Brant widened his eyes as he witnessed Baird exchanging a series of blows with the blond attacker. With a furrowed brow, he charged forward and tackled Baird to the ground. 

Baird grunted as his back impacted the ground, and he glared up at Brant. "What're you doing?" 

Ignoring him, Brant leapt to his feet and locked eyes with the armed man. 

The blond dropped his sword and dagger, his mouth agape. "Falcon?" 

"It's Brant, Victor." 

The man tilted his head and narrowed his eyes slightly. "Eagle, you mean. Something's...different about you. You alright, bud?" 

"Alright as a man can be, who's been betrayed by the god they've strove for merging with for a whole two years of their life." 

"You're not making any sense." Eagle retorted, "But I am glad to see you're—" 

"There's nothing to be glad about in this!" Brant snapped, "I obtained Falcon's artifact, and I performed the prescribed sacrifice. But yet, he proclaimed me unworthy and refused me his power!" 

"That's...unfortunate." Eagle trailed off, biting his lip and staring at the ground. "And he gave you no way out?" 

"He did. He wanted me to sacrifice her. In addition to what I already offered!" Brant shouted, pointing at Hannah. 

Eagle glanced sharply at Hannah, who cowered behind the table. "Why didn't you just do as you were told, Falcon? This girl is nothing to you, especially compared with divinity! In fact, she's been nothing but trouble for us!" 

"How's that?" 

"Yesterday, I hired some men to buy a necklace from this marketplace, to which some ignorant craftsman had attached the Blessed Sapphire of Tritticut. But this girl snatched it up before they could, so they had to fight her for it, and then this...this...vile fiend!" he said, pointing at Baird, "He sliced them down! It's for your good, and our good, really, that you obey the words of Falcon in this." 

"I refuse." Brant declared. "She's innocent, and has done nothing to deserve this. Anybody else is more deserving of death than her!" 

Eagle sneered and took a step closer to Hannah, who also moved a couple inches around the table to remain on the opposite side from him. The puppies in the basket growled at the blond man. 

"Very well, then." Eagle said, "If you won't do it, then I'll do it for you. Perhaps a vicarious sacrifice will suffice." 

Brant inhaled sharply and snatched Eagle by his arm, yanking him a several inches away from Hannah. "Listen to me, Victor! I destroyed the artifact! Because Falcon failed to do as he promised! He and all the gods are nothing but a pack of liars!" 

"No." Eagle said, his voice trembling as he took a step away from Brant. "No. You can't expect me to believe that." 

"The truth isn't dependent on your belief." Brant retorted, "Face it, the gods—" 

"You can't expect me to believe that you destroyed the artifact! The very thing you dedicated your life to finding, you threw away in an instant! It's preposterous! How did you do it?" 

"I already told you. Falcon failed to fulfill his promise, and so I hurled his artifact into the fire." 

"That's not what I meant." Eagle replied, "My question is, how can you, the most devout man I know, second only to Dove himself, suddenly throw it all away?" He narrowed his eyes at Hannah. "I see now. You've allowed yourself to succumb to her feminine charms. It all makes sense now." 

"It has nothing to do with her!" Brant roared. "What about 'the gods are liars' don't you understand? Do you see what that does to our—" 

"We were brothers, Brant! But you've forsaken that, and for what? A night of pleasure? A promise of future decadence? I truly thought you were better than this!" 

"And I thought you were smarter than this, Victor! I never took you for a fool who would stubbornly cling to a gang of lying robbers who cheat you out of your life and wellbeing!" 

Eagle sniffled and wiped his eye with his sleeve. Then he reached down and picked up his sword and dagger. "As the proverb said, 'the higher one jumps, the harder he falls'. I hate to do this, but I will perform my duty. I'll do what it takes." 

Brant gritted his teeth. "And at what cost?" 

After a second's pause and a moment to wipe his other eye, Eagle set his jaw. "Anything." he replied, raising his sword above his head. 

With that, Eagle lunged at Brant, who spun at the last second before impact. The blade brushed right past his shoulder. Brant rushed behind Eagle and snatched his second sword out of its sheath, just in time to ward off his next strike. 

