Chapter 17 The Ronin

The radio beeps in my vehicle.

"I'm in position."

A voice echoes from the radio, I pick it up by squeezing the red button on the side.

Replying, "Good let's start-"

My phone rings and I reach into my pocket, pulling out my phone. Looking at the contact, it's Dale, I answer.

"Ah Dale, I cleaned up your mess last time. You know about the Plauji, an ancient race of powerful parasites."

Dale chuckles.

"You remember the lead I gave you?" Dale asks.

"Yes, and I followed up on it. I have a source. Meet at the location. I'll text it to you and explain everything there tonight." Assuring Dale, I ended the call, texting him the location afterwards.

A body landed on my car.

As the radio beeps.

"Is that the man we are looking for?" Tari asked.

I grab the radio by pressing down on the red button.

Looking at the body through the window, I got out of the vehicle.

Releasing the radio from my grip.

"I think so." A blood puddle forms on the hood of my mustang.

Dripping from the front bumper approaching the body, I inspect it.

"My fucking car."

Hearing footsteps, I turned to them. A tall shadow comes from the other side of the brick wall, his eyes are bright red.

"He's mine." The tall man says with his deep voice.

His frame is defined by wearing a long black coat. With a vest he has long bright shiny blonde hair.

He attempts to intimidate me with his glare as he stares at me.

"He's mine, I won't say that again." The man reaches out for the corpse.

As he walks past, getting closer to the corpse.

"Yours?" I ask.

"He's under my custody now, step away." I hovered my hand over my pistol.

"Don't do this," he says.

I gripped my pistol.

He threw a punch at my chest, pushing me back,

"Humpf!" I groan, that punch hurts, but I'm used to much more.

"Still up, huh?" He says, surprised.

Grabbing his forearm I punched him in the face.

The man's jaw is dislocated but he pops it back.

Punching me in the gut.

Releasing my grip and guard, he begins.

Punching continuously at a high speed, his punches feel like giant bullets.

Pushing me against the car.

"You aren't human are you?" He asks as he continues punching me, his fists become hard like metal.

This isn't nearly enough to kill me, though I can't find an opening.

I caught one of his punches, catching a glimpse at his fist.

His skin looks like metal as it dissolves inside his skin.

I uppercut him, punching him in the chest with my full strength.

Sending him across the street.

He gets up grunting, stretching his neck.

" Finally getting serious, huh?" He says.

I gripped my pistol, pulling it out of the holster. I aim it at the man.

" I haven't been able to let loose like this in awhile," The man says.

A man with wings landed on the roof of my vehicle, shooting the corpse in the head.

He wears a white hood, with black wings, and black leather pants.

"I'm not letting you take him." I said, staring at the winged man.

"And you aren't stopping me." The winged man replies, grabbing the corpse.

"Tari!" I shout.

Tari shoots her rifle but the tall man with long bright blonde hair shields the wing man in mid air.

He's very agile, it seems.

The bullet pierced the tall man's back.

"Agh!"

The man grunts.

He continues to shield the winged man.

The man falls down, as the winged man reveals his pistols.

He drops the corpse, aiming his pistol at me.

The man with the wings shoots at me.

Covering my face with my forearm.

The bullets bounce off my skin.

Tari shoots at the winged man as he turns to fire at her, as she takes cover.

"Where the hell did he go?"

I asked.

"So you're immune to most bullets, huh?"

The man asks, as he punches me into a nearby truck.

He dashes at me at nearly light speed.

Similar to Vorkhan, they move so fast you can only catch the scent or a trail of their energy.

I dodged his punch, as his fist went inside the truck's trailer.

Punching him in the face.

He nearly fell back, catching his balance.

"Damn that, hurt," he says.

"Looks like you are doing this the hard way."

I said, he rushed at me once again.

As we exchange blows, he's getting faster and he's hitting harder than before, but I'm able to keep up with him while holding back.

I feel the street vibrate as we continue.

I feel the metal pulsating throughout his entire body.

As he manipulates, it's to protect and attack.

Catching one of his punches, I grabbed his neck, putting him in a headlock.

He bites into my forearm, leaving fang marks.

"Grah!"

I groan.

It's like he hardens his teeth, not regular bullets that can pierce my skin.

He grabs my neck, slamming me into the ground with his.

Fangs still latched onto my forearm.

I break free by punching him in the face by throwing a hook towards his neck and it hardens before I punch him.

Yet I'm still able to gather enough power to knock him down.

He falls down, groaning as he holds his neck.

I get up stretching.

Catching my breath and rubbing my neck.

"That's enough."

The man says as the winged man stops shooting.

"Look, I want him for information.

We both can get what we need out of him. It's pointless fighting. We are wasting time like this," I said.

I hold my hand out, he reaches for it.

The man sighs.

"Fine, only because I don't have any time to waste. My employer won't be too happy about this, but I'll make sure to bring him in after. My name is Shepherd," he said.

"He's gone." Talon says.

"He recovers faster than I thought, Talon."

Shepherd said.

"Consider it done.''

Talon said.

He flies in the air at high speeds as he glides around the corner tracking the target.

I hear gunshots. Talon brings back the corpse.

Dropping him in front of me.

"This isn't a good idea," Talon whispered.

"It's fine, they're both stubborn, so let's see where this goes OK?"

Shepherd said

"I have a place where I'm meeting up with some friends, it's nearby," I say.

Tari walks down the street breathing heavily and she sits in the back of my vehicle holding her rifle.

I picked up the corpse, putting it over my shoulder.

Walking towards my vehicle, I placed it in the trunk.

"You're going to have to wash and fix my vehicle."

I said.

Shepherd gets on his bike.

"I'm not doing that," Shepherd says.

I drive ahead of him, leading the way to the abandoned building where I'm meeting Dale and Nathan.

An abandoned apartment building.