Jackson looked at Moros, who was gripping his dagger so tightly his knuckles turned white. The Supervisor's features were contorted with raw rage, as if Elyra were the one who had choked him with that cane, not Silas. He was not a man accustomed to humiliation, especially in front of his workers whom he saw lying on the ground, and that woman who stood before him with a pride that matched his own, having not gotten over Jackson's insult either.
"Go, Moros..." Jackson said coldly, nodding his head toward the side corridor. "I'll handle her. Do you want two men fighting one woman? No... you elevate her status too much by doing that, and you demean mine."
Moros heard the words like a bucket of cold water waking him from blind rage. He regained his composure with great effort, and the madness that had clouded his eyes for a moment faded, returning to those serious, cold expressions that used to hide behind the raven mask, the mask that was now debris under Silas's foot somewhere.
He returned the dagger to its hidden sheath and said in a voice that had regained its mechanical calm: "Mr. Levoy... I hope you don't kill her. If you can, capture her without permanent damage. We need her mind, not her corpse."
Jackson laughed sarcastically: "That will be difficult... I can't do anything if she insists on dying."
Jackson watched the Supervisor walk away with steady, heavy steps, before his pace quickened and he disappeared into the shadows, heading toward the storage hall.
Jackson turned his gaze back to Elyra. He smiled as if watching her tighten her grip on "White Fang." With his experience as a pirate who had lived his life among swords, he could feel the radical difference in her stance. She wasn't the hesitant woman he had fought last time. Her stance was firm, her breathing regular, and her eyes devoid of any fear. She looked ready to kill him this time without a shred of hesitation.
"I see nothing will intervene and interrupt our fight this time," Jackson said, waving his sword with apparent laziness. "As I said, I don't like fighting women... but you, in particular, seem different. There is something... animalistic about you."
Elyra looked at him blankly. She didn't know what he was talking about, or rather, she didn't care about the nonsense he was spouting. She saw only one thing in him: a target that must be removed.
Without warning, she initiated the attack.
CLANG!
The swords collided with a force that sent sparks illuminating the dark hall for a moment.
Elyra attacked fiercely, her sword moving as if it were an extension of her arm, striking from impossible angles. Jackson initially contented himself with blocking her violent blows with his heavy sword. Although he was smiling, his arm felt the brunt of the immense power coming from that slender woman.
He blocked a powerful blow that made the two swords lock together as if embracing in a deadly dance. Their faces were close, and the sound of their strained breathing was clearly audible in the place, drowning out the sounds of distant gears and engines that no one would hear unless they wanted to listen.
Jackson pushed with all his physical strength, causing Elyra to slide back a few meters.
"Virgo... I wish you were here, you'd love this woman!" Jackson said to himself audibly, then looked at Elyra and winked: "Virgo... he's a member of my crew, he has a weakness for fierce whores. I bet if he saw a warrior woman like you, he'd become your slave... Hahaha!"
Elyra wiped her face gently where she had been slapped, as if reminding herself of the pain and insult.
"That's what you will be too, once I'm done with you..." she said in a quiet, terrifying voice. "You are all dogs to me."
Jackson's smile paused for a moment, and he tilted his head in strange thought:
"Dogs? Have you ever even seen one?" Jackson asked with genuine curiosity, as if the word summoned a ghost from a bygone era that no longer existed in their world. Then he continued with a sudden philosophical tone: "Why... why do we use these descriptions? Is it because we hate dogs? Or just because we inherited insults as we inherited this ruined world that left us nothing of them but their names?"
Elyra didn't wait to hear his philosophy. She rushed at him again, and the real fight began.
It wasn't a show fight. It was brutal, chaotic, and dirty.
They exchanged blows, punches, and kicks. Elyra used her speed to cut him on his arms and thighs, and Jackson used his strength and the factory environment, throwing boxes to hinder her movement. It was a bloody scene resembling a struggle for survival in the wild, where there are no laws or honor, only the victor remains standing.
///
Outside the walls, at the massive gate.
"Is this what you brought us for? I told you the man is hallucinating!"
The old man shouted indignantly, waving his frail stick in the air.
Yes, there was nothing different. The gate was closed, deaf, and cold. The only thing that had changed was those annoying screams that had reappeared, filling the fog with terror.
"Believe me... I saw them!" Kim shouted, anxiety gripping him as he saw the looks of doubt in his companions' eyes. "The men must have returned and closed it... We are the ones who are late!"
Although he looked like a fool in front of the lined-up crowd of homeless people, he didn't care. He had realized deep down that he had made a grave mistake by wasting the opportunity that had arisen when the gate was open.
'It doesn't matter now...' he said to himself, and headed for the massive gate in front of him with hesitant but continuous steps.
Some homeless people retreated back to their miserable camp, preferring the known cold to the frightening unknown, while others, including Sven, stood their ground to see what that man who dared to stand before the gate himself would do.
Kim raised his trembling hand and knocked on the iron door.
He knocked once... then followed it with a second... then the knocks followed successively with force and desperation.
"Open up! We know you are here!"
There was no one human to respond.
No... but there was always something to respond.
Above the gate, the ghosts appeared glowing in their blue, screaming in his face. That was expected for Kim, and it wasn't going to deter him this time. He continued knocking, his tears mixing with cold sweat.
Behind that gate, in a side control room overlooking the courtyard.
A worker had lifted a mechanical lever, moving a series of gears, causing the projectors to work and release the ghosts to dance in the sky. At first, it was just one ghost, but as Kim continued his relentless knocking, the worker increased the power, so the number of ghosts multiplied and the screaming sound doubled to scare him and force him to leave.
All this happened under the eyes of Poggles.
The mechanical lemur was there, outside the factory, hidden from view atop a high pipe. He saw everything, and his electronic mind realized what was happening. He saw the technology they were using, saw the glass domes of the copper boxes vibrating with every scream. He was close enough to see everything, and hear too.
"How many are there?" one worker spoke to his colleague; there were only three in that control room at that moment.
"It doesn't matter how many..." the other answered boredly, looking through a small slit to the outside. "See? They didn't run away from the ghosts this time. These are desperate homeless people."
He turned to his third colleague: "Move the second lever... let's make the smoke projectiles rain on them. That will deter them, whatever their number."
Every mechanical technique in the gate had a specific operating lever that activated the gear movement.
The third worker laughed as he reached for the control panel: "Don't make a mistake and pull the lever on the left side and open the gate for them... The Supervisor will feed us to the machines."
His colleague warned him sarcastically.
"Shut up... do you think I'm an infant?" the other answered annoyed, while his hand went to lift the projectile lever.
But his hand didn't reach.
A small creature pounced from the ceiling, landing directly on the control panel.
Poggles grabbed the ghost control lever and pulled it down with force, stopping the current suddenly. The ghosts vanished like steam in the fog, and silence fell outside.
"What is that thing?!"
The workers were shocked to see Poggles. They had never seen anything like this before; a metal lemur with glowing blue eyes standing on their machines. The fright paralyzed them for a moment.
Poggles seized that moment brilliantly.
He leaped with all agility toward the other lever... the forbidden left lever.
He clung to it with all his weight, and lifted it with all his strength.
CREAAAAAAK...
A massive metallic creaking sound was heard, shaking the ground beneath the feet of Kim and the homeless outside.
The massive gate began to move.
It split down the middle, and began to open slowly and heavily, like the mouth of a huge beast finally deciding to swallow its prey... or set it free.