Cutting back to the boys' side—
"They're running… panicking like rats~ Hehe…"
Fitz smirked in satisfaction as he blended in casually under the roof of an open-air café with a group of unsuspecting tourists.
He watched the ruined street ahead, scattered with bodies—some wounded, some clearly dead.
With the wounds on his own body, Fitz could easily be mistaken as another civilian victim of the catastrophe.
Still, he knew Syd had managed to dive into some cover just in time. The chase wasn't over.
"We've successfully separated him from the others… some of them already fell off the bridge… only two of them left with the girl. Alright then… easy."
They're probably rallying their forces now, planning to come at me all at once. I need to kill him before the ones from the bridge regroup… And Soomin needs to finish her kill before the pink-haired one joins her...
He kept glancing at the monitor strapped to his arm. The last known location of Syd was right on this street—just several dozen meters ahead.
"He's hiding in one of the shops, for sure…"
Just then, Syd appeared on the screen—carrying Sally, sprinting out of a fruit store.
"Ohh… there he is."
Fitz started weaving through the crowd, casually slipping in among them, trailing Syd from behind.
Syd was sprinting full force with Sally in his arms, keeping her facing backward so she could scan behind him.
"He's gonna drop something from above! He's definitely going to! Keep your eyes on the rear!"
It was probably the millionth time he'd barked that order. Sally obeyed instantly, scanning behind them without hesitation.
"There's still too many people! I can't make anyone out yet!"
As expected.
A hailstorm rained down from above—only it wasn't hail. It was a storm of small silver pellets made of metal.
Syd dove underneath a wrecked car, one that had smashed into the road at a tilted angle like a slash mark "/"—perfect for cover.
Thup thup thup thup thup!
Sally clung to Syd's chest, trembling violently as dozens of the metal pellets rained down and slammed into the wreckage above them.
Clack clack clack clack…
Syd stared as the pellets rolled across the ground in front of them.
"This son of a bitch… what the hell does he keep in his pockets? Does he have a damn Doraemon pouch or something?"
Fitz grinned as he continued observing through his arm monitor. His gloved hand rolled a few more of the silver pellets in his palm.
"Heh~ they're hiding under a wrecked car on the road, huh… But not for long."
Fitz pulled out a small switch from his sleeve.
"Because those little balls… they're modified."
Beep.
"Huh?"
Syd glanced down at the pellets. Was that… a beep?
The answer came instantly—red lights began flashing on all the metal spheres.
"…Shit!"
Syd grabbed Sally and hurled both of them out from under the wreck just as the pellets exploded.
The blast was massive—no weaker than those damn soursop bombs.
Syd's body took the brunt of the explosion as he shielded Sally, rolling along the ground as debris and shrapnel shredded the wreckage.
Even with his protection, Sally had bruises forming along her arms.
"Goddamn it… DIY bombs…"
But that wasn't all.
Fssshhh… Fssshhh…
"…B-Brother! Your arm!"
"?!"
He whipped his head around to look—aside from the ruptures on his skin, there was now steam or vapor rising from those wounds.
And whatever that vapor was—it was eating away at him. His skin softened… peeling… dissolving.
"…This is…"
Cold sweat poured down Syd's face. His expression turned pale.
"Acid. That smell—it's acid! These DIY bombs… they released acid mist!"
Fitz watched gleefully, beaming with pride at his work.
"Let's see what you'll do now, huh? Sure, you can swap the properties of objects. Sure, your body's like steel—I might not be able to shoot through it.
But with acid? Let's see you tank that."
Fitz dropped another handful of pellets. Syd and Sally scrambled for new cover among the destroyed vehicles.
During the chaos, Sally noticed something.
"B-Brother! Y-Your fingers!"
"Ughh!!!"
The acid was so potent it had begun eating away at Syd's fingers. One by one, they started falling off.
"…Gonna run for your whole life, huh? Heh."
Fitz didn't care. He pressed his monitor again, preparing to drop another wave.
But right before he could do it, he noticed something strange.
Syd was doing something to the wrecks each time he passed them. There was a crack, like metal snapping.
Clank!
"…?"
"What the hell is that sound? What's he doing to the cars?"
Every time Syd dove from cover to cover, he left something behind. Something Fitz couldn't see from above.
"…This smells off…"
Suddenly—
VRRRM! VRRRRRMMMMMM!!!
"!!! That sound!!!"
Fitz's eyes widened in horror. On his monitor, thick black smoke was now billowing up, engulfing the entire street.
"…Black smoke? No… that's car exhaust!"
He figured it out.
Those snapping sounds—Syd had been breaking the exhaust pipes on every car he passed.
