The Minotaur rage shifted into hesitation. For the first time, he looked like he wanted to negotiate.
"Okay, okay! Look," the Minotaur said, holding up his hands as Thomas closed in. "Maybe we got off on the wrong foot."
"Right," the Troll added, dragging himself out of the wreckage. "Nothing personal! Just… you know, the fog and all."
Thomas tilted his head, eyes narrowing. "Oh? And the old man?"
"Uh… just a misunderstanding," the Troll coughed, easing himself upright. "We weren't gonna kill him. Just… uh… teach him a lesson."
"I don't believe it," Thomas growled in his deep, diabolic voice. He cracked his knuckles slowly, the sound echoing off the broken walls.
The Minotaur's expression hardened. "Listen. You don't want trouble with us. We're with the Red Hands. Big group. Real big. You pick a fight with us… You pick a fight with the whole organization."
The Minotaur had mentioned the Red Hands, the same group branded as terrorists before the meteor fall. In the past months, they had taken over several safe zones.
"Yeah," the Troll added. "You let us go, we forget this ever happened. No harm, no foul."
Thomas yawned. "No."
"Wait, seriously, don't do this," the Troll begged, dropping his steel beam and raising his hands. "We'll leave the old man. We'll leave the district! You won't see us again."
Thomas scratched his head. "Let's tie them up."
"Huh?" Bryan blinked.
"Yeah. Tie them up. Drag them to the next safe zone."
Iris nodded. "Agreed."
The Minotaur groaned. "Oh, come on…" He didn't resist. After watching the Oni overpower the Troll so easily, he knew he couldn't win.
Thomas pulled ripped electrical cables from the wreckage and bound the two together. They could have broken free in their transformed state, but neither dared try. One wrong move and the Oni would crush them.
The old man they had cornered stared in disbelief, his eyes wide as he looked between his would-be killers and the strange group who had saved him, especially the towering demon-like figure who hadn't even broken a sweat.
Once the two were tied, Iris and Bryan turned to the old man.
"Are you okay? What happened? Why are you here?" Iris asked while Bryan helped him to his feet.
The old man hesitated, glancing at the bound Minotaur and Troll before speaking. "I'm… fine. But if the Red Hands come looking, you're allowed to ditch me. I don't want to drag anyone down."
Thomas shrugged. "Nah."
The old man blinked. "What do you mean, 'nah'?"
Thomas smiled. "We're not ditching anyone."
"So why were they bullying you, Grandpa?" Thomas asked.
"They took over our settlement," the old man explained. "A small compound, just a few families. I refused to hand over our supplies, so they dragged me into the pink fog."
"Then it's settled," Thomas said firmly. "Let their own people decide what to do with these two." He was confident the families would side with the old man rather than invaders.
"Let's go to your settlement then, Grandpa. Let's get you the justice you deserve. After all, we are the Justice League." Thomas grinned.
He hadn't planned any of this. He just couldn't watch an old man being bullied. Maybe it was because he had been raised by his own grandfather. Killing the Minotaur and Troll wasn't an option. They were still sane humans. His plan had been to drop them at the next safe zone. Luckily, the old man's settlement was nearby, so the decision of what to do with the Minotaur and Troll could be left to his people.
The safe zone was easy to spot, the fog stopping cleanly at its border. Just as the old man had said, it was a small compound, enough space for only five to seven families.
Thomas shoved the two tied-up Red Hands members through the barrier first. As he expected, they carried grey fragments. The moment they crossed inside, their transformations ended, leaving them in human form. Thomas followed after with Bryan, Iris, and the old man. Since the three of them hadn't transformed, they didn't need grey fragments to pass through.
Two women rushed toward the old man as soon as they saw him. One looked middle-aged, the other younger. Clearly mother and daughter.
"Father!"
"Grandpa!"
"Father, what happened? We kept searching for you, then you were suddenly gone," the mother asked, voice trembling.
