As Lenny and Kai were facing off against the Messiah above, a very different battle was being fought below.

In the damp, claustrophobic belly of the city's sewage system, Isaac sat slumped against the mossy concrete wall, eyes half-lidded and unfocused. His body trembled with exhaustion. Sven was crouched beside him, checking the pulse on his wrist like a worried nurse. Nadya paced nearby, her boots splashing in shallow runoff as she kept glancing up toward the shaking ceiling.

From here, Isaac could still see fragments of the chaos above - his phased vision flickering like a dying bulb. The Messiah's blinding light, Kai's blood-formed constructs, and Lenny's bursts of raw power and durability. It was like watching monsters clash on a stage far above them.

Kai was alive. That alone had drawn a breath of relief from all three of them.

But they couldn't go back. Not now.

Isaac retched again, dry heaving with a groan, his body curling as another wave of nausea tore through him. The wall behind him was slick, but he didn't even have the strength to care anymore.

"I'm done," he muttered, voice hoarse. "I can't… I can't even see straight."

Even holding his phased vision for those few seconds had shredded what little energy he had left. His entire body felt like it had turned to jelly, each limb trembling under its own weight, every heartbeat rattling through his chest like a hammer. His stomach wouldn't settle, and his vision blurred in and out like a broken camera lens.

They weren't going anywhere, anytime soon.

The tunnel around them stank of human waste and rotting industrial runoff. Old rusted ladders led up to locked grates, the kind only someone with a death wish would dare try. Escape wasn't impossible… but right now? It might as well have been.

They were very deep underground, and they were more likely to get lost in sewage than find a way out with Isaac phasing them away. And even if they could, they would have to carry with them the crate and their one-armed companion.

"Fantastic," Sven muttered, arms crossed. "We're stuck in a sewer, we smell like shit, and there's no way out."

"Oh, and we pissed off two dangerous mutants that each run large organisations," Nadya added, voice dry. "Let's not forget that little detail."

Isaac laughed, just once. It sounded more like a cough.

But despite all the chaos, despite the damage, the narrow escape, the pain, they'd done it.

Mission complete.

At least for the most part.

Whatever alliance had been brewing between the Scalpel and the Golden Cross Cult had crumbled before it ever had the chance to take shape. The deal they meant to use to replace their contract with the One-Eyed Serpent? Gone.

Distribution lines? Cut. Part of their supply was obliterated by the Messiah's blast.

And the samples Isaac had stolen, in a small wooden crate he was leaning on, were the real prize.

"It's a win," Sven muttered, voice low. "A big one."

Isaac closed his eyes, chest rising and falling slowly. His fingers clenched weakly around the cold pipe beside him.

"Yeah," he whispered. "But it sure as hell doesn't feel like it."

They were alive, barely.

And the world above was only getting darker.

-

Later, at Apartment 206…

The smell of greasy cheese and tomato sauce wafted through the small living room, mixing with the faint smell of burnt flesh and blood still clinging to their clothes.

Kai lounged back on a tattered sofa, a slice of pepperoni pizza dangling from his fingers, half-eaten. Amina sat cross-legged on the floor nearby, biting into her third slice like she was trying to chew through her stress. Lenny, the humanoid lizard, perched awkwardly on a reinforced chair he'd salvaged from a junkyard many moons ago. It groaned under his weight.

Somehow, they'd all made it back in one piece.

Riding Lenny back had been… an experience, to say the least.

He wasn't the most comfortable mode of transport, but he was certainly effective. Several times, concerned citizens had tried to stop them, calls to the authorities and even Association squads had been dispatched, but none of them had managed to catch up. Lenny moved like a goddamn force of nature, too fast and unpredictable.

No casualties and not that much public damage meant no serious follow-up.

Besides, the authorities had bigger things to worry about.

Like the crater that used to be Dockland 17.

The Messiah's Divine Retribution hadn't just annihilated the Scalpel's deal. It had wiped out over an entire kilometre of infrastructure. Gone. Erased. Nothing but a scorched pit of light and silence where once there had been warehouses, crates, deals in the dark.

People across the city had seen the light. Felt the shockwave. Rumours were already spreading like wildfire - angels descending, mutants clashing, doomsday prophets screaming on the streets.

