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"Don't fuck this up, Cassian."
Cassian lets out an exasperated sigh, his hand clutched his weapon tightly on his right hand. He was already set on finishing this damn patrol already and heading back to the headquarters but, nope. He just so happened to be the only one out on duty in the city. He was originally supposed to be there with Zander but the man was unfortunately occupied with his own side of the city, which made it difficult for him to come aid Cassian even if he wanted to. His eyes scanned the area, his gaze unwavering as he searched for any sudden movements or any subtle changes. He took a few steps forward before he suddenly turns around, slashing his sword downwards revealing a figure that was concealed with a spell of sorts. "I knew you'd be here." The Oni in front of him could only let out a low chuckle, his gaze dark as he regained his footing. "Still the sharp as ever, dear 'Sage of Creation'. But...not sharp enough." Before Cassian knew it, Altus's sword clashed with his, causing him to be pushed backwards. The elf quickly regained his footing before he dodged another oncoming attack. The night was filled with the sound of metal scraping against each other, almost deafeningly. Cassian's movements were fluid, his attacks were calculated and precise, while Altus's were more force driven and heavy. As the fight went on, they didn't notice that someone was watching them from afar...
"...this guy keeps getting himself into trouble..."
Said a pink haired man. His face was half stitched due to an accident, which was why he wears a fox mask to conceal himself. He was watching his friend fight the Oni this whole time, and he couldn't help but notice how fast the villain has really become within only a few weeks, which was suspicious. He decided to use his binoculars again to observe, and that's when he realized upon further inspection, that he had a familiar red seal on him. "...you gotta be kidding me..." he muttered under his breath. He turns on his ear piece and turned his radio on to communicate with Cassian. "Cass he has a boost seal on his back. That's why he's fast." he quickly spoke before he moved his head out of the way, successfully dodging a bullet. "Really?" he asked turning around to see the cyborg standing there, gun drawn towards him.
Nix only stared at him, his gaze distant and empty, devoid of any sort of emotion. Rosco proceeded to crack his knuckles preparing himself "Alright cyborg man, let's do this." Rosco then immediately threw a punch his way which, expectedly, Nix dodged without issue. But that was, however, what Rosco wanted, as he used his leg to sweep his, causing the cyborg to lose his footing and fall to the floor. Which Rosco found a little victory in at first but unfortunately, that victory would soon dissipate as Nix quickly recovered and used his robotic arm to shoot some darts his way. The sudden attack made the other yelp in surprise, he narrowly dodges them by ducking. Luckily for him he was unharmed, however...the cyborg wasn't done. Before Rosco could even do anything, Nix rammed into him and pinned him to the wall with his robotic arm pressing against his neck practically suffocating him. Rosco struggled against the robotic arm, he tried to use his hands to reach for his arm to maybe tinker with the wiring a little but Nix only pressed harder making his arms falter once more.
"You're starting to turn into the color of your hair, you'll finally have something match up with you for once..."
"The...hell..is that...supposed to...mean...?!"
Nix only pressed further, cutting of the other's oxygen supply even more. At this point he was struggling to get an intake of a decent breath of air. His limbs slowly started becoming limp as his consciousness began to slip away. Dark spots soon formed in his vision when suddenly Nix's mechanical arm was cut off by a sickle of sorts which finally released Rosco from the death grip. The pink haired drew in a big breath, his lungs greedy for air not even realizing that Lucien was the one who saved him. Before Lucien could deal with Nix however, the cyborg disappeared and so did the Oni in front of Cassian earlier. Though, the vampire didn't even care about that right now, all he cared about was his friend that nearly suffocated to death. he knelt beside Rosco who was still catching his breath and he rubbed circles on his back.
"That's it, breathe...I got you, you're alright."
Lucien then looked up to see Cassian who looked...relatively calm but his neutral expression had a hint of irritation to it. It was clear the elf was upset at the fact that he couldn't take down Altus, again. The three of them stayed there in silence for a moment, reflecting on what just happened.
The three of them entered the headquarters, they were discussing the events that just happened and were planning on reporting back to Gale, since, well, he was their captain after all.
"Did you see that? That cyborg's arm looked like it had more upgrades dude..."
Said Rosco. Even if his arm looked the same as it always did, Rosco would be able to tell the difference with his specialty in technology. His concern only grew since he was also the one who warned Cassian and Lucien about the red seal on Altus's back. Avallum have been tracking and trying to defeat Ravanis for years now and yet, every time they do, the other team always seems to be one step ahead of them, especially because of their one magic user who names himself 'Genie'. Nothing else. No one knew much about this person, he was probably Ravanis's little secret until he was revealed last year. Lucien couldn't help but hum in agreement with Rosco's statement earlier on his observation on Nix's arm.
"Agreed, that looked like it was upgraded to a whole other level."
Cassian, however, did not give his commentary. The elf was still fighting his inner conflict, he, out of all the Avallum boys, were probably one of the most resentful and opinionated out of the bunch, especially towards their enemies. The fact that he was not able to defeat Altus, again, made him furious. He knows well on how many Altus has killed, if anything that man had more kills than anyone else and it honestly terrified everyone in the city knowing that such a dangerous individual was roaming around and possibly amongst them. Lucien noticed the turmoil the elf was going through and he reached his hand to hold his, giving him a small squeeze in reassurance to help him as much as he could at the moment.
Cassian felt the squeeze and his face showed a subtle hint of pink before he squeezed the vampire's hand back. Rosco noticed the two of them being a little intimate and he couldn't help but roll his eyes
"Oh get a damn room you two.."
They soon finally reached the main room and they walked in. Gale was already there speaking to Zander on his own report, but upon hearing the three come in the both of them paused and turned around. Gale couldn't help but smirk a little
"I see you're all in one piece...and you look like shit, as always Rosco."
Rosco lets out an exasperated sigh, he was way too tired to be dealing with the villains earlier, and now he had to deal with Gale and Zander who would probably tease him to no end at this point if no one spoke up to change the damn subject. Lucky for him, lady luck was on his side and Cassian interrupted Gale's teasing.
"Gale, there's...a lot we need to discuss. And we'd appreciate if you gave us a bit of your time for now...please."
Upon hearing Cassian's serious tone, Gale's demeanor changed from playful to serious. His hand gestured to the seats nearby, signaling the three to take their seats.
"Alright, tell me everything."