Chapter 29: Chapter 27- Under the surface
In a small, underground, room a man sat down on a pitch-black obsidian throne with his face hidden by the non-existent lighting in the room. A woman was kneeling before him. "Master, we found the target. Our spies confirmed her location in a small town near the border of the Warlord of Heat's territory. What are your orders?"
"Retrieve her immediately, we can't let this chance go." The man calmly stated, but his voice carried a commanding undertone. "As you wish!" The woman quickly retreated from the room, leaving the man alone.
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The trio looked around and noticed that they had ten opponents. Five from the front, and five from the back. Each opponent held a wooden weapon of some sort. Some held a clutter of spiky branches from the nearby bushes that acted as a whip. Some held somewhat thick wooden sticks the length of a meter, and the leader had a long wooden pole with its edge sharpened.
"I'm afraid we can't do that, we need these for our journey. Is there a chance we just quietly go our separate ways?" David asked. "Heh, I like your attitude, kid. Unfortunately, we can't do that. It'd be a shame for us to get into a pointless fight, so just give up and make it easier." The man chuckled.
"So be it," David sighed as he stepped forward, only to be stopped by Atalanta. "Can I take charge of this one? I don't want to get rusty," Atalanta asked. "Oh, go ahead then, I'll take care of the ones in the back." David agreed as Atalanta walked forward.
"No offense, I think you're slightly overestimating yourself." The leader stated. "How about we find out? You seem nice enough, so I won't go too hard on you," Atalanta stated. "For the record, I tried the easy way first. What's going to happen now is on you, get them!" the leader ordered.
Two men came at Atalanta, one wielding a makeshift whip and the other a stick. Atalanta charged at the man with the stick, sending a jab at his solar plexus. The man noticed her attack and dodged back, or at least he attempted to. The man indeed stepped back, but instead of moving back, he was pulled toward Atalanta's fist, making him receive the full front of the attack. This, while being off-balance due to the sudden change in motion, resulting in his gasping for air on the floor.
The other man took a chance and struck at Atalanta with his thorny whip with an overhead strike while she was distracted. But just as he brought his hand down to hit her, the whip suddenly changed directions and flew into his unprotected face, narrowly missing his eyes by pure luck.
'Shit, they are quirk users!' The leader thought. He clearly saw the whip changing directions. "Hey, sto-" The leader tried to call his men back, but rage took over them seeing their friends injured on the floor. Two women charged at Atalanta from both her sides next, one with a whip and the other a stick. Atalanta increased the gravity around the woman with the whip for a second, throwing her off balance. Simultaneously, she made herself as light as a feather and jumped above the woman. Just as the woman regained her standing, Atalanta came down on her with an elbow aimed at her head while being amplified with gravity several times stronger than the planet's. A sickening sound was heard as Atalanta smashed the young woman's head into the hard ground with extreme force.
"Didn't you go overboard there?" Apate asked while enjoying the show. "Yeah, that's my bad. I'm a bit rusty with combat... It's probably best I'll end this fast." Atalanta said as she made the second woman's stick fly to her head, knocking her out.
"So do you want to have a go now?" She asked the leader. "After what I just saw? Hell no!! I tried to stop them the moment I realized you had quirks, though I guess that's why you were so confident. Can we just quietly part ways here? I'm guessing you don't want anyone to know you're here, so I'll tell my guys to keep quiet. Deal?" The leader asked with beads of sweat on his face. After all, nothing stopped the teens from simply killing them all. "Sure, that sounds like a fair deal, but can you tell your men to stop attacking my friend?" Atalanta asked as she pointed at David who fought with the last two people on his side. "HEY! STOP FIGHTING HIM, YOU IDIOTS!" The man yelled, making his men come to a confused halt.
"Wow, you're good," David said as he saw Atalanta took care of four of her targets and talked it out with the leader. "Yeah, Dad made me learn how to fight from age zero since he was sure a situation like this could occur. I mean he was right, so I'm kinda thankful now." Atalanta said. "Um, sorry to interrupt, but can you guys help me take them to a medical center?" The leader said while pointing at all the injured goons on the floor.
"Ha, a gang leader asking his victims for help. I have to say, this is a new one." Apate chuckled. "Eh, you do what you gotta do. I'm not about to let my men die because of my ego," the leader said. "Damn, are you sure you're a gang leader? You seem way too nice," David questioned jokingly. "As I said, you do what you gotta do. While the streets here might seem bustling, everyone barely makes ends meet thanks to the ridiculous sum the Warlord charges us for his protection. It's better than dying, but it makes living here very difficult financially." The man explained.
"But then why did all the vendors look carefree?" Apate inquired. "Oh, the ones on the main street are the ones with farms or easy access to rare herbs so they do well enough. The ones who fall behind are kicked out to lessen the protection fee of the Warlord. We created this gang to allow ourselves to live in an acceptable way, the Warlord doesn't bother with us as long as we stay low since the town pays the minimum requirement, plus we're all Quirkless so as long as we're alive he's golden." The leader spoke.
"Maybe we can help you with your problem!" Atalanta suddenly jumped as she came up with an idea. "Really?! That'd be perfect! By the way, sorry for the late introduction, the name's Dave", Dave said.
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