"These two plotted against me and dragged me into the pink fog," the old man said, pointing at the tied-up pair. "Let's go meet Fred and seek justice."
"Who's Fred?" Thomas asked.
"He's the leader here," the old man explained. "A close friend of mine. Our families have supported each other since the calamity and survived together until the Red Hands came. Including these two, I think there are seven of them."
As they walked deeper into the compound, other families came out of their homes. None approached or greeted the old man. Thomas found it odd, especially when he caught the whispers as they passed.
"That's… those are Red Hands, right?"
"No way. Are they insane, tying them up and dragging them here?"
Thomas ignored the murmurs. He was here to help the old man. If this settlement decided to drive out the Red Hands, he would help them.
At least, that was the plan.
As they approached Fred's house, Thomas noticed a meteor lodged into the balcony on the second floor. That must be the safe zone meteor. It was about the size of a human, five feet tall.
Men stood outside acting as guards. Each wore a red handkerchief on their arm, marking them as part of the Red Hands. Their eyes widened in surprise at the sight of Thomas's group dragging in two of their members, tied up and powerless.
In Thomas's mind, this wasn't about fighting the Red Hands. It was about getting justice for the old man.
One of the guards hurried upstairs to report. Moments later, they were allowed to pass. Thomas, Bryan, Iris, the old man, and his daughter and granddaughter climbed to the second floor. The guards escorted them upstairs, but among the families inside the compound, only the two women seemed to be left of the old man's kin.
"Fred, you must help me get justice," the old man pleaded. "I was dragged into the fog by these two while I was sorting supplies. I refused to hand over our stock. Those are the supplies we worked so hard to gather. We can't just give them away."
Fred leaned back in his chair. "Harry, that's not the real reason they dragged you into the fog."
Harry froze. "What do you mean? I didn't do anything to them."
"They gave me a condition," Fred said slowly. "If I wanted to be part of the Red Hands, they wanted your daughter and granddaughter."
"What?!" Harry shouted, fury in his voice.
"I told them no problem," Fred continued coldly. "But they needed to get rid of you first, because you would be in the way."
"You!!!" the Harry roared, stepping toward Fred. But before he could reach him, two gunshots rang out.
BANG! BANG!
BLAGG!
From the hallway behind him, his daughter and granddaughter collapsed onto the floor, blood spreading beneath their bodies.
Harry turned back toward Fred in shock, only to see him holding a revolver pointed directly at his head. Without hesitation, Fred pulled the trigger.
BANG!
The old man Harry fell face-first onto the floor, dead.
"Guess there's no problem now, right? How about you three join us? Maybe in the future, you can even be part of the Red Hands," Fred said to Thomas, Iris, and Bryan.
But even as he spoke, his eyes lingered on Iris with a malicious look. She was clearly the one he valued most, which explained why he had discreetly signaled the guards to shoot earlier before the group could interfere.
"Don't try anything stupid," Fred warned, noticing the anger on Thomas's face. "We're in a safe zone. Guns work here. I heard you can transform, but in here, you're nothing."
Thomas clenched his fists so tightly that his palms began to bleed.
Bryan suddenly tapped him on the back. Fred assumed he was trying to calm Thomas down, but it was the opposite.
The instant Bryan's hand touched him, Thomas lunged at Fred, arms crossed in front of his face to shield it. At the same time, Bryan rushed to the door and slammed it shut. The guards were still outside with Harry's daughter and granddaughter lying on the floor just beside the entrance.
"Block the door!" Bryan shouted.
Iris snapped into action. She grabbed the nearest wooden chair and shoved it under the handle, bracing it while still trying to understand what was happening.
BANG! BANG!
Gunshots exploded in the small room. Thomas jerked as one bullet tore through his hand and another slammed into his stomach, but he didn't fall. His massive frame only slowed for a heartbeat before pushing forward, eyes locked on Fred. Blood spilled from the wounds, soaking into his white shirt and turning it red.