“So do you know anything about the Syndicate we’re up against? I’m actually looking for a challenge this time around.” Emilio complained.

  “Don’t know, I’ve never heard of them. But the job description says they’re an Urban Legend Class Syndicate.” Heidi said, looking at the PDA, reading off the job notes. “Let’s see… Job is from Cacao Workshop. One of their higher ups got kidnapped. Apparently he had a bunch of blueprints and designs on him. Cacao really don’t have something like that falling into the wrong hands.” She handed the PDA over to Emilio, who skimmed over it before handing it back to Heidi, who put it away. “The group is called The Right Arrows. Looks like they’ve been gaining some infamy in the past few months. Lots of kidnappings and ransom deals, but nothing of this level. A Workshop big wig was the final straw.”

  “So they’re relying on us instead of a big Office? You’d think they’d choose something better than a bunch of Grade 9 Fixers. Not that I’m complaining.”

  “I think they know about our past work.”

  The whole time, Oliver was walking on a railing, remaining perfectly balanced. She found a uniform that fit her. Although fit was a weird way of putting it, as she preferred to wear outfits that were a few sizes too big; the jacket’s sleeves went past her hands, while the bottom of it went down so low she was using it as a skirt. She was silent through the whole discussion.

  “Eh, good point.” Emilio shrugged, passing by a strange looking tree. It looked vaguely human when you squinted, with two long branches resembling arms and a bulbous knot of branches at the top resembling a head. “What’s with these trees? I’ve seen a couple popping up in the past few days. Is some scientist in the Nest doing another experiment?”

  “No idea, but I ain’t getting close to them.” Heidi laughed. “I’ve seen enough fucked up stuff in these parts to know what to avoid and what is just part of the City.”

  “Mmhm,” Emilio nodded, watching as Oliver hopped off of the railing. He pointed at a parking garage down the street. In front of the entrance was a pair of men, dressed in denim outfits, decorated with arrows; every Syndicate seemed to have a dress code or a theme to themselves, looks like the Right Arrows was just that: Arrows. “That’s the place. Cacao Workshop said that their boss is likely in the center of the garage. That’s in theory, though, he could be dead or held somewhere else, unless these guys want to keep him alive.”

  “Why don’t we ask those two-? Oliver!” Heidi said, before noticing Oliver was already walking over to the thugs guarding the front.

  The bear masked girl stood in front of one of the thugs, who was leaning up against a wall. There was a noticeable height difference between the two of them, making it look like a child looking up at an adult.

  “The hell do you want, brat?” The man looked down at her. “Fuck off. We’re not running a day care here.”

  “Do you want a juice box or something?” The other man said.

  “I’m gonna need to keep her on a leash.” Emilio grumbled. He walked up to the entrance of the garage, addressing the two men. “Sorry to bother you,” he said, waving to them. “I’m with Runaway Office. I’m being told you’re holding my client’s boss here. Is that true?”

  “What if we are?” One of the men said, specifically the one Oliver was standing in front of. “So you’re Fixers, huh? I haven’t seen you guys around here before. Why don’t you tell your kid to back off, then we can talk.”

  “Sorry, not gonna happen.” Emilio shook his head. “First you tell us, then I can tell her to come back to me.”

  The Syndicate grunt grinned, motioning for his friend to come over to him, who went over to stand behind Oliver.

  Heidi and Emilio, knowing where things were about to go, started to move forward. Oliver was in danger, they thought to themselves. “So, are you gonna hand our client back to us or do we have to- Ah hell…” Heidi scoffed, “I know there is just one way we Syndicate and Fixers handle things.”

  “You’re damn right.” The Right Arrow said, as he swung his fist at Oliver.

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  But, on reflex, Oliver caught their fist. Despite her tiny size, she completely negated the punch. “Hm?” She hummed, tilting her head to the side. “My turn?”

  The Syndicate grunt tried to pull his fist away, but found that he couldn’t. The girl’s grip was completely holding his hand in place. “Ah!” He grunted in pain. His hand hurt like hell! She was squeezing his hand! What followed was a sickening crunching sound of a hand being squeezed so hard that the flesh and bone gave way. His hand looked like a ball of mangled meat. “Fuck!” He cried, falling to his knees in pain.

  But, as he fell, Oliver placed her hand to his face. Then, stepping forward, she violently shoved his head against the wall he was previously leaning against. The grunt’s head burst like a melon. Splattering bone, blood, and brain matter all over the wall. Heidi, Emilio, and the remaining grunt could only stare in complete shock.