Brant utilized his height advantage to pummel heavy blows down onto his adversary. Every single time the weapons collided, a fresh metallic ring pierced the air. While Eagle divided his hands between two weapons, Brant dedicated both to the same sword, increasing his striking power greatly. 

Eagle growled as another blow nearly threw him off balance. He hurled his dagger into a passerby with a grimace, saying, "Hold onto this for me." 

Brant gasped at his cruelty, but had no time to process it as the more experienced duelist drove him back with a frenzy of blows. He strained his utmost to keep up as he blocked the never-ending attacks. 

He finally gasped when Eagle twirled his sword with finesse, causing his weapon to fly from his hands. The blade spun in the air between them before the blond man's hand darted forward and grasped the hilt. 

Eagle stepped forward with the twin swords crossed in a beheading criss-cross. Brant dropped down onto his hindquarters just in time as he slid the blades together. As the metal screeched above him, he slid between his foe's legs. Once he found himself safely behind Eagle, he grabbed his ankles and snatched backwards. 

The swordsman grunted when his chest hit the ground. But before Brant could even think of making a move on him, he rolled onto his back and leapt to his feet from there. He swung his sword at Brant, who dodged with a pivot of his shoulders. Then he swung his other blade. He evaded that blow with a duck of his head. 

Finally, Eagle lunged forward and pinned Brant to the ground. He gritted his teeth and pressed the blades to his throat. Bearing every pound of his weight down, he resisted Brant's squirming until he succumbed to his fate. Eagle lifted his blades for a killing blow. 

******************** 

Wendy cursed under her breath and sprinted through the restaurant's doorway, her eyes fixated the vermillion glow in Albatross' clenched fist. She leapt forward and drew in a sharp breath. Her armored boots emitted two twin blasts of flame and propelled her upwards, out of her target's eager reach. 

Once she'd reached her position and hovered a safe distance above Albatross, Wendy unclipped her bow from a hook on her armored back. She slipped an arrow from her quiver and shot it straight at his head. He flinched as the arrowhead scraped his cheek, but he appeared otherwise unaffected. The impact failed even to draw blood. 

Wendy growled and took up another arrow. Opening up the back of the shaft, she crammed some gunpowder into the hollow cavity. Then she pressed it closed with her thumb and fitted the projectile to her bowstring. She fired. Mid-flight, she pressed a red button on her bow, and an explosive pop emanated from the arrow. It accelerated toward Albatross and hit his arm. 

The arrowhead barely poked through Albatross' skin. But nonetheless, he grunted and growled at Wendy. She snarled back. 

"Only a coward takes cheap shots from up out of reach." he taunted, staring up at the airborne Danlashian. He kicked Keira's head as she tried to crawl up to him for a sneak attack. 

Wendy glared. "I'm no bloody coward." 

With that, she rotated in the air and propelled herself at Albatross. Her shoulder smashed into his ribs on impact. He grunted but still stood his ground, watching with a chuckle as her momentum sent her flying past him and tumbling to the ground beside Aaron. Then he gasped as she leapt right back up and sent a rocket-powered kick into his tailbone. 

Wendy's attack caused Albatross to drop his prize. The skull-shaped stone clattered to the ground. Both combatants eyed it. Wendy sped forward to retrieve it, but her foe snatched her ankle and yanked backwards. She dropped with a thud, her armor ringing as it hit the concrete. Not wasting a second, Albatross gripped her neck, removed her helmet, and punched her in the face. 

Aaron glowered at Albatross as he heard Wendy's cry. He charged forward and tackled the man to the ground, throwing brutal punches at his jaw and adding a head-butt into the mix as well. But when the edge of Albatross' bladed gauntlet bit into his shoulder, he coughed. Before he could finish flinching, his opponent had already tossed him far away. He landed atop Wendy. Finally, the mighty adversary rose to his feet and took a step forward. 

Keira's eyes widened as Albatross bent down, his fingers outstretched toward the stone once more. She struggled to retrieve it before he could, but achiness inhibited her body's movements. Then she snapped her head at the sudden sound of gunshots. 

