—
Chapter Thirty
Quelch
—
“Kare desu! hikōki kara!”
Rook pulled his face out of the floor of the train. A glance back revealed the glass he had shattered and the multiple compartment doors he had blown open. Two faces from the conductor’s cabin peered out from behind the furthest doorframe. A hand was offered to him, but he waved it away, checking himself over for any glass or metal that might have adhered to his body as he slowly stood up.
Several phones were lifted towards him, all recording his arrival from various angles. The small blue lights aside each of the phone cameras glowed with the same intensity as his eyes did. “English, anybody speak english?”
One of the passengers stood up from the seats, patting the hand of an elderly lady seated next to her as she did so. “I can speak english.”
“Tell everyone in the back of the train to move to the front,” Rook eyed the windows as he spoke. “Have them get as close to the front of the train as possible. I’m gonna break the-”
Rook suddenly grabbed the woman’s arm and yanked it forward, setting her up to just barely manage to catch the elderly lady, who appeared where Rook had been standing. Rook, now in her seat, felt the impact of the window shattering and the massive grey fingers grip him by the collar and draw him through the wall of the train. Hawk deftly spun about and threw Rook towards the train wheels, which dug into his leg for a moment before the two of them swapped places yet again.
“Get everyone to the front of the train.” Rook repeated as the entire train shuddered with each wheel passing over Hawk’s body. “Now.”
A step forward resulted in him landing on his face. Someone behind him gasped as he tried to right himself, the foot he placed under his body refusing to exist. It was barely attached to his leg, and what connected the two was bent at an awful angle. A very blue liquid was dripping out from a crack in some internal chamber, and it glowed brightly as it fell.
“Never mind.” Rook floated upwards, suddenly flying into the door and having to fly away from it to keep up with the moving train. “Don’t let anyone leave this part of the train. And find something to hold on to.”
He disappeared, a young man holding a book suddenly taking his place, who looked about in confusion. Rook, meanwhile, was already in the next car, flying along past its startled occupants to the next car, and stopping just shy of exiting the rear of the train. Looking through the glass, he could easily spot the glowing teeth of his pursuer.
Hawk suddenly accelerated, smashing through the train door and into Rook. The instinct to swap places and let the dangerous character crash into some other part of the train was almost immediate, but Rook’s eyes met one of the terrified passengers’ as he was dragged along, a boy no older than six. He would have to eat the impact instead.
Grunting, he abruptly stopped in place, whipping Hawk around as he did so and gripping him by the chest before slamming him into the floor of the train. The vehicle quickly fled the static Rook, but Hawk hooked the toe of his shoe into the frame of the door and was pulled out from Rook’s grip seconds before the pair swapped places yet again.
“Move.” Rook motioned as he stood back up on his functioning foot, gesturing for the passengers to start moving away from the opening. “Hurry. There’s not much time.”
“No time.” Hawk grinned as he sent a vicious knee into Rook’s spine. “You planning on following up?”
“Good.” Hawk smiled even further, having sent a vicious backhand at the air behind him only to swap places with Rook and smash him into the wall. “You know, you’re awfully accommodating. Let’s see if you can keep it up.”
Rook pulled his face out of the wall to see Hawk reel back, sending a knotted fist towards one screaming passenger. Swapping places, he slammed an arm against the wall to keep himself from crushing her as Hawk’s hand tore through the open air. Hawk’s grin did not seem to diminish as he raised two fists, one aimed at the passenger closest to him and one at the same spot of air in front of him.
“That’s better.” Hawk’s fist slammed into Rook’s shoulder with a dull thud as the Wild Mask swapped places with the passenger. “It seems you just figured out how this works.”
Rook responded by swinging a fist out, abruptly swapping places with Hawk, and slamming his knuckles into the fiend’s perfect teeth. “Shut up. This some kind of game to you?”
His open palm caught the backhanded fist Hawk sent at him. “If so, you’re going to really hate my next move.” Yanking Hawk’s arm out of the way, Rook sent another fist aimed straight at the wooden mask he wore.
Rook suddenly buckled backwards, his hand scraping against the wall to keep him upright while his free fingers clutched the side of his mask. A small hole was burned into one of the points coming off of it, and unlike the damage done to his body, it hurt.
“Hehe.” The tiny pinhole of an eye in the right side of his mask had been made slightly larger, the same size as the new hole Rook bore, except Hawk’s was glowing with a furious orange light which swirled like smoke out of the tiny hole. “Been waiting to use that one.”
Rook slammed his knuckles into Hawk’s throat, his fingers uncoiling at the end and backhanding him. The beaked mask, which had previously been on his face, now fell from where Rook was standing, clattering onto the floor of the train. Before Hawk could make an attempt to get it back, Rook pressed the crushed can against Hawk’s chest with one hand and slammed another fist into the air next to him.
The can clattered to the ground as it switched places, rolling until it fell out of the door as the mask slowly slid towards the opening. Rook’s arm tightened as it fit inside the hole in Hawk’s chest it had just created. The grey-skinned brute’s teeth shone almost as brightly as the Demon eye in his right socket, completely undeterred by his injury. Slamming one hand against Rook’s shoulder, he gripped the invasive limb with his other hand and sharply twisted, ripping it off at the elbow.
“Thanks for the helping hand.” Hawk wheezed as Rook abruptly swapped places with him, more blue liquid seeping out of the exposed joint. The Pangolin crouched down and reclaimed his mask just as it was about to exit the train, placing it back atop his brow. “I gotta say, that was a nice party trick. Not as nice as mine, but it’s the thought that counts.”
