Sev released his grip on Chase's neck. The boy plummeted seven feet, landing on the hard concrete.
"Chase, are you okay?!" Alex called out. Chase nodded at the floor slowly as he tried to breathe.
"You rebels never give up, do you?" Sev asked, turning towards Alex midair.
"I don't know how to." Alex rotated her arm while grabbing her shoulder.
Sev scoffed, waving his hand.
A gust of wind charged towards Alex. She crossed her arms as they began to glow green.
The gust hit her arms, sending her flying backwards.
Alex fixed herself midair, her boots stomping the ground just in time.
Sev gritted his teeth.
"Take this!" Sev sent a barrage of rapid fire windshots at Alex.
The green-haired woman kept her arms up. The wind was too fast to dodge and a continuous barrage was troublesome.
Between her forearms, Alex saw Sev close his eyes and begin to inhale deeply.
"Don't!" Chase yelled through his bloody mask as he looked up for the first time since he was dropped. His eyes wide with fear, looking past his outreached hand.
Outside of the alleyway, Amora lay unconscious under a knelt Akilah.
"Um, uh." Akilah tried to think back to the minimal first aid she saw Jessica perform back in D.C.
After a few moments, Amora opened her eyes, looking up at the worried Akilah.
"Oh thank god." Akilah hugged Amora.
"Where is Chase…? Where is Slim?" Amora asked, weakly.
"Chase is still trying to get past the other deputy. Slim is still unconscious. If you're okay, I'll go check on Slim now." Akilah explained as she pointed over to the unconscious Slim on the other side of the street.
Amora nodded, "Let me help."
The two girls stood up, speeding over to Slim.
"What the hell was that?!" The girls heard from their left. They looked over to see Kai and Taro side by side facing the other two deputies.
"I was about to finish her off!" Ocho finished. He put his arms up in frustration.
"Go back to whatever hellhole you popped out of, dude." Taro cracked his knuckles as Kai nodded in agreement.
Ocho fixed his cap while Tine fixed her glasses. They both furrowed their brows, trying to conceal their anger.
"They're both pretty strong. They have a lot of Spirit. Looks like the one on the right has a speed Mode while the other one has strength." Tine said. She spoke loud enough for the brothers to hear, hoping to intimidate them.
It worked. Taro and Kai looked at each other with worry.
Tine grinned, looking at her brother as he began to grin too.
"Don't worry, sis. I got this." Ocho took a step forward while patting his sister on the shoulder, his cap shading his eyes.
The setting sun still beamed on the street where the four stood. The crowd had vanished at the sound of Chase's gunshots, so the entire street was theirs to battle on.
"Her glasses do something! And the boy has some kind of strength Mode like yours!" Amora yelled at the brothers.
"Well that helps." Taro nodded to his brother as he got into a combative stance.
"We'll kill both of you. Then we'll be Officers!" Ocho charged at the two as Taro and Kai lost their composure for a split second.
"They're Deputies?! How is a Deputy this strong when the ones in D.C couldn't even use Spirit?!" Kai's mind began to race.
"Hey, stay in the game! This isn't like D.C!" Taro yelled as Ocho closed the distance.
Kai nodded, instinctively rushing towards the Deputy.
"Shit!" Taro quickly realized his brother had no idea what he was going to do.
Ocho met Kai in the middle of the street.
Kai began his frenzy of random punches, all of them being blocked by Ocho.
"Dammit, I was right. It's his usual method of punching and praying." Taro concluded.
Ocho grinned as he continuously blocked Kai's blur of punches. His arms moved like he'd practiced every counter one million times.
"I heard you guys are from D.C. Y'know, I trained the Deputies over there." Ocho said.
Kai stopped his barrage and took a step back, "What?"
"Their so-called 'Spirit Martial Arts' is just a base level copy of my Mode. Now it's my turn!" Ocho's fists glowed purple as he charged towards Kai. The Deputy reeled his fist back, ready to strike.
Taro stepped in front of his brother, arms crossed as they began to glow yellow.
"You think your little guard will stop me?" Ocho struck Taro's arms.
Taro grunted, gritting his teeth as he was pushed back a couple feet.
