Ren didn't negotiate. He moved.
Scorch tried to summon another fireball, screaming in panic, but Ren was already there. Ren didn't punch him; he simply walked through the pyromancer's guard, ignoring the heat that curled the edges of his blackened armor. He grabbed Scorch's head with one hand, his chitinous fingers wrapping around the man's face like a vice.
"Noooo" Scorch gurgled, his eyes bulging.
Ren slammed Scorch into the floor. Hard.
The impact cracked the floorboards. Scorch went limp instantly, his flames snuffing out as consciousness fled.
[Threat Neutralized.]
Ren turned immediately to the kitchen island. Maya was cowering there, coughing in the thick black smoke, clutching the useless steak knife.
"Maya," Ren rasped. The violet light in his eyes dimmed slightly, softening as he looked at her. "We're leaving."
He didn't wait for her to answer. He reached down and scooped her up. She felt terrifyingly light in his armored arms, frail against the cold, hard density of his carapace.
"My chair," Maya choked out, looking at the twisted metal frame stuck in the melted linoleum.
"Leave it," Ren said. "Hold on to my neck. Don't let go, no matter what happens."
He stepped toward the shattered window. The fire escape was just outside. The rain was coming down in sheets, a cold deluge that hissed as it hit Ren's superheated armor.
Ren stepped out onto the rusted metal grating. The cold air hit his face, sharp and biting. He looked down into the alleyway. It was a fifty-foot drop into darkness.
"We go down," Ren said. "Keep your head down."
He took a step toward the ladder.
Schlick.
It was a wet, tearing sound. So quiet it was almost lost under the thunder.
Ren froze. He felt a sharp, cold pressure in his right thigh.
He looked down.
A serrated dagger was buried in his leg. It had found the millimeter-wide gap between the chitin plating on his thigh and knee. Dark blood welled up around the hilt.
He hadn't seen it coming. He hadn't heard it. Even with his [Perception] boosted by the evolution, there had been nothing.
"Ren?" Maya whispered, seeing the blood. "Ren, your leg!"
"FREEZE," Gluttony roared in his mind. "MOVEMENT. THREE O'CLOCK. ELEVATION."
Ren didn't panic. He didn't pull the knife out. He spun around, shielding Maya with his body, pressing her face into his chest so she wouldn't see what was coming.
He swung his free arm in a vicious backhand arc, aiming for the empty space on the railing above them.
His claws slashed through thin air.
But as his hand passed, the rain behaved strangely. The droplets didn't fall straight down. They hit something in the empty air—splashing against an invisible outline, tracing the silhouette of a crouching man.
Ghost.
The invisible assassin dropped from the railing. He didn't make a sound. His stealth suit bent the light around him, making him look like a watery distortion, a predator made of rain and glass.
He wasn't aiming for Ren. He was aiming for Maya.
Ghost lunged, a second dagger materialized from the distortion, thrusting toward Maya's exposed back.
Ren couldn't block with his arms, he was holding his sister. He couldn't dodge without dropping her over the railing.
He did the only thing he could.
Ren twisted his torso, throwing his own back into the path of the blade.
CLANG. SHNK.
The first strike sparked off his shoulder plate. The second found purchase. The dagger sank deep into Ren's left trapezius, piercing the muscle near his neck.
Ren roared,a sound of pure animal fury but he didn't stumble. He clamped his arm tighter around Maya.
"You coward," Ren growled.
The distortion shimmered. Ghost backflipped away, landing lightly on the railing. A voice, synthesized and echoing, drifted from the empty air.
"The target is the girl. Put her down, and you walk away."
Ren reached up and ripped the dagger out of his shoulder. Blood sprayed, dark and thick.
"Come and get her," Ren hissed.
He closed his eyes.
He couldn't trust his sight. The stealth suit was too good; the rain made it impossible to track the visual distortion fast enough.
He focused on the Smell.
The rain. The rust. The smoke from the apartment. And underneath it all... a sharp, chemical sting. Bitter almonds.
Neurotoxin.
The blades were poisoned.