In the midst of that chaos, Lenny was just another wild mutant riding high on adrenaline and a pizza craving.

Kai, for one, had enjoyed the ride back more than he was probably supposed to.

Sure, Amina had clung to Lenny's back like she was riding a rocket headed for hell, face pale, muttering threats between every jump - but Kai? He'd leaned into the wind, eyes gleaming, blood singing in his veins.

The sheer power of Lenny's mutated frame had left an impression.

The lizard-man had leapt clean over twenty-storey buildings, landed without a scratch, and thundered across highways like a one-man apocalypse. His scales shimmered with unnatural toughness, and nothing had slowed him down.

Kai took another bite of pizza, chewing slowly as he watched Lenny with a thoughtful gleam in his red eyes.

'Yeah... this fucker could probably crush me like a bug. Mental note: do not pick a fight with the giant mutant lizard.'

Lenny shifted uncomfortably under Kai's gaze, eyes flicking away. For a guy who could snap concrete with his tail, he looked surprisingly tense, his muscles coiled almost as if he were intimidated.

The only sounds were the soft crunch of crust and Amina's quiet chewing, until a sudden knock shattered the quiet.

Knock knock.

Kai paused mid-bite. Amina looked up sharply. Lenny turned toward the door, eyes narrowing, reptilian instincts flaring.

People rarely knocked on his door, and hardly ever at this time of night.

Kai stood slowly, blood stirring once more.

And just like that, the brief moment of peace was gone.

-

The door creaked open, and the smell hit them like a brick wall dipped in raw sewage.

Kai reeled back, covering his nose. "What the-?!"

Standing in the doorway were three thoroughly drenched, utterly disgusting figures - Sven, Nadya, and Isaac. Each of them was caked in grime, sewer sludge dripping from their boots, and the stench... dear god, the stench. It clung to them like a curse.

"Hey," Isaac croaked, barely able to lift a hand in greeting. His face was pale, eyes bloodshot, and he looked about five seconds away from collapsing.

Kai blinked, then yelled, full and loud.

"You bastards!" he barked, pointing at them with a slice of pizza. "You left me to die, you know that?! If Lenny hadn't shown up all dramatic and scaly, I'd be a pile of ash right now!"

Isaac wheezed out something that might've been a chuckle and staggered inside, dragging a crate behind him. Nadya and Sven followed, looking equally exhausted and equally disgusting. They made a beeline straight for the pizza like starving rats.

"Oi! At least wash your hands first!" Amina snapped, scooting away from them with a scrunched-up nose. "You smell like disease."

"Too tired," Nadya mumbled, already reaching for a slice.

Sven flopped down near the window, chewing like a zombie, not even blinking as Kai edged away from him.

The group was back together, mostly.

But even as they bickered and passed the greasy box of pizza slices around like treasure, a strange quiet settled over them.

It was Takeshi.

He wasn't there.

Even though he didn't really talk, his absence left a noticeable gap. He was the shadow in the corner they could rely on. Mysterious. Sharp. Unshakable. He was like an older brother none of them had asked for, but ended up needing anyway.

Kai stared down at his half-eaten slice, chewing slower.

"We definitely need to look for him," he said finally, voice lower.

"Agreed," Nadya replied instantly. There was no hesitation.

No one wanted to say it out loud, but the thought was there, hanging heavy over them.

Takeshi had gone up against the Thundercutter. A fearsome opponent by any standard. And if that wasn't bad enough, the entire Association had likely been alerted by their battle. It was unlike anything they'd seen in a while.

Even for someone as slippery and skilled as Takeshi… walking away from that kind of heat? It was a miracle if he'd made it out alive.

The silence deepened.

Until Kai's sharp eyes landed on the crate Isaac had brought in, half-covered in filth but unmistakably branded.

Golden Cross and Scalpel insignia. The same alliance that had tried to rise in the One-Eyed Serpent's place.

Kai's lips curled.

"So… it wasn't for nothing after all."

His fingers tapped against the crate, thoughts racing.

They may have been half-dead, soaked in filth, and short one sword-wielding maniac - but they had something.

Kai's eyes glinted red as the wheels in his mind started to turn.

He already had an idea...

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