Chương 65: POISON WATER

Vikram was throwing bomb after bomb at Cannon, who was keeping himself alive by the grace of his reflex loot. It was all he could rely on as he couldn't keep up with Vikram's speed.

"Damn," he said.

"Slippery coward. Come here and fight like a man." But Vikram continued to zip around him, as did his final hound. The hellhound continuously circled around Cannon, having seen what happened to its brothers. It simply stalked, waiting for an opportunity to launch a killing blow. Cannon had one eye on it and another on Vikram. After a point, he just started mindlessly tanking some of the explosions.

His body strength was enhanced, and he could mind them a lot better than anyone else as long as he didn't take a direct hit. Cannon tanked two blows to his side like they were tickles, pointing the sword and firing a dagger of light right into Vikram's arm. It was the first long-range blow he launched in a while. But that's what he didn't like about the weapon.

The hilt was bulky, like it was meant for close combat, yet much of its functionality was based in the midrange, being able to extend its light in powerful short bursts. His natural mind kept wanting to use it as a sword when it was really a gun. Vikram yelled in pain, finally stopping for a moment as Cannon dealt with the flaming breath of the hound.

"Damn it. Are you gonna help at all?" He was talking to Sam, who stood off to the side, arms crossed.

"You think she has a thing for me… probably not right."

"I don't care. We have this guy dead to rights, and you're just standing there."

"Well, I'm not a big fan of handicaps. It's a two-on-one. Not cool."

"It's a fight! Not the time to be a damn saint!" Vikram was yelling, holding his wounded arm.

"What? I thought you were the baddest man in the gang. And you can't even deal with one guy?" Vikram snarled at the comment, suddenly shrugging off the burn on his arm.

"Fine. I don't need ya. I'll show you who the baddest is." Cannon reared back, sword ready. That was when Acelin found his way back through the window to launch shards of window glass at them. The holy water intercepted the shards, making them float harmlessly in a ball of floating turquoise water. Sam sighed, rubbing his head.

"Well, I guess I have to get involved now."

"No. I said I don't need you. I don't need you," Vikram commanded.

"Watch me handle both these chumps on my own."

"Wow. Aren't you a tough guy…"

"Where's Ellie?" Acelin asked.

"The ex-girlfriend separated her," said Cannon.

"We have to get to her. We can't let her fight on her own."

"She's a tough girl. We might have to deal with things here first. But I promise, as soon as we handle these two, we'll go straight after her."

"Tsk… These guys are so annoying."

"I know. But hey. Together. I think you and I can take 'em. A good old-fashioned tag team, yeah?"

"Yeah." The kid wasn't in pristine condition, especially not after that tumble out the window. He looked banged up and dirty. It wasn't ideal to have him fighting for this long and this hard, but despite it, he was still standing.

"You're a tough kid. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise." Vikram launched his first bomb right between them. They both jumped away.

"What happened to your forcefield?" Cannon yelled.

"That power's pooped out. After it's broken, I can't use it for a while." That was inconvenient after what he just said, too. But they knew going in it wasn't a permanent fixture in the fight. They would just have to focus on movement now. But Acelin was more reliable in the mid-range with his psychic and neon speed. He could keep up with Vikram's own speed. The two collided several times in Acelin's neon form.

Seizing an opportunity, Cannon pivoted, driving the sword right into that last hellhound, driving it up and through its body, cleaving it. Its body turned to fire and black smoke. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. He then shifted his eyes to Sam, still standing off in the corner.

"Is he really just sitting this one out?" He didn't know whether to believe it or to suspect some trick. The guy always had some sort of plan, so he felt like he shouldn't let him be. Though he really was just standing there. When he caught Cannon's eye, he just shrugged.

"He told me to stay out of it, so I'm staying out of it." Well whatever. Cannon continued the fight against Vikram. The combat was still a stalemate then, but with the two of them on him, it slowly started to turn to their favor. Acelin led him around the room in a chase until Vikram blew up a pillar that he appeared next to. The pillar came down on top of him, and he rushed to get out of the way. There was another bomb where he was set to appear. Cannon reacted, jumping to push Acelin out of the way.

He took the full brunt of the impact, crossing his arms to absorb it. It was a tough blow that sent him to a knee with more burns on his body.

