Gurk put his arms in front of his face, bracing for the incoming impact of an unrelenting barrage of Spittler puke. He closed his eyes while Itzel began pulling on his leg to pry his foot out off the ground. Even with Gurk trying to take a step back, the adhesion was too strong. The sound of the Essencima spitting rang out through the evening.
Then there was a familiar crackle of electricity.
"Flying Cutter!"
An orange twirling disc soared a few inches in front of Gurk, spinning in place as the attacks of the Spittlers disintegrated on contact, leaving nothing but smoke and the sound embers sizzling on the pavement. The glowing blade straightened itself out before returning to its owner's hand. Everyone, Spittlers included, turned to see where the weapon returned to. The suspected individual caught the flying with one hand by the metal hilt, lowering it to her side as she walked in between Gurk and the four Essencima.
She raised her Ion Blade in front of her body casually, deflecting one of the creature's projectiles effortlessly before angling her head just enough to look behind her. With her one eye, she gave Gurk a scornful gaze. "In over your head?" she said before facing the Spittlers. Enidri blocked a few more blasts before advancing forward a step.
"No," Gurk replied in a low voice.
"Looks like it to me," Enidri replied, still facing the Essencima. "Why don't you go back to babysitting that weird guy? All you're doing right now is ruining the element of surprise for me!" The swordswoman dashed forward, slashing the mouth of one of the Spittlers vertically, putting an end to its life with one blow.
"Don't tell her anything Gurk!" Itzel said lowly. She was close to freeing his foot from being stuck. "She definitely doesn't know about the others right now." Itzel watched Enidri battle with the creatures. With only three left, she managed to position herself so that she was at the side of their formation in a straight line relative to her. All of them turned to face their attacker, but only the one nearest to Enidri was given a clear enough view to utilize its projectile attacks. Hot electricity cracked against the flesh of the first Spittler, making it stagger backwards after Enidri struck it with a backhanded swing.
"Blade Waltz!" Three swift and successive vertical slashes chopped the head of the creature into bulky chunks. It then lay on its side, motionless as black sludge oozed out of its lacerations.
"There you go, big guy!" Gurk's foot had been freed. Itzel gave him a pat on the back, sending him into the battle. He charged forward and threw his entire body at the Spittler furthest from Enidri. He tackled it to ground, gnawing at the thick skin of the creature's neck as he tussled with it. His teeth pierced through its skin, making it bleed its dark blood. The movement of the creature slowed, its legs pawing at the air weakly before going completely limp altogether.
"You got the last one, Itzel?" Janus said to her. He saw that the last one was backing away, looking to climb the wall of the building opposite of them.
"I'll make sure it doesn't escape to alert more of its friends," she replied. Her eyes followed it upwards as it began to scale the long metal pipe on the front of the building. "Serrated Gale!" The attack cut through the air, hitting the creature in its leg as it was a few feet up the wall. The limb trembled, making the monster lose its grip as it came careening back to the ground. It landed on its side, and before it could upright itself, Enidri hurled her sword at it.
"Flying Cutter!" The weapon spun in the air right on top of the creature's mid-section. It cut through the creature's flesh as it floated, going through it like an airborne saw. The Spittler let out one last whimper before perishing. The Ion Blade soared back into Itzel's hand. She turned it off and attached it back on her hip as she looked at the tattered bodies of the annihilated Essencima.
"Spittlers are giving you three trouble as well, huh?" Enidri said. She crossed her arms to look at Itzel. "Too bad I don't make any money from rescuing people."
"We would have been fine without you, Eni," Itzel snapped back.
"You're probably right," the shorter woman replied. "All I saw was a big crocodile about to get smothered in Essencima puke! But then again, I only have one eye, so I might have been seeing things wrong!" She pointed towards her eye patch while Itzel kept her arms crossed, looking down at her.
"How would you even fight if you didn't have that Ion Blade on you all the time, Eni? You know, you're not as good of an Exterminator as you think are. I'm sure Gurk and I would have just as many Essencima kills as you do if we lugged weapons around with us everywhere we go."
"Maybe. Combined!" Enidri scoffed. "But keep telling yourself that. I'm sure I'd have even more kills if I was born with an Affinity like you two. I'd probably have a higher ranking than you on Rumble Circuit, too. Oh wait..." The swordswoman let a coy smile escape when she saw Itzel pout from the remark.
