Chapter 200: Going Up in Flames

The intense pounding sound of wet meat smacking onto the tile floor of the mall’s hallway made Terry cringe in fear once again and he pressed on harder to run. Knowing exactly what it was, another of his friends dying at the hands of Black Fang, he could only hope he was not next to be caught and make it out of here alive. Ahead of him was Rodney and he too wasn’t even sparing a second to check behind him.

“One more caught!” Black Fang called out menacingly. He then gave a booming laugh, “This is fun!”

Despite running and covered in hot sweat, Terry felt shivers run down his spine. That man was clearly insane. He looked, sounded, and fought like a giant but by the way he was acting he seemed like a child, a dangerous child. Terry didn’t bother to dwell on this thought though, Rodney had rounded the corner and just beyond was the secret entrance. Hope of survival was just beyond and Terry strained every muscle in his body to run harder.

Terry rounded the halls corner so fast that he started sliding uncontrollably on the white tile flooring and lost his balance! He fell and slid on his side while frantically pawing at the smooth floor to slow himself. Looking back in a panic, he saw that Stan and two others were following closely behind him with equal desperation. They had seen him fall and slowed briefly to round the corner safely, none even tried to help him.

“Ker-splat!”

Something round and red violently struck the corner of the wall right behind the last of the escaping Black Rats. Terry watched in dismay as the object fell and rolled over once to reveal the indistinguishable, dented head of one of his friends. Freaked out of his mind, Terry inhaled sharply and jumped to his feet to run after the others.

Terry jumped into the doorway that was labeled, “Maintenance Hall” and just in time, Black Fang came charging around the corner! Luckily, just like Terry, Black Fang misjudged his speed and slipped on the white tile and fell. As Black Fang slid away from the doorway the massive two-point-two-meter-tall man laughed as if he was enjoying the mistake.

Without looking back Terry slammed the door behind him and in the dim flamelight looked for the right path to take. The others had already gone ahead, and he could vaguely remember the way back through this maintenance hall’s maze of rusted equipment and dark corners as he rushed onwards. Both the panic and the unfamiliarity of the place made it harder to weave in and out of all the air-conditioning, water, sewer, and electrical lines that crisscrossed the hall.

“Boom. Crash!”

The sound of the once locked door being kicked inwards echoed painfully through the hall only to be followed by Black Fangs deep, childish voice, “Awe, I haven’t been back here before. No fair!”

Terry didn’t slow down as he tossed aside an aluminum-colored air ventilation tube to reveal a large crack in the wall. Beyond was an old dug out tunnel and ladder that led to the surface. Sun light beckoned to him, and he could also see the others making their escape. There was a sudden rustle of something further behind in the hall falling and Terry nearly jumped halfway up the ladder knowing that Black Fang was still coming!

Terry threw himself out of the tunnel and into the old air raid bomb hole that had missed the mall’s wall by mere meters. The others were gasping for air and leaning heavily on their knees to catch their breath. Waiting for their return, Zeus and Cooper jumped down from the holes eroded rim and hurried to their master’s side.

“You, you idiot!” Rodney gasped as he pointed at Terry. “You were supposed to be watching him. How did he get that close to us so fast?”

“I only looked away for a second!” Terry protested. He then collected himself and stood upright. “He hadn’t moved the whole time and the next thing I knew he was among us! There was nothing I could have done to stop him anyways.”

“All we had to do was sneak in and light the place on fire. That whole chase was not supposed to happen. We all could have died!” Rodney retorted. “Now all your buddies are dead, because of you.”

Terry felt his face grow hot with rage. “No! Its because you took away our guns and then you didn’t warn us about that monster. You were leading us into a death trap and then chose to abandon us!”

“I owe you nothing.” Rodney scoffed and he started climbing out of the gravely bombed hole. “Let’s go before Black Fang finds out our escape route.”