Without catalytic converters, the thick black smoke was now flooding the street, creating a smokescreen!
"Hold your breath, kid!"
Syd pulled a pair of sunglasses over Sally's eyes and carried her straight into the smoke.
"Heh! You think I was just running around playing tag, huh?
You're tracking us from a top-down view, right? Let's see how you handle this, asshole!"
"…Damn it! That smoke! It's rising straight up—it's blocking the camera feed! I can't see anything!"
Fitz started to panic. His monitor now showed only a black, choking haze across the entire area. No sign of Syd.
And he didn't have the luxury to wait for the smoke to clear—Syd was about to escape his range of attack!
But before he could make a move…
A toddler—just 5 years old—bumped into him from behind.
"…The hell, kid…"
I've got no time for this crap…
He shoved the kid away violently. The child fell flat on his face.
"Back off! Go home, you little shit!"
Fitz turned back to his screen, trying to concentrate.
"Hey! You pushed that kid!"
Now the attention of nearby tourists and survivors turned squarely onto Fitz.
Anywhere in the world, it's the same—you don't ignore a grown man assaulting a small child right in front of you.
"What's going on?"
"He shoved a kid!"
"What?! Who would do that?!"
"Hey! What's your problem?! Leave him alone!"
Fitz tried to ignore them, muttering curses as more and more onlookers started forming a circle.
But the child… now began to cry loudly.
"Waaaah!!! This guy pushed me! He said he was gonna hit me!"
"…?!"
The mood shifted instantly.
Everyone turned on Fitz.
"What the hell?!"
"He did what?!"
"What a piece of garbage…"
"Unbelievable…"
A large black man stormed up to him.
"Hey! You hit a kid?!"
He shoved Fitz hard.
Fitz finally snapped. He retaliated with a punch to the man's face.
WHAM!
The guy dropped.
But that only made things worse—now the crowd was swarming him.
"You wanna die, asshole?!"
"Come at me then!"
More fists flew—Fitz dropped another two men.
Pow! Pow!
"Who else wants some?! I'll kill every last one of you!"
He turned back to his monitor—but something gave him pause.
"…Wait a minute… that damn kid…"
He froze.
"'He said he was gonna hit me'…? But I never said anything…"
"…."
{Soomin's voice: "That Asian guy… he can shapeshift."}
!!!
Fitz's face went ghost white. Sweat poured from his forehead.
He stared at the little boy—who now smirked back at him.
"AAAAHHH!!!"
Fitz yanked out his 9mm pistol from his coat instinctively.
Screams erupted all around.
"He's got a gun!!!"
People scattered in panic as Fitz pointed the gun at the child.
But the boy now radiated a gray aura.
Tick.
"You might know my power already…" the boy said.
"But the dangerous part is… you never know who I'll be. Or when I'll show up."
The boy's face melted away—revealing Toshi underneath.
He raised his own silenced pistol and shot Fitz four times in the chest.
Tick-tick-tick-tick—
The countdown ended. Toshi's time manipulation dropped, and reality snapped back to normal speed.
Thwip-thwip-thwip-thwip!
Four silenced shots hit center mass.
Fitz was blown back, crashing into a wall. His gun fired upward into the ceiling from reflex.
"AAAGHH!! You son of a—!!"
He raised his arm monitor and slammed it.
[Select drop zone]
Within a split second, a fire truck came crashing down from the sky—obliterating the café roof and everything inside, separating him from Toshi.
Fitz dragged himself out, blood dripping from his mouth.
He was alive—thanks to a bulletproof vest under his clothes. But just barely.
"I need to… find new cover…"
Then he noticed something.
The red aura surrounding the ice spike in his shoulder… it evaporated.
And the spike itself… vanished.
"…The ice spike… it melted? So that's how it works… His power only lasts for a limited time…"
But there was something else.
"…Hmm?"
Something was left behind inside the wound…
It was a small, round black button-like object.
"…Ugh… Dammit, that burns…"
He yanked it out to inspect—only to realize—
"…This isn't a button…"
It was a tracker. A tiny GPS device with a blinking red light.
"…That ice… it had a tracker inside… So that's how they kept finding me…"
But now I'm in trouble… That other one—Toshi—he's driving me straight into a trap!
They're boxing me in… I have to take one of them down before I get cornered.
.
.
.
Cough cough cough
Syd carried Sally through the smoke and finally reached the large blue building.
He called Mickey immediately.
"Hey! Where are you?!"
{3 minutes! The whole street's wrecked—I need time to circle in!}
"…He knew. That bastard knew we'd have a pickup team. So he bombed every entry point…"
Syd then dialed up Toshi.