Edited by: Waning_Crescents

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“Did you think about our offer?” A man with a calm, rather pleasing, voice, asked.

“Tsk, offer? I think that word lost its meaning as soon as you took our people away!”

A chuckle traveled over the nano-transmitter before the man remarked, “Oh, is that so? I think it is your own fault for ignoring us, thinking that we won’t pursue you any further. Don’t worry, your men have been put to good use.”

Asher and Nowe exchanged glances for a moment but stayed put to gain more insight on the situation.

“Good use? Didn’t you kill them?”

“Not before they fulfilled their respective tasks.” The man appeared uncaring, as if a person’s life meant nothing or rather as if he regarded them solely as tools.

“If I refuse again, will you kill me this time?”

“Not at all, Mr. Leuvar. I mean, it is actually the boss’s call, but I got sent here today to persuade you once more and to remind you what happens if you don’t follow suit, so?”

There was silence for a minute, but then the man called Leuvar agreed to the deal. “Tell your boss to leave my people alone.”

“I will. I appreciate your cooperation.”

Mr. Leuvar snorted in disgust.

Nowe glanced at Asher once more and both nodded in tacit understanding, ready to storm into the room.

“As a sign of goodwill, I will take care of the rats in your building. They are rather annoying.”

Right after, he pushed a button, whereupon an ear-shattering explosion traveled through the building. Windows broke, glass scattered through the air before it embedded itself into walls or fell to the ground, leaving the entire lab in a destructive disaster.

“My lab!” Mr. Leuvar screeched in panic as he hastily opened the door where a wave of smoke greeted him. “W-what have you done?”

“I did you a favor. You have to be more careful, Mr. Leuvar”

Rapid steps echoed into the destroyed lab, drawing closer by the second. “I guess it is time to take my leave now. Excuse me.” The mysterious man slipped back into the room they came from, tapped a book in the bookshelf to his left, which triggered a secret passageway to open up, and escaped.

“I can’t believe this! You motherfucking bastard. Bastard!!!”

“We have to leave; we have to leave!” One of his subordinates urged him to move, but the shock got the better of Mr. Leuvar, unable to comprehend what had just happened.

The next second, the police’s special forces arrived, pointing their guns at the boss of the group and his subordinates. “Freeze!”

 

“Mr. Griever, are you alright?” Elena got down on one knee to check on the Conciliator’s condition who sat on the ground, leaning with his back against the outer wall opposite the lab.

He had one hand propped on his head as he glanced at the woman. Some scratches marked his face, blood dripped a bit down through the cloth wrapped around his forehead, while his ears rang nastily from the explosion he just escaped by a hair’s breadth.

Right as Asher and Nowe were about to charge into the room, they had received a warning from Vergil to leave the room immediately. Even though no explanation had been given, they trusted his instinct and escaped just as the explosives went off. This warning came just in the nick of time, otherwise their torn flesh, along with their blood would be staining the walls and floor across the lab, leaving their bodies unable to be identified.

“Are you ok? Do you need an ambulance?” Elena repeated, but Asher motioned to her that he was fine. Although he couldn’t hear clearly what she was saying, he at least managed to read her lips. “How is Nowe?”

Elena shook her head as she responded, “I don’t know, you are the only one we found.”

Asher’s eyes shot open wide, and he swiftly let his eyes wander around in search of his partner, yet he spotted nothing but broken glass and crevices around him. “Dammit!”

 

These idiots. The mysterious man sighed as he emerged through a tunnel behind the factory. They never learn, do they?

He sped up a little to get away from the danger zone while he dialed a number on his phone before putting it to his ears.

“All taken care of,” the criminal said as the other party picked up. He listened to the person on the phone before he remarked, “No, I didn’t confirm. There was no time, the police were about to arrive.” He sighed. “I know. Bye.”

As he put his phone back into his pocket, he suddenly stopped in his tracks. “Guess I really should have confirmed before leaving.”

