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My thoughts were lost with the hours after witnessing Yuno's untimely end at the edge of my blade. I sat with Tay in her apartment along with Bernie and Minnie. Tay slept on the couch, with her head resting in my lap. I stroked the top of her head gently as she lay there, collecting my own thoughts. I didn't know how to feel, reacting to losing so much in quite a short time. Most of my team and my former best friend, all gone. I found myself coming to a conclusion that would be common among anyone else in my situation - blaming it all on myself. I was carrying the burden of what had happened to them and I couldn't lift it. I didn't want to. It felt as if I did already, it would be disrespectful. I didn't know the team as well as I knew Tay, but I did know one thing. They'd be sending Juno into the room to give me a power pep talk. Even if I found those slightly annoying, I did already begin to miss them.

Well into the night, I did move Tay's head from my lap and laid her gently against the couch cushion. I headed outside and hopped onto my Hooverbike. It was the middle of the night, so not many people were around. This was mostly due to a curfew enforced by the Cryptic Guard, though usually not as strict as most other laws. It didn't apply to certain individuals such as bartenders and owners, like Jack. Roaming around in a completely closed environment did get you in trouble though. I ended up heading to Jack's Tavern as I felt like having a drink or two.

Once I arrived at Jack's, I walked in and he immediately noticed me since it wasn't too busy. He approached me once I sat at a barstool and gave off a small chuckle.

"What brings you here so late?" he asked. "You do look rather bothered by something."

"Had a run in with someone," I replied a bit coldly. "They tried to murder me, so I had to... fight back."

"Oh?" he asked. "No matter how long you live, boy, I think being attacked and killing is something you don't get used to. I used to be a militia man and I'm still bothered to this day about any soldier I had lost. Though if I may ask, why does this attacker have you so shook up?"

"It was the girl I told you about," I said. "Yuno."

"That Cryptic Guard girl you mentioned a while back?" he asked, seeming surprised.

"Yes," I said, giving a gentle nod. "Though her intent was to kill me. She was a forced experiment for the Baron trying to create a living, breathing weapon. The best friend I had... never existed."

"Never existed?" he asked, rather perplexed. "Interesting. This does shed a new dark light over Runo. Willing to alter his own child to gain an advantage for war. It doesn't seem like it panned out though. You're still here."

"Only because Tay managed to save me," I said, sighing gently. "She was able to catch Yuno in a couple of ropes and it gave a window long enough for me to stab her through the heart. I had no choice, otherwise if she broke out, I'd be the one dead."

"I can't pass judgment, but I know you, Lane," he said. "You wouldn't kill out of cold blood. Now, you're only kicking yourself for not being able to save her or at least make amends with her. Honestly, the girl you knew may not want that now, would she?"

I sat back and thought for a moment. He had a point, after all. Yuno wouldn't want me moping about. I would remember her, but not exactly let my mourning ruin what I'm fighting for. At least the Yuno I knew anyway. I sipped on the drink I ordered - which was a soda at least - before looking up at Jack.

"You have a point there," I said. "Even with tracking down the Bortelli goons, old women with guns, and fighting off Yuno, I only gotten close enough to make Bortelli flee again since the whole... thing with her."

"Wait, did you say old women with guns?" he asked, seeming perplexed by that phrase.

"Yes, unfortunately, I did," I said. "Some old women can hold their own with weaponry, apparently."

"Guess I shouldn't be surprised," he said. "I'm not that young myself yet I shoot like I'm still in my prime youth."

I chuckled and sipped my drink again. My ear did twitch as I overheard a couple of customers talking in a booth. The only reason I began to listen in was because I heard one of them mention Bortelli. My eyes looked in their direction but I didn't turn my head. "Crimson Gavel goonies," I said mostly to myself.

Jack looked over at them for a moment before looking back at me.

"Yeah," he said. "Mickey and Ariana. Two goons that work for the guy you're looking for. There's not much to them though. From what I could guess, they seem like errand goons. Nothing too special."

"I just need to get the location of where Bortelli relocated," I said. "That would include errand goons." I kept a watchful eye on them until I saw them paying their tab and heading toward the door.

I paid for my drink and stood up myself, nodding to Jack.

"Thanks for the talk," I said.

"No problem, but don't go killing yourself, got it?" Jack asked.

I chuckled and nodded before putting my hands in my coat pockets and walked out of the bar. I still had them in my eyesight and made sure of the path they took from the bar as I didn't want to be too close. As I waited, however, my vision suddenly blurred and an image flashed in front of my face. It didn't go away instantly though. It was of Yuno, dead on the ground. I held my forehead as a headache did creep up on me as well before my vision returned itself to normal. I blinked and shook my head, looking around.

"What was that?" I asked, half mumbling.

I regained myself before heading in the direction the two goons went on my Hoover Bike. I was able to catch up and keep them in my sight long enough to know which corner they had turned. One thing I did notice is that they were heading into heavy Cryptic Guard territory. I had to keep my own profile low as I was still a wanted man by them and the Gavel. I pulled my goggles down before speeding up a bit on my bike. The two goons seemed to be swerving in and out of traffic and speeding up themselves. I guess all of the Gavel goons are paranoid in some way since I doubt they knew I was following them. I did see their car stop after a few more minutes. They headed inside of what looked like an old factory building. I began to slow down, but my vision blurred and the image of Yuno appeared again. I growled and held my forehead again.

"Don't... let it distract you, Lane," I grumbled to myself before fully stopping the Hoover Bike. I climbed off of it, though I did feel like my body felt three times as heavy as I was moving slower now and I wasn't sure why. I managed to make it to the door and headed inside.

The building was large and rather dusty. It was full of supplies, oddly enough, as it did look abandoned from the outside. I looked around, not seeing the goons right away. I did have my laser pistol out and ready just in case I ran into any trouble. My vision kept randomly blurring and it was starting to annoy me.

"Focus, Lane, come on," I mumbled to myself.

Shaking the feeling off, I continued to move forward. The ambience of the warehouse was certainly one that I'd prefer not to be exposed to. It was cold, dark and in a few spots, it was damp enough to the point where I could assume either a person soiled themselves in that spot or there was a leaky pipe sprung somewhere. I had to stop every couple of steps as my vision now began to shift in and out of being able to see clearly or not.

"Are you gonna pass out or something?" I heard Bane suddenly echo in my head.

"No," I said, shaking my head. "Just a bit...dizzy, I think."

"Yeah, right," he snickered. "You've been a depressed couch potato ever since you had to end the conflict with you-know-who. Maybe I should be the one snooping around and not you."

"Shut up," I grumbled. "I don't need your sass, Bane. It's definitely not the time for it."

"Fine, but I am being serious," he said. "Might be best for me to take over for a while."

"Knowing you, you'll just get me into trouble in some way," I said, grunting as my head began to ache along with seeing the random flashes of Yuno again.

"Quit denying any help," he said. "You gotta take it once in a while. I understand your mistrust due to when you first met me, but trust me, those were more or less tests."

"You sure like being a jerk then," I said, coughing now.

