There was no response from the American girl.
Only silence. And the vacant, unsettling look in Jody's eyes.
"Go," she said.
"..."
.
.
.
"Shit! She's fast!"
No wonder Mannix told us to wear sneakers! Now it made perfect sense.
Sera was chasing after Roxxy, both of them tearing through the pedestrian district after Soo-min.
Ambulances, fire trucks, and police cruisers were rushing past them in the opposite direction—back toward the Eiffel Tower.
The sirens were blaring. This fight had to end soon.
Soo-min realized the same thing. She shoved pedestrians aside as she ran, sending people sprawling in her wake.
The sight was chaotic—an injured woman in a bloodied suit running from a furious 165cm-tall girl through a crowd of civilians.
Beeep! Beeep-beep!
Soo-min didn't hesitate. She bolted across a red light, leaping over car hoods. Roxxy was hot on her heels. As for Sera...
"Ow! You idiot! Move it!"
She shoved a cyclist aside, sending him skidding off the path.
"Get outta the way! Damn it!"
Naturally, the crowd cursed at her in French, but Sera couldn't care less—she didn't understand a word of it anyway.
The only thing that mattered was catching up to Roxxy. She had seen it for herself—everything Toshi warned her about.
(Flashback: when Sera was still in the water with Toshi)
"...She can't control her anger?!"
"Yeah... that's Roxxy. She can't regulate her emotions. She's like a walking time bomb. And once she explodes... she's nothing like the Roxxy you first met."
But that wasn't the worst part.
"What's even more dangerous is how easy it is to set her off. If the enemy figures that out, we're in serious trouble. I want to help her too, but I can't stop Roxxy. Only Syd can... and maybe you. Please. Her ice powers are tied to her emotions—the more unstable she is, the weaker her power becomes."
Sera immediately swam toward shore.
"Syd's got his hands full with the kid. I've got to help him first! Then I'll come join you as soon as I can. Please, Sera—whatever that girl does, remember: you can't control her. That's not the Roxxy you know!"
Back to present...
Sera was reflecting on everything Toshi had said while sprinting after Roxxy, weaving through corners.
Meanwhile, Soo-min—leading the chase—was beginning to sense something different.
That little brat... she's totally lost it. She's attacking me like a rabid animal… And on top of that…
She wiped at her face with a cloth, dabbing at the wound where Roxxy had ripped the skin off her nose.
The pain? Manageable. She'd been through worse. Plus she still had that bullet wound from Toshi, buried deep in her side.
And then there was "Sera."
That one was a real threat.
"Back on the bridge, I was at a disadvantage… but now…"
Soo-min smirked.
At the same time, Roxxy felt something—something massive coming at her from the main road.
BEEEEEP! BEEP-BEEP!
A car from the street suddenly swerved off the road, flying up onto the sidewalk and smashing through market stalls—heading straight for Roxxy.
CRASHHHH!
"Roxxxxxxyyyyyy!"
Meanwhile, on the other side—
Syd Barrett was in no better shape.
"Ahhh!!!"
"Hey! Shut it!"
Explosions roared in the distance like something out of a Michael Bay movie.
"That psycho... He's dropping debris from the exploded chopper?! Are you kidding me?!"
Sally, clinging to his back, was almost too exhausted to panic.
"...A-Are you really going back the way we came?!"
"Hell no... We're not going back."
Syd quickly radioed Mickey.
"Hey! This is bad! They're hammering us from all directions now—this is full-blown insane! Don't drive in yet!"
Mickey shot back through the comms,
{Where are you going? I'll drive to meet you.}
Mickey was right. The top priority now was the girl.
Whatever happened to the rest of them, Sally had to be delivered safely.
Syd scanned his surroundings. Since coming down from the bridge, they'd entered a residential district. Most of the buildings looked similar—classic old European style. But then he spotted it...
Five blocks ahead stood a light blue building that stood out like a beacon among the beige and brick-red ones.
"That old blue building! There's only one like it near the tower! Meet us there and take Sally!"
{Got it.}
"...W-Wait! What about you?!"
"I'm gonna find the bastard dropping bombs on us."
"You can't! He's hiding somewhere, I know it!"
"He's hiding, yeah. But I know this for sure—he's hiding near us. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to hit us so precisely."
Syd kept running, dodging through the crowd. Sirens wailed as police and ambulances zipped past in the opposite direction.
"Here come the nosey bastards!"
"Brother! Up there!"
"...?!"
They looked up to see silver rods—long, thin projectiles—plummeting from above.
"Knives?! Shit—"
They pierced Syd's shoulder, embedding themselves with a horrifying crunch—his arm crumpling like a crushed can.
