"Sh*t! Zek is dead!" A voice spoke from within the smoke. It sounded muffled as if something was blocking the free passage of sound.
"F*ck! They discovered us. Rush in and kill them. The girl is mine." A female voice ordered from within the smoke. The third sentence made Fawn chuckle. That was Diva alright.
Few seconds later, the swirling smoke of poison rippled.
"F*ck! Wind dude already joined them."
"Just jump through, you idiot." The lady ordered again.
Wilson did not wait for them to approach though. The team was still outnumbered, so in a bid to try and even the playing field before it could devolve into total chaos, he stepped forward and grabbed an idiot and forcefully pulled him in before the victim could react. Jim instantly three wind blades at him while Dash dashed towards him and stabbed him as quickly and in as many vital points as possible. The victim was dead before he could even make an impact.
"Minus two!" Wilson called out.
"Remainder seven." Dash said.
Jim corrected, "No, six! China is out of the equation."
"What happened?" Danny asked.
"He's out cold. I think the team did something to him." Jim said.
"Tsk, some teammates they are!"
The opponents arrived. The man in black immediately engaged Gene. Gene tried to strike at him mentally in a bid to buy himself some time but his power was instantly rendered ineffective.
"I'm useless!" Gene yelled and immediately made a suicidal jump at the man in black. It startled him a little and subconsciously dodged to the side, giving Gene the chance he needed to dash into the smoke and out of sight. Danny saw it and cursed as he dodged a gunshot. This person's skill was subpar. It was something he realized immediately. He was someone Danny could take care of very quickly but now that Gene had bailed, the man in black was out to make things five times as hard.
"F*ck you, Gene!" Danny yelled.
A minute later, Danny was in a bad state. He could not quite understand what the man in black's ability was but it made him feel very lethargic. His moves were slow, his strikes were weak and whenever he got shot, it hurt more than it should.
In the meantime, Fawn and Diva who had only met and clashed for about a minute were already sweating profusely. Their breaths were steady but their glowing swords clashed endlessly.
*clank* *clank* *clank* *clank*...
Fawn blocked one strike and attacked. Diva blocked and struck back in retaliation. Block, strike, block, strike, the fight went on without any rest. It was as if victory would be determined base on who gave in first.
Dash was up against Platoon and he was doing horribly against the human, non-ability-using giant.
*Wham*
Dash was slammed into the floor for the umpteenth time. The rate at which he was caught and bashed into the floor made him doubt if Platoon actually had an ability but was hidden, just like Wilson.
Wilson held two other men at bay. They were identical twins with water and ice abilities. Wilson bashed his knuckles together.
"Why are you not coming?" Wilson questioned.
The twins shrugged. It wasn't their fight. It was Colt's. Their job was to keep Wilson from helping his teammates out. As for Jim, that one's only usefulness was his ability to control the wind around. Even though they had taken pills that rendered the poison ineffective, it was still rather uncomfortable and since they had done a lot of background research on him and he was nowhere near being considered a threat, they decided Jim was not to be touched. Yet.
Too bad Jim did not know what they were thinking. He was too afraid to think logically. In his mind, the only way to get out of this without him losing his life was if he assisted Wilson and the others.
'The earlier the better.' He concluded and for a brief moment, he stopped swirling the wind and sent a gust of wind towards Dash, just in time to soften the impact of his body against the cracking floor. It was all Dash needed to escape. The gust of wind broke the momentum and he used the chance to bend and grab Platoon's little finger and twist it out of place. Platoon lost his grip and Dash rolled out of reach.
At the same time, Jim, with his other hand, sent three wind blades at the twins and a fourth one at the gunner terrorising Danny.
Wilson,while the twins dodged the blades, rapidly closed the little distance between them. He grabbed one of the twins by the head and narrowly missed the other. That didn't stop Wilson. He grabbed his captive by the neck with his second hand and twisted.
The wind blades sent at the gunner gave Danny enough respite to throw his spear at the man in black and roll into the poisonous smoke. He kept running until he fell over the chairs and fell asleep.
Immediately after that, Jim sent gust after gust of wind in random directions and then, covering his body from head to toe with a transparent white layer of his ability in order to reduce air resistance and stop the poison from entering his nose and mouth, he ran away. Straight towards where he believed the exit should be. As fast as he could.
Unknown to Jim, his panicky, haphazard movements were enough to change the tide. The numerous gusts of wind moved fast and in random directions. And in such an enclosed space, it was dangerous for both friend and for, ruining both sides' rhythms
"Back!" Colt ordered from inside the smoke. The only twin still alive was still inside the smoke and had not yet realized his brother was dead. The man in black, the pretty lady, the gunner and Platoon all stepped backwards into the smoke that was closing in, giving the remaining Trainwrecks a chance to regroup.
Wilson, Fawn and Dash stood back to back. The smoke was finally beginning to dissipate and it was getting clearer, but the poison was still enough to dose them if they breathed it in. The only good news in it was that now, they would have to take a deep breath now before they could begin to feel the poison's effect. They could see slightly farther now and although it was still hazy the further they looked, it was enough to see their opponents except their leader, Colt.
Wilson stepped forward and called, "Colt! This is between us. Come out."
Colt actually responded. "Okay!"
The floor below Wilson, an exhausted and brutalized Dash and a furious Fawn, glowed. Lines began to glow beneath them, quickly turning to patterns and writings. As the trio ran out of range of whatever those patterns were, thereby separating from one another, their opponents ran back at their newly designated targets.
Platoon and the gunner went straight at Dash who was too weak to use his speed ability properly, Diva once again targeted Fawn, who possessed similar abilities and weapons and the living twin, who had now discovered his twin brother's dead body, dashed at Wilson with a vengeance, conjuring up his ice ability as he ran. Thin ice blades multiplied in the air as he neared Wilson.
'These five are the ones worth their salt... The twins are especially useless without each other.' He remembered Charlie whispering into his ears the previous night.
The twin sent the ice blades flying at Wilson.
Wilson grinned.