The apartment was no longer a home; it was a blast furnace.
Scorch stood amidst the wreckage of the kitchenette, his hands wreathed in roaring orange flames. He didn't look like a hitman; he looked like a child who had finally found a toy he couldn't break.
"Burn," Scorch giggled, thrusting his palms forward.
A cone of superheated fire erupted, engulfing the small living room.
Ren didn't dodge. There was no room to dodge without exposing Maya, who was huddled behind the overturned kitchen island. He crossed his armored arms in front of his face and stepped into the inferno.
[Passive: Chitinous Plating]
[Heat Resistance: Critical.]
The fire washed over him. Ren felt his skin blister where the black armor didn't cover, the smell of singing hair and cooking meat filling his nose. But the Abyssal Juggernaut was built for endurance. The pain was distant, filtered through a layer of cold, predatory rage.
He emerged from the fire like a demon walking out of hell, his armor glowing faintly red from the heat.
Maya watched, paralyzed.
She sat in her wheelchair, clutching the dull steak knife until her knuckles turned white. She wanted to scream. She wanted to throw the knife at the man with the fire. She wanted to do something.
But she couldn't.
Her legs were dead weight. Her lungs, riddled with Mana Blight, burned from the smoke, leaving her gasping for air like a fish on land. She watched her brother, her kind, gentle brother, turn into a monster of bone and violence just to keep her alive.
I am a burden, the thought spiraled in her mind, toxic and heavy. I am the anchor dragging him down.
Ren closed the distance to Scorch in one stride. He grabbed the pyromancer by the throat.
Scorch's trench coat smoked under Ren's grip. The mage panicked, slamming a ball of concentrated plasma directly into Ren's chest.
WHOOSH.
Ren's shirt incinerated. The pale, marble-white skin underneath reddened, bubbled, and then before Maya's terrified eyes knit itself back together in a hiss of steam.
"My turn," Ren rasped.
He didn't squeeze. He threw.
Ren launched the pyromancer across the room. Scorch smashed through the cheap plywood cabinetry, landing in a heap of broken dishes and flour.
"Maya," Ren barked, not looking back. "The fire escape. Go."
"Ren, look out!" Maya screamed, her voice cracking.
She saw it before he did. Behind him, the bathroom wall exploded outward.
Brick.
The seven-foot giant had recovered. His power armor whined a high-pitched shriek of hydraulics pushed to the limit and he charged. He swung the pneumatic sledgehammer with enough force to derail a train.
Ren spun around. He caught the hammer.
BOOM.
The shockwave cracked the floorboards beneath Ren's feet. Dust rained from the ceiling.
Ren's knees buckled slightly, but he held his ground. His left hand was wrapped around the head of the hammer. The black bone-plating on his palm groaned under the pressure, but it didn't crack.
Brick froze. Beneath his helmet, the giant's eyes went wide. "No way."
"Too heavy," Ren grunted.
He released the hammer and drove a fist into Brick's midsection.
CLANG.
It was like punching a bank vault. The E-Rank power armor held. Ren's fist left a deep dent in the steel, but Brick didn't fly backward. He just grunted, stumbling a step.
"You are not the only armoured one!" Brick roared.
He dropped the hammer and grabbed Ren in a bear hug, pinning Ren's arms to his sides. The hydraulics in the suit hissed as they clamped down, trying to crush Ren's spine.
"Cook him, Scorch!" Brick yelled, lifting Ren off his feet. "I've got him pinned!"
From the kitchen debris, Scorch stood up, spitting blood. He raised both hands, a sphere of white-hot plasma forming between them.
Maya stared at the scene. Ren was trapped. The giant was crushing him. The fire mage was aiming.
Do something! her mind screamed.
She looked at the debris around her. A heavy cast-iron skillet lay on the floor near her wheel. She reached for it. Her fingers brushed the handle.
She strained, her muscles trembling. But the skillet was heavy, and her angle was bad. She managed to lift it an inch before her weak grip failed. It clattered uselessly to the floor.
Tears blurred her vision. She couldn't even lift a pan. She was watching Ren die, and she couldn't lift a damn pan.
"Ren..." she sobbed.
Ren heard her. The sound of her crying cut through the combat haze better than any scream.
He looked at Scorch, who was about to throw the fireball. Then he looked at Brick's helmet.
[Hunger: 70%]
[Adrenaline: Max.]
"Use the spikes," Gluttony whispered.
[Bone Weaving: Extension.]
SHNK.
Six-inch bone spikes erupted from Ren's back, piercing through his own skin and driving directly into the chest plate of Brick's armor. They wedged into the metal, locking the two of them together.
"Get off!" Brick yelled, realizing his mistake.
Ren lifted his legs and kicked off the floor, throwing his entire weight backward.
He suplexed the giant.
CRASH.
The floorboards of the old tenement finally gave up. Ren and Brick plunged through the floor, crashing into the apartment below in a cloud of plaster and dust.
Maya was left alone in the burning living room with Scorch.
The pyromancer looked at the hole in the floor, then turned his gaze to Maya. He wiped blood from his mouth. His eyes were crazy.
"Well," Scorch smiled, a flame flickering on his thumb. "The brother is gone. Guess I'll start with the package."
He took a step toward her.
Maya gripped the steak knife. It felt like a toy.
Suddenly, a massive shape blurred past the window outside.
Ren hadn't stayed down.
He had kicked off the wall of the apartment below, lunging up through the hole in the floor like a rocket. He grabbed the ledge of the hole and vaulted back up, covered in grey dust.
He was holding something.
It was Brick. Or rather, Brick's unconscious body inside the dented power armor. Ren was holding the 400-pound armored man over his head with two hands.
Ren didn't look at Scorch. He looked out the window. Across the street.
He saw the glint of the Sniper's scope.
"CATCH!" Ren roared.
He threw Brick.
He launched the armored giant out of the 14th-story window. Brick sailed across the alleyway, a screaming metal projectile aimed directly at the roof of the Data Center.
Across the street, Valery (the Sniper) eyes widened. She didn't have time to shoot. She rolled to the side just as Brick crashed into the AC unit she had been using for cover.
CRUNCH.
The sniper nest was destroyed.
Ren turned back to Scorch. The pyromancer's jaw dropped. He looked at the window, then at Ren.
Ren took a step forward. His shadow swallowed the fire mage.
"You threatened her," Ren whispered.
Scorch backed up, his flames sputtering out. "Wait. We can deal. I have credits—"
Ren didn't negotiate. He moved.