"Come this way ma'am," a soldier ordered Mary Greyhart, who had been checked by security to step into the elevator, along with her husband, John.
They were inside the company building Ash's father owned.
The building had a few cracks on the wall and debris on the ground, all from the previous tremors that had happened.
"Please be careful with her, we just got separated from our boys, so she's having it rough," John explained as he pleaded with the security man.
"I understand sir, more assistance will arrive in the day to go look for them," the soldier assured and then walked away.
As soon as she got into the elevator, it closed, and immediately started taking them to the top floor.
"Let's just hope Kover can locate his brother and stay close to him," John breathed out after seeing his wife lean on the wall of the elevator.
"I'm not worried about them," she whispered loud enough for him to hear.
"Look at the city, look how destroyed it is," she pointed out through the glass lift they were in.
"Well, the government will have an explanation for it later on, but I'm sure it's not a natural disaster,"
"We just need to get to a safer place first," he added as the elevator door opened.
They got out of it and headed for the stairs leading to the roof.
As soon as they were outside, a helicopter was already waiting for them.
Immediately, their bodyguards helped them into it as the blades started to whirl rapidly, and soon they took off into the sky.
****
Ash and his younger brother Kover kept racing through the broken city in the dead of night.
Ash led the way because he was familiar with the route. while Kover trailed behind.
Almost getting to their destination, they got ambushed by a gang of robbers that plunged out of a nearby building.
One of them quickly grabbed hold of Kover as he tried resisting, while the other two held ash at bay with a pocket knife.
"Yo!" The one with the knife spoke. "Where y'all headed?" He asked.
"That's none of your business," Ash replied, his eyes assessing the situation.
"Yeah, you're right," he continued after taking a glance at both of them.
"Listen, um... I'mma need y'all to drop whatever you're holding,"
"Ash, let's just give them what we have so they won't hurt us," Kover suggested while still struggling to break free.
The man that held on to him was huge, his muscles were large enough to choke the life out of anyone.
"Calm down, Kover, why would we do something so stupid?" He said mockingly.
"Besides, even if we had something to give, there's no way the likes of him can rob us of it," Ash said those words to provoke him.
"Listen here kid," the young boy rushed towards Ash with his knife piercing directly towards Ash's throat.
"I'm at least 5 years older than you, so show a little respect to me,"
'Looks like the taunt worked.' Ash smiled with a thought in his mind.
"I have your... Whatever that guy is to you, under hostage, if you're wise, you'll co-operate,"
"Drop everything you have, and be on your way. That way we won't hurt anyone of you," he demanded as he pulled back from Ash.
"Hey boss, I don't think they have anything with them, can't we just let them go?" The other young teenage boy asked, seeing as the situation felt discomforting.
"Hey, shut your yap, alright?"
"I didn't ask for a sisi to accompany me here,"
"But boss, we could just go rob a convenient store or something," the boy spoke out again.
"There are a lot of them open out there, we could quickly just grab a few goods,"
"Yo, I said shut up," the gang leader lashed out angrily. He then started to walk closer to the boy who kept disturbing him.
"What the fu-" before he could complete his words, Ash immediately sent his knee, deep into his guts.
"Don't take your eyes off your opponent, that is the number one rule of combat," he spoke as he gazed into his eyes.
"G- get him," he grunted as he collapsed on the floor.
"M- me?" The young boy stammered as he feared he could get beaten up too.
Ash quickly grabbed him by the collar and gave him a head butt strong enough to make him pass out.
After seeing two of his teammate collapse on the floor, the last man quickly tried to strangle Kover but Ash was fast enough to catch him unaware.
Ash closed the distance between them in a few steps and immediately leaped into the air, sending his feet to the man's head.
Ash made sure to apply enough force to land a fatal blow on him, but he applied too much and brought the man down to his knees.
As soon as Ash landed, he knocked the man out with a powerful knee to his chin.
Kover watched his brother knock out three gang members in a matter of seconds as he lay on the ground.
From the memories he had of his brother when they were younger, Ash had always loved combat more than anything, but since they got separated, he knew almost nothing of him.
"Maybe I overreacted," Ash murmured to himself as he glanced at them.
"Ash, that was amazing," Kover praised him as soon as he got off the floor.
"Oh um, that was nothing actually," feeling shy from being praised as he smiled it off.
"You bastard," the gang leader grunted painfully as he tried to speak.
"You got what you deserved," Ash calmly spoke to him.
"W- we only- wanted something-" he coughed out. "Damn it, it hurts,"
"Take a little rest, you'll recover," Ash assured him.
"We only wanted something to live off of!!" He summoned all the strength he had to speak.
"We have been living in the streets our whole lives,"
"Can't we just have something?" He asked.
"You can, but that is not the way to do it,"
Ash said as he put his hand into his pocket.
"I wouldn't advise you to go robbing the convenient stores, but if you don't do it, others will eventually,"
Ash got closer to him and handed him a black card.
"I could use you and your friends in the future if I needed help,"
"Keep in touch, alright?" He said as he handed him a few money notes along with the cash.
"Let's go, Kover,"
"Right,"
They both dashed into the dark with Ash still leading the path.
After they left, the gang leader wept on the spot as he felt humiliated.
"Are y'all ok?" He asked his fallen teammates to see if they were unconscious.
"Y- yeah,"
"I'm alright too,"
They both replied as they crawled closer to each other.
Just as they were grunting out in pain, they heard a loud sound coming from someone behind them.
As they all turned toward the direction, what they saw left hem in shock.
"Raaarrrrr!!!"