“Found you!” Black Fang suddenly shouted as he burst out from the tunnel, and he grabbed onto the ankle of the nearest Black Rat with a massive bone tattooed hand. The man screamed and struggled to free his leg, but it was futile. “This hole is too small to get out from and I’m not allowed to leave the base anyway. Come on inside and play with me!”

Black Fang disappeared into the tunnel, dragging the screaming Black Rat with him. Seconds later the remaining four and dogs were long gone from the mall’s property and leaving the unfortunate man to his likely grueling fate.

Black Fang had single handily killed thirteen of the intruders and if they hadn’t lit the gas on fire Xander, Rodney or Martinez would probably have killed the survivors. The only saving grace was that now the deal was done, and they were going to be officially Mad Dogs.

Terry gritted his teeth angrily at the thought of this achievement. “That was not worth it at all! Everything has gone from bad to worse and now look at us, only three Black Rats left. If this is how they treat outsiders, being one of them might be just as bad.”

…

The crackle of the electric whip was all that disturbed the tense standoff between the two bosses. Each of them was eyeing the other for what attack or movement they were going to make next. One misplaced step could spell disaster and with all eyes of their gang followers on them, they could not afford to mess up here.

“Tch. Standing here will get us nowhere.” Martinez mused. Then leaning slightly forward, with his Macuahuitl still held horizontally alongside him, Martinez performed one of his most prolific moves, a simple Flash Step!

A Flash Step is where an activated Inducement user moves at running speeds that far exceeds natural human movement limitations. Typically, Flash Steps cover short distances in a straight line and vary from user to user based either on the user’s physical constitution or the quality level of the Inducement itself. In Martinez’s case he was already in top physical form and his Inducement was a rank A+, easily making him a dangerous opponent for most Match Fighters.

The Flash Step carried Martinez in the blink of an eye past the confident looking Undertaker to get him behind Undertaker. Then without so much as slowing down, Martinez swung laterally at Undertakers exposed back. This attack would have felled any other opponent, but Undertaker was no normal fighter.

Undertaker was already looking over his shoulder at Martinez with a leering, crafty eyed look. He had followed Martinez’s blinding movements with unnerving ease. “Was that it?”

Undertaker then reacted to the incoming strike by slapping the Macuahuitl’s shaft mid-swing and the faux obsidian blades missed his legs by mere centimeters! Befuddled by this, Martinez swung backhanded at Undertaker, yet he just stepped back and the follow up swing passed by harmlessly. Martinez’s face twisted with annoyance; Undertaker was toying with him!

“This is no fun.” Undertaker sighed loudly as Martinez repeatedly slash and hacked at him, only to miss as Undertaker backpaddled. “My turn.”

Suddenly, Undertaker’s whip twirled around overhead with a loud electrical crack. Instinctively Martinez looked up at the sound in anticipation of the incoming whip. That was a mistake. Undertaker kicked Martinez behind his right knee and sent Martinez buckling. Following up the kick, Undertaker threw a right hook at Martinez’s face and caught him neatly on the temple.

The blow knocked Martinez onto his back with his arms thrown wide. His eyes saw stars, and everything looked blurred. In this vulnerable state, Undertaker attacked Martinez with his electrified whip to strike him twice in the chest before Martinez could react. The jolts of electricity both stung and refocused Martinez and he quickly threw up the Macuahuitl to cover his face and middle.

This proved useless as Undertaker switched targets and slashed at Martinez’s exposed sides and legs. This went on for only a few moments, but to Martinez it seemed to last much longer. His mind raced as he tried to defend himself and find a way to counter. He could not get up to stand and fight, Undertaker was pressing him too hard. Nor could he perform the handstand kick like before. If he did Undertaker would counter with is whip and these electrocutions were not joke!

He only had one option and it was not something he wanted to do. Undertaker struck out at Martinez’s left side and that’s when Martinez countered. Reaching out he grabbed the electrified whip and it coiled around his arm to send volts of searing pain constantly into him. He gritted his teeth and let out an angry scream of pain, yet he didn’t let it stop him. Martinez tugged at the whip and tried to stand.