“You made a grave mistake.”

Nowe stood a few feet away from him, clothes tattered and covered in dust. Aside from his disheveled appearance, however, he seemed unscathed.

 

***

At the time the explosives had gone off, Asher and Nowe had rushed out of the room to escape. In that process Asher had thrown himself at him, shielding him from the explosive wave and any incoming projectiles that had flown towards them.

Nowe opened his eyes, his blurry surrounding clearing up. Every noise around him appeared dull, far away, leaving only a disturbing ringing in his ears. It took him a few seconds to notice what had happened.

“Asher?” He asked in confusion, while he tried to get off the ground but something heavy prevented him from doing so. He shifted his eyes to that hindrance which turned out to be Asher’s body that had collapsed on him. “Asher!” Nowe’s eyes widened, panic-stricken as he gazed at his barely conscious partner.

“Hey!” Nowe wriggled out under Asher’s body before he heaved him carefully up and leaned him gently against a wall. “Get a grip!” Asher, however, only groaned, his eyes unfocused.

Nowe’s whole body shook in fear as he stared at the blood smeared over Asher’s face. He gritted his teeth in frustration, took a deep breath and inspected his wounds closely. Beside the scratches on Asher’s face, there was also a wound on the right side of his forehead where blood gushed out, yet, fortunately, the wound didn’t appear to be too deep. Nowe quickly ripped part of his shirt apart and wrapped the cloth around Asher’s forehead to cease the bleeding. After he scanned the rest of his body for any other wounds, he let out a sigh of relief as he couldn’t detect any more visible injuries.

Nowe turned his gaze to the completely destroyed lab, where he caught a glimpse, through the slowly settling wall of smoke, of a man clad in black leaving the scene. You will pay.

***

 

“Oh? Did only you make it?” The criminal checked their surroundings. “I was pretty sure there had been two of you sneaking around.”

Nowe’s eyes burned with rage as he stepped closer to the man while the dull noises around him became somewhat clearer. He fixed his eyes on his opponent like a lion studying its prey and without further ado stormed at him.

Caught by surprise, the man had no other choice but to raise his arms to block the attack, yet the grin on his face remained unchanged. “Don’t you want to use your gun?”

“A gun would be too quick. I want to rip you apart slowly.” Nowe’s eyes flashed dangerously in the streetlights as he hauled his leg with a quick motion at his opponent's right side. The latter, however, jumped back at the last second to avoid the attack.

He is fast. Nowe stared at the man who escaped his attacks twice. But that won’t save him.

“Let’s settle this with our fists then.” He cracked his neck while the man’s eyes started to flicker in excitement. “Shall we?”

Nowe motioned to the criminal in a taunting manner. “Come.”

The man let out a slight chuckle before he rushed at Nowe, sending blows at him with his fists and feet. Nowe managed to avoid the majority of them, blocked with his hands, ducked, sent counterattacks at his ‘prey’ but neither of them backed down. On the contrary, with every strike that connected with him, sending a piercing pain through his body, Nowe’s eyes grew colder and colder.

The criminal jumped back to put a little distance between them and wiped the blood out of one of his eyes. “You are not bad at all, you even got me really good a few times, but everything has to come to an e—”

Before he could even finish his sentence, Nowe took the initiative for another charge, landing a critical blow into his abdomen. The criminal coughed out some blood at this impact, but instantly fetched Nowe’s arm and in the same motion sent a precise kick at his ribs. In the blink of an eye, he let go of Nowe’s arm and sent a follow-up kick into his stomach, causing the Conciliator to slide along the ground before he dropped to one knee.

“That should have cracked at least two ribs.” The man panted some, but then inhaled to catch his breath. “I will let you live this time as I am quite in a hurry, but next time—”

The man choked back the rest of his words as Nowe lifted his head; the hue in his eyes dulled and his lively spark vanished as if he switched to another self. His clothes were partly torn, and blood rolled down from the corner of his mouth as he rose to his feet. He wiped the blood away with the back of his hand and glared at his opponent.