"Cannon. Sorry." Acelin ran over.

"You don't have to save me. Don't get hurt because of me."

"You know. You sound just like the Redeemer. Always worried about others getting hurt when you're the VIP." Vikram launched another bomb.

"Take this, you bastards! And that and this! Who's the baddest!" Acelin lifted pieces of the floor to try to cover them both, but Vikram was running in circles around them, launching explosions from all sides. Acelin created another sphere, this one of broken wall and rubble. It wasn't something that would hold for long.

"No. I'm not like T'balt. I'm a bad kid. That's why none of you should be risking yourselves for me."

"Heh… I meant what I said earlier. You're a tough kid. How about we show them how tough, eh…"

"What do you mean?"

"Our tag team move. You remember."

"Really? Now?"

"When else but now? It's Hail Mary time."

"Alright." They stood in the center of the bombardment, feeling every shockwave through their bodies. But one had caught a direct hit, blasting Acelin's makeshift protection right into Cannon's back. But the man didn't fall over. Instead, he javelined the hilt of his sword right at Vikram. It missed. But then he saw the strangest sight. Now Cannon was javelin-throwing the boy. Cupping his feet, with all his strength, he flung Acelin in a torpedo. Vikram was smug. Speed wasn't going to save them.

The kid just made himself an easier target with a frontal attack. Vikram stuck his hand out, blowing right in the space in front of him. The flash of the bomb went off, and Vikram smirked. Acelin smirked too. The explosion was so close to his eyes that it blocked him from seeing the neon light zipping around him. Acelin appeared at his six as Vikram was completely oblivious.

"You missed, candied ass."

"When did…" Acelin kicked him in the back, stumbling Vikram forward. The bear lifted his arm to counterattack, not even being stunned by the boy's kick. But the kick only had one purpose: to knock him from his balance so he couldn't run. Now he was stumbling right into Cannon.

"Super… Cannon…BUSTERRRRRRR!!!" Cannon's super-strengthened forearm blasted into Vikram's neck. His sight immediately went black, and like a rock being tossed in a lake, his body flew and splashed into the marble concrete. Dust and ash cascaded around them.

"Ha. Give me some." Cannon and Acelin high-fived to celebrate the moment, riding the adrenaline of the attack, neither of them fully believing that it had worked.

"No one could live through a move like that." Acelin cheered.

"They call it a finisher for a reason." But through the ash, a silhouette remained standing. It stumbled out of the hole in the wall in the shape of a body. His eyes were swaying back and forth, worse than his legs, but he had refused to fall over. Mumbling inaudible words.

"How is he still standing after that?" Acelin wondered, looking at the man resembling a zombie as he held his hands up, blood gushing from his head.

"You think I'll die that easy…." Vikram strained. Just then, he was surrounded by mystic water.

"I knew it," said Cannon. It was Sam's water. He was inserting himself back into the fight. But they were too far away to stop it from healing him. The water wrapped around Vikram's body fully, and it began to steam. And Vikram screamed. The water was burning him, not the usual thing of healing his wound, but this time it was the acid that he got. And he couldn't avoid it at all, as he had already let it completely cover him.

"Sam… you…" Before he could finish the sentence, he lost complete consciousness and splayed out on the ground, skin covered in reddened blisters.

"What's happening here?" Cannon couldn't believe his eyes. And neither could Acelin. Sam's hand was held in Vikram's direction.

"Eh.. that guy was a jerk. Put in so much pride just trying to kill a kid and a freaking wrestling legend." He shook the fuzz from his head.

"Oh, right… You two must be confused… so something on my stack is what's called the thinker's loot. I can slow down time in my head and think an hour's worth of thoughts in about a minute. So the entire time we've been fighting, I've been trying to put the pieces together, and I realized I don't even really know why we're fighting… I mean, you were trying to fight my friend, so I jumped in, and then his friends jumped in. I think we're all riding the adrenaline. Like a bar fight, you know.

One thing leads to another. Now everyone wakes up in the county jail, and no one even remembers who threw the first punch." His armor clanked as he sat with his legs crossed on the broken floor.

"So, while I've got you here. Mind if we had a chat?"