Max fired his pistol at the goblins, and they fired back, bullets whizzing towards him at mach speeds. Normally, he could have easily sidestepped them, but given how small the room was, Max found himself in a bind. The goblins were at most a meter away, a situation he'd foolishly put himself in by taking such long steps.
Max grabbed a coin from his coat pocket and raised his hand in front of his chest. With a whispered word, a round field of energy, no more than two feet across instantly appeared in front of him. Immediately afterwards the bullets slammed into the shield, and they promptly fell to the floor harmlessly, completely robbed of their kinetic energy.
Max dispersed the shield behind him, allowing the energy to explode into the luckily deserted street. The goblins stared in awe for a second, and that was a big mistake. Maxwell rolled forwards, and kicked the first goblin in his path. He smacked another in the face with his gun, which broke the creature's nose with a crack. Max grinned and attacked the next one, and for a few seconds, things were going well. Then the goblins regrouped.
Goblins are small, yes, but they are far stronger than any normal human due to having a much higher muscle density in their bodies. Furthermore, they are known for their sneakiness and teamwork, and in a dark and small room like this, Max was in for quite the fight.
The goblin with the broken nose leapt onto Max's back and punched the mage in the kidneys, who grunted and fell to the ground, where another goblin kicked him in the face, the creature's heavy booted foot opening a gash over Max's eye.
"Shit!" Max exclaimed and pushed himself up, brandishing his pistol like a club and bashed the goblin on his back in his nose, further breaking it and forcing the creature to squeal and leap off of his back.
He quickly spun around to where it fell, and fired his pistol into it, the gun barking out three shots. They all hit home, effectively extinguishing the goblin's life. By the time he turned around, he saw two goblins rushing him, each having abandoned their guns for knives and chains or clubs. Max shot the first one, the bullet striking it in the shoulder and knocking it to the ground. Unfortunately, the other goblin continued forwards, swinging his club at Max's knee.
He sidestepped the strike, but was blindsided by another hit to his back by another one of the goblins.
"Sila!" Max cried and snapped his fingers, invisible force crackling towards his assailant, who ran headlong into the blast and was shot across the room, into the back wall and right through it, disappearing with a final scream, leaving behind a goblin shaped hole and a fine mist of gore.
The other four goblins stared at the hole, and then spun back towards Maxwell, who snapped his fingers again, launching another burst of invisible force at his opponents. The goblins scattered, each fading away into the shadows in the corners of the room, just in time to avoid being turned into a grease spot by Max's attack.
One goblin darted out of the darkness and slashed at Max with a knife, who backstepped away from the attack and raised his gun to fire at the goblin, only for his pistol to be smacked out of his hand by another goblin, who smashed his hand with a strike from a heavy chain.
"Dammit!" Max growled, kicking wildly out into the darkness, his boot luckily finding his attacker and knocking the goblin to the floor. The knife wielding goblin rushed him again, and this time Max didn't try to avoid the attack, instead weaving under the slash and catching the goblin's arm. He shoved his fingers into the goblin's face.
"Sila." He said calmly, fear burning in the goblin's eyes as Max's invisible blast struck it point blank, viciously splattering the nonhuman's body against the wall behind it, literally folding the wall inwards, chunks of the roof collapsing along with it.
The goblin Max had kicked, recovered and swung his chain again, smacking him in the back of the leg and knocking him to the ground. Then all three remaining goblins dashed from their hiding places, descending on the downed mage like nightfall.
One stabbed at Max with a knife, while the others swung their respective club and chain at his head. Max rolled away from their strikes, but felt a biting pain in his calf. The goblin had successfully stabbed him, and was looking rather pleased with itself. Max grunted and forced himself off the ground again, but was moving slightly slower this time. Blood dripped into Max's left eye, making him wince and rapidly wipe away at it to clear his vision, giving the goblins an opening.
They took it, with the chain goblin swinging at him with a wide attack, while the other two rushed forwards, crouched low to avoid their comrade's swing.
"Reflejar!" Max exclaimed, and the air before him shimmered and sparked. The goblin realized something was wrong, but the chain was already in motion. A second later, the chain struck the shimmering air, and swung itself right back at the goblin, who could only stare in horror as the heavy end collided with his skull, which shattered with a nasty crunch, painting the floor and walls with gray matter, blood and bone fragments.
Max didn't have any time to catch his breath as the other two were upon him, swinging and slashing at him brutally. He reacted quickly, sweeping the knife goblin's legs out from under him and then catching the other goblin's club. He yanked it out of his hands, and struck its owner in the head with it, caving in one side of his skull. The goblin collapsed and lay on the ground, twitching.
Max wearily stomped on the last goblin, pinning him down and kicked his knife out of his reach. He sighed, and wiped his forehead again.
"Who are you?" He asked, pulling his notebook as he spoke.
"I'm not telling you anything!" The goblin wheezed, struggling to breathe beneath the pressure of Max's boot.
"Are you sure?" Max asked, calmly putting more pressure until he heard the goblin's rips crack.
"Heh. You ain't nothin'." The goblin choked out, blood pooling at the corners of his mouth.
"Buddy, I'm more than willing to put my foot through your chest." Max said, pressing his foot down until he felt a rib give way and snap with a loud crack to emphasize his point.
"Agh! Stop!"
"No."
Max pressed down again, the creature's ribs cracked again.
"Fine! God!"
The pressure eased slightly, and the goblin's breathing became less labored.
"Glad to see that you came around. So, who are you and why are you here?"
"I'm Gerno. We were paid to kidnap that fellow over there." Gerno said, pointing to Guqo, who was now poking his head out of another room.
"Huh. Who hired you?"
"I don't know. We just got an email with the location and the payment total on it."
"Alright, and have you done jobs for this individual before?"
"Yes, lots of times."
"Like what?"
"Mostly killings, kidnappings and those kinds of things."
"I see. Well, thanks Gerno. I'm gonna take our friend here to the hospital, and you're going to stay down until we're gone, all right?" Max said, as he finished writing and put away his notebook. He lifted his foot off of Gerno's chest, and gestured for Guqo to follow him. Guqo came over quickly, stepping over his assailant's corpses with surprising grace. Gerno stayed down.
Max retrieved his pistol and put it back in his pocket, and left the building. He took a deep breath and sighed, before limping away.
"The name's Max." He said, introducing himself to Guqo, who responded in kind.
"I've got some questions about the ambassador for you, but I think they can wait for now." Max explained. Guqo nodded, and the two then walked back to the exit ladder in silence.
Max had an old friend to visit now, one who would not be happy to see him.