"Boss, this thing ain't workin' fast enough," I and Bane suddenly heard a goon whisper from behind a box.

"What the-?" I asked and I heard Bane utter something in my head.

The goons noticed us noticing them before trying to run to hide in another location. They carried a glowing rock, which did make Bane curse under his breath.

"What?" I asked. "Bane, tell me what they have."

"Aridium," Bane said. "You know that crap you read about the Donjy and possibly being one? It's known to significantly weaken them. There's your answer, by the way."

"Aridium?" I asked, standing back up.

"Yes, you dunce," he sighed. "They ran away, so the effect is somewhat wearing off, but if you pursue them, they'll just weaken you again."

"Then what do I do?" I asked, looking around.

"It's simple," he said. "We kill them."

"Violence can be avoided sometimes," I grumbled.

"Says the guy who murdered most of the Crimson Gavel and a few Cryptic Guard for petty adrenaline rushed revenge," he said, mocking me.

"It was justified," I said. "They would have murdered me if I didn't fight back. You know that. Right now, there's no safe haven. I worry constantly for Tay, Bernie and Minnie."

"That's the problem with you hero types, constantly worrying," he said. "It's all fine and dandy to worry every once in a while, but not every damn minute."

"Easy for you to say," I said. "If you're basically an alternate me, you know loss is a hard thing for me to deal with."

"I know you, but you need to grow up," he said. "We - or rather, you - live in a world where any day, you can lose the ones you love. It wouldn't matter if it was by the Cryptic Guard arrest warrants or by a firearm. You're showing signs of weakness, Lane."

"Wrong," I said. "They're not signs of weakness, but you have a point about letting them get in the way."

"Whatever," he said. "Let's get back to the task at hand. Find those goons, interrogate them. Or did you forget that?"

I shook my head before heading further into the warehouse. I could hear the faint sound of footsteps as I gripped the butt my gun in my hand, ready for any attack. The effects still hadn't fully left my body as I coughed again. I felt a stinging sensation before feeling a slight dripping coming from my nose. It instinctively put my hand up to it and then looked down in surprise to see blood, though it was darker than normal. It was almost black.

"Nose bleeding?" I asked myself. "I haven't had one of those since I was 10."

I shook my head again and turned a corner, only to be greeted with a sudden slam to my right cheek with the rock Bane called Aridium. The blow was hard enough to make me stumble and fall onto my back. I could feel the effects from it coming in contact with me increasing again, though at a faster rate due to physical contact. I couldn't do anything efficiently at the moment. I couldn't attempt to get up or even think about taking the goons out in my condition. I felt my body being dragged after a few minutes before my eyes closed and I just had to wait for what would happen next.

I was so distracted by how weak I felt that I didn't feel myself being sat up or securely tied to a chair until I had opened my eyes again. I was in a different room from what I could tell immediately. I could see that damned rock nearby and I wanted to grab it and throw it far from me as it did seem to have a range for its effect. It wasn't very large since earlier those goons running off made the effects begin to fade rather immediately. Since I hadn't seen it at all before, it was safe to assume it was incredibly rare. It didn't mean I liked the fact it made me weak and feel like crap though. A goon of Bortelli's did approach me after a few minutes. He looked like one of the tenchcoats I was following. He was burly, perhaps more fat than muscle, and was a Lunga to boot. The ripped trenchcoat he wore made me think he had some sort of complex. It did remind me of a television show shown in Tonoko, centering around a vampire slayer. The thought did make me chuckle silently. I wasn't scared, oddly enough. Not at all.

"Look who's awake!" the goon chuckled as I watched him approach me. He had a gun in his right hand and grabbed the top of my head with his left. "You're a bit lucky, ya punk. Vinchi and Bortelli both want ya dead, but they want to do it themselves. So we're just holdin' ya here until we get the okay to transport ya."

"He could have invited me," I said, coughing. "I didn't need to be weakened or tied up for that matter. I would have gladly fought him."

The goon just chuckled and then slammed the side of his gun - or rather, my gun since he was using it - into the left side of my face.

"Shut up, you stupid mook," he said. "There's a bit of a catch to why he wanted it this way. I dunno what it is, but he says I can enjoy beatin' the shit outta ya. I like to call it some interrogation. Boss does wanna know what you know anyway."

"What I know?" I asked, looking up at him. "All I know is that your organization has been out to kill me ever since it fabricated a pretty stupid reason to."

"Embezzling from us, my friend, ends up getting' you or loved ones killed," the goon responded, hitting me again with the side of the gun.

I let out a pained groan and ended up coughing rather hard. My nose had also begun to bleed again.

"Speakin' of which, ya gonna tell us where your woman and the rest of your team is?" the goon asked. "Even if ya don't, we got ways of findin' out."

"Then what would be the point of me telling you?" I asked.

It seemed like he didn't like the answer as the next strike with the gun was the hardest yet as it knocked me over, along with the chair. He did pull the chair back up and growled lowly at me.

"Ya really like bein' a smartass," he said. "It's easier if ya just tell us."

"Kiss my ass," I said, coughing as he struck my gut several times now.

"As enjoyable as this is, I'm gonna have to report to my boss that you ain't cooperatin'," he said before leaving the room

I was alone now, so I could begin to think and assess the situation again. However, my vision begun to blur but this time darken as a strange feeling overcame me. I heard a far voice calling out for me. It sounded like Bane, but I could barely hear him. I could tell he seemed frightened. I don't know what he was frightened of, but if something did make him panic, it couldn't be good. I suddenly gasped and jerked as a sharp pain struck through my body before the darkness settled in. My vision, my sight and my ability to move suddenly vanished.

I felt like I was floating in the darkness. I couldn't see, hear or downright feel anything. When I thought it was all over, there was a blinding light before I found myself in a familiar environment. I was back at the apartment, with a sleeping Tay on the couch. I also saw Bane looking at her with a familiar expression. My expression. He looked distraught and hurt by the fact he could barely protect her just like I did.

"Quit staring," he said. "I pulled you from your darkness, but it's not going to fix what just happened."

"What?" I asked, blinking. "What's going on? I was pretty sure I was dead."

"No," he said. "I know what Bortelli's plan was when I felt a shift in your presence."

"Really now?" I asked. "Then what is it?"

"Watch the television there," he said. "I'll explain it once you see it."

I raised an eyebrow curiously before looking at it and crossing my arms. I could see my body, still lying against the chair unconscious. Bane was right to mention a change in my presence. I felt like something was wrong. This wasn't right. I wasn't sure how I was watching myself nor was I sure I understood what was going on, but I continued to watch what unfolded without any questioning.

A goon approached my unconscious body, knocking his knuckles against the right side of my head.

"Out cold, like boss said he'd be," he chuckled. "Guess we get to mess him up after all." He grabbed a nearby steel pipe and swung it toward my head.

The motion was suddenly stopped and both myself and the goon were surprised at the sudden reaction my body had as it had grabbed the piped mid-swing and stopped it completely.