Ren snapped his eyes open. He tracked the scent. It was moving to his left, circling for a flank attack.
[Status: Poisoned (Neurotoxin Type-V)]
[Effect: Paralysis imminent in 30 seconds.]
[Metabolic Response: Purging...]
"Thirty seconds is all I need," Ren muttered.
The scent spiked. Ghost was attacking.
Ren didn't punch. He waited. He waited until he felt the displacement of air right in front of him.
[Bone Weaving: Explosive Growth.]
Ren focused his mana into his left shoulder, the arm holding Maya. He couldn't use the arm to fight, so he turned the arm into the weapon.
CRACK-THUD.
Massive, jagged spikes of white bone exploded outward from his shoulder plate and elbow. It wasn't a precision strike; it was a claymore mine of calcium.
The air in front of him crunched.
A grunt of pain echoed from the void. The bone spikes had impacted something solid.
The shimmer flickered and failed.
Ghost appeared. He was a small man in a sleek, grey bodysuit covered in hexagonal optical sensors. He was clutching his chest. Three of Ren's bone spikes had punctured his stealth suit, pinning him for a fraction of a second.
"Found you," Ren hissed.
Ren didn't give him a chance to recover. He pivoted on his good leg and unleashed a devastating front kick.
[Strength: 25]
His armored boot slammed into Ghost's midsection.
CRUNCH.
Ribs shattered. The assassin folded in half like a wet towel. The force of the kick lifted him off the fire escape.
Ghost flew backward, crashing through the rusted railing. He flailed silently as he plummeted fifty feet down into the dark, trash-filled alleyway below.
THUD.
A wet, final sound echoed up from the darkness.
Ren stood on the broken fire escape, breathing heavily. The adrenaline was fading, and the poison was taking hold. His left arm felt numb. His vision swam.
"Ren?" Maya pulled back, looking at his face. His skin was grey, veins standing out in stark black relief against his neck. "You're hurt. You're... you're turning black."
"Just a scratch," Ren lied, his tongue feeling thick. "Hold on tight, May. We have to jump."
"Jump? From here?"
Ren looked down. The alley was dark. He couldn't climb down the ladder; he was too dizzy, and his grip strength was failing.
"Trust me," Ren said.
He stepped to the edge of the broken railing.
"POISON LEVELS CRITICAL," Gluttony warned. "MOTOR FUNCTIONS COMPROMISED. BRACE FOR IMPACT."
Ren wrapped both arms around Maya, curling his body around hers to form a living shield. He activated the Juggernaut density one last time.
He dropped into the void.
The wind rushed past them. For a second, they were weightless.
Ren twisted in mid-air, ensuring his armored back was facing the ground.
CRASH.
They hit a pile of wet cardboard and garbage bags. Even with the cushion, the impact was brutal. Ren groaned as the breath was knocked out of him. His vision went completely black for a second.
"Ren! Ren!"
Maya's voice pulled him back.
He gasped, inhaling the smell of rot and rain. He was alive. Maya was safe in his arms, shaken but unharmed.
Ren tried to stand up. His legs wobbled. He fell against the brick wall of the alley.
"Poison..." Ren mumbled. "Need... to purge..."
He looked at the dead body of Ghost a few feet away. The assassin lay twisted at an unnatural angle.
"Eat," Gluttony whispered. "The assassin's liver filters toxins. Consume it to generate the antidote."
Ren looked at the corpse. Then he looked at Maya, who was staring at him with wide, terrified eyes.
He couldn't do it. Not in front of her.
"Help me up," Ren rasped to his sister. "We have to keep moving."
Maya didn't ask questions. She wedged herself under his arm, letting him lean his heavy, armored frame against her frail shoulder.
"I've got you," she whispered, gritting her teeth against the weight. "I've got you, big brother."
Together, they limped out of the alleyway and into the shadows of the city, leaving the burning tower behind them.
[Status: Ren Walker]
HP: 75 / 250 (Poisoned)
Mana: 5 / 40 (Depleted)
Condition: Slowed.
Current Location: Sector 9 Alleys.