Chapter Text
Plumes of smoke and gas curled into the air, burying the building beneath a grey haze. The gas masks made passing through the perimeter simpler while the gasping of those without pinpointed each target. Win win. Silencing the hacking coughs, Sevika strode forward into the gloom, clearing the way for Silco and his men. She didn’t need any help smashing her way through the door and into the warehouse, and the group moved swiftly inside the first level of the warehouse.
Given that Niko and his people were so determined to stand alone, they were woefully unprepared for what that meant. Carving through their pitiful excuse for guards was laughably easy.
Silco and his second stood in the doorway as his men poured into the building, taking on whichever disoriented person they came across first. The doors closed behind them, sealing Niko’s people in with their demise.
Jinx had already made her own way into the building - echoes of chaos and shock blasts from ahead told them she was doing just fine. The adjoining room was a bloodbath by the time they finally caught up with her, just the way Silco had wanted it. He might value the lives of Zaunites, but everyone in this building was fair game. With a nod, he sent her off to do what she did best while he and Sevika did what they came to do.
The ventilation system inside the warehouse was good enough to expel the gas they’d used outside, so they dropped their masks on the floor. They took the rickety-looking metal staircase bolted to the wall of the warehouse up to Niko’s office, only to be met with five faces they recognised. Of course, Niko had his most well-trained and loyal men to guard him.
Silco watched, expressionless, as Sevika hefted one of them over her shoulder and threw him over the railing. The scream cut off abruptly with the crunch of his body hitting the ground two floors below.
Light flashed as the mechanism in Sevika’s metal arm pumped shimmer through it and into her. The first man charged only to have his punch dodged, his arm caught and snapped in the wrong direction. Sevika jerked her head up into his nose and he crumpled to the ground.
The next two tried to come at her together, but the walkway was too thin and their experience was nothing compared to Silco’s second. They were too hesitant and it was over as soon as her fists curled into their hair and she crashed their skulls into each other, throwing their bodies to the side as an afterthought.
The last woman held up a little longer; dodging the first few of Sevika’s punches, she even landed a few of her own. Then her fist connected with Sevika’s jaw, knocking her back a step. With an exaggerated stretch of her jaw, a small smirk flickered across her expression as she thundered forward, body slamming into the smaller woman with enough force to take her off her feet.
Straddling the guard, Sevika didn’t hold back as her metal fist cracked into her skull, caving a dent into it that ended the fight immediately. Now was not the time to enjoy the fight. This was business, and all in all, the four fighters lasted less than a minute against her.
‘Pathetic,’ Silco said as he passed the prone bodies on the walkway.
Sevika kicked the office door down and it folded like it was made of card. Even the building wouldn’t stand up against their onslaught. The men in the room beyond didn’t look likely to put up much of a fight either.
They started as three. Sevika stopped the first guard before he even had the opportunity to swing at them. Grabbing his wrist, she squeezed until his weapon clattered to the floor. With a sharp tug, she yanked him forward, knee jabbing into his chest. He gasped for breath until Sevika’s palm shoved his head against the wall and he crumpled to the ground beside it.
Then there were two. The second guard got out a shot but Sevika deflected it with her arm and wrapped her metal hand around his throat, squeezing so hard his face went purple before she threw him across the room. He didn’t get up.
And then there was only one, gun raised and pointed at the unstoppable force coming at him. Niko didn’t stand a chance. She disarmed him in seconds and bent his arm behind his back, forcing him to his knees.
Silco’s footsteps echoed in the now-eerie quiet.
‘Do you hear that, Niko?’
The other man said nothing, gasping as Sevika lifted his arm, twisting until it was on the edge of dislocating.
‘That’s the sound of all your people. Dead.’
Niko didn’t say a word, but he wouldn’t look up at Silco, at the leader he had tried to betray. He might have thought himself high and mighty enough to strike out for power alone, but he didn’t look like it now.
‘Ambition is healthy - in moderation, encouraged even. But you got ahead of yourself, didn’t you? You thought you could stick your head above the Lanes and no one would notice.’
Silco crouched in front of the man, his demeanour frighteningly cool.
‘We noticed.’
‘I wasn’t doing anything, I swear, I -’
Sevika pulled his arm up again and he yelped.
‘Okay, okay, I was just trialling an expansion, it wasn’t meant to be anything -’
‘We all know that’s not true.’
Panic flickered in his eyes, desperation warping his expression into something farcical.
‘I swear, I didn’t mean anything by it. You’re the boss. I know that.’
Silco stood, looking down on the pathetic man before him. He’d really thought he could be a threat to what Silco had been building. He really thought he had something to give Zaun. He would have been its ruin.
‘Unfortunately for you, it’s a little late for platitudes.’
Niko’s eyes shifted like those of a cornered animal. His free arm reached for a knife but Silco was quicker. His foot kicked down, colliding with Niko’s face. The would-be crime lord wasn’t used to taking hits and fell to the ground just as Sevika dropped him, cradling his crushed nose while the blood ran down his face.
‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I promise I’ll fall back in line.’
Silco didn’t bother responding. It was far too late for all that. He brought his boot down again and again on Niko’s skull until it bowed under his foot with a sickening crunch. Silence rippled through the office as Silco straightened and brushed his hair back from his face, regaining his composure. Sevika just stared at the bloody corpse at their feet.
‘Clear the other rooms, then see that that’s left somewhere the others can find it.’
She nodded, moving swiftly to one of the adjoining rooms. He turned his attention to the various papers scattered all over Niko’s desk. Silco’s lip curled. Either Niko threw all his papers around in his panic at their arrival, or he was as disorganised as his appearance and men had been. How did he get anything done with all this mess?
Dragging his fingers over the papers, he dismissed many of them until four words caught his attention. Shimmer variant test subject. He let out a low hum, lifting the page so he could take a closer look.
‘Boss, I think you should come see this.’
He heaved a long sigh and placed the papers back on the desk. There would be time to go through them properly later - and he would definitely be looking at that little side project of Niko’s some more. Sevika waited down a long corridor, lingering in an open doorway and gesturing inside. Her usually hard expression had creased into a frown.
Silco entered the room with cool grace, face set in an emotionless mask. The first thing he saw was the bleeding body of a man who’d made the wrong decision when it came to facing his right hand. Sevika ignored the body then tilted her head to the woman in the corner of the room.
Backed into the corner on the floor, her wrists were bound and clothes ripped. Blood stained her pale skin and clothing in irregular patches and states of freshness, making her look like a gory patchwork. Though no sound was coming out of her, her body shook with adrenaline and fear and she wasn’t even looking at them. Her eyes were dead set on the corpse.
Even through the greasy strands of dark hair hanging over her face, her tear tracks were obvious. Because her tears were full of shimmer.
That was new.
Silco let out a low hm. The plan had been to eliminate every person that chose to follow Niko and to make an example of them. There wasn’t any point being hasty here though, and there was little evidence to suggest she was here of her own volition - or that she was working with Niko by choice.
Silco could easily have her killed and be done with the whole business… or he could find out exactly what Niko had been doing here and what this woman had to do with it. Perhaps the good doctor would have something to say about these experiments.
‘She comes with us.’