"Little boys shouldn't play with dangerous toys," a dark voice coming from my mouth chuckled before looking up. My head turned toward the goon, showing red eyes rather than my own color. My fur had darkened to nearly black in color, with some light shades of gray around my arms.

"What the hell?" I asked myself.

The goon seemed to have the same question, though in the form of a terrified look on his face. He struggled to break my hand's grip.

"Hey, need some help over here!" he called out. "This Lane guy's not knocked out!"

"Lane?" the altered me asked. "Oh, no. I'm not him. Not nearly as weak. I don't have a name. Though I do like inflicting pain. Yes, that's it. Payne."

Payne struck the goon straight in the stomach and sent him flying into the wall. He groaned and coughed up blood easily. The sound of guns being cocked could be heard not too far from where Payne was standing. "I know you're watching, pansy boy," he chuckled, as if talking to me. "Let me show you how to kill without feelin' so guilty."

I went wide-eyed at that.

"What?" I asked, looking at Bane. "You're the good guy!?"

"Is now the time to really be surprised about that?" Bane asked, crossing his arms.

I looked back at the monitor, watching Payne. He was being surrounded by several more goons, all pointed their loaded weapons at him.

"None of you heard what I said earlier?" he asked, chuckling. "So be it. You want a fight, you got a fight. And it'll end in death.

The goons wasted no time in opening fired on him, He seemed to know how to avoid every bullet being fired as they weren't spreading the bullets and were intentionally avoiding shooting each other. It gave him large openings to disappear into the air and disrupt their constant firing. He came down on one goon with a left clenched fist, slamming them into the ground. He hopped off of them and kicked them hard in their back and sent them across the floor. The remaining goons open fired on him again, still leaving their patterns predictable. Payne just stood there, letting them all miss their shots.

"No accuracy when panicking," he said, holding out his left hand. "I'm already quite tired playing on easy mode. As I said, this will end in death. Sweet, glorious death."

A black substance emitted from his open palm and began to form into a ball. It lengthened considerably, showing a skinny, stick-like shape. At the end pointing away from him, it energy went downward and began to curve while slowly narrowing as it started out spread. It looked like it was in the shape of a blade. There was a small flash before the energy solidified into something he was capable of holding. The goons looked more panicked and I looked in awe. Payne had formed a scythe from this substance, which was Nether Energy.

The goons seemed utterly frightened at the spectacle. I couldn't blame them. I was in shock myself. I didn't recall ever reading a book on the Nether Energy subject where one person could form it into an object.

"You need to tell me what you know, Bane," I said. "I don't think Payne would be willing to talk."

"I think regaining your control after Payne takes care of those thugs would be more important," Bane said. "Then I'll tell you."

I had to agree If I wanted answers, so I just stood there, watching Payne currently intimidate the goons with his newly formed weapon. He dashed toward several of them and sliced through one, severing his arms and his head.

"As I said before, all of your fates are death," he said with an eerie grin.

The other goons began to panic, with a couple trying to look away from the severed remains of one of their partners. Two of them did end up running, but one wasn't fast enough. Payne sliced through him, splitting him down the middle and sending blood in all directions. The image of it made me want to vomit.

"I can't sit by and let him do that, even if they are the damn bad guys," I said, looking at Bane. "If they're going to die, it should at least be quick. Severing isn't quick. The slicing down the body, I have no idea, but it's more than likely extremely painful."

"Fine," Bane said as a door appeared behind him. "The way you're going to need to conquer your darkness is in a similar manner to how you found me and took me on in a fight. I was acting the way I did to make sure you cared enough to fight through what were seemingly impossible odds. Payne won't hold back. He is a Ryjy."

"A Ryjy?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "So I'm not a Donjy?"

"No, you are," Bane said. "Ryjys are corrupted Donjys, naturally. They can be artificially created by mortals consuming too much Nether Energy. There's also the reverse case where Ryjy can revert to their mortal form to conceal themselves. We've seen that already. The Dons were Ryjys. I'm fairly certain of something about the Gavel, but without more evidence to prove my claim, I can't tell you just yet."

"I'm basically fighting an evil me, right?" I asked.

"In a basic term, yes," he said. "At the same time, no. Yes, Payne will take your place if you get overpowered. Fighting him head on has a high risk of that. You'll need me to help you."

"Fine," I said, holding out my left hand as Bane's body lit up. It began to dissolve and form into one of the Katanas from whenever I did my Empowerment. The other formed in my right hand once I opened it.

"If we manage to defeat him, you must take his weapon and fuse it to these Katanas," Bane said. "Once that happens, you'll have a new weapon. Be careful though, Lane. He will not hesitate to eliminate you or me."

"Right," I said before turning toward the door before running through it.

Payne was chuckling darkly to himself as he lost track of several remaining goons while murdering two more. He looked around the visible warehouse floor before hopping down from a shipment crate and began to head toward a stairway. A sudden heavy headache hit him hard about halfway, causing him to fall to his knees and black out. The scythe disappeared instantly, so no one could use it to harm him.

I felt Payne pass out. I was dazed as well since we were the same person, after all. The more I thought about Payne, the more it made me think I could end up becoming like Baron Runo. I refused that though. Unlike him, I'd fight the darkness. The dark area I stood in was it up as Payne's form manifested before me. I narrowed my eyes immediately and gripped my Katanas with a firm grip.

"Oh, that's what happened," Payne chuckled. "You, a weak neutral mortal, seek to challenge me? You and the Donjy spirit aren't remotely strong enough."

I just yelled out, in a bit of a sudden rage, and tried to dash into him for a sudden strike. Payne was remarkably fast with his reflexes and had formed his scythe much quicker here than in the real world, which let him block my attack completely.

"Fueled by rage, too?" he asked. "Oh my, what ever did I do? I'm not the one that forced my way out of your little prison you call a mind. The guy with Aridium did that."

"I don't care," I said. "You're slaughtering the goons in ways I don't approve of. When I shoot to kill, I use a bullet. And try to make it quick."

"That's because you, my friend, feel guilty as hell each time you do it," he laughed. "Me? I feel happier. Oh, I could dance. The world's rid of the scum I just killed and you damn well know they deserve it."

"They may, but that's not how I do things," I said. "If I don't do something about you, I'll become a worse threat than Runo himself."

"Oh, Runo?" he asked, flipping his scythe over and leaning on it like a pole. "That big ole guy? Yeah, yeah. He used his daughter as a means to try and kill us. He took away our only friend, boohoo. We still have that surprisingly hot piece of ass ex-journalist back at her apartment."

"What!?" I asked, growling audibly now. "You take back what you just said about Yuno and about Tay."

"Why?" he asked. "I'm supposed to be you, Laney boy. Maybe you're thinkin' what I'm thinkin' too. You just don't wanna admit it." His grin from before returned as he spoke.

"You can shut up," I said before grunting as I swung my left Katana at him. He blocked it and I tried to use my right Katana to gain an attack he might not see coming, but it ended up being blocked as well.

