The city doesn't sleep, and neither do its monsters.
The sky swallowed them both.
Jack clung to the beast as it plummeted, wings flailing and half-limp after the spear had pierced its skull. Wind tore past his ears, howling in violent protest. The golden mask fused to his face glinted in the darkness, and his blond hair shimmered as if lit from within.
He didn't scream.
Instead, he pulled back one of the Hybrid's limbs—jagged and bone-thin—and ripped it free with a metallic crack. Then another. With a twist of his hands, the two limbs fused, reshaped by his ability into a long, vicious spear.
He climbed along the creature's back, moving with surgical control. His eyes, now glowing gold, locked onto the back of the skull below him. No hesitation.
Jack plunged the spear downward, straight through the base of the Hybrid's head.
Crunch.
The Hybrid twitched. Then fell completely still.
They dropped together, a silent missile of black and gold slicing through the air. But Jack wasn't going to ride it all the way down.
He yanked the weapon back out—fluid and clean—and hurled it toward the street below, the spear spinning once before slamming into the cracked asphalt like a thrown lance.
Far beneath, Adam's fight was still raging.
He'd just sent another Hybrid flying into a dumpster with a flaming roundhouse when the spear stabbed the ground a few feet behind him.
Adam blinked.
"...Huh?"
A golden flash lit the alley.
Jack reappeared in an instant, teleporting in a flicker of light. He crouched beside the embedded spear, hand already reaching for it.
Without a word, he pulled it from the pavement, twirled it once through his fingers, then launched forward with deadly speed.
The Hybrid Adam hadn't finished turned just in time to see Jack drive the spear straight into its back, piercing clean through its chest.
It crumpled forward with a guttural screech.
Adam let out a low whistle. "Well, well. Guess you're back in it."
Jack didn't respond immediately. His tone was different now—deeper, more distant.
"Keep fighting."
Adam chuckled. "Still mad at me, skull-face?"
No answer.
But he didn't need one.
Two more Hybrids barreled out from the shadows of the alley, claws scraping the walls as they charged. These weren't mindless—they coordinated, flanking without hesitation.
Adam rolled his neck with a grin.
"Two on two, then."
Jack adjusted his grip on the spear, golden eyes fixed on the target.
The Hybrids rushed them.
Adam went high—leaping into the air with perfect timing and smashing his fist into one Hybrid's stomach, launching it backward with a fiery uppercut that lit the creature's chest ablaze.
Jack dropped low.
He slid beneath the legs of the second Hybrid, his coat trailing behind him like a black ribbon. As he passed underneath, he drove his knee up—hard—into the creature's thigh, knocking it off balance.
Then, from behind, he slashed at its ankles, clean and fast, the spear slicing in a golden arc. The Hybrid collapsed to its knees with a roar.
Jack circled behind it in one smooth motion.
His movements were cold, trained. Spear reversed. Elbow tucked. He climbed onto its back and carved clean lines across its spine, mimicking techniques of long-dead warriors who mastered the blade-lance.
Adam, still mid-fight, let out a deep laugh—not mocking, but energized.
"This is the good part!" he shouted over the sounds of bone and flame. "Been a while since we teamed up properly!"
Jack didn't answer. He didn't need to.
He turned, reversed his grip again, and with one final motion—drove the spear down, ending the second Hybrid for good.
Silence fell.
The fog in the alley thinned. The bodies began to smolder and disintegrate, as Hybrids always did upon death.
Jack stepped away from the remains, the golden mask slowly dimming. His blond hair faded back to black, and the spear in his hands disintegrated into specks of dark light before vanishing.
His breathing was steady but heavy.
Then he dropped to one knee.
The mask remained for a moment longer, flickering like dying flame—then cracked and faded off his face.
Adam approached slowly, crouching next to him.
"You good?"
Jack didn't reply.
But he stayed upright. Alive. Focused.
And that was enough—for now.