"You good, bro?" Kai placed a shoulder on his brother's arms.
Taro was holding his left forearm. He stomped his foot while he winced in pain, "Shit. I'm fine. Keep your eyes on him. And don't rush in!"
"Tapped out already?!" Ocho yelled, putting his arms up.
"That was stupid. I don't know why I thought I would be able to localize more Spirit than him." Taro shook his head.
"Don't rush in." Kai murmured to himself.
Kai rushed in. He tried a leg sweep, trying to trip the Deputy.
Ocho promptly jumped over the attack, moving his legs forward for a high kick.
Kai barely dodged the kick, getting away by a hair. He felt the force of the strike through the wind that rushed past him, realizing the severity of the situation, "That could've taken off my head."
The boy went for a punch to the abdomen while the Deputy was still midair.
"Gotcha!" Kai exclaimed. He couldn't see a way out of this next attack.
"Nope!" Ocho grabbed Kai's fist as his legs met the ground.
The Deputy grinned.
He spun around, throwing Kai over his shoulder and onto the concrete.
Kai gasped, trying to catch the air that was just knocked out of him.
"This is why you stay in your place, idiot!" Ocho knelt down as he winded his glowing fist back, ready to finish the boy off.
"Hey! Don't move!" Taro yelled from across the street.
"Now who the hell are you to tell me-" Ocho turned to Taro as he realized the situation.
Taro had Tine in a headlock. The way his hand was positioned over her head made his intentions clear.
"If you don't move away from my brother, I WILL snap her neck. Don't even try me!" Taro exclaimed.
"Didn't I teach you basic Spirit Martial Arts?! Fuck!" Ocho threw his cap on the ground.
"Ocho, please!" Tine started to cry.
This reaction shocked Taro.
"The teachers at the academy were right! You dissenters are nothing but dirt!" Ocho screamed as he watched his sister cry.
Taro's anger returned. Whatever compassion that had popped up from Tine's tears had disappeared just as quickly.
Kai, now standing, threw a roundhouse kick to Ocho's side.
It landed, tossing Ocho into the hood of their Correctional Forces car. Kai clutched his side as he kept his eyes on the direction the Deputy was thrown.
Taro looked down at the woman trapped in his arms.
"I hope you all die! I hope God strikes you down!" Tine screamed through tears, spitting at Taro's face.
The boy gritted his teeth. He let her go, immediately throwing a haymaker to her chin.
Tine dropped unconscious on the side of the street as Taro made his way to Kai.
Akilah and Amora knelt over Slim, who was finally beginning to open his eyes.
"Slim!" Amora called.
Slim opened his eyes slowly, looking around to assess the scene.
"Did the backup get here?" Slim spoke weakly.
"Yeah, but they're still having trouble." Akilah pointed to Taro and Kai, who were now facing a lone Ocho.
"What about Hendrix and Molly?" Slim asked.
"We lost him a while ago…" Akilah answered.
Slim balled his fist.
Back in the alley, Alex's fight had only gotten worse.
She had been stuck on defense for a while.
She was unable to find an opening between windshots. Even though they were not lethal individually, the continued pressure was starting to wear on Alex. Each gust of wind felt like it was seconds away from splitting her arms open.
Chase finally recovered enough strength to start moving.
He looked around, trying to find the gun that Sev whisked away from him.
Sev stopped inhaling.
Chase heard the silence. He looked over in terror as Sev positioned himself directly over Alex.
"What the…" Alex sprinted away from underneath the Deputy, only for him to follow her.
Sev exhaled, letting out a violent wind that slammed Alex into the ground.
She tried to breathe to no avail. Her ribs felt like they were about to break.
"Chase, you were dealing with this all alone?!" Alex thought to herself. This felt like her fault.
Alex couldn't even turn her head. Her head was stuck looking in Chase's direction.
Chase rummaged through garbage while trying to keep the attention off of him.
"Where is it?!" Chase whispered to himself as he pushed through the pain.
Chase felt the gun underneath a pile of broken wood. He pulled it out, immediately pointing it at the Deputy.
"Hasta la vista, baby!" Chase said between coughs.