Payne just let out a slightly amused chuckle before using the bottom of his scythe to jab me in the stomach. It caught me off guard, causing me to groan and lose my concentration. I was then uppercut and kicked hard in the same spot. It caused me to fly back a few feet, crashing into a nearby wall.

"Like I said to those thugs, this is like fighting a little boy with a big toy," he said. "No matter what, you won't beat me. You don't have the skill and your distrust of Bane makes you even weaker."

I did slowly rise to my feet, stifling a groan of pain. I tried to ignore his words, though it was hard to as he kept talking. He was trying to mess with me and throw me off guard again. He knows he his taunting could get through to me as it had already. I needed to calm down and become more strategic about how I fought. I had my weapons ready when he dashed toward me. I jumped out of the way before my eyes widened as he had disappeared and sliced my right arm enough to leave a gash. I groaned out in a bit of pain, managing to get away regardless of being slashed at. The gash stung like a thousand bees and made it nearly impossible to hold it up in order to use my Katana wielded in that hand. I could feel Bane rushing quickly to try and heal it. It seemed like Payne expected this and already appeared behind me and slashed at me again. I barely miss a hard hit and end up having another gash on my body, though on my back this time. I let out a louder agonizing groan as I stumbled forward.

"Lane, he aims to kill you and I," Bane said. "I'm healing as fast as I can, but you have to realize I can't be the one saving us this time. You'd be dead long before now if I hadn't interfered before."

"I'm aware," I managed to say, though slowly. "Payne, I'm not... weak like you said. I'll fight you. I'll send you back to where... you belong."

"Oh?" Payne asked, his grin having grown ear to ear. "Does someone realize darkness can't be killed, only suppressed? Quite ironic, isn't it? Darkness can't die, but the light and neutrality can, haha!"

I blinked and felt Payne's power suddenly increase around me. He disappeared from my site and Bane hadn't finished mending the gashes. I jumped out of the way of his next attempt at slicing at me. I managed to block him with my Katana, which was held in the hand that wasn't weakened by his gash.

"What's the matter, buddy boy?" he asked, chuckling. "Can't defeat me with just one functional arm? I know you're weak, but sheesh, come on! Bane's right, you know, you'd be completely dead if he hadn't helped you several times and now he's doing it again!"

I growled a bit angrily as he was continuing to personally attack me. I tried to tell myself that I need to ignore it and I couldn't let it get to me. For some reason, my ears heard everything despite me trying to ignore him.

"You talk a lot," I said before jabbing him as hard as I could with my lone Katana, hitting his right arm like he had hit mine. "It's starting to seriously annoy me."

He let out a groan as he jumped back and held his newly wounded arm.

"Starting?" he asked. "I've been annoying to you ever since I showed up. Blame the Aridium, Laney boy. Of course, you'd never want to accept you have a dark side." He grinned suddenly again before charging at me.

I hesitated and was struck in the chest by a powerful hit from his shoulder. It sent me flying into a wall, crashing through it quite easily. I coughed hard and rapidly, trying to get up to my feet. My injuries had been mended before the impact, but it didn't matter as I struggled to stand up now from how hard I was trying to breath. How did he have that much focus and power but suffer a similar wound that I did that rendered me almost helpless? I looked at him as he held his arm out, still grinning. I blinked in astonishment as the blood quickly vanished and the wound closed up rapidly, putting Bane's ability to complete shame.

"What the hell..." I said.

I was suddenly caught off guard by him charging at me again and using his scythe as a baseball bat, striking me point blank in the jaw with the blunt end of it as the blade wasn't facing toward me. It sent me crashing through the wall I had initially smashed into and through several more. I was dizzy by the time I finally lost my momentum and fell forward onto the ground. It felt as if every bone in my body should have broken, but they didn't. I was still breathing heavily and I could feel becoming worried about the situation himself. It had to be bad if he was beginning to lose his composure. I tried to get up, moving my hands to the ground and trying to push my weight up as if I was doing the military's mandated push up exercise. Payne had walked over to me before slamming his foot onto my upper back and let out a dark chuckle as I could feel the blade of his scythe hovering over me.

"You could never win, kid," he said. "I'm the new you. Just accept it already. There ain't no shame in it. Well, maybe a little shame, but that comes with the job."

"No," I managed to say through grunting and groaning as I was trying to deal with the pain. "I won't... I can't... give up."

"Oh?" he asked. "Gonna try bein' the hero, I see. Let me tell you something, Lane. You ain't the hero. You're far from it. You're a murderer, just like me. I may do it for fun and you do it for survival, but the basics are the same. That mafia crap you got after you is small time I could easily take care of. Just accept your death like a damn man."

"Accepting defeat?" I asked, chuckling and coughing at the same time. "You should know a Silverbane never accepts that."

"Oh?" he asked, nudging me and putting weight on my upper back, which did cause me to nearly yell out in pain. "That kind of thinking got our father killed, ya know."

I bit my lower lip and tried to concentrate. I wouldn't die here. Not now, not to this jerk. He raised an eyebrow as I did begin to lift myself up with my arms before moving my right arm quickly and grabbing the upper part of the scythe staff and yanked it from him. His grip was loose on it, therefore it slipped out easily and tumbled away from us. He stumbled and allowed me to grab his left leg and trip him onto the ground.

"You son of a bitch!" he groaned.

"Now, you don't have your toy," I said, crawling to my knees before moving on top of him and slamming my fist into his jaw. I did it repeatedly with a sudden rush of adrenaline pumping through my veins.

He did end up stopping my punching by grabbing one fist, twisting it and then striking me hard in the stomach. We tumbled around, punching each other equally hard. If this were a cartoon, we'd be in a dust cloud and only some limbs would be visible. We both ended up cut up and with bloody noses, though his would heal much faster than mine would. The tumbling was broken when I kicked him hard enough in the stomach to force him to let go and landed a hard punch to his right cheek.

I panted and I struggled to stand still, but I was going to try and win no matter what. I was closest to his scythe and picked it up. The handle did making a sizzling noise, seeming to not enjoy a person wielding it other than its owner. The burning sensation I felt didn't bother me as I slowly walked over to Payne.

"I didn't give in," I said. "I'm a fighter. I'm a Silverbane. I may have killed many Crimson Gavel members, but I'll never slaughter them like you did and I'll never do it to the innocent." I held up the scythe and bit my lower lip. "You're the pathetic one, Payne. Not me. I may have darkness within me, but I will never let you take over."

"Maybe not now," Payne chuckled, seeming to be unable to quickly regenerate his wounds now as he looked nearly as beat up as I did. "I will be back. You can't kill what makes you, well, you, Laney boy. It's only a matter of time until you lose to me and become like that Runo guy." He grinned widely now.

"Go to hell," I said before stabbing the scythe as hard as I could through his chest.

I expected him to disappear, though not in the way that it had happened. He immediately transformed into little molecule-like entities and practically exploded in a bright, orange light. The scythe had finally become scorching hot and I had to let go before it burst into the same orange light and joined the other molecules. I looked around, then felt the molecules rush at me and entered my own body, fusing to me. I yelled out loudly in pain as it felt scorching hot still. I then saw my vision begin to fade before I seemingly blacked out.

