Charging to the balcony, I leaped off, fired the thrusters on my boots, and blasted into the night sky.
My hoodie flapped to the air's currents, and its chill pricked my skin.
Like a heat-seeking missile, I crisscrossed the streets of New Chronos, searching for any crime in progress.
If I had to pummel every thug in this crime-ridden city to find out Archer's location, then so be it.
"Help!" A scream drew my attention.
I paused in mid-flight and retraced to the source of the voice, coming up at a dark alley where two hooded figures clasping baseball bats were cornering a boy.
"Save your screaming for when the beating starts," one of them snorted. " Or do you think Tekeon is everywhere at the same time?"
"Hey!" I bellowed, causing their heads to spin in my direction. "Pick on someone who's ready for a fight, otherwise you're the real coward."
They grunted, and the taller one snarled. "Who do you think you are? Some wannabe superhero?"
Immediately, they drew out revolvers, but it's fair to say I had trained my reaction time more than they could imagine.
Their guns were already flying off their hands when I blasted them with low-intensity electron beams; fast enough to knock them off their feet but not hot enough to singe their skins.
Before they could get up, I swooped in and scooped them up by their collars, pinning them to the wall. A gruesome crack came from their backs as they 'oomphed' in pain.
I tightened my hold. "I'm your worst nightmare." Fear was engraved in their eyes. "Now, you're going to tell me where to find Alain Archer like your lives depend on it."
The shorter one whimpered. "We ain't know where Archer is, I swear!"
"We're just new recruits," the other added. "But the higher up might know something."
From the corner of my eyes, I watched the formerly cornered boy scram. Focusing my glare on the men in front of me, I recognized they had grey headbands with some wacky symbols on them.
Grey...
"Hybrid Cloak?" They nodded affirmatively. "Where's your hideout?"
***
The rundown apartment building loomed up ahead. I was flying to close the distance, and the closer I got, the more my blood boiled.
At the front door, two men in grey suits ripped off their shades and squinted up in my direction.
Whether they mistook me for a shooting star wasn't my concern; it was whether they knew what they signed up for.
Like a meteor from the sky, I descended in front of them. The first one whipped out a handgun from within his suit, but my beam got to him before he could even aim. He crashed through the front door, making way for me.
The second one hesitated, his hand halfway inside his suit. I cracked my neck as I approached him.
"Is Zen home?"
He attempted to thrust out his hand, but I grabbed him by the neck and gave him a choke slam. My grip on his neck loosened when I crouched to stare him in the eye.
"Answer me."
He coughed hard. "Zen is on the top floor," a wheeze followed. "You...are foolish for drawing attention, now all the boys are coming out to spray your bloody soul with bullets."
"Is that a challenge?" I knocked him out with a punch.
Cueing an action-themed orchestra in my head, I rose from my crouch.
With three rapid blinks, I ordered the holographic displays to pop up within the helmet. The pale blue display showed that my gloves had 78 percent of power left while my boots had 83.
"Let's do this." Through the face shield of my helmet, I saw a lot of armed men in grey suits thundering toward the door frame.
My thrusters propelled me to the air right before they opened fire. The expressions on their faces hinted that they didn't see something like this every day.
I dove down into their ranks and clotheslined those who were directly in my way. My acceleration declined temporarily when I was behind all of them.
They frantically tried to turn around and face me, bumping into each other as they did so.
Now that I had them flustered, I'd reduced my risk of a bullet wound. A smirk traced my lips, and I clenched my fists.
The punches I delivered echoed throughout the building. When I was done, about fifty men were down some moaning, some unconscious. To my dissatisfaction, my shoulder had been grazed during the fight. Though it was merely a flesh wound.
Stampings came from the floor above me. How do I master this situation?
My gaze turned to the stairs, and my body flew in that direction. When I was close to the top, an armed guard was about to make his way down, but he froze at the sight of me. Without losing momentum, I decapitated him with a headbutt. Flying through the door of the first floor to meet an even larger host of guards than on the ground floor.
Oh boy.
Again, I was the faster one to react. Descending to the ground so fast that I broke a hole through it and was now on the ground floor again.
Aiming with my gloves at the roof, I fired high-intensity electron beams that exploded on collision, causing the roof to cave in and all the men to drop like rain.
Examining the aftermath, those who weren't knocked out were either muffling under a sea of bodies or badly hurt to fight.
Top floor.
With full throttle and fists balled above my head, I skyrocketed through the levels until I came up on the rooftop. Then I flew down to the top floor.
There was a door in front of me, resembling a vault.
"Bozos!" I heard Zen's voice from within. "Steady your grip, and keep your aim on that door!"
I cracked my knuckles. It was time to get some answers.
I hovered back and lurched forward with a punch. A resounding boom. A dent.
I did it again. A bigger dent.
The third time was different. As I boosted forward, my palm was spread out, electron beam charging. The moment I slammed my hand on the door, I let a rip, firing the beams point blank.
The door gave in, I flew back, and smoke and fire enveloped the area.
Smoke didn't cover the whole room, just the entrance. And it acted as my cover while I analyzed the scene.
Three buffed men wielded mini guns a meter from the entrance.
Beyond them was a sofa set, and seated on the farthest sofa was Zen Hong with a glass of liquor in hand.
"I'm paying you all not to miss." He glowered, trying to sound confident, but there was fear in his voice.
I took a deep breath and zoomed towards the first one, taking him out with a blow to his jaw before retreating into the smoke.
"Kill that bastard!" Zen barked. The other two opened fire, spraying bullets into the fog and slowly drawing closer. Little did they know I could fly, and I was looming just above the range of their bullets.
With two powerful shots to their foreheads, they were knocked off their feet and crashed with a thud, skidding across the floor unconscious.
Smoke sizzled from where the beams had hit them. The intensity was almost too much for what I intended, but they were still breathing. Most importantly, they couldn't keep me from my target anymore.
Zen looked like he'd seen a ghost. His left hand dropped the glass of liquor while his right hand dove into his trenchcoat and pulled out a silver revolver.
He was about to get up, but I flew out of the smoke like lightning and speared him into the couch, toppling it over.
He coughed heartily as I readjusted my position so that one hand grasped his forehead while my knees pinned his shoulders.
"Move a muscle," the blaster charged against his forehead. "And I'll blow your brain off."
"Tekeon?" He squinted in confusion. "What the fuck are you wearing?"
"I'll ask the questions around here, not you. Now tell me; Where. Is. Archer?"