The thugs whipped around to face Tim, wearing a battered old tan trench coat, boldly standing at the end of the alleyway.

“Who-z that-z?” asked Wazp.

“A lowly mynah (human),” Hyssss jeered.

“Timothy Thompson, Keeper of the Mimic’s Creed,” Tim said sternly, flashing his Mimic’s Creed necklace as he introduced himself. The shiny silver-chain necklace was holding up a crescent moon shape, formed by overlapping an ‘M’ and a ‘C’ rotated ninety degrees clockwise. “You can call me Tim, or Keeper, or Humble Hero—”

“Ssss—what do you want?!”

“I was just taking a stroll in the neighborhood and found an interesting scene—”

“Thiz doezn’t-z conzern-z you-z, mutt-z!” spat Wazp before quickly correcting himself in terror, “I-z mean-z ant-z! Zquizhy-z little-z ant-z.”

“Sorry … I couldn’t quite catch that—” Tim feigned trouble understanding him, cupping a hand to his ear.

“Ssss—thiss iss no conssern of yourss!” snarled Hyssss.

“As a Keeper, it is my sworn duty to protect the Blood of the Earth. Come—” 

“Ssss—what are you going to do about it?” Hyssss interjected snidely.

“Stop interrupting me!” snapped Tim.

“Puny-z ant-z can’t-z do-z anything-z,” Wazp had an annoyingly smug look. He glanced to the side to terrorize Kip and Chippy some more, but …

“They’re-z gone-z!” exclaimed Wazp. The broken monocle was also missing. Somewhere along the way, he had subconsciously dropped Kip.

“What?!” Hyssss snarled, whipping around to check. “Where’d they go?!”

“Let-z me-z zee—”

“ATTENTION!!” Tim commanded. His right hand was on his LRP65, the standard-issue gun given to all Keepers, ready to draw. A cross between a six-shooter and a miniature missile launcher, its blue-skinned handle could be seen. The gun was held in place by a leather clip-on holster, which also held extra single rounds strapped to the outside of it.

Wazp and Hyssss spun around with contempt in their eyes. How dare a lowly mynah talk to them like that!

“The two of you are under arrest for threatening and assaulting civilians,” declared Tim. “Backup will be arriving shortly. You cannot escape! Revert to your natural forms immediately.” His right hand did not move from his gun.

“You think we’re going to follow your orderss, Misster Kapuah (Keeper)?” sneered Hyssss, slithering forward as a threat. “You mynahss have no jurissdiction over uss!!”

There was a click as though a lighter had been lit. A quiet sizzling sound followed, like a firecracker preparing to go off.

PssssSHOO!

Shocked, Hyssss backed up slightly as something splattered on the ground an inch in front of him. Tim had fired a warning shot.

One, he counted mentally, keeping track of his used rounds. The rounds contained liquid Fractite, an element that had been found during the Blood War, approximately eight thousand years ago. Fractite had the ability to freeze Blood or even kill them; however, the rounds were only designed to incapacitate them temporarily.

Colorless mist wafted up from the ground where the round had exploded upon impact, giving Hyssss an uncomfortable chill. He glared angrily at Tim, who was now pointing his gun at him. Hyssss’s eyes narrowed further in extreme annoyance as he hissed angrily at the offensive dark blue barrel of Tim’s gun.

“Not another slither forward!!” warned Tim. “By the Order of the Mimic’s Creed, Keepers have jurisdiction over all Blood. This is your final warning. Come with me quietly before I have to get rough!”

“Rough-z? I’ll-z zhow-z you-z rough-z!!” Wazp bellowed as he charged at him.

Tim jumped out of the way, retaliating with two shots. Wazp easily dodged the rounds, which exploded behind him, releasing more mist. He chased after Tim, who cursed under his breath.

Those are some crazy reflexes! he thought. He’s faster than the average Blood!

“It’z cold-z!” Wazp shivered due to the round's effects.

“Don’t let it touch you, fulu (fool)!” warned Hyssss, circling behind Tim.

As Wazp attempted to tackle him, Tim sidestepped out of the way and fired two additional shots. Wazp landed on the ground, unscathed, and rolled away before shooting needles from his hands.

