“So you’re a detective, the kid’s a magical clairvoyant, and these two are some survivors you picked up.”

“Yeah.”

Kisibe leaned back on one of the theater seats, shrugging.

“Alright.”

I scratched my cheek, side-eyeing the rest of the group.

“You’re taking it much better than Erin and Felix did.”

Kishibe stood to his full height, dusting off his hands. 

“I just want to get out of here. It doesn’t matter who I have to ally with. You fellows seem strong enough. That’s all that matters.”

I nodded, relieved.

“Great. Felix here told me that you’ve been taking out the soldiers and interrogating ‘em. You find out anything good?”

Kishibe scratched his head. 

“Sort of. The ones I’ve shaken down have been close to this place, which I’ve been using as a base. Any other knowledge that goes beyond this general perimeter, I wouldn’t know of. Have to be safe, y’know.”

I was about to huff and turn tail, but Kishibe’s ringed finger slid onto my lips.

“BUT. But. There are four captains. They go by Barracuda, Nautilus, Gator, and the leader of the captains, Mantis. They order all the soldiers around, and Mantis himself reports directly to the guy leading the whole shebang, Chrono. 

I grabbed his finger and slapped it away from my mouth. 

“We already could figure that out. Clover and I fought two of ‘em, in fact. You aren’t really helping our case.”

Kishibe crossed his arms over his chest proudly.

“This is where I come in. I found a guy who knows where one of ‘em is located. In fact, he knew where the guy’s home base was. Gator, the big wrestler-lookin’ guy, is stationed in that new Mangrove Exhibit.”

I squinted, still skeptical. 

“How do you know he’s still there? He could’ve moved. The base could’ve been temporary. 

Kishibe shook his head. 

“Nope. It’s permanent. They were installing something there. I swear it.”

Felix adjusted his bandolier, loading his pistols. 

“It is the only way. We have no other choice. Objections?”

Erin shook her head. Clover kept quiet. 

I huffed. 

“Alright. I don’t like it, but he does have a point. It’s the only lead we’ve got.”

I turned to lead the group out of the theater, but a deafening bang echoed through the room as the door was kicked down. 

Cones of light flooded the room, masked soldiers flooding in. Within seconds, gunfire pingponged off the walls, forcing us to duck for cover. 

I grabbed Kishibe’s shoulder, shaking it roughly.

“Why are they here?! How did they find you?!”

The large man seemed to shrink five inches. 

“I don’t know, man! I did all my interrogations far enough away that they wouldn’t be able to follow me back!”

I turned to the rest of the group.

“Felix. Do you still have some smoke grenades?”

The Frenchman gripped his utility belt. 

“Plenty. What do you want?”

I signaled towards the center of the room. 

“Rush the center of the theater. Throw grenades in the middle, then down the right and left aisles. Kishibe, Erin, go right. Clover and I will go left. Take them out as fast and efficiently as you possibly can. As soon as the smoke clears, we’re out of here.”

Within seconds, the room was filled with smoke. I could just barely make out a quick signal from Felix, and Clover and I darted through the smog. 

The first soldier had no idea I was behind him. With a quick choke, he gasped and collapsed. His partner wasn’t so lucky. With a strained scream, he angled his weapon at me, but not before I could unleash two elbows to his face, forcing him to falter and drop his gun. One more knee to his helmet ended his struggle. 

Across the room, I heard a roar and the clang of steel on steel. Through the dissipating smoke, I was able to see the shadowy figures of two soldiers falling backwards. Kishibe was holding his own. 

With the soldiers taken out, there was only one thing left for me to do: evacuate the room as fast as humanly possible. 

I swore, looking down at my feet as I realized my shoes had been untied in the scuffle. When I reached to re-lace them, I felt Clover tug the back of my sweatshirt sharply. 

Right where my head would have been, a surge of blue-white sparks exploded. A soldier with an electricity-tipped staff began to advance, cutting lines through the fading smog with their weapon. 

I grabbed the center of the staff, sharply shoving it forward. The blunt section struck directly on the mask, allowing me to follow up with a spinning roundhouse kick, which knocked them to the floor. As I hit the ground running with Clover in tow, one final soccer kick to the mask knocked the soldier out. 

Just as the last of the smoke faded, I squeezed through the exit of the theater, where Kishibe and Felix were waiting. I panted, placing my hands on my knees, heaving in huge draughts of oxygen. 

“You guys don’t even look tired. I got the shit end of the stick. I had to fight like three guys!”

Kishibe shrugged. 

“Sucks to be you. Where’s the sexy blonde chick? Shame if she disappeared on us. Her rack was huge. ”

Scowling and covering Clover’s ears, I watched as she squirmed to get my digits off her head. 

“Fuck off, man, there’s a kid here. She shouldn’t be hearing this. Erin’ll be back.”

Right on cue, Erin reentered the room, a soldier in her tight, chokehold grasp.

Ignoring us completely, she knocked the soldier to the floor, mounting their torso, raising a fist above their mask. 

“Talk. Where’d you come from? How’d you find us?”

The soldier’s arms snaked around Erin’s hold, their body scrambling violently.

“PLEASE! Chrono will kill me if I say anything! If you let me go, I won’t tell anyone, I swear! Chrono has strange… powers. He’ll do it—”

I watched in horror as the pipes nestled in the ceiling of the room shuddered violently. A bright blue energy, the polar opposite of the energy Clover emitted, radiated through the air, materializing as powerful bursts of electricity that exploded throughout the room and air, causing the entire world to shake and buckle.

 My eyes grew wide. Clover hugged my leg tightly, rubbing her head into my stomach in fear. I muttered darkly under my breath.

“What the hell?”

With terrifying precision, a massive iron cylinder fell out of the pipe cluster, energy encircling it, causing the air to crackle and warp with an oppressive energy. 

With a sickening squelch, the cylinder collapsed upon the head of the soldier with terrifyingly perfect accuracy. Nothing else was even scratched, but the mask and cranium of the panicked soldier were reduced to a red spattering of viscous red liquid and pink gunk-soaked mask fragments. 

I clutched Clover’s hand, surveying the panicked group of ragtag survivors I had brought together as I steadied myself against the shaking ground. 

“Alright, everyone. Let’s go find this Gator guy. He’ll be able to tell us about Chrono. We need answers. And fast.”