I didn't seem to wake up for a while. When I finally came to, I found myself back in reality. Though I was in a different room and I noticed the lack of any furniture and people. There wasn't a door either, so I wasn't sure how I was put in here in the first place. I coughed and held my head before rising to my feet. Scratching my head, I kept wondering what had happened. Did I get rid of Payne? He mentioned that he'd be back, so I doubt I did. The fight must have been for more for regaining control.

"Ah, Mr. Silverbane, you're awake," a voice said over an intercom and it immediately caught my attention.

"Bortelli," I said.

"Oh, I see my little attempt at experimenting like Jagger used to do didn't work out completely how I hoped," he said. "I was hoping to see a... darker you that I could persuade to fight alongside us. I guess that was too much to ask, wasn't it?"

"You have no idea," I said. "Even if I lost, that version of me would have murdered you still. You wouldn't have won."

"The battle?" he asked. "Quite obviously not, but that's not the big picture here. We would have won the war, really. That's what she wants in the long term. Short term means nothing."

"I'm noticing an annoying pattern with you crazy idiots," I said. "You mention this she or refer to it as her. What the hell are you talking about? Some sort of god you worship? Didn't know I was dealing with a newfangled Krater religious group."

"I suppose you are half right in that regard, but we tend to not think about the organization as such," he chuckled. "Good luck finding a way out of that room though, I'll be in touch if you do."

When it fell silent, I just grumbled to myself. I slammed my fist into the wall in front of me in frustration, not even flinching at any pain that might have caused.

"This so called mafia can't take on anyone alone or without cheap tricks," I said to virtually no one apart from Bane.

"As I said earlier, Lane, I believe we're not fighting a mafia," Bane said. "At least not one would consider normal. If you hadn't noticed, these Dons require or have practically inhaled a large amount of Nether Energy. Before our fight with Payne, I was thinking long and hard about the battles you've chosen to fought. They all lead to something with Nether Energy."

"Your point?" I asked. "And I don't know if I like the helpful 'good guy' Bane."

"Just deal with it," he said. "I don't need to push you in a direction anymore. Defeating Payne was more proof than I needed to know you don't need to be pushed anymore. Now, just listen."

"Alright, fine," I said, sitting on the conveniently placed bed. It looked like the type used in a prison - an uncomfortable mattress on an unreliable bed frame perhaps made out of the lowest metal found on Krater, Inzig, and a pillow that felt like it had rocks inside of it.

"Haven't you been curious?" he asked. "Remember your Don fights before now. What always happened when they nearly lost?"

"They entered this ultimate form," I said, putting my elbows on my knees and leaned into them with my chin in my palms.

"Powered by Nether Energy," he said. "Ryjys are pure Nether Energy empowered beings. Is that a coincidence?"

"I see your point," I said. "The journal entries I read from Jagger mentioned converting people into Ryjy. If there was even a way to fabricate Ryjy from mortals, how exactly would that be handled?"

"An excess intake of Nether Energy," he said. "I know only slightly more than you know right now. It's not like I'm a databank for this stuff."

"Then just say what you know," I said, still leaning on my elbows.

"I do know a Ryjy can disguise themselves as their former mortal selves if they're still sane enough," he said. "It's more than just a possibility. I believe Morta, Jagger, Bortelli and Vinchi are all Ryjys. Each had an ultimate form and differing abilities. Morta with brute strength despite being extremely intelligent and knowing battle strategies, she couldn't stop herself from just attacking with brute force. My guess her robotic suit was a form of trying to prevent her urge to charge head on, which broke when you destroyed it. Jagger transformed into a tentacle beast, intent on killing. It's not terribly surprising, as he was a crazed man of science. We saw what he did with the team and some of his specimens."

"I'm glad you had the time to assess the situation at hand," I said. "That doesn't help this predicament though."

"You could have easily assessed this, especially since you aced the attention to detail levels in the Academy," he said. "I may be fairly new, but I've always been here, Lane. I'm you, remember?"

"I didn't say anything," I said.

"Not my point," he continued. " My point was that if you hadn't let emotions get the best of you, you might have not needed me to analyze the situation for you. Sure, you still needed me against Sprock and Morta and some run ins with Jagger, but I never expected to be the one thinking."

"Shut up," I grumbled. "You were just starting to get on my good side. Am I going to see jerk Bane again?"

"Maybe if you don't actually try to do some thinking for yourself," he said. "Besides, you still have that last page of Jagger's journal you took before the building began to collapse, right?"

I blinked at that, having completely forgotten. I looked through my pockets and I found it, folded as if no one had found it despite being unconscious for a while. I began to read over it, wondering what was so important that it had been ripped out of the journal and stuck in the back.

"Year 33, Day 135," I read aloud. "The Donjy has escaped the organization. The idea from Bortelli to go after him for embezzlement turned out to be rather stupid and not a proper reason to kill. It's not like it matters though. The underlings are brainwashed thanks to my addicting caffeinated beverage. They don't need a legitimate reason to murder. I've given the commands to every available one to shoot Silverbane on sight. If he will not join the ranks she provided us, then we are to exterminate him."

"She?" Bane asked, chuckling. "Well, now I remember why you were getting angry. This isn't the first time a 'she' has been mentioned. We don't know who this is or how the hell she convinced mortals to become Ryjy."

"I'm not a fan of not knowing things," I said. "I'm far away from my book knowledge now. The only way to find out more is snoop around and hold Bortelli and Vinchi at gunpoint."

"Torture would be a nice option, too," he said. "Bane," I snapped.

"Fine, fine," he grumbled. "Sorry. I may be the good guy, but I do like it when an enemy suffers, so sue me."

I shook my head and turned the page over, raising an eyebrow at what was written.

"She says the Donjy will return and murder us all," I read out loud again. "We should have killed him when he first arrived, even if we weren't sure. If this is true, then Morta's and my fate are sealed. We will die to the Donjy. The only ones that can alter what she predicts are Robert and Vincent. I will try my hardest to alter it myself. I will not take defeat so easily."

I squinted my eyes and scanned the bottom of the page, finding a set of numbers.

"2358672. A passcode of some sort. I wonder what this is to."

"Don't know," he said. "We need to focus more on getting out of here."

"Right," I said, though jumped when a noise occurred and a window appeared on the wall in front of me.

It wasn't a normal window. It was a computer window, showing surveillance footage. I blinked, realizing where the camera was pointed as it was showing me Tay, Bernie and Minnie talking in front of Tay's apartment.

"What the-?"

A smaller window appeared, with text on it.

"Hello, Lane," it typed out. "The Cryptic Guard has been alerted to the three in this image working with you. They are now Shoot-to-Kill targets. Can you get out of that room and get to them in time before they're murdered by Runo's men?"

I growled and got up, slamming my fist into the wall. My left eye twitched afterward.