Ace hugged the wall of the restaurant and fired his machine gun at Albatross' upper arm. His first bullet bounced away without causing any harm. The second dented the skin. The next one poked through a little before falling away, and the last one finally ate into his flesh. The man hesitated for a second as blood trickled from the wound, giving Keira time to snatch up the stone and race away. 

Albatross growled and pursued Keira, holding up his left wrist to block Ace's bombardment as he ran. With his right, he slapped Aaron away yet again. 

Keira sprinted out of the parking lot they battled in and onto the adjoining street. She darted right in front of a car, forcing Albatross to slow down to avoid collision. Without wasting a second, she finished crossing the road and hurried along the sidewalk of the residential neighborhood. 

Her frantically beating heart sunk when she glanced back and she saw Albatross mere yards behind, and closing that distance rapidly. 

Wendy jetted ahead and reached her arms down to Keira. "Give it here!" 

Keira grunted and tossed the stone into Wendy's hand, just in time before she tripped over a brick in the path. Albatross snatched up that brick and hurled it at the armored archer. She managed to dodge the cubical projectile, but tangled herself in the branches of a tree instead. 

Wendy grunted. She struggled to extract herself. Albatross gripped the lowest branch of the tree and began to climb. In desperation, she threw the stone down to Aaron. He caught it and spun on his heel, sprinting his fastest down the sidewalk. 

But despite Aaron's hardest exertions, Albatross leapt down from the tree and hurried in pursuit. He caught up, pummeled him with blows, and snatched the skull from his fingers. Ace leapt at Albatross from a nearby bush, but face-planted on the ground as the man evaded. With the coveted stone in his hand, Albatross leapt onto the back of a flatbed trailer speeding by, and the four saw him no more. 

Aaron locked eyes with Ace and rubbed his spine. "Not sure if this is a good time to ask, but what was that thing?" 

Ace shrugged. "Not sure. I found it last night." 

"So you just...picked it up randomly and started holding onto it?" 

"Yeah." Ace replied, "I liked the way it looked." 

"You're kidding, right?" Keira snapped from where she lay in a patch of grass, "We were doing all that work, and just because you liked it? I thought it was something important or—" 

"Well, you were wrong." Ace retorted, "I have nothing more to say on that." 

Wendy landed behind Ace with a thud. "I can't believe I had to carry every single bloody one of you!" 

Keira glared. "What do you mean? I've been running my heart out—" 

"Right, Keira, you did something. But these two bloody—" 

Aaron rose to his feet with a disarming grin. "Sorry about that. I totally should've been able to take that indestructible man down without any of my equipment." 

Ace snorted. "Even my gun took four shots to get to the meat of him." 

"Why was that guy so tough? How?" Keira asked. 

Aaron shook his head. "I have no clue. I only know I don't like it." 

"Me either." Wendy agreed, locking eyes with Aaron. "Have you reported to Chariya at all?" 

"I haven't. It's weird, she hasn't called me, either." 

"I tried last night, but she didn't answer." Keira added. 

Wendy bit her lip. "That's bloody dodgy. Maybe you could try Hannah?" 

Aaron grinned as he slipped his communicator out of his back pocket. "Good idea." He tapped a few buttons and waited as the machine hummed in his hand. 

******************** 

A/N: I'm not feeling the greatest this morning, so let's keep this brief. I hope you enjoyed that chapter, and if so, please let me know by voting and commenting. Thanks! 

Also, I'm fairly certain I'll do a double update tomorrow, just because I'm nice and have two chapters ready anyhow. So unless any of you have an objection (doubtful), I'm gonna do it. 

So, now that we've allowed him to speak, what are your thoughts on Victor/Eagle? 

And finally, if your current battery percentage were your age, how old would you be? 

(I'm pretty spry for an 86-year-old man. 😆) 

Okay, that'll be it for me today. Again, I hope you enjoyed your stay, and please return tomorrow, especially if you're ready for double accommodations! (Even I don't know what I'm talking about at this point, lol.) Anyway, have a great day, and I'll see you next time!