Undertaker laughed as he watched Martinez writhing in pain. He easily could have knocked him back down and continue to torment him more, but he wanted to see what Martinez’s plan was. Martinez couldn’t take on the waves of electricity and could only manage to rise to one knee.

This was enough though, Martinez raised his Macuahuitl head high and dropped it sharply down. He was aiming for the taught whip and to chop in two!

Undertaker saw this and immediately loosened the strain on the whip. This caused the attack to be rendered ineffective and the Macuahuitl landed harmlessly on the carbon fiber whip with a ‘thump’. However, this attack was not a failure! In fact, Martinez wanted this outcome to happen too. Releasing his hold on the whip Martinez ripped himself free from its hold and he jumped back to get away from Undertaker’s attack range.

“Ah, good move.” Undertaker mused letting Martinez get away. “I hope now you see why I didn’t bother using any Inducements or other skills like that. I don’t need them to beat you.”

“Shut up!” Martinez shouted as he breathed heavily. “I’ll still beat your cocky a**!”

Undertaker sneered confidently once more. “Feisty.”

Undertaker was about to advance and continue the fight when someone called out from the left.

“Martinez! We got a problem!” The voice belonged to Xander. “Twisted are attacking from the river! Ernest first confirmed it and Hugo just now called saying the same.”

“What?” Both bosses asked in unison.

“Are you sure? Things are getting good, and I hope your not stalling to let your pathetic boss catch his second wind.” Undertaker griped.

“I am doing no such thing.” Xander replied urgently. “Ernest also said the Twisted were attacking both sides.”

Then from the opposite side of the two bosses another voice called out, “Undertaker, the base is on fire!”

“Ridiculous.” Undertaker seethed but he chanced a look at the building behind him. Then to his dismay he spotted a large column of smoke starting to rise from the base’s backside.

Martinez smiled craftily. “Well, aren’t we in a bind now. Seems like one of us will have to admit defeat and I trust my men to survive some stupid monsters. However, I can’t say the same for a fire waiting to be put out if no one is there to put it out.”

Undertaker wanted to keep fighting, the battle was his, but the base was the Skulls livelihood and shelter. If that were to be destroyed, then surviving in the downtown buildings as going to be a challenge. He then took a glance at the tallest of the building that were in the direction of the river. He raised an eyebrow in surprise, a black flag with a red flag below it was waving signaling that a big danger was coming. The clam of the Twisted showing up was seeming legitimate.

“I am clearly the one winning, but as the circumstances stand, how about we agree to a draw?” Undertaker asked with a bit of distain in his voice.

“That a good idea, old man?” Martinez called out.

Rickshaw, who had been acting as his temporary Manager, stepped out from the shade of a nearby building. Undertaker’s Manager was also there, he was a short, puggy man that showed no signs of affiliation to the Skull save for small skull tattoo on the back of his hand.

Rickshaw cleared his throat. “Yes, a draw will not hurt your standings at this time. You two can always resume the fight later and make the additional condition for winning to have the draw suspended.”

“Alright then, we are agreed to a draw.” Martinez announced as he stood up straight and rested his Macuahuitl on his shoulder.

Undertaker turned off his electric whip and coiled it back up. “Agreed. Let’s leave and have both side in silence. I hear the Twisted can be attracted to the sound of battle.”

Martinez snorted. “Whatever. Everyone, back to the compound! We are done for now and need to get ready to fight some Twisted.”

As the two sides rushed off to deal with their situations, Martinez pulled Xander close. “Tell everyone here to start burning the town down as we go and have them loudly claim the Skull are doing the deed. Tell Hugo and Ernest the same order. The fire will cause the Twisted to be slowed down and displacing everyone from their homes will give us the chance to rebuild our forces. I will not let this insult go unpunished! I don’t care who gets caught up in this, just as long as the Skull get the blame.”

“Burn the town down?” Xander repeated.

Martinez’s face burned red with anger. “Yes! Burn this whole f****** place down!”