  “Fucking hell! What’s the point of that ax she has if she has that level of strength?” Emilio said, thoroughly impressed.

  “Brutal.” Heidi said, lighting a cigarette.

  The surviving grunt staggered back, away from Oliver, his eyes wide with shock. At least he was smart enough to cut his losses and not pick a fight he can’t win. Running off, he run into the garage, “Boss! Get backup out here! We got Fixers! These guys aren’t fucking around!”

  The trio just watched him run off. Chasing after him would be rushing into an unknown situation, better to take it slow. The thought that they might just kill their hostage now that they’re being attacked crossed their minds… Yeah, on second thought, maybe it was for the best to pick up the pace, just a bit.

  “Did I do good?” Oliver said, walking back to Emilio.

  “Uh…” he looked at the body with the splattered head that use to be a Right Arrow member. “Yeah, I think you did good.”

  Just like him, just like Heidi. She would fit right in. With that act alone, he knew that she was someone who was hiding who she truly was.

  The trio pressed forward. From here on, there was gonna be more threats. This was an Urban Legend class Syndicate they were dealing with. Not a run of the mill bunch of Rats who didn’t even have a danger level associated with them. Nor were they just a slightly above mediocre threat like your average Urban Myth level threat. This was a good sign, that they were finally on the road to playing with the big leagues.

  A loud sound was heard heading towards them. A sound that was heard from time to time on the Backstreets. A truck, that was racing right towards them. “Going right.” Emilio said, taking to the left to avoid being hit.

  “Going left.” Heidi said, splitting in the other direction.

  Oliver meanwhile kept running forward, her fist to her side like she was about to punch the car. Sure, she was strong, but Emilio wasn’t about to let her test her strength against a speeding hunk of metal. Emilio quickly grabbed her by the forearm and yanked her to his side. “Hey!” She complained as the car sped past the two.

  “Yeah, we’re not gonna test that.” Emilio scolded her. Just as Heidi gained a bit of doing, he used a ton he reserved for scolding children, despite the girl’s age.

  Heidi though wasn’t quite as lucky as them. The man in the backseat of the car opened the door as he sped past, causing the car door to smash into Heidi. “Fuck-” She screamed as she was tumbled painfully to the ground, her cigarette landing in a nearby puddle, making an inaudible sizzling sound. She managed to at least blocked with her metal arms, so the brunt of the damage was taken. But it sure as hell looked painful.

  The driver slammed on the breaks and came to a stop and one by one, Right Arrows hopped out. 3 in the backseat, 1 in the passenger side, and 1 in the driver’s seat. “Who the hell sent you? Do you guys want the blueprints for yourselves?” One of them shouted, running up to Heidi, who was in the middle of getting back on her feet, her metal feet grinding on the concrete. The Right Arrow’s weapons of choice looked to your typical blades that you could get from just about any blacksmith in the Backstreets; the only thing separating them from what everyone else was using was the Syndicate’s logo drawn on the side or hanging from tassels. Didn’t look low quality. Not exactly the fanciest weapons or the most powerful, but the type of weapons that’ll last you a lifetime with proper maintenance.

  One of them men ran up to Heidi, blade raised. Swinging it down, Heidi held up her arms and blocked it, metal clashing against metal. Counterattacking, she swung her arm at the man, her punch grazing him, causing him to step back, wiping the blood off his face. Despite the near unceremonious death, Heidi had a grin on her face, her hand on the hilt of her katana.

  “You alright?” Emilio asked his junior.

  She gave a thumbs up. Tried to give a thumbs up, the pinkie and ring fingers of her right hand got twisted backwards from the impact earlier.

  “5 people sent to take care of us. None of you look like the leader. Maybe one of you are, but I’m just saying there they’re probably further in.” Emilio said, resting his unfolded cleaver on his shoulder. Sighing in annoyance, he remarked, “The job said there would be a total of 5 of them, but that’s clearly not the case.”

  “Can you shut up and fight?” One of the men said, pointing his hatchet at Emilio.

  Just as he did, one of the Right Arrow’s lunged forward towards Emilio, this one wielding a sword. Emilio swung back, there blade’s clashing. Yeah, that was a nice sound, the sound of two high quality blades clashing against one another. When equipment is as equal as it is here, it was up to skill and battle sense to decide the victor.