"Big brother!!!"
Sally nearly screamed. Just the thought of getting hit like that made her want to faint.
Syd kept running until he reached the rendezvous point.
But then... another obstacle.
A street market.
A packed maze of stalls and pedestrians.
"....."
"Great…"
Right then, someone called through the earpiece. It was Toshi!
{Hey! Where are you?! I'm heading your way!}
"You made it out of the river?!"
{Yeah! Sera went the other direction! I'm following you!}
"You see a blue building?!"
{...Blue building? … Wait—yeah, I see it!}
"Get there fast! And find that green-haired guy in a suit! He's nearby—I know it!"
{On it!}
After the call ended, Syd pushed forward, dragging Sally through the crowd in chaos and haste.
"No time for detours."
The stress on the young man's face was clear, and Sally, noticing it, grew equally tense.
These people… These innocent civilians—completely unrelated—were now in danger just by being near them.
What consumed Syd's thoughts wasn't hunting down the enemy. It was getting to the blue building as fast as possible.
He knew full well he was a lightning rod for trouble, and after what had happened back at the park, he understood that Fitz didn't care about anyone's life but Sally's. That guy would massacre an entire street just to get her. And if he actually did…
It'd no longer be just a kidnapping operation. It'd be a goddamn act of terrorism.
Police, intelligence, even the FBI would be all over it in seconds.
The fact that nothing had fallen from the sky yet? It meant only two things—either Fitz hadn't caught up, or he was waiting for the right moment.
And the second option? That was the real problem.
Syd cut through stall after stall. Sally, wanting to help however she could, activated her ability to scan behind them, trying to spot anyone tailing them.
But it was tough. Too many people darting past, blocking her line of sight. In her green-tinted vision, it all just looked like a mess of orange signals.
"…Shit. Smart bastard…"
"Don't use it yet. Wait for a clearer spot."
"R-Right!"
She deactivated her vision.
"We're close—we're almost there! Move! Outta the way!"
Syd lost his patience and kicked a man ahead of him, sending him tumbling before leaping over the body and breaking into a sprint.
And then—
Fwooooooosh!
"Shit?!"
You've gotta be kidding me…
Falling from the sky—dozens of cars, debris, light poles, statues, and shattered chunks of concrete—rained down like a meteor shower.
"Aaaaaaaaah!!!"
Screams erupted from all sides. Panic spread like wildfire as chaos consumed the marketplace.
Crashing metal, bursting pipes, exploding concrete—one building after another began to collapse.
WEE-OOH WEE-OOH WEE-OOH!
Screams!
But what crushed Sally the most… were the crying children. People—real people—were dying, crushed, flattened, struck in the skull by falling stones.
A vibrant marketplace had turned into a graveyard of rubble and screams.
Syd pulled Sally into a nearby residence—a fruit shop with its shutters half-open. They ducked behind the cashier counter, ignoring the stunned shopkeeper still frozen in disbelief.
Grey dust clouded the air, dozens of car alarms screamed in unison.
The entire street market… flattened.
Cars flipped over, some tilted sideways, some impaled onto rooftops. Doors snapped off and hit the ground with deafening thuds. Light poles bent like straws. The whole block looked like it had been bombed.
Syd and Sally, lucky to be indoors, were safe from the worst of it. But outside?
"…" "...…"
Sally stared blankly out the window. The destruction… it was unthinkable. Everything had changed in seconds.
Syd gently set her down, crouched behind the counter. The shopkeeper finally snapped, ran outside, and shrieked at the scene.
"Aaaaah! W-What the hell just happened?! M-Meteor strike?!"
He sprinted outside to get a look—and froze in horror.
"Why?! Why are cars falling from the sky?! E-Everything's gone!!! AAAAAGH!"
He completely lost it.
"…Th-That man… He destroyed everything out there…"
"No."
Syd finally looked up. And when Sally saw his eyes—glowing red with fury—she froze.
"The bastard who did this… That thing's not even human anymore."
In his gaze, a fire blazed.
{Syd! Syd! What the hell happened?! That street you ran down—}
"We're still okay."
Syd replied calmly, his rage boiling underneath.
"Did you find him?"
{No! Too many people here. We need to lure him out!}
"Then herd the bastard this way. He's stalking us from the alleys—I know it. He can't be far. Find him, Toshi!"
{Got it!}
"You too, kid. Your power's key to this."
He looked down at Sally.
"…But how are we supposed to find him?!"
{Yeah, seriously—how?!}
Toshi chimed in too.
The answer was simple.
"He's hiding among the densest group of people he can find. Anywhere that's packed—he'll be there. Because he knows… if he's alone, the girl will spot him."