The West side of Cardio City was eerily quiet on the empty street. Dust swirled in the faint breeze around cracked pavement and abandoned storefronts.
A guy with shark teeth stopped running. He turned slowly, chest heaving slightly. He looked back and saw three figures approaching steadily: Liam, Ridley, and Milo. Liam walked in front, his expression unreadable.
"Have you had enough of running away?" Liam asked, his voice calm but carrying across the distance.
The shark guy smirked, wiping sweat from his brow. "Don't get the wrong idea," he said, planting his feet. "I'm not running away."
"Whatever you're trying to do," Liam said, stopping a few paces away, "it's pointless."
"Confident, aren't you?" Zack the shark guy said, baring his teeth. "But that will be your demise. Didn't the brute from before teach you anything?"
"Shut up!" Ridley snarled, stepping forward, fists clenched. His knuckles were white. "Don't dare bring Owen up!"
"Oh, aren't you that pathetic guy from before?" Zack said, grinning with mockery. "Are you going to cry again this time?"
"Shut up!" Ridley yelled, his body tensing to leap. He jumped, ready to punch him, but he suddenly stopped mid-air, muscles straining uselessly.
"Stupid," Zack said, shaking his head with a laugh. "You know what my partner is capable of, and yet you're still trying to attack me straight on? Are your brains dead or something?"
"Dammit!" Ridley cursed, frozen in place, only his eyes burning with fury.
Behind him, Liam and Milo stood rigid, their bodies locked in place too.
"Boss," Milo said, his voice tight, looking a little worried despite his usual calm.
Before they noticed it, the guy with the tattoo was already standing silently behind them, face impassive.
"I see," Liam said, his voice still unnervingly steady. "Your power activation requires you to stand behind your target? I've been wondering why you didn't use it earlier, so this is why."
"You're their boss?" Zack said, turning his predatory grin fully on Liam. "Why are you analyzing the situation so calmly? Do you think you can still win after all this?"
Liam didn't answer. He stared at him with cold, dark eyes.
Zack laughed, a harsh sound in the quiet street. "What a bunch of idiots!"
"Darkness eater," Liam said flatly. "That's the name I give to my power."
"What?" Zack said, his smirk faltering slightly. "Who asked?"
"When I heard about how Ridley can't move completely to the point he can't activate his power," Liam continued, his gaze unwavering, "I knew I needed to be prepared."
"What are you on and on about?" Zack snapped, irritation flashing across his face. "If you keep talking, I will rip your neck apart!"
A sharp, inky black tentacle-like tendril suddenly rose from Liam's shadow, coiling like a viper. Before Zack could react, it lashed out with terrifying speed, thrusting past him and piercing the tattoo guy's chest with a sickening thud, stabbing his heart instantly.
The tattoo guy crumpled to the ground, dead before he hit the pavement. The unnatural pressure pinning Liam, Milo, and Ridley vanished instantly.
"What...?" Zack said, staring at his fallen partner in disbelief, the blood draining from his face.
"You should've paid attention," Liam said coldly, the shadow tendril retreating back into the ground beneath him. "So if I can't activate my power myself, I thought, what if I put the trigger outside myself?"
Zack turned his head slowly to Liam, his shark-toothed grin gone, replaced by dawning horror. He gulped audibly.
"Something like, if I suddenly can't move," Liam explained, his voice devoid of emotion, "stab anything that appears near me in ten seconds."
Liam's eyes met Zack's. The shark guy was terrified, frozen for a heartbeat.
"You monster!" Zack screamed, panic overriding sense. He lunged wildly at Liam.
"Oh no you don't," Milo said, his hand already flicking forward. A shimmering blue barrier, sharp as a blade, materialized and shot towards Zack.
Zack twisted desperately, dodging the worst of it, but not well enough. The barrier sliced cleanly through his forearm. His severed hand thumped onto the street.
Screaming in pain and terror, clutching the bleeding stump, the shark guy turned and scrambled to run away.
Ridley and Milo immediately gave chase, sprinting after the fleeing figure.
"Alright, dead end!" Milo called out moments later as they skidded to a halt. Before them rose sheer walls of tall buildings, no alleys or fire escapes in sight.
"Let me have it!" Ridley roared, his rage finally unleashed. "I will torture him for Owen!" He launched himself forward, a powerful kick aimed at Zack's back.
But his boot only slammed into hard concrete. Zack had vanished.
It turned out the shark guy was still hiding some of his abilities. The hard concrete surface where he'd been standing rippled like disturbed water, then solidified again.
"Dammit!" Ridley yelled, pounding the wall in frustration. "He's running away! He's swimming on the concrete and disappearing somewhere!"
"It's useless," Milo said, crouching and touching the now-solid wall. He shook his head. "After he gets inside, we can't tell where he went. I think we're done here."
"No way!" Ridley protested, kicking the wall again. "Don't expect me to give up now! I didn't even kick him once yet! So frustrating!"
"Well, you can do whatever you want, but what do you think, boss?" Milo said, turning to Liam, who had walked up silently behind them, his expression unreadable as he surveyed the blank wall.
"Let's go back," Liam stated.
"Boss!" Ridley's voice was thick with disappointment and anger. He obviously didn't want to give up yet.
"The hunt has just begun," Liam said, his gaze sweeping the rooftops and shadows lining the street. "Don't get too fixated. We will eventually meet him again."
Ridley sighed heavily, shoulders slumping. "Fine," he said, though he still looked deeply frustrated. He glared at the wall. "But promise me, when that time comes, you will let me kill that guy with my own hands."
Liam gave a single, curt nod.
"Let's go," he said, already turning away. "It's getting annoying with so many people secretly watching me."
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