"Let me tell you—" Itzel put one finger in Enidri's face. The shorter woman tilted her head away, rolling her remaining eye as if she knew what Itzel was going to say next. But before Itzel could began her tirade, Gurk had made his way towards the two women. His massive height compared to Enidri cast a shadow over her. His jacket and chest still had bits of hardened Spittler vomit on them. But despite the battle, he managed to maintain his friendly demeanor. The swordswoman eyed the crocodile up and down, looking at him with disgust as she did so.
"What do you want?" she barked at Gurk.
"T-thanks..." he replied in a low and embarrassed tone.
"Get outta my face," she said, flicking her hand to shoo him away.
Itzel lost control. She reached over and took hold of Enidri's jacket and pulled her towards. Enidri put her hands on her attacker's wrists but couldn’t free herself from Itzel's clutches. "Listen here!" Itzel said, her eyes looking at the angry woman. "I'm not going to let you talk to Gurk like that. Especially not after what you did to him! For some reason he's never hated you for what happened. Yet you still treat him like he's an animal!"
With a shove, Enidri broke out of Itzel's hold. She stepped towards Itzel, pointing her finger in her face. As they faced each other, Janus moved in closer. "For one, Gurk is an animal. Just look at him!" she shouted as she then pointed towards Gurk. "He's a walking crocodile that's too stupid to speak in full sentences! Second, I don't owe him anything!" She lifted her eyepatch and showed off the dark brown scar that was over right eye. The skin had melted shut and the skin on top was wrinkled and red. "And what about me, huh? If I owe Gurk respect, then that must mean you need to treat me like I'm the ruler of the planet!"
Itzel leaned forward, ready to strike Enidri with a punch. The swordswoman didn't back off. Instead, she stepped forward, fists clenched and ready to exchange blows. Janus then stepped in between the two, pushing them apart with his arms. "You act like you don't deserve what happened that day!" Itzel shouted. "You were going to kill Gurk!"
"Because I thought he was an Essencima!" Itzel shouted back. There was a twinge in her voice. Her single eye became red. "I was still learning how to become an Exterminator! I-I didn't know everything that I know now!" Janus saw single tear go down her left cheek. She blinked once to try to get rid of it. "You don't know the full story! But you wouldn't listen to what I'd have to say, anyway! You only care about what happened to Gurk! Not once have you ever shown any concern for what you did to me!"
The two women stared at each other silently. Enidri was still angered, her rapid heartrate practically visible by the way her entire body moved as she kept her fists wadded by her side and leaned one side of her body in towards Itzel. Although Itzel was still angry, it looked as though it had lessened. A hint of remorse showed in the way shared stared back at Enidri. Her lips were pursed as if she were angry, but her eyes showed a shred of sorrow. After a bit silence, Enidri turned around and began to walk away.
"I'm done," the swordswoman said as she slowly walked away. Her hand felt around her hip. She then froze, looking down to her side only to see that her Ion Blade was massing. "What? Who took..." Enidri spun around and saw Janus holding onto the deactivated weapon. "So that's the plan, huh?" Enidri exclaimed. "Trying to send me off in the Refinery Sector without my weapon so I'll get killed?"
"Stopped being so dramatic, Enidri," Itzel replied. Her tone was no longer angry, but sterner. "That's not what's going on at all."
"What is it then?"
Janus, Itzel and Gurk all looked into the distance. Ringa and Brielle appeared out of the shadows, with the officer brandishing her gun. Enidri turned around to face them, taking a step back once she saw them come in closer. "Great," she said. "Law enforcement."
"We just need to ask some questions, Enidri," Ringa said. She covered the distance between herself and Enidri quickly, showing off the screen that had her digital certification that verified she was a detective.
"You know you could've just asked me, right? I don't see why you had to employ these misfits to do your job."
Brielle took hold of one of Enidri's hands and slapped on one side of a pair of cuffs onto it.
"Wait. What's going on?" Enidri said in confusion. Brielle then promptly placed the side of the cuff on her other wrist. After the locks latched, an electric tether secured both sides of the restraint. "You can't just apprehend me! I haven't done anything wrong!"
"We're not taking any chances," Brielle said. "This is an urgent matter. The more you cooperate, the sooner we'll be able to let you go."
"At least tell me what this is all about!" Enidri said. Brielle pulled on her arm and began to guide her back into the direction of their carrier. The other three followed behind them.
"It's about your half-brother. Donva," Ringa said.
Enidri's eye widened. "Donva? What happened with him?" Enidri said worriedly.
Ringa looked behind her to face their captive. "We'll tell you once we get inside the carrier."
