Dance of the Gods

They spent a few more minutes chatting, but then a sudden explosion shook the area. It was close by, maybe a few streets over.

All four of them jumped to their feet and ran to the exit, except Billie, who ran to the office area to send a telegraph to the police station and to the Lawbringers and Creator's Will.

By protocol at least one person had to stay back and guard the HQ. Billie had the least use in a fight, so she was the one who stayed behind.

The three of them exited the building and looked towards the sky. About three streets over, a large plume of smoke rose into the sky. Gunshots echoed from that direction, which meant that a few cops were already on the scene and engaged in combat.

Michael looked at Veronica and was about to ask her to stay back, but she gave him a serious look and he thought better of being overprotective.

They ran towards the sound of shooting, with guns already drawn.

The fighting was happening at an intersection. It was clear which building exploded, and the fire from it was already spreading to the nearby residences. The area was clear of civilians, except for the unconscious and dead ones.

Michael made a quick count and, using the distinct sounds and movements, he determined that there were five shooters.

They were shooting at a specific point near an upturned carriage. Behind the carriage, two police officers huddled together; one had a leg wound that was bleeding, and the other applied field first-aid.

The shooters hadn't noticed the three of them yet, which meant they had the element of surprise.

They hadn't had time to talk about a way of approach or strategy, but they moved with a scary amount of coordination.

Michael ran to the left, moving towards the cops and supporting them. He would also draw most of the assailants' fire.

Gerald muttered to himself, then drew the Clock of Time on his chest, and ran from cover to cover fast. His movements were blurry and unpredictable, kind of confusing.

Veronica was a lot more sneaky, and with expert precision, she moved to the right. In her right hand, the Lady Helper sat, while in her left she held the rainbow colored knife, Silent Whisper.

In the past week she also spent a bit of time playing and practicing with the weapon.

Each morning, she spent an hour in pure silence. It was a simple task. She just let herself go and danced inside the Theater for that time.

She figured out that while it's on her; the knife stays hidden, but if she holds it, her whole person becomes less noticeable.

Using this knowledge, she approached the shooters from behind. By this point, Michael and Gerald had returned fire, but they were still very much outgunned.

They also didn't want to waste Ascended Bullets on regular terrorists, which made the situation harder.

Veronica heard as one bullet hit a shooter, and he began screaming in pain.

The intersection was full of overturned carriages and rubble, so sneaking behind the four active shooters wasn't too difficult.

It took her only a few endless seconds to get near them. When she was only a few meters away, Veronica used Silent Whisper's ability and summoned a bubble of noise cancelling.

The sudden disappearance of sounds caused the shooters to panic. Their barrels ignited, and they felt the recoil, but the bullets made no sound.

Veronica snuck behind the closest man and, using her knife, she cut the tendons in his legs. The man toppled over, his face consumed in soundless agony.

With quick movements, Veronica took his gun and threw it at the place where Michael and Gerald were hiding.

The final three saw the thrown weapon as well. They turned around just in time to see Veronica running towards them. They each raised their guns and pulled the trigger, when a small glowing blue moon appeared next to Veronica.

It flew next to her, moving towards the three assailants. Each bullet shot at her, curved and entered the moon.

The three shooters froze, not understanding what they were seeing. Veronica reached the first one and, using her revolver's butt, she knocked him out cold.

Behind the last two, Michael and Gerald appeared. They both knocked the last two out with ease, then began tying their hands together.

Her breathing was uneven from the adrenaline, and her heart raced. Veronica dismissed both the blue moon and the bubble of silence. The sudden assault of sounds caused her to panic for a second.

Her head ached, and she had to lean against a broken carriage for a few minutes to calm down.

Michael came to check up on her, but since she was fine, he went on with getting the crime scene in order.

While Veronica stood next to the knocked out shooters, she smelt something disgusting in the air.

She looked to the side at the person she cut with Silent Whisper. The man was lying on his stomach, and judging by the color of his pants and his surroundings, he shat himself.

Veronica coughed with nausea and began walking away, while cursing at the dagger. One of its special abilities is to apply a random poison to anyone it cuts…

It gave the shooter explosive diarrhea...

...

It took the police a few more minutes to arrive with reinforcements and medical personal.

They administered help to the explosion victims first. A lot of them were already dead by then.

Veronica walked through the destroyed intersection with a grim expression. She watched as firefighters tried their best to put out the fire, which was consuming the nearby buildings.

Eventually, she ended up inside the building where the initial explosion happened. Michael was there too, examining everything.

He already found where the device exploded. It was next to a bunch of burned corpses.

This one differed from the previous ones. The bomb wasn't attached to a person; someone carried it into the building and left it there to explode.

Veronica walked up next to him, then crouched down and examined the corpses. She shook her head with a sad expression, then looked up at Michael.

"What was this place?"

Michael stared down at the corpses and felt a lot of disgust. Not towards the bombers, though. Some of the corpses were smaller... children.

"This was an illegal brothel for high-end customers... This was a place where the rich came to live their fetishes in incognito..." He didn't say more, he spared Veronica from that.

Before examining anything on the main floor, he went through the entire building... The basement was the worst.

He found fresh corpses that people did unspeakable things with. He also found a few 'workers' still alive. None were older than 16, the youngest being close to 8.

In a cold dungeon, they huddled together, naked and crying. Chains bound their feet and arms, and their frequent abuse was clear.

Seeing all this caused a small seed of doubt to grow inside Michael's heart. Maybe those people using explosive weren't in the wrong. But then he looked down at the children's burnt corpses near him...

These kind of rich people may be the worst in this world, but killing innocents, like children, to get rid of them was a step in the wrong direction.

If they would've killed them with surgical strikes, like assassination, he could've sympathized with them, but he would never advocate killing children.

Veronica was about to explore the place further, but Michael took her arm and shook his head. Without another word, they left the building.

Michael spent some time explaining his findings to one of the higher-ranking police officer. They would take care of the children and get them back to their parents or other family members, if they had any.

While he was talking, Veronica wandered away and found a familiar-looking man administering medical aid.

The man was a giant. He wore a dark blue long-sleeved turtleneck with a black jacket over it. His skin was dark tan. His head was bald, with a few tribal tattoos covering most of it.

The man rose from the ground. His green eyes turned and looked down at Veronica. On his face, an enormous grin appeared.

This wasn't Veronica's first time meeting an Islander, but this wasn't just a simple Islander. He was someone who saved her life.

"You heal well, amazing!" He said, then gave Veronica a big hug, which she did not expect.

The large man giggled like a child, and lifted Veronica's small stature with ease. His laugh seemed to be contagious since Veronica began laughing too.

After putting her down, she smiled up at him... "I don't think we have met yet. My name is Veronica Navarro and I would like to sincerely thank you for saving me!"

The Islander named Hu just chuckled and with his booming voice said...

"Nice to meet you, Veronica. My name is Hu'elani Kamehaha, but people call me Hu. No need to thank. I help everyone in need! You were in need, I help! Simple."

"I know, but thank you anyway. If you need anything, I owe you a favor, a big one!" She said with a bright smile, but Hu just chuckled again.

"HA! Your husband already owe favor, don't need two!"

Veronica was about to correct him about her marital status, but after taking a quick glance at Michael, she giggled to herself and let the matter drop.

"Thank you again. Goodbye Hu'elani Kamehaha!" With that, Veronica walked away, not seeing Hu's amazed expression.

Veronica didn't even realize she pronounced Hu's full name perfectly.