The criminal let out a laugh as it hit him. “Oooh, you must be the crazy one who feels no pain. I didn’t believe it when I heard it, but damn that’s something.”

In the next second, Nowe kicked off the ground and dashed forward with such speed that it seemed as if he vanished on the spot and reappeared right in front of the criminal.

“What?” Caught by surprise, the man stumbled back as Nowe extended his arm for a punch, but before he finished his move, he stopped and instead lifted his right foot in a brisk motion to strike his opponent with a roundhouse kick.

Unable to react, let alone being able to avoid the attack, he only had time to raise his arms to protect the targeted area: his neck. When the blow connected, the man’s head spun wildly as he lost his balance and slumped to the ground.

What a beast… the man panted, glancing with a rather clouded vision at Nowe. If I hadn’t managed to protect my neck in time, he could have killed me on the spot. His grin spread further, and his eyes glowed in exhilaration. This is fun!

“You are a fucking monster!!!” He screamed out in amusement, scrambling to his feet. “Let’s finish this, shall we?”

Right as Nowe readied another attack, an arm wrapped around him from behind, yanking him into an embrace while a hand covered his eyes.

Nowe flailed his arms and feet around in an attempt to get out of the tight grip when, close to his ear, a familiar voice whispered soothingly. “I got you.”

In an instant he snapped out of his frenzied state, ceased his struggle, and collapsed into Asher’s arms, who let out a sigh of relief. You are such a handful.

At the same time the CIB, led by Vergil, surrounded the criminal, pointing their guns at him. “Don’t move! Stay down!”

The man laughed as he threw his arms into the air, surrendering. Two members of the Special forces unit moved up, pulled his arms behind his back and handcuffed him.

Vergil motioned to his subordinate to take him away as Asher moved up to them. “Wait.”

Asher exchanged a glance with Vergil who understood and nodded, letting him through.

“Got something to say to me, huh?” Even though the criminal was in handcuffs, he still didn’t lose his domineering demeanor.

“Indeed.” In the next second, Asher grabbed the man by the collar and pulled him closer, whispering into his ear. “Call him a monster one more time and you will find yourself gruesomely mutilated. Alive, but wishing you were dead.”

“Noted, Mr. Investigator,” The criminal said obediently, but with a hint of mockery.

Asher clicked his tongue and let go of the man.

“Take him away.” Vergil commanded right after, and his crew followed suit.

 

“Ouch, that hurts.” All the pain that Nowe couldn’t feel in his frenzy, rushed through his body all at once as he came to.

“Now to you.” Asher stood in front of him with his arms crossed, his lips pursed, trapping him in his cold gaze.

Nowe just gave a helpless smile. “I-I am sorry?”

“Don’t give me that crap.” Asher slightly bent down, grabbed one of Nowe’s arms and draped it around his shoulders before heaving him up.

Nowe flinched at that movement. “Careful! That hurts.” He whined.

“And whose fault is this?” Asher peered, glaring at him. “How often do I have to tell you not to go berserk when I am not around?”

“The circumstances demanded that—“

“I don’t care!!” Asher cut him off. “Look at how beat up you are. This could have ended way worse than it did.”

“I am sorry…I really am.”

Then Asher shifted his attention to the criminal who was taken away by the police. But to think that this man managed to hold his own against Nowe, not to mention that he even was able to inflict these injuries on him. This is definitely bad news.

“Asher~” Nowe wailed.

This head-splitting sound pulled Asher out of his thoughts, but because he knew his partner’s quirks and what this long-drawn out call meant, he shut him down. “No!”

This caused Nowe to silently whimper while he gazed at him with teary eyes.

“Don’t be a child.”

Nowe averted his eyes and let his head hang low, sniffling as he did so as suddenly a hand reached out and tousled his hair. “Don’t be so reckless next time.”

“Mn.” Nowe nodded, regretfully.

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