"Good to see your emotions are still getting in the way, haha," the message typed out. "This is loads of fun. If you manage to break out and warn them, then you'll find Bortelli at the coordinates I will send to your Communicator. Sound fun?"

"You're enjoying this too much, Vinchi," I said, knowing it wasn't Bortelli as he seemed to prefer vocal threats and mockery.

"You're intelligent, Silverbane," the message typed. "Too bad that intelligence is wasted. You have fifteen minutes. Goodbye."

The image disappeared and I slammed my fists repeatedly into the wall, hurting them quite a bit. After a minute or so of screaming in pain, I tried to calm down and assess the situation.

"Bane," I said. "Didn't you say I did something when I defeated Payne?"

"Yeah, but I don't think that would be a good idea," Bane said. "Considering how powerful Payne was..."

"Right now, I don't care how dangerous it might be," I said. "Tell me how to handle that new weapon."

"I only know how to summon it," he said. "Payne would be the one you have to get to comply, not me. If you can use both him and I, then we could be used as one weapon, which is like a Katana Scythe, I guess. Concentrate, hold out your right hand and force Payne to awaken."

I held out my hand and closed my eyes. I began to concentrate, grunting as a great suppressive aura began to slowly form as the scythe formed in my hand. I bit my lower lip and gasped for breath as it took a bit of a toll on me as it was the first time I had done it.

"Congrats, congrats!" Payne said. "You dumb idiots summoned me. What do you want? I already lost to you."

"Need you to cooperate," I said, regaining myself. "I believe you can help us get out of here. We have to hurry though. Otherwise Tay, Minnie, and Bernie will be swiss cheese thanks to the Cryptic Guard's Shoot to Kill rule."

"And why should I comply because a stupid mortal and his good side beat me, hmm?" Payne asked.

"I don't have time to argue you with your ass," I snapped, looking at the scythe. "Now, help us get out and we won't need to use you afterward. Though you'll miss out on being able to fight Bortelli, more Crimson Gavel members and possibly Cryptic Guard soldiers."

"Ooh, there's violence involved?" he asked. "Hey, hey. You didn't mention using me in a fight! I'll help, as long as you don't wuss out and protect what you're meant to protect."

"That's more like it," I said, concentrating as Payne's energy worked with mine.

He was suddenly not burning my hand and much easier to lift. I ran toward the wall in front of me and slammed the scythe into it, though blinked when it only made a few cracks. I slammed it into the wall repeatedly, but it didn't get much of anywhere.

"I thought this would work," I grumbled.

"It should, unless you're overlooking something," Payne said. "Could be that. You tend to do that a lot, from what I noticed."

I rolled my eyes annoyingly, looking over the scythe. I did notice I was holding it with one hand, clearly used to the dual Katanas Bane provided. A scythe wasn't normally a one handed weapon, though it still did a lot of damage with only holding it with one hand. I now held it with two hands and swung it, suddenly firing off a black energy blast that smashed into the wall and created a massive hole.

"That's all it took?" I asked, sighing. "I'm an idiot. That's five minutes wasted."

I ran out of the room and down the hall, letting myself hold the scythe in one hand again as it felt like I moved faster that way.

"Woohoo, bloodshed approaching!" Payne cheered.

"And you thought I was bad," Bane grumbled.

"Shut up, both of you," I said, through my quick breaths from running. "I'm not enjoying this and neither are you two."

Payne was right though. I could sense men already coming for me, something I wasn't able to do before. I did wonder for a moment what else Payne unlocked within me, but I didn't think long before using him to deflect quite a few laser machine gun bullets. There were a total of five men I was running toward. I narrowed my eyes and used Payne, still gripped in one hand as I swung him and sliced at one of them. I intentionally didn't hit them, trying to intimidate them so I could get away without actually needing to decapitate them. If it didn't work out that way, I'd have to kill them.

The swing did seem intimidating, but the assaulting Crimson Gavel goons didn't let up on their bullet fire. I used Payne to deflect them again and dug the blade into the ground as I jumped into the air. I let the momentum carry me as I spun around and continued my running motion in the air, connecting my feet to several of their faces repeatedly. When my momentum stopped, I landed on my feet and pulled Payne from the ground before slamming the blunt side of his blade into it. A weaker, but still powerful, black beam emitted from the blade and rapidly closed in on most of them, only missing two of the goons. The rest were flung into the wall or into a machine, resulting in a concussion or something worse that I honestly didn't care about right now since the situation was dire to me. It didn't make me sound much better than Payne at the moment, but I'll be damned if I let the Cryptic Guard kill the remaining people I cared about. I ran into a door that had closed and rammed it open, knocking a goon trying to hold it shut back and onto the ground. I ignored them, focusing entirely of getting to Tay's apartment. I felt my attention to detail sharpen as I still channeled Payne's energy with mine. It was as if I could see through the walls, though only vague outlines. It was still helpful nonetheless. I swung my scythe as I passed the largest doorway, forcing the goons waiting to jump back. Unfortunately, they seemed to be caught off guard with the fact I still released a black energy beam blast from it and hit them, clearly doing damage and making it hard for them to recover quickly from it.

"Sorry, gotta go!" I called out. "Raincheck on kicking your asses! Okay, thanks!"

I skipped steps trying to quickly get up the steep stairs. It was like I was brought underground or into one of the old underground train stations. I did glance at my surroundings as I ran, noticing it did resemble the latter. Soon enough, I saw the locked gate up ahead. I grunted and raised my scythe and grabbed it with my other hand before slamming it down on the ground in front of me. A much larger black ball of energy rocketed against the stairs ahead of me. It smashed into the gate and caused the lock to disintegrate along with about half of the gate itself. I took my left hand off of the handle of the scythe and looked around for a suitable vehicle. I only recognized this portion of Tonoko because it was Downtown. I, however, did not know what the goons possibly did with my Hooverbike. I doubt it was close by either. There was a Cryptic Guard issued one nearby, luckily. It was in the middle of a heavy crowd, but I still didn't care. I ran up to it and slugged the soldier in the face before quickly taking the keys from his pocket. While he was unconscious, I made sure he wasn't in the road and then hopped onto the bike. Starting it up, I floored it past several pedestrians. My heart raced as I tried not to think about being too late.

Turning the corner and seeing them still talking, I sighed with relief. I slowed down and shut the bike off before hopping off and looking at them.

"Where have you been?" Tay asked, blinking when she noticed me pull up. "Bernie kept saying not to go looking for you."

"I said he'd show up," Bernie said, holding hands with Minnie. "And he did. I told ya so. You owe me 5 Tin now."

Tay seemed to roll her eyes at that as she wrapped her arms tightly around me. She did seem more worried than usual, which was understandable considering the attack from Yuno and losing the team not long before that to the sudden missile strike. I gently rubbed her head and let it rest against my chest.

"That looks like a fancy new weapon, Laney," Bernie said, pointing at my scythe. "Looks like it'd be cooler to wield than a gun."

I chuckled and nodded at that.

"It's not exactly an easy weapon to wield," I said.