“WHOA!!” shouted Tim. He looked like a posing ballerina — but hardly graceful — as he barely dodged the needles.

Thoze are-z zome-z crazy reflexez! thought Wazp in shock.

“Are you trying to kill me?!” Hyssss barked from behind Tim. His pose was almost identical to Tim’s; he was forced to dodge the needles as well. His plans for a sneak attack had been foiled. “Watch where you’re aiming, fulu!”

“That’z too-z bad-z …” Wazp mumbled to himself, buzzing mischievously when he realized how stupid his partner looked. He was definitely going to tease him about it afterwards.

Wazp’s attention reverted towards Tim, who was struggling to regain his composure.

“You’re-z dead-z when-z I-z catch-z you-z, mynah-z!!” Wazp declared, rushing aggressively towards him.

Tim was grateful that Wazp liked to announce his plans. He quickly evaded again.

“Quit-z moving-z, puka-z (punk)!” demanded Wazp.

Without warning, the Blood swung around to sock him with two arms, one arm barely brushed Tim’s right shoulder. Tim had scrambled backwards in time to prevent a full blow, but winced in pain as a minuscule needle stabbed his shoulder. Without wanting to waste a point-blank opportunity, he fired his sixth shot, which hit Wazp’s left shoulder. A fizzling sound could be heard as a blue bruise with a frosty white rim appeared.

A hit! Tim cheered mentally.

“C-cold-z!!”

It was time to reload. Tim pulled a cartridge from his double-tube dispenser, which contained extra chamber cartridges for his LRP65. The cartridge flew out of his hand as Hyssss violently swatted at Tim from his blind spot, causing him to crash backwards into the wall before falling to the ground. He yanked out another cartridge from the dispenser as fast as he could and reloaded, firing just as Hyssss spun at him for a tailwhip.

SPLAT!

CRASH!

Tim ducked as Hyssss’ tail obliterated the wall behind him, sparks flying on contact. A loud cracking sound could be heard as bits of rocks and debris exploded in every direction.

The shot had hit its mark on Hyssss’ torso, fizzling as it reacted to the Blood to create a similar bruise to Wazp’s. The round partially stunned him, making his movements very sluggish; however, it didn’t stop his advance. Tim quickly fired another shot, hitting Hyssss’ stomach to freeze him completely.

“One down, one to—whoops!” said Tim, diving out of the way as Wazp clumsily attempted to stomp on him.

“Hold-z … ztill-z … inzect-z!” gasped Wazp, making another clumsy stomp attempt. The round had made him listless.

“Huh? But aren’t you an insect?” asked Tim, easily rolling out of the way.

With his annoyingly smug look, Wazp replied sluggishly, “Eumenez … fraternuz …”. 

Using Wazp’s sluggish movements to his advantage, Tim scrambled up a nearby piece of scaffolding before launching himself towards the insect Blood, catching him by surprise. Wazp did not have enough time to react. All he could see was Tim’s evil grin and right foot before he was kicked in the face — more accurately, his left eye. To Tim, it felt like he had just kicked a crash mat from Keeper training courses.

“HA! In your face!” Tim shouted enthusiastically as he backflipped off of Wazp. “That’s for trying to stomp on me!”

It was an immature act of revenge, one he would regret soon after. His leg was already screaming in agony. The Blood held onto his eye in pain while buzzing angrily. In the air, Tim froze him with one final shot to the torso before crash landing; his right leg had buckled beneath him.

Patting dirt and grime off of himself, he hobbled his way towards the frozen ruags and cuffed each of them with a Fractite Cuff. The cuffs were single-unit rings, like thick bracelets. They contained a diluted vapor of Fractite gas, which was slowly released when in use. Fractite Cuffs were created to keep Blood in a frozen state, preventing them from liquefying and slithering away.

Ooooh … that flying kick was a bad idea … Tim rubbed his throbbing leg. It looked so cool on TV … 

A few Keepers and Gardios ran past him. Backup had finally arrived. One of them patted Tim’s back as he passed him. “Good job, son,” he praised him proudly.

No one noticed the dark figure in the shadows slithering away into the mesh of alleyways.