert assassin.

Meanwhile, near the heart of the port, where the containers gave way to a wider clearing, the Messiah stood like a lighthouse of madness, bathing the area in golden light.

Nadya tore through the sky above, hurling explosives with gleeful rage. Her blasts painted the dark in violent colours, clashing against the Messiah's divine radiance in a surreal, almost apocalyptic display.

But Kai's eyes weren't on them.

They were locked onto someone else.

Him.

Krane, the Scalpel, stood in the glow's edge, half-lit like a monster caught halfway between shadow and flame. The two mutants stared at each other, silent yet seething, bloodthirst humming between them like a string pulled taut.

Kai's red eyes gleamed. The Scalpel's dull gaze sharpened ever so slightly.

There was no need for words.

As if by unspoken agreement, they began to move - slowly at first, then faster. They left behind the sound and fury of Nadya and the Messiah's battle, slipping into the maze of steel and concrete like twin beasts seeking a private kill.

Away from the chaos. Away from the noise.

Somewhere quieter. Somewhere better.

Somewhere they could truly let loose...

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