He seemed to go on about being able to wield it easily. I told him to try and take the handle. When he did, he let out a slight pained shriek as it burnt his hand.

"Told you," I said.

"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled.

My ears twitched when I heard car doors close and then turned away from the group.

"Get inside, quickly," I said.

Tay didn't seem to question it, though Bernie tried to. He did comply after I gave him a stern look. I hated to do it, but I'd rather not risk them being hurt. Without question, I saw Cryptic Guard squad cars and a couple of bigger Assault Team vans moving in on our position.

"Someone's tipped off the Cryptic Guard where you guys are and who you're running with," I said.

"I bet it was the Crimson Gavel's doing," Bernie said. "I did notice some guy walking around, seeming to ask about ya."

"And you didn't tell anyone or try to convince Tay or Minnie to leave?" I asked.

"I tried," he said, sighing.

"He did, but I wouldn't leave without knowing where you were," Tay said. "I'm going to fight beside you if I have to, Lane. You can't change that."

"I can't?" I asked. "Well, just stay back."

"No, I can help," she said, holding up a Shock Gun. "Look, I learned how to use this. I'll help cover one side, okay?"

"Alright, but they're closing in fast. Bernie's got a gun, I think, so he and Minnie can try and hold off the left side. You on the right."

Tay, Bernie and Minnie all nodded. Tay did bend over and read over a paper that fell out of my pocket.

"What's this?" she asked.

"No time for that," I said. "It's a page from Jagger's journal I managed to tear out. Has a passcode or something."

Tay nodded and placed it into her pocket before readying her Shock Gun and ran outward a bit on my right while the other two grabbed their guns to hold off the left.

"Come at us, you bastards," I grumbled to myself. "I've been itching to kill at least one of you."

"I'm sure that's bloodlust talking," Bane said. "Though I do know what they do and how you feel about them."

"I don't exactly need a lecture from you, Bane," I said. "You did want to do things recklessly until you had to deal with Payne."

"I'm still here, you know!" Payne echoed in my mind.

"Sorry," I said, adjusting my grip on the scythe. "Well, this isn't exactly killing with reckless abandon. Ready to defend Tay, Minnie and Bernie?"

"Yeah, we are," they both said at the same time.

A surge of energy rushed through me as it felt like the light and dark energy within me were for the first time working in unison. The scythe itself began to emit a white glow around it, including around my hands. I then let out a battle cry of sorts before heading into the Cryptic Guard already aimed and shooting at me. I slammed the back of the scythe into one of their helmet protected heads. Kicking the targeted and now dazed guard, I swung my scythe like it was lightweight at him. It sliced clearly through his neck, beheading him and causing him to fall over dead. I narrowed my eyes as it didn't seem to stop the advances of the other soldiers. I gripped the handle of my scythe a bit, hesitating.

"They're all mindless drones now," Payne said. "You're not killing innocents, you know. I should know at least."

"You're right," I said, jumping and blocking a melee attempt from a guard from behind me.

Turning at a breakneck speed, I sliced through him just like the last one. There were two headless bodies on the ground while the remaining attacking soldiers still continued their assault. I'd have to speed up my attacks and get them into groups. They seemed to change tactics when I found myself running for cover when they open fired on me with lethal rapid fire from their Shiffle branded Laser Assault Rifles. Most seemed automatic, with hearing a few semi-auto shots. It was the gun of choice when wanting to deal with a target lethally instead of verbally and intending on capturing them alive. I looked over my cover, both checking in on the others as well as trying to detail a strategy in dealing with those rifles against a melee attacker.

Tay seemed to be holding her own very well. She wasn't closing her eyes as she shot the guards attacking her down. She seemed angry and she did have the right to be - they were, after all, tipped off by the Crimson Gavel. Though something told me lack of personal time was also a reason. Bernie and Minnie were fighting back just as well. They were a two person team, so they were utilizing some teamwork strategies. Minnie would pick off a couple of the guards chasing down Bernie while he took on a small group trying to stab him. I could see him jumping onto the hood of a car to roundhouse kick a guard in the face and immediately stole the said guard's nightstick, dubbed the "Discipline Stick" in the Academy. It hurt quite a bit when struck with it, especially if there was something like anger or adrenaline involved. Bernie had used it on the guard to his left after grabbing it while Minnie continued cover fire. She seemed deadly accurate with her own rifle, which would impress anyone given she wouldn't be known to have a military or gun heavy background. Though I didn't know her well enough to know if this would be a surprise or not.

Still taking cover from the bullet fire, I wasn't coming up with a plan. I bit my lower lip and decided to try charging at them, hopefully causing them to blindly fire and I could get at least a small group of them. I leaped up from my crouched position and darted out into the open as fast I could. I heard rapid fire immediately on my position. I groaned as a couple of bullets grazed me, but it was also obvious Bane was trying to keep me somewhat protected with a shield of energy though it wouldn't make me bulletproof. At least my prediction of the soldiers firing with worse accuracy was correct, allowing me to get right up on them. I slammed the blade of my scythe into the ground before using most of my strength to make myself spring from the ground as I jumped, landing on the top of the handle before grabbing it and yanking it out of the ground. I spun violently, hitting every guard in the small group. I was dizzier than ever, but I managed to land in the middle of more bloody corpses. The road was littered with them. I regained my balance before barely moving my scythe to block a rather power punch from a bigger soldier. I looked up at them and went wide-eyed. This tall, overly muscular soldier I recognized from seeing images in a book that was "forbidden" for Academy students to read. The armor this soldier wore was different - clearly something that could adapt and expand to anyone's height and weight. It was the armor also detailed in the book, known as Crotex Armor. It was meant for The Super Soldier Project.

"The program's already in effect?" I asked myself, groaning as the large fist managed to break my block and send me backward. I did manage to land on my feet, but panting just from trying to hold the block.

"What the hell is that thing?" Payne and Bane asked at the same time.

"A Super Soldier, from the looks of it," I said, moving the scythe into an attack position.

The soldier was easily triple my height, perhaps the height of a small building. Its muscles were large and thick along with his hands, all of which seem to be double the size of my head and probably twice as thick. As far as I could tell, it probably had no coherent thought other than desiring to kill me.

"Why would they send a Super Soldier after us?" I asked myself, wanting to get answers.

"Ask that later," Payne said. "Kinda don't wanna be dead here."

"Right," I said.

The Super Soldier charged t me, seeming to roar out in anger. It did seem to catch the attention of the others as I could sense all of their eyes on me. I moved to the left, barely letting him pass me. I tried to swing the scythe toward his arm, cutting it off with ease. It roared out again and pounded on the ground, trying to hit my position. I jumped out of the way once before being struck as I tried to slice at his other arm. The strike sent me flying back again, tumbling onto the ground and making me cough due to the rising dust in the air. I rose to my feet, not letting a simple strike from him keep me down. He was strong, but I was determined to show that I was stronger.