Rook hesitantly stood, crushing the open fracture inside his elbow with his fingers in an attempt to crimp it as Hawk gently pushed the remainder of his firearm out of the new hole in his chest. “Now I do appreciate the effort you’ve put in to stopping me. But I already told you, we’re done playing around.”
Suddenly dashing forwards, Hawk caught Rook by the stump of his foot and slung him forwards, Rook swapping places just in time to get caught in the middle of his back by Hawk’s open grip. Hawk quickly pulled him in and followed up with a powerful haymaker to the back of his head, tearing the back of his suitcoat off. Reeling from the impact, Rook turned and swapped places with Hawk just as he was about to punch yet another one of the frightened passengers.
Hawk slowly pulled his fist out of the crumpled figure of the boy. “The trick is to hit just hard enough to pop the ribs, but also not break the skin.” He explained to the screaming mother, laying his hand on her shoulder with a wicked smile. “That way the bleeding is entirely internal.”
Rook fell onto one knee, his hand touching the floor. “You should have listened when I said we were done playing, friend. Tell me,” He slowly walked over and lifted his head up by the point of his mask. “Are you listening now?”
Rook’s eyes boiled with fury. “I’ve been feeling the position of the line. We’re right under the hotel now.”
Stepping on his forefinger, Rook ripped off both the external glove and the artificial covering it possessed, taking some of the finger itself with it. The exposed metal dripped blue, and in one swift motion Rook jabbed the small metal end inside the hole in Hawk’s mask, making contact with the eye.
The top of the train car exploded outwards, the tremendous amount of force behind Rook’s movement powered by the limitless Demon eye smashing through everything in its path. Hawk’s hands gripped the arm which pushed him upwards, his grin maintaining its strength in spite of the impact of metal pipes, concrete supports, and eventually the asphalt of the parking lot. Rook’s suit was torn to ribbons, and the last portion of the shirt he wore underneath flaked off as he ascended into the night sky.
“Fair enough.” Hawk grinned, pulling his face away from Rook’s finger and causing the additional power to suddenly fade. “I’m glad you got to enjoy yourself one last time.”
Placing his hands on Rook’s throat, his grey fingers suddenly dug in and tore apart, ripping it from its body, which went flying off to the side. Rook felt the blue glowing liquid exit his artificial cranium as his eyes went dark.
—
Ren picked himself up, instinctively leaning on Race’s offered hand before suddenly processing her existence. “What happened?”
Before Race could reply, Usul’s gun was raised at the pair. He suddenly looked up, watching the massive decapitated body of Rook crash down and completely flatten him, the gun flying out from the impact and sliding up against Ren’s feet.
“Rook.” Race’s head tipped away from the decapitated body of the Wild Mask and towards the severed head clutched by a few loose bands and cord-like remnants of its neck in the muscular grip of Hawk. Ren’s eyes met the glowing hole in the wooden mask with as much fury as could be conjured in that moment.
BANG
Ren flinched away from his vibrating ear drum, instinctively hoping it wasn’t about to burst. The source of his irritation was now held between Race’s fingers, the tips of which were slightly burned from the hot metal, as she took no precaution to avoid her own injury.
Race looked off in the general direction the high-caliber bullet had originated from before suddenly disappearing, letting the bullet fall to the ground. Ren didn’t get the opportunity to stare at it for very long, as it suddenly swapped places with Rook’s head, which glanced up at him with empty eyes and distracted him from the sudden absence of Usul’s gun.
“Ahh, there you are.” Hawk grinned, slowly folding his arms behind his back at the sight of Oisim exiting the building. Ren quickly scooped up the decapitated Rook head and scrambled towards Oisim, receiving a nod from Shusui as he did so. “I hope you’re not considering what it is I think you’re considering.”
“Wolf mask.” Oisim took off his suitcoat and handed it to Shou without looking at him. The two members of the Kin Gin Rin slowly walked away from their superior, leaving him and Ren to face down Hawk alone. “What Wild told you about his mask was untrue. The very nature of these masks is beyond comprehension. Even with a hole as his has, it still functions. Just as a mask can function if reduced to ash, and mixed into glass…”
Tired of being ignored, Hawk barreled forward, one of Oisim’s hands extending to effortlessly stop his approach. Ripples of steam curled off Oisim’s body, as in the middle of his forehead, hidden among a twisting pattern of horn-like lines and flourishes, was the glowing tattoo of an oni mask.
“…Or ink.” His scowl increasing as his jaw tightened, Oisim pulled the extended fist of Hawk towards himself only to swing it back around and bowl the Pangolin over, knocking him into a number of parked cars. “You have defeated three of them. Two remain.”
Ren eyed the parking lot, trying to determine if the limousine he rented had been totaled yet. Oisim suddenly pushed him back inside the building as a police helicopter appeared, shining a spotlight down on Hawk as he pulled himself out of a sports car he had crumpled.
“Very well.” He grinned, his glowing eye focused on the viciously scowling patriarch of Koi Blood. “Since that’s how you want to play it, I’ll oblige.”
Zipping forwards, Hawk grabbed Oisim by the collar and belt and flew upwards, on a direct collision course with the helicopter.
—
The elevator doors opened.
Ten men guarded the hallway, As it opened, a number of them drew handguns from their holsters and approached it from both sides. The doors opened to reveal a clear view from the glass walls of the elevator down into the rest of the hotel, the giant hole made by the massive koi visible in the floor.
Corey’s grip on the ceiling of the elevator loosened.
—