There was a sharp pain in my right shoulder and Bane was immediately tending to it, healing it as fast as he could. I jumped back as the Super Soldier swung at me again with his intact arm. Roaring out, he charged at me with full force. Unfortunately, I didn't move out of the way in time and it let him slam me through several different walls. Each wall was progressively more painful and felt like quite a few needles were being poked into my back.

I struggled to maintain my control and get up due to the immense pain that feeling would put upon anyone. Bane, however, was quickly revitalizing my stamina so I could do such an activity. It was only perhaps a moment before I rose to my feet. The impact through the last wall threw me a few feet ahead of the Super Soldier. I looked at him and noticed I didn't leave much of a scratch other than the severed arm, but what I saw mere seconds later surprised me. I watched the wound begin to bubble and quite rapidly, the arm began to regenerate into what looked like an even bigger one in terms of muscle mass.

"What the hell?" I asked myself. "Regeneration? How the hell is that possible when it was a concept when I was in the Academy?"

The Super Soldier charged at me again while swinging his fists wildly. They were harder to avoid as I jumped back and ducked the various punches, particularly because one fist and arm was indeed visibly larger, giving me a tougher read on which fist would likely not hit me. He didn't seem to leave much to the imagination with these repeated and basic attack patterns. I managed to strike him in the head once with the bottom of my scythe. It caused the Super Soldier to stumble as if stunned and let me jump away and climb a ladder to a nearby rooftop to collect my thoughts. I panted gently and stayed in his field of view so he wouldn't attack anyone else. It seemed as if they had a target, they'd relentlessly charge it down. These "Super Soldiers" were far, far from perfect.

"Evidentially, they don't care about effective results," Bane chimed in. "If you hadn't noticed, the thing's attacking with brute force and using no strategy. It's just run up to the opponent and punch him to death. However, that's being extremely effective since we're not empowering you to be immune to everything except Aridium."

"He's right, you know, and it pains me to say that," Payne said. "Know-it-all good guy there probably retained more knowledge of combat and what the hell that thing is than I have. Not gonna say I never paid attention, but usually only to fighting tactics and some of the more gruesome stuff."

"I've noticed," I said. "I've got to figure out something. If there's regeneration already, there's no way it's completely perfect."

"Remember how we... uh... defeated Yuno, Lane?" Bane asked.

"Unfortunately, yes," I sighed. "You think this thing would have a similar weakness?"

"Yes, but being as naïve as it is, it'll know its own weakness, too," he said. "He'll try to protect it and we don't have Tay able to tie his hands away. We'll have to do something about that. The arm just now regenerated, right?"

"It did," I said, then grinned. "That means each limb takes at least five minutes in battle to regenerate. Eliminate the legs and arms and that's a full twenty minutes before he can fight again if for some reason he survives."

"There might be some decrease in that time if the limb's been cut off multiple times though," he said. "Let's just assume that one minute is shed off every time it's sliced off. At a certain point, focusing on a limb would be idiotic since it would just immediately grow back."

"Right," I said. "Let's go then."

Jumping from the ledge, I grunted and let out a cry as I focused all of my recovered strength to utilize Bane and Payne's combined power and slice through the Super Soldier's regenerated arm and then quickly dodged a slamming fist before slicing through its other arm. Both limbs fell to the ground, blood strangely only slightly pouring out of the wounds. Both arms lay there, on the ground and seemed to seize wildly as the Super Soldier roared out again in anger. He ran at me again which further proved he would just keep doing the same thing over and over again. I stayed still as he charged at me, building up the power in my scythe. Once he was close enough I ran forward toward him and then slid underneath him and sliced at both legs. The sheer force easily cut them off and caused him to tumble forward before crashing into a wall. I hopped up and panted a bit again, but I didn't let that stop me from running as fast as I could to the torso. I didn't care that it wasn't as if I only had mere seconds to do this. I wanted to end the assault on my friends and on myself. I took my scythe's sharp blade and shoved it into his chest all the way through. There was a loud and very ear shattering screech of pain before the hands stopped seizing and the life from it vanished. I pulled the scythe out before turning and nearly doubling over from overexerting myself.

"Good, it's dead," Bane said. "Lane, you need to rest for at least a moment so I can at least give you the strength to sprint again."

"I don't have time to wait," I said, moving rather slowly.

"You had time to wait and analyze during a fight," he said. "Don't make me become a jerk again. You already know I'm not the jerk."

"Alright, fine," I sighed and stood still.

"There," he said after what felt like an eternity.

I then immediately ran back toward where Tay and the others were holding off. They seemed to be doing well and the Cryptic Guard soldiers seemed to have been dealt with. However, this wasn't good publicity for any of us with the amount of innocent people ended up seeing the carnage from afar. There was screaming in all directions and people shouting to hide everyone so they wouldn't die, too. I hugged Tay close as Bernie kept Minnie close to himself.

"We need to go back to Jaden," I told Tay. "We can't come back here. Possibly not ever now as long as the Baron's still in rule. We can't take anything from your apartment either, okay?"

"Okay," Tay nodded. "I understand, Lane. I knew the risks when I signed up for this."

My Communicator went off when I let go of her. I looked at it and recognized the number before looking at Tay again.

"Alright," I said. "Get Bernie and Minnie and drive there in the Hoover Jeep. I've got to take care of this. The Dons are not something I'll let you or them take on. Just stay safe."

Tay obviously stopped herself from arguing before running off and grabbing Bernie's and Minnie's arms in order to quickly get to the jeep. Once they were in it and drove off, I answered the call.

"Like that little present?" Bortelli asked, greeting me with a smug grin.

"You're only giving me more reasons to kill you," I said. "Once I kill you, it's only Vinchi left."

"And then what, hmm?" he asked. "Will you and three others take on the entire Cryptic Guard and the Baron? You're struggling with us and we're a hell of a lot smaller."

"I'll know when I get there," I said. "Where are you? So far you're one cowardly guy to constantly hide behind traps, old women with guns, and then trying to rise my dark side to take over."

"Oh, so now you know truly of how a Ryjy feels?" he asked. "I think not. It obviously didn't work if I'm here, talking to you as an enemy and not an ally. Oh well. It was a last minute attempt to get you on our side. Vinchi didn't favor it, but I tried it anyway. Looks like I may have made a booboo, one would say. I'm a man of my word though. Defeated, what, at least fifty to a hundred soldiers, right? Did you see the lovely Super Soldier project yet? I sure hope you did."

"I knew about it already," I said. "It was a concept and I'm not going to question it until I'm done with you and with Vinchi."

"Fair enough," he chuckled. "I'm sending you some coordinates. Don't be late now, ciao."

The call ended with the coordinates on screen and I quickly put them into the GPS application installed onto it. I'd find out it would lead me out to the Marsh Swamp, the very place I almost drove into the try and outrun Sprock. I placed my Communicator on a special rack on the front of my Hoover Bike so I could see it while I drove and follow the arrow. Starting up the bike, I then headed down the highway at well over the speed limit. Bortelli was going to die for more than just sending the Cryptic Guard via their Concerned Citizen program after Tay, Bernie and Minnie, but that was pretty high on the list for reasons to kill him for me.